Time Schedule:
Jennifer Mc Collum
ENGL 111
Seattle Campus
Study and practice of good writing; topics derived from reading and discussing stories, poems, essays, and plays. Cannot be taken if student has already received a grade of 2.0 or higher in either ENGL 111, ENGL 121, or ENGL 131.
Class description
STRANGE CHILDREN
Children are strange, aren’t they? Although every historical moment has a unique conceptualization of childhood, what a child is or should be is rarely clear. Despite the fact that every adult has been a child at some point in her life, remembering child-ness is challenging. In this class we will look at Adams’s and Arbus’s child photography, Carroll’s Alice, Hawthorne’s Pearl, James’s Miles and Flora, and Bronte’s Polly in order to situate the gothic/ghostly child in the American tradition. IMP! FAIRY! URCHIN! What do these macabre children have to teach us?
Student learning goals
Although we are interested in critical and creative readings of the course texts and their manifestations in popular culture, learning how to fashion our writing to various discourse communities, to use diverse writing genres rhetorically, and to improve our linguistic prowess are also goals of the course. In this course we will learn to write persuasive prose that matter in academic, business, personal, professional, social, and political contexts. Expository writing is designed to help us “expose” our writing style in a way that draws from critical thinking skills and risk-taking.
General method of instruction
I like to use a variety of methods of instruction ranging from computers, lectures, images, discussion, debate, surrealism, film, and experimentation.
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
Assignments may include visual interpretations, oral presentations, editorials, reference documents, narratives, reviews, business letters, proposal writing, resumes, memos, academic essays, etc.
