Darren DeFrain
UW-Fox Valley
ENG 203/204 Lec 01
3 Credits
TR 2:00-3:15 p.m. rm 1336
Office: Rm 1835 Phone: 832-2668
Email: ddefrain@uwc.edu
Office hours: 2-3 p.m. MWF, 1-2 p.m. TR & by appointment
Final Examination: 23-3 (Dec. 23rd at 2 p.m.)
ENG 203 – Chiefly devoted to studying one or more of the following: fiction, poetry, and drama.
ENG 203 – Course Syllabus
I knock at the stone’s front door.
“It’s only me, let me come in.
I don’t seek refuge for eternity.
I’m not unhappy.
I’m not homeless.
My world is worth returning to.
I’ll enter and leave empty handed.
And my proof I was there
will be only words,
which no one will believe.”
From “Conversation with a Stone.” ~ Wislawa Szmborska
View with a Grain of Sand
Required Materials:
Texts: Zoetrope – All Story 2 - Coppola
Poems, Poets, Poetry – Vendler
Mastadon 80% Complete – Jonathan Johnson
Collected Stories of Isaac Babel
Other: Copies. You will be responsible for photocopying your own work to distribute to the class. DO NOT BRING YOUR WORK TO ME TO PHOTOCOPY. DO NOT ASK WHERE YOU SHOULD COPY YOUR WORK. THIS IS ENTIRELY YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY AS A STUDENT IN THIS CLASS.
Subscription OR securement of one recent year’s issues of a literary magazine (LitRag, Third Coast, Wisconsin Review, or any of the journals listed in the back of Best American Poems or Best American Short Stories).
Course Description
This class will consist of a contemporary fiction section and a contemporary poetry section, and is principally designed to make you more careful and critical readers. You will be reading and responding to literary works by established writers as well as the writings of your classmates. Most of our class time will be discussion and in-class writing assignments. If you do not come to class prepared (having carefully read what we will be discussing) or choose not to participate, your grade will suffer. There is also a short paper (5+ pages) responding to a cycle of recent issues of a literary magazine (more on this later). In addition, you must attend the readings of the poet scheduled to read at Fox this semester. On the second week of class we will create a tentative schedule which I will distribute. However, because it may become necessary to spend more time on one thing and less on another this is always subject to change. Students who are not present on the day their work is due are not “one of these things” however. If you miss your submission date you will not be workshopped and your grade will drop at least one full grade (B- to C- etc.). If you do have to miss class it is extremely important to talk to me or a fellow student to find out what you missed and what is expected of you for the next class period (I will be handing out additional reading material during the course of the semester). It is always your responsibility to catch up if you must miss class. You must also purchase the required texts. It will also be your responsibility to make enough copies of your work to distribute to myself and the class on the day BEFORE we workshop. If you have any questions please come see me or set up a time that we can meet.
Policies and Requirements
Attendance & Tardies: The English department has its own policy regarding attendance. Not only am I required to enforce that policy, I believe very strongly that if you do not come to class you do not deserve to pass. I recommend you keep track of your attendance (you can be assured that I will as well). I also recommend “saving” your absences in case you need them later, or if an emergency arises. Getting to class late is both rude and disruptive and will be noted. Two tardies will equal one absence per the formula below. If you doubt how serious I am about these matters I’m sure any number of former students will be happy to share their stories with you. Further, you are responsible for the hand-outs, notes, etc. if you must miss class. Contact either another student or myself to avoid falling behind. Here is the breakdown of the attendance policy for this class:
Absences Effect on your grade
0 May help you
1-2 No effect on grade
3-6 Drops final grade one
letter increment for
each absence, i.e. B to
B- to C+ to C etc.
7+ Non-negotiable failure
Note: All absences are recorded. There is no excused or unexcused absence in my class, but I do encourage you to keep me up to date if you run into extraordinary circumstances such as extended hospitalization, death of an immediate family member, etc.
Creative work and papers: Creative work and papers are due at the beginning of class on the assigned day. Absolutely no late work/paper will be accepted. Do not skip class to write. You will not only fall behind, and not receive credit for your work, but you will also have an absence against your final grade.
All work must be typed on white letter sized paper and stapled in the upper left hand corner. This must be written in MLA style and format. ENG 102 is the pre-requisite for this course, so I assume a working familiarity with MLA form. If you have questions, ask me before you begin! Also, SAVE ALL OF YOUR WORK. Also, save all photocopies of your sources (should that be necessary in this class) and place them in the folder with your final paper.
Grading: Your final grade is 50% Participation, 15% Paper, 10% Final Exam, & 25% Professionalism. Professionalism takes into account your willingness to take part in class activities, to help others in class, to arrive to class on time, to take beneficial risks with your comments and papers, to meet schedules for assignments, and your contribution to the overall community of the class. All of this makes the class successful, which in turn makes you successful.
You will be responsible to submit at least 5 poems and one short story to be workshopped during the semester. Of these poems, at least one must be a formal poem (more on that later). Your final portfolio will consist of five revised poems, a revised story, and your essay. Again, however, this is the minimum amount of work I expect from you this semester (i.e. C level work). ‘A’ students typically submit much more than this, and spend a substantial amount of time in revision. If you want to succeed in this class you must plan on rewriting and rethinking your work again and again and again.
This is a list of standards of grading in English 203:
A Consistent excellence, versatility, creativity, glowing prose and verse with stylistic sophistication and finesse, serious and comprehensive approach to revision, mastery of writing techniques not discussed in class, publishable work for literary journals, fresh insights and perspectives, perfect attendance, active participant, willingness to help peers, above and beyond what is asked on all fronts.
B Excellent in some respects, good writing still in need of some polishing, some participation, moderate attempts at revision
C Acceptable college writing, some improvement, no strides taken toward revision, little preparation, bland stylistically, cliché-riddled work, sloppy presentation, widespread spelling and punctuation errors.
D Not acceptable in most respects, no improvement, no willingness to improve, no participation, no revision, poor writing, poor attitude.
F No improvement, no willingness to improve, poor attitude, portfolio that is missing more than one poem, story or essay, seven or more absences (automatic failure, regardless).
I AM CHIEFLY INTERESTED IN HOW YOU RESPOND TO THE CLASS AND HOW YOU IMPROVE OVER THE COURSE OF THE SEMESTER!
Plagiarism: Although this is a community of writers, all work should be yours. You can use help from your peers, the writing lab, sources, and myself. But this should be noted in your work and in your paper. This class gives you the opportunity to speak up in your work. When you speak, make sure it is in your own words, and not someone else’s. I am interested in what you have to say. Give the proper credit where you received your help. Check your Student Handbook if you are not clear about what constitutes plagiarism and its penalties. Failing the course is a given and expulsion is a very real possibility. I’ve been down this road before, and it is both embarrassing for the student, and taken extremely seriously by the administration. Know that the Internet is a very real temptation, but also know that it is even easier to trace work taken off the web and to document such plagiarism. I do not want to deal with such matters. I want to teach you how to write and think – not to punish you for stealing.
Academic Misconduct: All suspected incidents of academic misconduct shall be handled using the UW System rules, Chapter 14. ‘Academic Misconduct’ includes, but is not limited to, the following examples: ‘cheating on an examination, collaborating with others in work to be presented, contrary to the stated rules of the course; submitting a paper or assignment as one’s own work, when a part or all the paper or assignment if the work of another; tampering with the laboratory equipment or computer program of another student. (From UWS 14.03)’ Further definition of ‘academic misconduct’ can be found in UWS 14.03. UWS 14 is available to all students in the library; additionally, all students receive a copy of this policy during their orientation.