Presence and Participation: Our work this semester will be predominately collaborative, privileging open discussion over lectures, and as a result, participation, attendance and punctuality are all necessary for our class to thrive. I'm more interested in hearing your varied (and even contradicting) interpretations of our readings than forcing you to see them through my eyes, so being able to freely and comfortably share your insights, opinions, disagreements, perspectives and questions — whether in class, or on our blog and Facebook group — will be an invaluable part of our shared understanding. This open discourse will become even more important once we enter into the critical workshop phase of our class.
Missing more than six classes will likely have an adverse affect on your final grade. Absences are absences, regardless of whether you're sick, hungover, in jail, taking a trip, having car trouble, can't stand to hear my endless prattling, or just don’t feel like getting out of bed — the only exceptions to this rule are major medical issues (i.e. surgery, hospitalization) with supporting documentation or university-sanctioned absences (i.e. snow days or athlete travel).
Online Resources / Technology: Blackboard is quite frankly awful, so I'll run the class through this blog and our Facebook group. Aside from key documents (such as our syllabus, booklist, schedules, essay guidelines, etc.) and announcements, I'll be providing you with all of this term's required reading/viewing/listening through PDFs and links to online resources, so it's imperative that you stay up-to-date with these sites. You can sign up for e-mail updates via the box at right, and you should join our Facebook group as soon as possible (please note: our Facebook group is closed, which means I'll have to approve your membership and your participation will be hidden from anyone who's not a member). We'll also use these venues for discussion outside of class and it's possible that there'll be brief assignments asking you to post responses to a given text or issue.
Because the majority of your readings will be provided electronically, I have no choice but to allow the use of laptops, tablets, etc. within our classroom space, however I expect students to remain tuned in to our discussions and not be surfing Facebook throughout the entire class. Cell phones should be turned off or in airplane mode at the start of class and remain that way for the duration.
Workshop Format: Once we get through our initial Foundations classes, we'll begin our workshops in earnest. Given how amazingly small our class is, we'll have the opportunity to fit in many more rounds of feedback than typical workshops have — usually you might get your work reviewed three times, but we should be able to fit in nine or maybe even ten rounds. Workshop schedules will be set in advance of each round, and if students are amenable we might just set one or two arrangements that we'll repeat from round to round.
The prompts for each round of workshops will be posted at least one week prior to that round's start. Students will need to deliver their work to the group at least one class in advance of their scheduled workshop date and late work is not guaranteed an in-class review. One student will designated as the lead reviewer for each of a given day's workshoppees (this will alternate throughout the semester so that everyone lead reviews at least once for one another) and will start our discussion of their work. All students will be responsible for delivering written comments (either hard copy or electronic) to both the workshopped student and me for each day's pieces under consideration, and will be expected to actively participate in the in-class workshop.
As a final project, students will submit at portfolio containing revisions of work produced during the semester as well as a reflection on their workshop experience.
The prompts for each round of workshops will be posted at least one week prior to that round's start. Students will need to deliver their work to the group at least one class in advance of their scheduled workshop date and late work is not guaranteed an in-class review. One student will designated as the lead reviewer for each of a given day's workshoppees (this will alternate throughout the semester so that everyone lead reviews at least once for one another) and will start our discussion of their work. All students will be responsible for delivering written comments (either hard copy or electronic) to both the workshopped student and me for each day's pieces under consideration, and will be expected to actively participate in the in-class workshop.
As a final project, students will submit at portfolio containing revisions of work produced during the semester as well as a reflection on their workshop experience.
Communication: Please make use of my posted office hours, the time immediately before and after class, Facebook and/or e-mail to discuss your performance in the course, pose questions you might have, or just generally let me know what's on your mind. If you're having trouble, doing poorly on quizzes or just not getting the readings, it's better to ask for help sooner rather than later. Unofficially, you should meet with me at least once during the semester.
Plagiarism: You have no doubt had UC’s Academic Honesty Policy and Student Code of Conduct drummed into your head repeatedly, however it might be advantageous to re-orient yourself with those policies now, as classes begin again this semester.
Plagiarism, defined as “the appropriation of information, ideas, or the language of other persons or writers and the submission of them as one's own to satisfy the requirements of a course,” can take many guises, including cheating on a quiz, cutting-and-pasting information found on the web, failing to properly cite sources or fabricating them entirely. Any student found guilty of plagiarism, in any form, will automatically fail this course and face official disciplinary action, putting your academic future on very shaky ground.
Academic Writing Center: The Academic Writing Center is a valuable and free resource available to all UC students. Writing Fellows are available to help students at all stages of the writing process from brainstorming to drafting, as well as with editing essays. I strongly encourage you to have a tutor review all the writing you do for this course. Please visit their website for hours of operation, writing resources and more information.
Title IX Statement (and resources): As UC's Title IX homepage makes very clear:
Title IX Statement (and resources): As UC's Title IX homepage makes very clear:
The university does not tolerate sex discrimination, sexual harassment, or retaliation and takes steps to ensure that students, employees, and third parties are not subject to a hostile environment in university programs or activities. The university responds promptly and effectively to allegations of sex discrimination, including sexual harassment and retaliation. It promptly conducts investigations and takes appropriate action, including disciplinary action, against individuals found to have violated its policies, as well as provides appropriate remedies to complainants and the campus community. The university takes immediate action to end a hostile environment if one has been created, prevent its recurrence, and remedy the effects of any hostile environment on affected members of the campus community.If you or someone you know has been assaulted, you should seek emergency medical care immediately, without changing your clothes or getting cleaned up (so as not to destroy evidence). Please know that many on- and off-campus resources are available to help you and ensure your safety and wellbeing:
LGBTQ Safe Zone: You should consider our classroom and my office as LGBTQ Safe Zones: places where students dealing with sexual orientation or gender identity issues can find affirmative support, referrals, and information to help them. While I'm no expert in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer issues, I am committed to working toward providing a safe, confidential, and supportive network for students, faculty, and staff members of the LGBTQ community and to treating everyone with the dignity and respect entitled to as human beings. You can find more LGBTQ resources from UC's Women's Center here.
Special Needs Statement: If you have any special needs related to your participation and performance in this course, please speak to me as soon as possible. In consultation with Disability Services, we can make reasonable provisions to ensure your ability to succeed in this class and meet its goals.
Grades: Simply put, your final grade will reflect your level of engagement with our course work and participation as a "good citizen" of our workshop community. That includes how wholeheartedly your work embraces the challenges of our projects, as well as the written and verbal feedback you provide your peers. There are no absolutes here; no curve by which the "best" poets get As and the rest get proportionally lower grades — I'm more inclined to admire a student who shows consistent growth throughout the term than a superstar who phones in his work. In the end, what counts is the respect and seriousness with which you approach our shared work, as well as the personal discoveries you make. I want you to grow in ways that will have lasting effects beyond the confines of our semester and if that's the ultimate goal, grades are somewhat superfluous.
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