Course requirements

If you arrive late to class or if you don't turn in the discussion questions on time, you are counted as absent.

If you are taking a Tuesday Thursday course, you may miss two classes for whatever reason, without excuse. If you are taking a MWF course, you you may miss two classes for whatever reason, excuse. Missing more than two classes (for whatever reason) in a Tuesday Thursday course or more than three classes (for whatever reason) in a MWF course may result in a reduction of your final grade for the course, the degree of the reduction to be determined by me at my discretion (depending on the circumstances, I may not lower your final grade at all or I may lower your final grade to an "E"). Missing four classes (two weeks) in a Tuesday Thursday course or more than six classes in a MWF course (two weeks) means that you have failed the course. I advise you to withdraw from the course. If you do not withdraw, you will get an "E" as your final grade.

You will not receive better than a "C" in the course if you do not attend and participate in class. So even if all your written work is "A" level (or "B") but you have not participated in class discussion, you will receive a "C" for the course. Class attendance and participation are crucial to the success of this course. By "attendance" I mean not only being in class, but completing the assigned work for each class by the time it is due and arriving to class on time. (If you arrive late to class or if don't do the discussion questions, you are counted as absent.) By participate, I mean attend class, do the discussion questions, and speak up usefully in class so that a given conversation moves forward. Talking but not adding anything is not participating.

No cell phones, ipads, or laptops in use during class. I forgot when teaching on zoom how distracting media can be in a face to face class. It's important that every student pay full attention to whomever is speaking. So please turn off your phone and computers when you come to class. As one writer put it recently, "It has become clear, as we witness the advance of Panopto, Class Dojo and the rest of the EdTech industry, that one of the great things about an old-fashioned classroom is the facilitation of unrecorded, unaudited speech, and of uninterrupted reading and writing." Learning face to face cannot happen unless it is mono-tasking. Literature demands and deserves your continuous attention. Listening attentively in class without media to distract you is not just common courtesy and a show of respect to your fellow students. It means you can have a really high-powered discussion that we are all capable of having in class when everyone one is listening carefully.

You can participate by bringing up a topic, adding to someone else's point, or disagreeing, among other ways. Just making random comments that lead us nowhere does not count as participartion. If, in addition to not participating, you don't turn in written work, you will not pass the course.

This class cannot work unless you want to be here. In other words, if you're going to be here, you really have to be here.
Therefore, in order to really be here, you have to want to be here.
In short, if you are going to be here, you really have to be here.

2. We'll have the text up on the screen, so the co-leaders will be able to search the text easily, as Patrick and Alex did last class. You can bring a print copy of the book if you wish.

4. I will give class quizzes at the beginning of class. Please bring paper and a pen or pencil with you to class so you can answer the quiz questions. If you have done the assigned reading carefully, you should have no problem answering the questions. For example, I might ask: What happens at the very beginning of the novel? Answer: The narrator, Lockwood, arrives at Wuthering Heights. I might quote a memorable line from the reading and ask you to identify the speaker and the context. If you can't answer the questions, you'll need to read the text more slowly and closely.

5. As I said, I will give the quizzes at the beginning of class. I will not repeat the questions in order to save class time. Missed quizzes may not be made up.

Caught between a brutal meritocracy and a radical new progressivism, a parent tries to do right by his children while navigating New York City’s schools.

WHEN THE CULTURE WAR COMES FOR THE KIDS