Please read the Class Policies page now.

Requirements: TOTAL ATTENDANCE; Co-lead class discussion twice, once on a Monday and once on a Wednesday; two discussion questions;and three or more "BIG WORDS" for each class; student formulated quizzes each class; three 500 word papers; and a willingness to reflect, think, respond, by paying very, VERY, VERY close formal attention to texts and films. (All due dates are given on the schedule page.) I will be asking you to learn how to do something no one may have asked you to do: it's called close reading. (Please do not confuse being moralistic and judgmental--"it didn't do 'x' and it should have done!"--with being critical--"why is the work doing what it is doing the way it is doing it?") Papers due dates are listed on the schedule page. I will give you topics for each paper.  

You will be counted absent if you do not turn in the DQs on time Mondays and Wednesdays. No late work is accepted. I allow two unexcused absences. Three or four absences will impact your final grade at my discretion. More than four absences means you will fail course. See the Attendance policies for this course.

Discussion Questions (DQs) and BIG WORDS or any three shots of your choice with three film analysis terms are always due by Mondays and Wednesdays by 5:00 p.m. We will discuss your DQs in class the day after they are due Mondays and Wednesdays by 5:00 p.m. I have posted due dates for the the first few assignments but I will no longer give due dates after August 29. You'll know the drill by then.

BIG WORDS: For each assigned reading, I will ask you to look up the definitions of three Big Words and (and cut and paste the words and their definitions into one document including your DQs)

I'll ask you to co-lead classes two times during the semester. You and your co-leader will create a google document and share it with me so I can give you advice before we meet for class.

All assigned work for the course must be completed and be of passing quality to pass the course. We will learn collaboratively. It's what I call "live learning." I will not lecture at you while you try to stay awake. Therefore, you and your fellow students must all participate in class discussion. This is a new and somewhat experimental course I have designed myself. It is not a course where you can do 70 percent of the work and expect to get a C in the course. To get a C in the course, you need to do 100 percent of the work at a C level. Because of the large number of students in the class, I may not notice if you have not been completing the work until the end of the term. In that case, you will receive an E. To get above a C, you must participate in class discussion.