University of Minnesota Duluth
Spring 2010, TR 12:00-1:50, H 468
Dr. Carolyn Sigler
Office: H413, 726-8640
Spring Office Hours: TR 10:00-11:00 a.m. and by appointment
Professor Sigler's Homepage
Course Reading Schedule (available 1/10)
Course Handouts (available 1/10)
CLASS TEXTS
The following texts may be purchased at the UMD Bookstore. Please purchase only
the editions indicated below so that you will have the correct pagination for
the exams and essays (and for following discussion in class).
Required
Recommended
COURSE PURPOSES
ENGL 5444 will consider the phenomenon of the child in western culture as an
historical, aesthetic and social construct from the eighteenth century to the
present. Children are subjects both of anxiety and love; they act as a focus
for entertainment and consumption; they are the locus of extensive legislation
and monitoring by the state as well as adults in general; they are the recipients
of the culture's care and attention as well as of its neglect. We will discuss
a range of literary, visual, historical, and theoretical texts from the eighteenth
century to the present, which may include literary works for and about children,
child-rearing texts, critical theory, art, advertising, and film, as we try
to come to terms with the child as object and subject, and attempt to understand
the child's relation to ourselves as adults and members of society.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
REQUIREMENTS
*Essay (20% of grade)
*Midterm Examination (15%) 
*Final Examination (20%)
*Short Writings and Quizzes (20%)
*Oral Presentation (10%)
*Informed Class Participation (15%)
READING
All students will be expected to participate in class discussions; your presence
and active, informed participation are therefore essential to your success in the
class and the success of the class itself as a shared scholarly endeavor. Please come to
class prepared to engage with the texts, your colleagues, and me by reading the assigned works by the first date they are listed on the
schedule and having questions and ideas to contribute to our discussion. I also encourage you to take
reading notes on each text, and to mark passages we discuss in class. Please be sure to turn off all electronic devices, including cell phones, before class begins.
WRITING PROJECTS
Formal writing (done outside of class) must use MLA format, be word-processed,
free from mechanical errors, double-spaced, and printed in "best
quality" using a standard 12-point font and 1-inch margins. You must
keep a copy of any work you hand in, and retain graded work until the
end of the semester. All assignments are due at the beginning of class
on the due date, and must be turned in on time to receive full credit. Work should always be turned in directly to the professor. Papers left in the professor’s box, or dropped off by students who
do not remain in class, will be considered late, and it is the student's responsibility to ensure that any work not directly submitted has actually reached the professor. Assignments may not be submitted via e-mail.
Short Analysis: Analyze a children's artifact: Choose a game, toy, television program, or other non-literary artifact for children and analyze (in 1 1/2—2 pages) the representation of childhood that it explicitly or implicitly conveys, imitates, or relies on. You will be bringing the artifact in to share with the class. Due TBA.
Research Essay: Specific instructions for the essay projects will be distributed in class and via the class Web site. Your research essay project will be 12-15 pages in length, and must use at least 7 different sources (only 3 of which can be electronic). Your research essay should be centered on one of the assigned texts for the class, and must be based on original ideas and research. Please consult with me early and often as you work on your assignment. Also, you are welcome to consult the writing tutors at the Tutoring Center (40 CCtr). A proposal and annotated bibliography for your project is due on 9 March; the completed essay is due on 27 April 2010. Please consult with me early and often as you work on your assignment. I will be happy to read and comment on drafts as you go along. Ask your classmates for their help, too, as you work through your project. You are also welcome to consult the writing tutors at the Tutoring Center (40 CCtr).
Examinations
The midterm and final examinations (open book) will consist of identification questions as well as essays of analysis and synthesis. You will be given a number of short identification questions, as well as several brief excerpts from the required readings on our syllabus. You will be asked to answer all of the identification questions and to explicate your choice of the excerpts. In explicating the passages, you will interpret them in depth and detail. Give your sense of what each excerpt means and why it is important. Point out specific themes, images, character traits, stylistic features, etc. that convey your sense of the meaning. Also, place each excerpt in the context of the work from which it is taken. How does it fit into your interpretation of the entire work? How does it function in the text as a whole?For each exam, you will also write an essay of synthesis in which you will compare and contrast two or more of our authors as they relate to one particular common topic: e.g., their vision of childhood, use of physical setting for thematic purposes, perspectives on children's culture, distinctive uses of genre, relationship with their readers, etc. You will have a choice of several topics for this comparison/contrast; you will select one to write on.
Daily Writings and Quizzes
To help record attendance, to prepare for class discussions and to demonstrate how carefully you are reading the assigned works, you will spend a few minutes each class period writing about the day's assignment. Each brief exercise (e.g., a paragraph of reaction to the day's reading or a quiz) will be graded on a five- to ten-point scale. Quizzes and in-class writings cannot be made up if missed; however, to allow for an emergency when you might have to miss class, you may skip one writing exercise without penalty or, if you do them all, your lowest score will be dropped from your average for the semester. Quizzes turned in by students who do not remain in class will not receive credit.Late Assignments
All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the due date, and must be turned in on time to receive full credit. Papers left in the professor’s box, or dropped off by students who do not remain in class, will be considered late, and it is the student's responsibility to ensure that any work not directly submitted has actually reached the professor. Assignments may not be submitted via e-mail.I will not grant extensions on assignments unless merited by prior arrangement between us and documented proof of your inability to complete the assignment on time due to truly exceptional circumstances (a death in the immediate family, truly severe illness, etc.). Last minute computer and printer problems do not count as an emergency. Please back up your work and plan accordingly. Unless you have received an extension, late work will only be accepted up to five days after the due date, but a letter grade will be taken off for every day it is late.
