Tuesday, June 15, 2010:
Last Friday, on the day of the Final Exam, I announced that additional optional revisions of the Research Essay could be dropped off in M-157 between 10:30 and 11:00 on Monday, June 14, and that there would be no exceptions and no extensions. A few students did take advantage of this opportunity; however—and, unfortunately, unsurprisingly—I discovered today that several students left their revisions in my folder in MB-14 instead. This was specifically prohibited—I stated that only work submitted in person between 10:30 and 11:00 would be accepted—so no work  left in my folder was included in calculating your final grades.

Monday, June 14, 2010:
I have finished grading your final exams, plugged your scores into the spreadsheet, and calculated your final grades. Grades may be accessed online at the LaGuardia website (login required), or here by Student ID number. Enjoy the rest of your summer.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010:
On Friday, June 11, we will meet for the Final Exam, a timed in-class essay. Remember, just as for the Midterm Exam, you may use both your book (or printouts) and a dictionary or thesaurus for this essay. Please note, class begins at 8:00, and the exam is just two hours long. If you arrive late, you may not have enough time to complete your essay, nor will you be granted additional time after the two-hour limit has elapsed. In addition, if you arrive extremely late, you may not even be allowed to take the exam: once the first student to complete the exam has left the classroom, no other students will be allowed to come in and begin.

I am working my way through your Research Paper Projects, and expect to have them finished so that I can return them to you on Friday. Students concerned about their grades should review the instructions and class policies; in general, if your essays adhered to all instructions and are even moderately well written, they will earn grades of at least a C or a B. Essays that did not follow directions or that demonstrate consistent, egregious errors in mechanics, grammar, usage, spelling, or documentation, on the other hand, will be graded accordingly.

On a related note, I am unsurprised to discover cases of obvious plagiarism (remember “the speech” from the first day of class?);  I am, however, dismayed at the number of cases I encountered! Students who have plagiarized on their essays will receive grades of zero for the assignment, and may face further disciplinary action; however, if they submit revised drafts of their essays at the start of class on Friday, with all sources correctly cited and copies attached, I will accept them (and drop the zero). Unfortunately, those who submitted essays including plagiarism are among those least likely to be reading these announcements, and will probably have all sorts of excuses and explanations after the fact, so this additional chance will be wasted.

See you on Friday.

Thursday, June 3, 2010:
Tomorrow we will finish our discussion of Hamlet, beginning with Act III, scene ii; be sure you have finished reading the entire play before class. Keep track of the bodies, and compare the methods of death with those in “Tales from the Public Domain”:

Claudius (Moe) is stabbed, as in the original play;

Ophelia drowns herself: when Hamlet (Bart) talks to a portrait of his father, stating, “It’s true; Uncle Claudius murdered you,”  Ophelia (Lisa) responds, “Oh, great, now Hamlet is acting crazy. Well nobody out-crazies Ophelia” and, singing “Hey nonny nonny,”  cartwheels out of the window into the castle moat;

Polonius (Chief Wiggum) is hiding behind a curtain when he is stabbed because he has “a morbid fear of being stabbed” through a curtain;

Laertes (Ralph Wiggum) kills himself with a practice stab before the duel;

Rosencarl and Guildenlenny are covered in contact poison and die when they give each other a high five;

Hamlet (Bart) dies slipping on blood and falling;

Gertrude (Marge) kills herself with a mace because, as she states, “Sheesh, what a mess! I’m not cleaning this up!”).

In addition, pay special attention in your reading to the following (line and page numbers from Literature: A Portable Anthology):

III. iii. 36–98: Claudius’ soliloquy and Hamlet’s response (846–47).

III. iv. 1–224: Gertrude’s room, especially Hamlet’s confession to his mother that he is acting (848–55).

IV. i. 1–32: Gertrude’s response to Claudius (855–56).

IV. iii. 16–34: Hamlet’s exchange with Claudius (858–59).

IV. iv. 32–66: Hamlet’s soliloquy (861–62).

IV. v. 75 ff.: Claudius’ catalogue of ills and what comes next (864–69).

V. i. 119–139: Evidence of Hamlet’s age (881).

V. ii. 4–47: What happens to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (885–87).

V. ii. 229–end: The duel and what happens then (809–814).

Also tomorrow, your Research Paper Project is due. As per instructions, the final draft of the research paper must be submitted in a folder, including copies of all sources used and all of the previous assignments associated with the research paper (Topic Selection, Annotated Bibliography, and Research Paper Draft).

Your Research Paper must be argumentative (persuasive), at least six pages (at least 1500 words), with a cover page and Works Cited page. Note: the cover page and Works Cited do not count toward the six-page requirement!

Your essay should include a minimum of three to five primary or secondary sources; secondary sources must be reputable critical or scholarly sources, whether books, periodicals, or online sources. You must include at least one short quotation, one long—block—quotation, and one paraphrase, and these sources must be properly documented (utilizing MLA-style citations), and integrated into your writing smoothly and correctly. All sources, primary and secondary, should be correctly documented utilizing MLA-style citations (If you are writing on Topic 2, see the instructions for documenting films here). See also Research Paper checklist.

Friday, May 21, 2010:
We will continue Hamlet next week, beginning with Act II; be sure you have read at least through the end of Act IV, if not the entire play!

Optional revisions of Essay 1 and Essay 2 (the midterm) were due in class today; see class announcement for Friday, May 7, below.
If you submitted a revision— or a late research essay draft— your work will be returned next Friday, May 28.

Finally, in “Tales from the Public Domain” (The Simpsons episode DABF08), Carl and Lenny portray Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, as Rosencarl and Guildenlenny, respectively. In addition, instead of the wandering players performing The Murder of Gonzago, we get improv from Krusty the Clown and Mr. Teeny:

Krusty (dressed as a jester): Now we would like to warn you, our performances tend to make audience members blurt out hidden secrets....We’re gonna open it up with a little improv. Somebody shout out a location.

Bart (as Hamlet): This castle!

Krusty: Okay, how ’bout an occupation?

Bart: Usurper of the throne!

Krusty: I think I heard usurper of the throne. Now finally I need an object.

Bart: Ear poison!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010:
On Friday, May 21, we will begin Hamlet; be sure you have read at least through Act II. See also, No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet; Ed Friedlander, Enjoying Hamlet by William Shakespeare; The Hamlet Site; The Life of William Shakespeare, About Shakespearean Theater, Summary and Analysis of  Hamlet, and an extremely abbreviated Hamlet from Book-a-Minute Classics. NOTE: These links are provided as an aid to understanding the text, not as a substitute! You are still expected to read the original text! There will very likely be a quiz at the start of class, with questions based on Act I; if we have a second quiz, after the break, it would be based on events in Act II.

In addition, in case you are interested, in the episode “Tales from the Public Domain” (The Simpsons Episode DABF08, from March 2002), Lisa tries to get Homer and Bart interested in reading Hamlet by telling them, “This story’s more interesting than you think. It starts with Hamlet’s father getting murdered.” Bart’s response is, “Cool. Does he get to marry his mom?” to which Homer replies, “I don’t know, but that would be hot.” In the episode itself, Bart is Hamlet (of course!), Homer is the ghost of King Hamlet, and Moe the bartender plays Claudius, while Carl and Lenny portray Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, as Rosencarl and Guildenlenny, respectively. And after Homer (as the ghost) tells Bart (as Hamlet) to avenge his “most foul and unnatural murder,” he returns to tell him, “It’s cold outside...you’d better bring a sweater. A sweater!”

If you submitted a research essay draft on Friday, May 14, it will be returned in class and and you will have two weeks to work on the final version, If you did not submit a draft last week, you may bring it to class this week instead. I will return any drafts submitted this week on Friday, May 28, with minimal comments; you will then have only one week to work on your final version, instead of two.

Optional revisions of Essay 1 and Essay 2 (the midterm) are due in class this Friday, May 21. As previously discussed, revisions must be substantially revised—not merely “corrected” versions of the original essay—and must be submitted with the original graded essay. Evidence of substantial revision may result in a better grade for the assignment. 

Finally, of the more than a dozen different opportunities for Extra Credit announced in class or listed online so far—not including multiple dates for some events, such as Open Rehearsals for Hamlet—only a few remain. Most have already passed, leaving only one Short Takes on Literature (tomorrow) and Emily Dickinson's Garden at the New York Botanical Garden.

Friday, May 7, 2010:
As was noticed in class today, there is a rather significant error in the schedule: the row for Friday, May 21 was accidentally deleted, both in your syllabus and online. This error has been corrected; specifically, on Friday, May 21 [corrected from May 14], we will begin Hamlet and continue it the next week, on Friday, May 28. The last day of class, Friday, June 4, we will either finish the play, if needed, or I will (attempt to) arrange a viewing of one of the screen versions of Hamlet.

The research essay draft is still due on Friday, May 14. This due date was announced back in March, so this should not present a hardship, and you have two weeks to work on the final version when you get it back, instead of just one.

Finally, you still have two weeks to submit the optional revisions of Essay 1 and Essay 2 (the midterm); both are due on Friday, May 21 [emphasis added]. Revisions must be substantially revised, not merely “corrected” versions of the original essay (revisions should be based upon the Revising and Editing Checklist and relevant information from class and the textbooks), and must be submitted with the original graded essay. Evidence of substantial revision may result in a better grade for the assignment. If you did not submit a completed essay on time, you will receive a grade of 0 and may not submit a “revision.”

Saturday, May 1, 2010:
On Friday, April 30, the Annotated Bibliography for your Research Essay was due in class; including those emailed to me, I received only fifteen (there are still twenty-five students registered in the class, although at least three no longer attend). This assignment was worth up to five points total, and required a minimum of five to seven sources, correctly cited according to MLA style (I dispensed with the requirement that you include copies of your sources, although you will need to submit copies with your final draft) The five to seven sources could include up to three primary sources, but a minimum of three to five secondary sources were also required. I specifically stated that these secondary sources should not be summaries, reviews, or “analysis” from sites such as Wikipedia, 123HelpMe, or Gradesaver.com; rather, secondary sources had to be scholarly criticism or analysis, including information from the library (CUNY Plus) or the available databases such as EBSCOHost,  Academic Search Complete Essay and General Literature Index.Gale Literary Index, or Humanities Full Text. In addition to a correct citation for each source, you were also to include a description or summary of the source, one paragraph long (at least two to three lines), and an explanation of how you intend to use it in your essay. Clearly, not everyone will receive the full five points!

Next Friday, May 7, Essay 3 (Poetry) is due, as explained in class. Please refer to your syllabus, and read the instructions carefully! Remember, like Essay 1, this is not a research essay; the only sources utilized or quoted should be the texts themselves. Use of secondary sources, whether credited or not, will be considered grounds for failure. I will respond to specific questions emailed to me, but do not wait until Thursday to ask me about two poems you would like to work with; since the essay is worth 12.5 points, more than a full letter grade, I should think you would start it early and spend sufficient time on it, including not only drafting but carefully revising, editing, and proofreading. Be sure you have read Keys for Writers 5b and 5c (“Writing about Literature” and “A Student’s Literature Paper”), as well as “Writing about Poems” (Gardner 1238-1247) before you begin writing.

In addition, I will return the Midterm Exam on Friday; optional revisions will be due the following week, and if you do choose to revise, you must submit both the original bluebook and the typed revision, with the newer version stapled on top of the bluebook.

In addition to the extra credit previously announced, there are also two additional opportunities as announced in class; this brings the total to thirteen opportunities (about half of which have already passed or are no longer available):

Finally, on Friday we will probably discuss four of the seven remaining poems: Wilfred Owen, “Dulce et Decorum Est” (570); Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (554); Shelley, “Ozymandias” (500); E.E. Cummings, “in Just-” (571); William Carlos Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow” (557-558); William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming” (544-545); and Gerard Manley Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur” (540). Be prepared to advocate for your favorite!

Saturday, April 17, 2010:
On Friday, April 23, revisions of Essay 1 are due. Remember, you do not have to revise, but you must resubmit your essays to receive credit. If you do choose to revise, you must submit both the original and the revision, with the newer version stapled on top of the previous draft.

We will continue discussing poetry Friday (for at least the first hour or ninety minutes of class), so be sure you have read Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (464-465); Raleigh, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” (not in textbook; to be distributed in class, or available online here); and Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress” (476-477);\. We will also discuss the Annotated Bibliography, which is due on Friday, April 30.

In addition, the Midterm Exam is on Friday; be sure you are familiar with all of the stories and poems on the syllabus through April 23.

Oh, and by the way, you might find the following information interesting and useful: “Philomela” (from Encyclopedia Mythica),  “Philomela” (from the Ovid Metamorphoses Resource Page), and “Philomela” (entry in Wikipedia); I'm not saying there will be another one-question quiz, but then again, there might be.

Thursday, April 8, 2010:
I hope that everyone remembers that Essay 1 is due tomorrow; as I stated before break, be sure to read the instructions carefully! Friday is also our last day on fiction, so be sure you have read both Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” (242-249) and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” (368-375) as well as all of the previous stories; we will have at least one quiz on one or more of the stories!

I have also posted even more extra credit opportunities: LaGuardia's own Short Takes on Literature. As most of the readings have no direct connection to class, attendance (with evidence of attendance and a typed one- to two-page personal response, as per instructions) is only worth one point extra credit; on Thursday, May 20, however, the readings are “Affair of Outposts” by Ambrose Bierce  and “A Late Encounter with the Enemy” by Flannery O’Connor. Since both authors are on the syllabus, attendance at this one (with evidence and response, as above) will earn two points extra credit.

Monday, April 5, 2010:
Now that the break is over, we have only eight class meetings left before the Final Exam, so everyone should be prepared to work a bit harder for the next few weeks. Remember, you have an essay due when we return on Friday, and it is also our last day of discussing fiction (on April 19, we begin reading and discussing poetry). Therefore, be sure you have read both Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” (242-249) and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” (368-375) before Friday, as well as all of the previous stories.

Friday, March 26, 2010:
I have corrected the link for No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet on the main page. Remember, this link and others are provided as an aid to understanding the text, not as a substitute! You are still expected to read the original text!

I will see you again on Friday, April 9. Remember to read your syllabus, as you have an essay due when we return. Enjoy your break.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010:
On Friday, your Research Essay Topic Selection is due. This is worth five points (one-half letter grade), so be sure to read the instructions carefully, here.

Also, in addition to the readings listed on the schedule for Friday (Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado,” pp. 14-19; Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown,” pp. 3-13); and Lawrence, “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” pp. 145-157), be sure you have read Bierce, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (pp. 51-58) from last week.

Friday, March 12, 2010:
In addition to the extra credit announced in class today (Hamlet at the BlackBox Theatre, M122), I have posted three additional possibilities:

Wednesday, March 3, 2010:
The main page and syllabus have both been updated for the Fall II 2010 semester.

If you are looking for the previous Announcements page (Fall II 2010), please see here.