English 207: Appalachian Literature
Syllabus, Fall 2006   

Dr. Tina L. Hanlon

Associate Professor of English
Ferrum College, English Department

Appalachian Literature Course Home Page

Ferrum College Fall Academic Calendar

It is your responsibility to check course web pages regularly for updates and new materials. This includes material in the Angel site at http://angel.ferrum.edu. You are enrolled in Angel as a student of Ferrum College. When you log in, you should have automatic access to the course English 207 A.

Class Meeting: Britt 106, T, Th 9:30-10:50 a.m.

Professor Contact Information:
Office Hours, Britt 205: MWF: 11:10-11:50; MW 1:30-2:40; T Th: 10:50-11:50. And by appointment
Composition Center: M, W: 1- 3; T, Th: 3-4:30; F 1-2
Office Phone: 365-4327
E-mail: thanlon@ferrum.edu

Prerequisite: English 102 with a grade of C or higher

Textbooks:

Higgs, Robert J., et al.  Appalachia Inside Out: A Sequel to Voices from the Hills.  Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. Knoxville: Tennessee UP, 1995.

Chase, Richard. Grandfather Tales. Illus. Berkeley Williams, Jr. Houghton Mifflin, 1948.

Still, James. River of Earth. 1940. University Press of Kentucky edition, 1978.

White, Ruth. Belle Prater's Boy. New York: Dell, 1996.

Hamilton, Virginia. The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl. Harper, 1986.

Carson, Jo. Stories I Ain't Told Nobody Yet. Theatre Communications Group, 1991 (optional purchase; some poems will be on reserve or on handouts)

Note: Some additional recommended and required readings will be placed on reserve in the library, and some will be on the Internet or on handouts. You may be required to watch one or more films or dramatic performances during the semester.

Course Description:

An English 207 course at Ferrum College is a study of selected literary works that explore significant cultural or social issues or major themes as they have been depicted or reflected in literature. This course fulfills the literature requirement in the liberal arts core required for graduation at Ferrum College. If you do not need this course to count as your literature course in the core requirements, it can fulfill one half of your six-credit-hour Writing Intensive requirement; a grade of C or higher in this course is required for this course to count toward the six-credit-hour Writing Intensive graduation requirement for Ferrum College. A student cannot earn a grade of C or higher in this course unless he or she earns a C or better on the writing requirements required by the course.

This particular English 207 course focuses on the literature of the southern Appalachian region. By examining a variety of literary texts in different genres, as well as illustrations and other visual or audio-visual representations of the region, we will consider cultural and literary issues such as the following:

• Regional identity and culture in relation to national and international issues and traditions

•  Relationships between oral traditions and written literature

• Comparing realism, romance, folklore/mythology, and fantasy traditions in regional literature

•  Development of and resistance to regional stereotypes

• Cultural diversity in Appalachia

• Attitudes toward land and the natural environment vs. modernization and the often-overlooked urban populations in Appalachia

• Influences and perceptions of insiders and outsiders on literature and culture

• Use of dialect in literature and attitudes about language and culture

Assignments for First Week:

Sept. 5: Course introduction, in-class brainstorming on perceptions about Appalachia with help from some books and recordings, and poem “where I’m from” by George Ella Lyon (handout).

Sept. 7: Higgs, vol. 1, chap. 1. Roots, Exploration, Settlers (you can skip Speer, 16-30). Read in vol. 2, “Land and Language” by Jim Wayne Miller, p. 484. If you have time, start chap. 2 in vol. 1.

Sept. 12. See web page on George Ella Lyon Assignment (which includes books on reserve in the library)

Sept. 14. Jo Carson - details will be posted in Angel Calendar

Course Goals/Learning Outcomes. All learning activities are designed to assist you in accomplishing the following learning outcomes.

1. Read, comprehend, analyze, interpret, and evaluate primary literary texts as forms of cultural and creative expression

2. Write about literature with unity of purpose, coherent organization, and effective use of English consistent with standard rules and ordinary conventions

3.  Demonstrate independent critical thinking

4. Demonstrate critical understanding of cultural diversity as represented by Appalachian literature

This course is also likely to engage you in activities that support the following college learning outcomes:

Creative Inquiry and Critical Thinking
Evaluate the validity, perspectives, and contexts of information and ideas
Use problem-solving skills creatively to synthesize an effective response

Multidisciplinary Learning
Examine a subject and solve problems from the perspective of more than one discipline
Connect and apply knowledge to the campus and the world beyond

Assessment of Course Goals and Learning Outcomes

Course Requirements:

Papers:

All formal papers must be typed, double-spaced, with documentation using the MLA format. The Little, Brown Handbook gives instructions for standard format in academic papers and for documentation. The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers gives more detail on MLA documentation.

Evaluation and Grading:
See the college catalog, p. 44, for explanation of letter grades and numerical grades. See also Grading Criteria for English 207 Essays.

Exams: The tests and final exam will contain short answer and essay questions on material that has been discussed in class. There may also be a matching section on one or more tests. Specific material that you will be responsible for on the exams will be explained in advance. You may be asked to prepare some questions in advance, or do some take-home or open-book writing as part of an exam. The final exam is Friday Dec. 15, 2006, 2-4 p.m.

Honor Code and Academic Integrity:
The Ferrum College Honor Code applies to all work submitted for credit in this course. Plagiarism or any other form of cheating on papers, reports, or exams will result in severe penalties, which may include failure of the course. You are responsible for reading and understanding the Ferrum Honor Policy, and for avoiding the undocumented use of the words or ideas of others in your writing. If your papers or projects involves literature not in the assigned texts for the course, be sure the professor has access to those sources. It is a good idea to keep copies of pages in secondary sources from which you take specific ideas, information, or quotations that you use directly in papers. I will not grade a paper if I have any questions about its use of sources, until those questions are answered and corrections are made if necessary. (At the end of the semester this may mean automatic failure if there is no time left for clarification or corrections.) See also the notes on using online resources at Links to Online Texts.

Special Accommodations: Reasonable accommodations and auxiliary aids will be available for any qualified student with a disability in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As early in the semester as possible, you are encouraged to notify the instructor and Ms. Linda Albrecht, Disability Services Coordinator, in ARC 111. Instructors are not allowed to discuss individual accommodations in public or ask individual students to make use of them. Qualified students may request these services and must follow the reasonable guidelines required by the school (such as arranging at least 48 hours in advance for any special accommodations for a scheduled test), or you will lose your right to take advantage of these services.

Attendance and Participation:
Attendance at all classes is required and is necessary for satisfactory progress in the work of the course. Accumulating more than four unexcused absences will lower your final grade in the course by as much as one letter grade. Ferrum College policy mandates that anyone who misses one-fourth of the class meetings automatically fails the course (i.e., 6 Tues.-Thurs. classes). It is your responsibility to inform the professor (preferably in advance) and arrange for make-up work if you have a legitimate reason for missing a class. Make-up tests will be given only in the case of extreme emergency and may consist of essay questions only. ? is the last day to withdraw from a class without penalty. To withdraw from the course between that date and ? with a WP, you must be in good standing, with all course work completed to that date (otherwise the grade will be WF). Withdrawing after the tenth week results in a grade of F. See the college catalog, pp. 4, 44-45 on grading, attendance, and withdrawal policies.

You are expected to come to class each day prepared to discuss the assigned readings. Arriving late is discourteous to other class members and could result in your being marked absent for the day. You are encouraged to participate in class discussion and ask questions at any time in class, but you are expected to respect the needs and rights of others by not talking while others are talking or distracting others in any way. If you disrupt the class or distract the professor or other students you will be asked to leave the class and will be counted absent for that day.

01/11/2007
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