Honors Composition (110) Fall 2011

Remembering the Holocaust: Representing Genocide in Memoir, Fiction, and Film

Course Information & Policies

Instructor Information

Cary Henson		Fall 2011
Office: Radford 329		Sections 001, 002
Office Hours: MWF 11-12; by appt.		Time: MWF 8:00; 9:10
Phone: #2264		Room: Swart 126
Internet:www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/henson/		E-Mail: henson@uwosh.edu

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Books / Films / Articles

Required Texts

• Aaron, Jane E. LB Brief. 4th ed. Boston: Longman, 2010. (also online w/ MyCompLab)
• Eggers, Dave. Zeitoun. New York: Vintage, 2010.
• Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor's Tale. 2 vols. New York: Random House, 1993.
• Totten, Samuel, and William S. Parsons, eds. Century of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts. 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2008.

Films

• The Armenian Genocide
• The Ghosts of Rwanda
• Hotel Rwanda (must be viewed on your own)

Articles (e-reserve or D2L)

• Akpan, Uwem. "My Parents' Bedroom."
• Esayan, Zabel. "In the Ruins."
• Oshagan, Vahé. "The Impact of the Genocide on West Armenian Letters."
• Snyder, Timothy. "The Holocaust: The Ignored Reality."

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Grading

Your grade will be determined as follows:

• Class Participation 10%
• Weekly Reflections 5% (1,000 words, in class--see "Resources" for guidelines)
• Study Questions / Quizzes / Informal Assignments 15% (approx. 1,500 words total)
• Formal Assignments 1-5; Peer Editing; Prospectus 20% total (approx. 3,000 words total)
• Mid-Term Essay 15% (final draft approx. 1,800 words)
• Group Project 15% (outline and peer assessment approx. 800 words)
• Final Project 20% (final draft approx. 1,800 words)

Letter-to-Point Conversion: A = 4.0; A- = 3.67; B+ = 3.33; B = 3.0; B- = 2.67; C+ = 2.33; C = 2.0; C- = 1.67; D+ = 1.33; D = 1.0; D- = .67; F = 0.

Points-to-Letter Conversion: 0-59=F; 60-62=D-; 63-67.5=D; 67.51-69=D+; 70-72=C-; 73-77.5=C; 77.51-79=C+; 80-82=B-; 83-87.5=B; 87.51-89=B+; 90-92=A- ; 93-100=A

So, if your Study Question grade were 88, you would receive a B+. That would convert to 3.33 x 15%.
All numbers are rounded down, except where indicated otherwise.

University grade expectations will be discussed in class (i.e., "What's a B?")

Specific guidelines for all assignments and projects will be distributed and discussed in class and are available on the course web site. Students should also familiarize themselves with the Plagiarism Policies and Procedures, which will be reviewed in class. Students should be prepared to submit electronic copies of all assignments upon request.

To receive full credit, all assignments are due in full, in person, in hard copy at the beginning of class. Late work (later that day or later that week) will be docked one point (8 > 7) or two grade levels (B > C+). Work that is one to two weeks late will be docked two points or four grade levels. Assignments submitted more than two weeks late will be counted as completed (as long as they meet minimum requirements) but cannot receive higher than a C or equivalent point value. Special circumstances are handled on a case-by-case basis, but students should be proactive in communicating with me regarding their situations and be prepared to document them.

n.b. Students must complete all formal assignments, essays, and projects to pass the course. You cannot have a "0" for any work and pass, regardless of your grade average.

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Odyssey 2011

First-year students participate in the community-building common intellectual experience of the Odyssey Program.
In Fall 2011, our course's involvement will revolve around attendance in late September of the Odyssey play, The Thousand Pound Marriage, written by our own internationally known playwright Richard Kalinoski, and our reading of Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers, the focus of class discussion during our early November transition week.

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Attendance/Participation Policies

Excessive absences will severely affect your ability to complete this course satisfactorily, given the complexity and breadth of the material and skills to be covered, as well as the fact that many other aspects of your grade will depend upon your being present in class (such as Study Questions, In-Class Writing, Revision, Group Project, etc.). Therefore, to maximize your learning, not to mention your class participation grade, you should adhere strictly to the following guidelines:

• Be prepared (read carefully and always bring the relevant texts and materials to class);
• Participate actively and regularly (mere presence counts for little);
• Treat colleagues and professors with respect (see below);

More specifically, if you accumulate more than 8 absences, for any reason, you will fail the course. All absences above 3 (excluding those officially excused by the University and with documentation--see the Student Handbook) will reduce your Class Participation grade by 1 letter. You should be on time for each class session. In the event you must be late, please make every attempt to minimize the disruption your late arrival has on the class. Tardiness will count as 1/2 absence and, if in excess of 20 minutes, as 1 absence.

In terms of classroom comportment, you are also expected to behave professionally and respectfully. The classroom is neither a dorm nor a lunch room. Further, do not engage in behavior that detracts from my ability to teach and, most importantly, your colleagues' ability to learn. Penultimately, please turn off your toys once class begins. If you have an exceptional circumstance that requires you to leave a phone or pager on, notify me before class. Otherwise, turn them off and put them away.

Finally, this is the university, and you are expected to work hard and engage difficult and often unfamiliar material with openness and rigor. I welcome your questions and comments about course material and methodology, but please refrain from whining about difficulty--higher education should never be easy.

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Technology Policies and Expectations

As the course description indicates, one of our objectives is to become familiar with technology as it relates to university work. If you have not already done so, you need to become familiar with the university's facilities, such as the library catalog and databases, the software available on the university network, and the various computing labs and their hours and services. We shall be conducting several sessions in the Radford Hall Teaching Lab to cover many of these areas, particularly as they relate to research. When we do meet in the lab, you are expected to use the time appropriately and productively. Abuse of lab time will negatively impact your class participation grade.

I do not permit the use of electronic devices (phones, recorders, laptops, etc.) without expressed prior approval, and you must sign the appropriate release form.

Regardless of your home or dorm computing arrangements, you are required to know how to access your university network account (needed for working in campus labs) and to use your university e-mail account. You can arrange to have mail forwarded to another address, or to check your Oshkosh mail remotely, but it is imperative that you check your university email account regularly.

Although I encourage students to use email to supplement, complement, and clarify course readings and issues, you should not use email in lieu of paying attention in class, reading the syllabus and assignment guidelines, or making a good-faith effort to answer questions on your own. Email messages must include useful subject headings, identify the context (student, course, message purpose), and be composed in such a way as to allow me to provide the most helpful, efficient response possible. You also need to allow a minimum of 24 hours response time.

Lastly, I will not accept electronic submission of any course work without expressed prior consent, and, as I do not read complete drafts of student work, I will not download, print, and review drafts of any work sent electronically. I will be more than happy, of course, to answer specific questions about specific issues, in class, during office hours, or via email.