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Course Requirements:
Film
critique/comparison: 20%
Engaged Class Participation: 20 %
Final: 30%
Research
Project: 30%
To pass the course, you must complete each requirement, and comply with
the attendance requirements outlined in the general
course policies.
Film
Critique/Comparison (due 9/21):
Lots of movies are being
made based on books written for preadolescent audiences. Choose a
film and the book it's based on, and view the film and read the book.
Write a three-page paper in which you compare and evaluate the movie
adaptation to the book. Pay attention to the following: Did the director
change the ending or emphasize something that wasn't emphasized in the
book? How does that affect the ideological emphases in the book?
Some possibilities: Stuart
Little, Witches, Shiloh, The Devil's Arithmetic, Anne
of Green Gables, James and the Giant Peach, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate
Factory, The Indian in the Cupboard, The Neverending Story, Ella
Enchanted, Holes
Engaged Class Participation:
As I hope you have learned by now in your years
here at ISU, class participation is more than just showing up. I have a
punitive attendance policy to cover the issue of whether or not your
warm body is in class. This is different. Engaged class participation
means that you share your ideas with the rest of the class (none of this
"I'm just a quiet person" nonsense). I've been teaching one level or
another for over 20 years, and believe me, I have ways of making you
talk. Don't make me use them--most of them are annoying. This class will
be as lively or as boring as you make it. As
part of your class participation grade, you will be asked to keep a
sporadic journal where you address the topic "If I were the main
character of a preadolescent novel..." How much or how little you write
will be up to you, but I will be reminding you of the assignment
periodically, and will ask for it when you return from Thanksgiving
break.
Research
Project (Due before or during final exam period):
You will proceed as follows:
1. Choose one of the following topics. Turn in your
topic selection on October 5.
2. Focus on a specific literary "problem" within that topic.
Turn in your thesis statement on October 26.
3. Generate an annotated bibliography of at least three critical articles
and any number of primary sources (i.e. preadolescent books).
Turn in your bibliography on November 2.
4. Format your final project in one of the following ways:
Traditional research paper (2500 words)
Hypertext document/Website
Bring a draft or (flowchart of your website) to class on December 5 for
peer critique.
5. Bring your project/paper to my office before or
during the final exam period.
A. Gender and Books
B. Portrayal of Family Relationships
C. Disabilities
D. Fairy Tale Remakes
E. Problems in Historical Fiction
F. Ideology of Childhood
G. Open Topic
Final Exam: There
will be a comprehensive final exam that will consist of essay questions
that ask you to synthesis ideas across several of the readings that we
have done this semester. |