This document provides information about an English literature course taught by Dr. Kim Palmore. It outlines the course requirements, policies, assignments and schedule. Students are expected to complete reading assignments, post responses online, and participate in class discussions. They will write two essays and take a midterm and final exam. The course will examine LGBTQ literature and themes through works like Giovanni's Room and Beebo Brinker. Literary theory, particularly queer theory, will be used to analyze the texts.
2. Introduction
The Website
The Green Sheet
The Syllabus
The QHQ
Discussion: Literature and
Literary Theory
Author and Text Introduction:
Tyson and Freeman
3. Education
• Ph.D. : University of California, Riverside: English
• MA: California State University, Long Beach: English
• BA: California State University, Long Beach: English
• AA: Long Beach City College, Long Beach: Liberal Arts
Special Emphasis
• Twentieth Century British and American Literatures;
Queer Studies; Minority, Gender, Class, and Feminist
Studies; Writing and Writing Centers.
De Anza: Since January 2012
EWRT 211
EWRT 1A
EWRT 1B
EWRT 1C
EWRT 2
EWRT 30
ELIT 48C
ELIT 10
4. I will take 46 students, and I will add until the final day
to do so.
If you are on the waiting list, you can stay. I will email
add codes in waitlist order. Those on the waitlist or
those wishing to add should indicate so on the roll
sheet. Please include an email address.
As we go over the syllabus, consider whether you will
stay in the class. If you want out, please let me know,
so I can offer your seat to another student.
If you are not on the waiting list, it is very unlikely you
will get into the class unless we have a mass exodus
after the syllabus!
5. http://palmoreelit10q.wordpress.com
Our class website is http://palmoreelit10q.wordpress.com. In order to
do the homework, you must establish an account. To make your own
FREE Word Press account, go to wordpress.com. The system will
walk you through the steps to signup for a username or to set up
your own user-friendly Word Press blog. Alternatively, you can sign
into our website through Facebook.
If you prefer not to use your own name, you may use a pseudonym.
Just make sure you sign in with YOUR Word Press username before
you post on our class page so you get credit for your work. Please
email me your username once you have established which
account you shall use for the quarter.
If you cannot establish your website and username, please come to
my office hours as soon as possible, and I will help you with the
process. Much of our work will take place online, so establishing this
connection is mandatory.
You may want to establish your new Gmail account before you
establish your Wordpress username
8. • Course Requirements
Assignments and
values
Participation
• Required Materials
Books
Computer Access
Dedicated email
address
• Class Policies
Plagiarism
Conduct and Courtesy
• The Class Website
How to sign up for an
account
How to post your
homework.
9. Giovanni’s Room by
James Baldwin
Beebo Brinker by Ann
Bannon
The Front Runner by
Patricia Nell Warren
A Gmail account that
you will be willing to
share via Wordpress,
Kaizena, and Google
Drive
Buy these three for sure
This is
available
as a pdf
on the
website
10. Active participation in class discussions and regular
attendance. You will earn real points for your
participation in activities.
Keeping up-to-date on the assignments and
reading.
Formal writing: two out of class essays
A midterm and a final (Objective and essay style)
A series of homework posts to the class website
Reading quizzes and in-class assignments.
11.
12.
13. All out of class essays are to be submitted to me electronically
before the due date.
1. Before you submit your essay, please save your file as your last name and the
number 2, like this: Smith 2. That will help me keep your essays organized.
2. Submit your essay through Kaizena, a Google Drive add-on, at
https://kaizena.com/palmoreessaysubmissiongmail. Or simply use the link on
our class website home page. This system allows me to respond to your essay
with both voice and written comments and to insert helpful links.
3. Sign in to your Google Account and allow Kaizena access to your Google
Drive.
4. Click on the “Ask Dr. Kim Palmore for feedback” link.
5. Choose your document from your Google Drive. You will be directed to a new
page to choose a delivery box from a drop down menu.
6. Add your essay to the appropriate ELIT box (Essay #1 or #2). Then, click the
“Ask for feedback” button again.
7. Once I have graded your paper, Kaizena will automatically share with you the
link to the Google document in the comments section — located on the top-right
corner of the Google document.
8. Click on the highlighted sections of the paper to find both audio and written
comments concerning your essay or links to materials that will help you
improve your writing.
14. Attendance:
Success in this course depends on regular
attendance and active participation. Participation
points will be part of our daily activities. If you are
not in class, you cannot earn these points. You
should save absences for emergencies, work
conflicts, weddings, jury duty, or any other issues
that might arise in your life.
It is your responsibility to talk to me your absences
or other conflicts. Work done in class cannot be
made up. Also, please arrive on time, as you will not
be able to make up work completed before you
arrive, including quizzes.
15. I do not accept late work. I do, however, extend
an opportunity to revise your first essay for a better
grade. If you miss the essay due date, you may
submit that essay when the revisions are due.
Revised and late essays receive no feedback.
Quizzes: I may decide to include pop quizzes from
time to time to ensure you are completing all
readings in a timely fashion. There are no make up
opportunities for quizzes.
Exams: We will have two exams during the
quarter. There are no make-up tests. If you miss a
test and have a valid excuse, you may take it in
lieu of submitting a revised or late essay.
16. Conduct, Courtesy, and Electronic Devices:
In this class, we will regularly engage in the discussion
of topics that may stir passionate debates. Please
speak freely and candidly; however, while your thoughts
and ideas are important to me and to the dynamics of
the class, you must also respect others and their
opinions. Courtesy will allow each person to have the
opportunity to express his or her ideas in a comfortable
environment.
Courtesy includes but is not limited to politely listening
to others when they contribute to class discussions, not
slamming the classroom door, and maintaining a
positive learning environment for your fellow
classmates. To help maintain a positive learning
environment, please focus on the work assigned, and
do not text-message in class.
17. Academic Dishonesty:
Plagiarism includes quoting or
paraphrasing material without
documentation and copying from
other students or professionals.
Intentional plagiarism is a grave
offense; the resulting response
will be distasteful. Depending
upon the severity, instances of
plagiarism may result in a failing
grade for the paper or the
course and possible
administrative action. All
assignments will be scanned
and scrutinized for academic
dishonesty. Please refer to your
handbook for more information
regarding plagiarism.
19. The syllabus is a tentative schedule.
It may be revised during the quarter.
Use it to determine how to prepare for class.
Week and
Class
What we
will do
in class
Homework due
before the next
class
Date
20. There is writing homework due before
6 pm the evening before each meeting.
This is both to help you think about
your reading and to help you produce
ideas for your essays.
In order to earn an A on your
homework, you must do the following:
Complete all of the posts.
Post them on time.
Be thoughtful in your
responses.
21. On the front page of the website, you will find the homework
post after each class (text me if you don’t see it).
Below that post on the right, are the words “Leave a
comment.”
Click there and a comment box will open. Copy and paste
your homework into the comment box
Click “Post Comment.”
A word of advice: compose all of your homework for the quarter in a
single word document. This way, you will be able to edit before you
post, saving you stress over silly errors. This will also enable you to
access your posted work throughout the quarter. You will find that very
helpful at the end of the quarter.
23. Each text we study will provide material for response writing called a
QHQ (Question-Hypothesis-Question). The QHQ requires students to
have second thoughts, that is, to think again about questions that
arise during their reading and to write about questions that are
meaningful to them.
Begin your QHQ by formulating some question you have about some
aspect of the reading. The first question in the QHQ may be one
sentence or longer, but its function is to frame your QHQ writing. A
student might start with a question like, “Why is the house in this story
haunted? Or, “Why do I suspect the murdered child has come back to
life?” A student might even write, “Why am I having so much trouble
understanding this story?”
24. After you pose your initial question, focus on a close reading of the
text in search of a hypothesis. This hypothesis section comprises
the body of your text. The student who asked about the haunted
house might refer to multiple passages about haunting in the text,
comparing and contrasting them to other instances of haunting with
which he or she is familiar. The student who asked about the dead
child might connect passages associated with the death to sections
about a new child who abruptly appears in the text. The student
who struggled to understand the text might explore those passages
whose meanings were obscure or difficult to understand,
connecting them to other novels and/or cultural texts.
After carefully exploring your initial question (This
exploration should include quoted text and be at
least 250 words), put forward another question,
one that has sprung from your hypothesis. This
will be the final sentence of your QHQ and will
provide a base for further reflection into the text.
25. The QHQ is designed to help you formulate your response to the texts we
study into clearly defined questions and hypotheses that can be used as a
basis for both class discussion and longer papers. The QHQ can be
relatively informal but should demonstrate a thoughtful approach to the
material. While your responses need to be organized and coherent, because
you will sharing them in class, the ideas they present may be preliminary
and exploratory.
Remember, a QHQ is not a summary or a report—it is an original, thoughtful
response to what you have read. All QHQs should be posted on the website
the by 5 pm the evening before the class for which they are due. This will
give both me and other students time to ponder your ideas and think about
appropriate responses. Moreover, this sharing of material should provide
plenty of fodder for essays. Even though you have posted your QHQ, you
should bring a copy of it to class in order to share your thoughts and insights
and to stimulate class discussion.
26. Is this class
too hard?
Is this class
History 10?
Will I be the
teacher’s
favorite?
29. Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material. Broadly speaking,
"literature" is used to describe anything from creative writing to more technical or
scientific works, but the term is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative
imagination, including works of poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction.
Literature represents a language or a people: culture and tradition. But, literature is
more important than just a historical or cultural artifact. Literature introduces us to
new worlds of experience. We learn about books and literature; we enjoy the
comedies and the tragedies of poems, stories, and plays; and we may even grow
and evolve through our literary journey with books.
Ultimately, we may discover meaning in literature by looking at what the author says
and how he/she says it. We may interpret the author's message. In academic circles,
this decoding of the text is often carried out through the use of literary theory, using a
mythological, sociological, psychological, historical, or other approach.
Whatever critical paradigm we use to discuss and analyze literature, there is still an
artistic quality to the works. Literature is important to us because it speaks to us, it is
universal, and it affects us.
32. GLBTQI literature focuses on texts about
sexual minorities--including Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgendered, Intersexed, and
Queer identities--cultural contexts, and social
movements.
In this course we will study the trajectory of
GLBTQI literature as it weaves its through the
20th century and into the new millennium.
33. Dr. Lois M. Tyson is professor of
English at Grand Valley State University.
Tyson earned a Bachelor of Arts in French
from Rutgers University in 1972, and
double master’s degrees in education and
English from Ohio University in 1982 and
1984. She earned a Ph.D. in English from
the Ohio State University in 1989.
She has authored various publications,
anthologies and papers on wide-ranging
topics including critical theory, literary
analysis, and American literature. Her
highly acclaimed text, Critical Theory
Today: A User-Friendly Guide, now in its
second edition, is in wide distribution and
has contributed to her recognition as one
of the nation's preeminent authorities on
the subject.
34. In Critical Theory Today, Lois Tyson considers varying
theoretical approaches to literary criticism. She describes
and explains eleven different critical approaches. At the
end of each chapter, she includes an essay that
demonstrates that theory applied to F Scott Fitzgerald’s
The Great Gatsby. In this class, we will only read her
chapter on “Lesbian, gay, and queer criticism, but I have
included a link to a pdf version of her complete book for
those of you who would like to see the entire text.
You will find the chapter reading for the homework under the heading
“Secondary Sources” at the top of the webpage. Click on “GLBTQ Criticism Lois
Tyson.” You will find both a link to a pdf and a scroll through document. Please
read at least the first 26 pages. For those of you interested, I have included the
queer reading of The Great Gatsby.
When you come to class, you must have access to the document: either an
electronic source or a printed document is acceptable. Please don’t plan to use
your phone.
35. American short story writer, novelist, playwright, and
poet.
As a realist chronicler of post-Civil War New England
life, Freeman is acknowledged as an important
contributor to regionalist literature. She is frequently
labeled a local colorist because she depicted the social
and physical aspects of the New England countryside,
including the flavor of local speech patterns. Yet
Freeman's most exemplary writing, which focuses on
the psychology of her characters, transcends the
limitations of local color writing. Although Freeman
wrote novels, plays, and verse, she is most known for
her stories, particularly “The Revolt of Mother” and “A
New England Nun.”
36. Written in 1895, “The Long Arm” is a
compilation of both epistolary writing and
journal entries.
You can find a link to the work on the website
under “short stories.”
This piece is 17 pages long.
When you come to class, you must have
access to the document: either an electronic
source or a printed document is acceptable.
Please don’t plan to use your phone.
37. Read Tyson on
GLBTQ Theory (1-26)
and “The Long Arm” by
Mary Wilkins Freeman
1895 (17 pages)
Post #1: Choose one
1. What is Literary
Theory? Why study
GLBTQ Theories?
2. A QHQ on either Tyson
or Freeman
