Assessment of Academic Achievement
General:
Assessment may include (but need not be limited to) quizzes, class participation, essays, and exams. But assessment must include a minimum of 2,000 words of formal literary analysis.
Specific:
Students will write at least one out-of-class essay of literary analysis that is at least 1,200 words in length.
Students will take at least one written exam which requires them to analyze literature; whether a single essay or multiple shorter responses, this expository component will count for at least half of the credit for that exam.
General Course Requirements and Recommendations
Required:
Students will read substantial and representative selections from the works of the Greek tragedians, of Shakespeare, and of British, American, and other English-language poets.
Students will read a substantial and representative selection of literary texts that explore themes such as self-knowledge, revenge, conflict, war, nature, race, family, and love.
Students will regularly engage in thoughtful discussion of the assigned readings.
Students will study (through assigned readings and /or classroom discussion) the cultural contexts from which the literature emerges.
Students will study concepts that are essential to an introductory-level understanding of poetry and drama, such as literature, literary criticism, genre, setting, character, plot, figurative language, style, tone, diction, irony, flashback, allusion, poetry, verse, rhythm, meter, rhyme, metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration, apostrophe, enjambement, epic poetry, narrative poetry, lyric poetry, Italian sonnet, English sonnet, free verse, drama, tragedy, comedy, protagonist, antagonist, tragic hero, catharsis, hubris, catastrophe, dialogue, soliloquy, chorus, orchestra, strophe, and groundlings.
Recommended:
Students should learn appropriate biographical information about assigned writers when such information could be helpful in understanding the literature.
Students should take quizzes on assigned readings.
Students should keep a journal in which they record their responses to assigned readings and class discussions.
Students should learn to place the major assigned writers and texts on an historical time line.
Students should satisfactorily read at least one poem or scene aloud, either in class or in the instructor’s office.
Instructors should welcome and support the diverse identities, backgrounds, and academic experience of our students as essential foundations for college community.