ONR 012 – Onward Introduction to Academic Reading Fall 2007

Instructor: June K. Carter

Phone: 581-2312

E-mail: june.carter@umit.maine.edu

Office: 119 East Annex

Office Hours: T 4- 5; MWF 8:30-9:30; 11-12; and by appointment.

Students may leave messages on my phone, in my mailbox outside Rm.119 East Annex, or with Susan Spaulding 581-2319, Rm. 121 East Annex.

Course Information

• ONR 013-001, CRN 10201, Critical Reading
• ONR 013-002, CRN 10216, Critical Reading

Course description: For students who already have a beginning acquaintance with the methods of critical reading, but who need to refine and strengthen their skills in order to succeed in regular university courses. Activities include concentrated text analysis, oral and written presentations, and independent research. Three credit hours.

Prerequisites: Have passed ONR 012 or permission of instructor.

Reading Lab and Study Sessions: IA--Laura Thomas. TBA.

Instructional Materials and Methods

Textbook title(s) and other required course materials: The Course of Ideas, Second Edition; The Mercury Reader, and King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, by Adam Hochschild. Class handouts and the Dialectical Journal are important supplements to the texts. A good dictionary is very beneficial.

Learning Outcomes

Course goals and expected outcomes:

At the end of the semester, students should be able to:

• Expand general vocabulary and specific concepts.
• Analyze literature and college readings with more ease.
• Utilize reading and study strategies in other college classes.
• Compare and contrast reading selections.
• Develop an understanding of different genres of literature.
• Make oral presentations to a class.
• Have an overview of Western Civilization, its history, philosophy, religion, and science.
• Understand the growth of colonialism, particularly in Africa.

Grading and Course Expectations:

Keep up with all the readings and make appropriate Journal entries in Column 1 as you read along for the first time, in Column 2 after you've finished reading it once and you've had some time to reflect. Add to your Spelling List and keep a solid Vocabulary List that you can refer to and use.

Unannounced quizzes, writings, and other classwork may occur. Class discussion will be a valuable part of class and will affect your Participation grade. You will be required to make at least one oral presentation. There will be some cross-classes activities that will involve reading in ONE and writing in ONR.

Component Grades and Scale:

• Dialectical Journal 10%
• Quizzes, classwork, presentation 20%
• Prelims 40%
• Participation & attendance 10%
• Final Exam (TBA) 20%

Rubrics for A Work:

• An A Journal will be thorough, interesting, and analytical. It will follow the Journal format and guidelines, show improvement with each submission, and indicate some taking of chances during your exploration of reading.
• An A Quiz, Classwork, Presentation grade will show solid preparation, mastery of material, and ability to make connections.
• An A Prelim or final Exam grade will show mastery of material; some mastery of academic writing, structure, and wording skill; and interaction with the material and critical thinking during your analysis.
• An A Participation-Attendance grade will be based on attending all classes unless excused, arriving to class on time, and adding to class discussion and understanding.

Attendance and Other Policies:

Since attendance is a vital condition for academic success, only three excused absences will be allowed before your grade will be adversely affected. Late papers will lose a grade each day they are late, from a B to a B- to a C+ down to not being accepted. Let me now when you must be out and make arrangements to get any information you missed or to turn in your work. Your failure to come to class, to do the assigned reading, and to participate affects everyone in the class.

Because much information and clarification is given in class, it is vital that you participate in a positive manner, ask and answer questions when appropriate, be prepared for class, and listen (and allow other students and the teacher to listen) to one another.

If you expect an important call on your cell phone, tell the instructor and sit near the door to take the call in the hallway; otherwise turn off your phones and pagers in class. There may be unannounced writings and quizzes, plus some alterations in assignments. The work will be premised on your understanding of last semester's material, so review and be ready for ongoing discussion.

Academic Honesty:

Academic dishonesty includes cheating, plagiarism, and all forms of misrepresentation in academic work, which is unacceptable at The University of Maine, as stated in the "Student Handbook." Such violations of the Student Conduct Code may result in expulsion from the University.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:

If you wish to request an accommodation for a documented disability, please contact Ann Smith, Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities (581-2319), as soon as possible.

ONR 013 Schedule of Assignments Spring 2008

Week One

M 1/14 Bring Mercury Reader (MR) and Journal. Receive Handout of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.

W 1/16 Have read “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Make a Journal entry by using the entire page instead of Columns 1 and 2. We’ll set up Vocabulary List in your Journal. You are expected to know the meanings of ALL the words in our readings.

F 1/18 Have read and made a Journal Entry for “I Have a Dream.” We’ll draw topics for Oral Presentations.

Week Two

W 1/23 Know the names and information about the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses for a QUIZ over the Handout. Have read the Newsweek handout of 1968 and MLK’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech (In-class). Bring The Course of Ideas (CI). Sign up with Susan for Prelim 1/30 if you take your prelims at EA).

F 1/25 Read Hamilton’s “Introduction to Classical Mythology” and make a Journal entry. Read the Myth of Narcissus and Echo and make a Journal entry. Remember to enter the words you learned the meanings of. Receive “Sisyphus” handout.

Week Three

M 1/28 Read Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” (MR) and the Handout of “The Myth of Sisyphus” by Camus (Handout) and make Journal entries. Review for Prelim.

W 1/30 Prelim over readings and handouts so far.

F 2/1 Begin Oral presentations in class. EVERYONE be ready to do so TODAY! Read the LBH Checklist for Oral Presentations page 856. Feel free to write on the board before the actual presentation to help us spell the words (mostly names) you are saying or follow the thread of the story. You can bring in anything to make your presentation more interesting, understandable, or dramatic. Try not to go over five minutes. In class, take notes so that you know the basic outline of each person’s presentation.

Week Four

M 2/4 Presentations continued. Have read “Oedipus” (CI) pp. 14-18 and “Psychoanalytical Theory” pp. 157-161, making a Journal entry of one of the selections.

W 2/6 Presentations continued. Have read “from The Odyssey” pp. 18-22.

F 2/8 Presentations continued, if need be. Have read “from Paideia” pp. 22-26 and made a Journal entry.

Week Five

M 2/11 Have read Greer’s “The Founders of Western Philosophy” pp. 26-34. Make a list of questions you want to be discussed in class. You could review the questions at the end of Greer to see how much you can understand just by thinking and looking back at the material.

W 2/13 Have read Plato’s “from Symposium” pp. 35-37 and Plato’s “from The Apology of Socrates” and “Phaedra” pp. 49-52. Make a Journal entry for one of Plato’s selections.

F 2/15 Have read Ch. 2 “Religion” pp. 71-81. Section 001--Answer # 1 and 3 p. 81 for Homework. Section 002--Answer # 2 and 4 p. 81 for Homework. You can look at the reading. Pass in Journals after class in Room 119 EA.

Week Six

M 2/18 Have read “Middle Ages”—“Saint Augustine’s Confessions” pp. 82-84 and “The Koran” pp. 96-97.

W 2/20 Have read “God as Divine Clockmaker” pp. 108-111 and “Of Universal Tolerance” pp. 111-114. Sec. 001—Answer # 2 p. 114 for Homework; Sec. 002—Answer #1 p. 111 for Homework. Prelim over the Greeks and Religion so far.

F 2/22 Have read “An Overview of Terrorism” pp. 377-382 and Oppenheimer’s “Defining Terrorism” pp. 382-386.

Week Seven

M 2/25 Have read Bertrand Russell’s “Evolution” pp. 149-152; “Sidney Hook’s “Democracy” pp. 305-311; and “Early Social Darwinism” pp. 164-168.

W 2/27 Have read deRiencourt’s “Women of Athens” pp.

312-315; Hunter College’s “Women’s Realities” pp. 333-340; and “Why Women Need the Goddess” pp.122-129. Make a Journal entry of one of these selections. Receive handout of Samantha Smith’s letter.

F 2/29 Have read “The Klan’s Fight for Americanism” pp. 320-325 and Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” pp. 325-328. Have written a Journal entry for one of these.

SPRING RECESS

Week Eight

M 3/17 Have read “”The First Atomic Bomb dropped on Japan” pp 169-174; “Unforgettable Fire” pp. 174-177; and Samantha Smith’s “Letter to Yuri Andropov.” Have written a Journal entry for one of these.

W 3/19 Prelim over all the selections since the last prelim. Turn in Journal after class in Rm 119 EA.

F 3/21 Have read the Introduction and Prologue to King Leopold’s Ghost. Know: Edmund Dene Morel; King Leopold II of Belgium; Pres. Theodore Roosevelt; Booker T. Washington; Anatole France; Mark Twain; Patrice Lumumba; Joseph Conrad; George Washington Williams; William Sheppard—you’ll meet many of them in the readings that follow! Prologue: “The Traders Are Killing Our People”: Prester John; Diogo Cao; King Joao II of Portugal; the ManiKongo; Affonso I; King Joao III; Capt. James Tuckey; James Cranch.

Week Nine

M 3/24 Have read KLG Ch. 1 “I Shall Not Give Up the Chase.” Major name that will recur: Henry Morton Stanley; literary name Charles Dickens. Know at least twenty modern countries of Africa.

W 3/26 Have read KLG Ch. 2 ”The Fox Crosses the Stream”: Write down any names you don’t know and the page numbers they are on.

F 3/28 Have read Ch. 3 “ The Magnificent Cake.”

Week Ten

M 3/31 Have read Ch. 4 “The Treaties Must Grant Us Everything” & 5 “From Florida to Berlin.” Know the meanings of all the titles, the names of the characters, the vocabulary, what is happening and why and how it affects the characters.

W 4/2 Have read Ch. 6 “Under the Yacht Club Flag”—pp. 88-100. Characters: Louise, Stephanie, Queen Marie-Henriette, and the Emin Pasha. PRELIM over KLG so far.

F 4/4 Have read Ch. 7 “The First Heretic”—George Washington Williams. Make a Journal entry.

Week Eleven

M 4/7 Have read Ch. 8 “Where There Aren’t No Ten Commandments” pp. 115-139—Rudyard Kipling; Father Achte; Mulamba; Leon Rom(p. 137). QUIZ over twenty African countries. Be able to list them from memory.

W 4/9 Have read Ch. 9 “Meeting Mr. Kurtz” & Ch. 10 “The Wood That Weeps.” Refer to Joseph Conrad’s THE HEART OF DARKNESS and the film APOCALYSE NOW. Characters: Joseph Conrad; Dorothy Tennant; William Sheppard (pp. 152-166). Make a comparison-contrast list in Journal for Sheppard and Williams (Ch. 7) to help keep them straight.

F 4/11 Ch. 11” A Secret Society of Murderers”—Kaiser Wilhelm; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Edmund Dene Morel. Prelim over Part One—the first 181 pages of KLG.

Week Twelve

M 4/14 Begin Part II KING AT BAY by having read Ch. 12 “David and Goliath.” Characters: Mary Kingsley (p. 188) and Edgar Canisus (p. 192). Have read CI Winks’ “Imperialism” pp. 366-368. Make a journal entry for Winks’ writing.

W 4/16 Have read Ch. 13 “Breaking into the Thieves’ Kitchen” and Ch. 14 “To Flood His Deeds with Day.”

Characters: Roger Casement (p. 193); Princess Clementine; Oscar Wilde; Mary Richardson Morel; Richard Harding Davis; Rev. John and Alice Seely Harris; Hezekiah Andrew Shanu; Caroline (p. 222) and Antoine-Emmanuel Durrieux.

F 4/18 Have read Ch. 15 “ “A Reckoning” and make a Journal entry. Turn in Journals to R. 119 EA after class.

Week Thirteen

M 4/21 Have read Ch. 16 “ “Journalists Won’t Give You Receipts.” Characters; Nelson Aldrich; Col. Henry Kowalski; Baron Ludovic Moncheur; Chief Lontula (p. 250). Be ready to list 25 African countries from memory.

W 4/23 Have read Ch. 17 “ No Man Is a Stranger” and Ch. 18 “Victory.” Characters: Vachel Lindsay; W.E.B. Dubois; Rev. William Morrison; Lilongo and Ifume. “Congo” in class.

F 4/25 (Arbor Day) Have read Ch. 19 “The Great Forgetting.” Make a list of what happened to the major characters to help review.

Week Fourteen

M 4/28 Read CI “White Masters of the World” by William DuBois pp. 368-371.

W 4/30 MAINE DAY (No Classes)

F 5/2 Review, Wrap-up, Evaluate

(Sat. 5/3 Onward Graduation Gala)

FINAL EXAM TBA

Over Part II KLG and other assigned readings and information, vocabulary, meanings of titles, characters, and all that jazz.

 

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