|
First Year Seminar LANG 199 - Folklore,
Food & Fiesta |
| Office Hours | When: | Wednesdays 3:00-4:00 & Fridays 2:00-3:00 |
| Where: | Library Room 107 |
How to Reach Me:
Students can get in touch with me by sending e-mail to phayesboh@bridgew.edu. I can be reached by phone or voice mail at (508) 531-2893. My campus mailbox is in Tillinghast Hall on the third floor. If you leave something in my campus mailbox please call or e-mail me to let me know, otherwise I only check it once a week. Students can also find me on the web at http://webhost.bridgew.edu/phayesboh. I am available for students to discuss grades, problems with the class, or simply to chat. I am not available to consult with students during the fifteen-minute break between classes. Students may use this time only to make an appointment to meet in my office.
I work full-time as a reference librarian at the Maxwell Library, so students may often find me at the reference department. However, I may not always be available to consult with students. As a librarian I have desk duty, prepare and teach classes on using the library, and have meetings. It is best to call ahead and arrange a time to meet if my regular office hours are not convenient.
Please read my webpage on Communicating with your Professor.
Required book:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot
Díaz - Available at the Campus Bookstore.
Find out more about this book from National
Public Radio
Blackboard
All students are required to have a Blackboard account. This will allow the
professor to send group e-mail, post announcements and assignments, and provide
a forum for online discussion, and allow students to check their grades.
Course Objectives
This is a First Year Seminar, which is designed to
introduce students to academic thought and discourse in a given topic. The topic
for this course is Latin American Culture. All First Year Seminars are writing
intensive, which means that you will be required to write several formal and
informal papers. Students will also work on
development of critical reading and thinking skills and will learn academic
research skills. Students will also learn some elementary Spanish grammar and
vocabulary. This course fulfills a Humanities Core Distribution.
Attendance and class participation:
Because a significant portion of your grade is based on
in-class writing and participation, attendance is mandatory. Unexcused absences
will negatively effect a student's grade. If you have a legitimate reason for
missing class (e.g. illness; death in the family) please tell me about it.
Missing class for reasons such as family reunions and weddings, while
understandable, are not excused. Students are responsible for finding out
what was missed on the days they were absent, whether excused or not. There is
rarely an excuse for not contacting me to find out what you missed. Attendance
and class participation will count for 50 points at the end of the semester.
In addition to the daily attendance taken by the instructor the Office of the Registrar sends out a Student Census three times during the semester. If such a census comes and any student has missed two or more consecutive classes, without contacting the instructor, the student will be marked as "no longer attending" class and will be dropped by College Administration.
Lateness:
It is not polite to arrive habitually late, or leave early from
class. Any student who arrives more than 5 minutes late, or leaves early by any
amount of time, on more than two occasions will have five points deducted from
his or her class participation grade for each offense. If you believe you will
have trouble coming to class at this 8:00 in the morning please look into
changing your schedule. There are many other First Year Seminars to from which
to choose.
Make-Ups:
I only give make-up exams in extreme cases when the following conditions are
met: 1) the student has a valid excuse for missing the exam (e.g. severe
illness, death in the immediate family) 2) the student does not wait until the
next class period to contact me, in other words - call or e-mail as soon as you
know you will not make the exam 3) a make-up can be scheduled before the exams
are returned to the rest of the class.
Late Work:
I will accept late work, for reduced credit, up to one week past the due
date of the assignment. After that time a grade of zero will be entered in
the grade book. Exceptions can be made in cases of emergency, but students
will need to contact me to make arrangements.
Extra Credit:
Students can receive extra credit for attending events on campus. Any
lecture, play, or special program is worth 10 points, if the event has specific
ties to Latin American or Spanish culture it is worth 15 points. Students may
earn up to 40 extra credit points per semester. In order to receive the credit
you must write a paragraph explaining what the event was and what you learned
from it.
Grading Criteria:
Each written assignment, quiz, and in-class assignment will have a
point value assigned to it. At the end of the semester the total number of
points a student earns will be divided by the number of points possible to
determine the final class grade. (Example student earns 439 points out of a
possible 535 points - student has earned 82 %, or a B-). I will not know how
many points are possible until the end of the semester.
Grading Scale
| A | 92-100 |
| A- | 89.1-91.9 |
| B+ | 86-89 |
| B | 83.5-85.9 |
| B- | 80-83.4 |
| C+ | 76-79.9 |
| C | 72.5-75.9 |
| C- | 70-72.4 |
| D | 60-69.9 |
| F | 59 and below |
| Final Grades will be calculated according
the table above. Students cannot have their final grades changed for any
of the following reasons:
"Your class is keeping me off the Dean's list." "Your class put me on academic probation." "Your class is keeping me from playing sports." "I won't graduate in time." |
Please be aware: all course requirements must be completed in order to receive a passing grade.
In other words, regardless of your total number of points if you fail to do a major assignment, or take an exam without a valid excuse you will fail the course.
Incompletes will only be considered under extenuating circumstances, as specified in the Student Handbook. Students must request an incomplete in writing to the instructor no later than the final exam hour for the course. The request will be forwarded to the Department Chair for consideration.
Bridgewater State College has numerous resources to help students with academic, personal, social and career issues. You can contact the following offices for help:
Academic Achievement Center - For tutoring, study groups, writing lab, math
lab and learning disabilities ext. 1214
Career Services - Testing
materials for graduate and professional school, help with resumes, internship opportunities, full-time job listings (for those about to graduate)
ext. 1328
Counseling Center - For
personal or group counseling due to academic stresses, personal or family
problems or any other reason. ext.1331
Maxwell Library - For research - ask a
reference librarian! ext.1394
Campus Police - Emergency situations, locked keys, escort service ext.1212
Center for Multicultural Affairs -
Support and programmatic services for students of color and international
students. ext. 6166
Class Cancellation line - In the unlikely event that I have to cancel class due to an illness or emergency I will notify the faculty absence line by 7:00 a.m. Students can call (508) 531-1391 to find out if any of their classes have been cancelled on a particular day. If the College cancels classes due to inclement weather, or other conditions, an announcement will be available by calling (508) 531-1777.
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Class Structure
This course is divided into topics. We will spend one to four classes on each topic depending on how much work we will be doing with it. On most Thursdays we will be spending the last 20 minutes of class discussing the book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The class schedule below includes what pages we will be covering for each week. You will be expected to come to class ready to discuss the assigned pages, and to write a brief in-class assignment on discussion days.
The following schedule may be changed as necessary.
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Topics
January 24 & 29
Introduction to course
Geography: Latin American countries and capitals; finding
and using maps
Language lesson: Bienvenidos, saludos y despedidas
First Assignment is due January 29 (Syllabus
form 10 points)
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January 29-January 31
History – Pre-Columbian culture, Spanish Conquest, the Treaty of Tordesillas
Language lesson: conjugating estar, ser, and ir in the present tense
Countries and Capitals quiz January 31
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Coffee culture
Language lesson: Farm vocabulary
Bring Draft of first writing assignment to class
February 5
Read pages 28-59 in Oscar
Wao to discuss February 7
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Clothing
Language lesson: Clothing and Colors
Writing Assignment 1
- Comparing sources
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February 14 - February 21
Folklore: La llorona, el chupacabras, and superstitions
Language lesson: present tense regular -ar –er & -ir verbs
Read pages 59-89 in Oscar Wao to discuss February 14
Read pages 89-118 in Oscar Wao to discuss February 21
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February 26-28
Film:
Language lesson: foods
Read pages 119-151 in Oscar Wao to discuss February 28
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March 4-March 13
Literature: Short Story and Poetry in Translation
Language lesson: Vocabulary-Classroom terms
Quiz - Vocabulary and present tense verbs March 4
Read pages 152-184 in Oscar Wao to discuss March 6
Read pages 184-210 in Oscar Wao to discuss March 13
Bring a draft of your Writing Assignment to class March 11
Writing Assignment 2 - "How does it rate?" Due March 13
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Spring Break March 17-21
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March 25 - April 1
Women in
Language lesson: question words & forming questions
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April 3
Music - Guest Speaker
Language lesson: expresiones con “tener”
Read pages 235-270 in Oscar Wao to discuss April 3
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April 8-10
Family
Language lesson - vocabulario de la familia y
Bring a draft for your Review Assignment to Class on
April 8
Read pages 270-307 in Oscar Wao
to discuss April 10
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Holidays (Carnaval, Cinco de Mayo, Quinceañeras, Las
Posadas, Días de los muertos)
Language lesson: days of the week, dates and telling time
& numbers 0-99
Article review
Quiz - Vocabulary and "tener" April 15
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April 22-April 24
Wrap up
¿Qué hora es? skits in class
Annotated Bibliography due April 24
Finish Oscar Wao to discuss April 24
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April 29 - May 1
Meetings with Professor - Have a draft of your paper ready!
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Tuesday May - Final Paper is Due
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Common Learning Outcomes for First Year Information Literacy
Across the five
CONNECT institutions: Bridgewater State College,
|
|
Use
of online catalog |
Citation |
Understanding
Development of Research Strategy |
Evaluation
of Sources |
Database
Use and other online materials |
What
is Information |
|
Novice |
Cannot identify the
catalog; regularly asks for assistance using and locating items. |
Does not document
sources and does not understand the need. Cannot write or identify the
elements of a citation. Does not understand
plagiarism. |
Unable to identify the
formats needed. Does not know who or when to ask for help. Uses one source
(probably Google) for everything. Does not understand how much time
research takes. Cannot understand research need. |
Does not analyze;
accepts all information as equally valid. |
Cannot identify any
database. Relies mainly on Google. |
Believes all
information to be equally valid. |
|
Practitioner |
Understands what is in
the database; knows what the call number is. Can differentiate between
reference, circulating, and other collections. |
Knows what information
is needed to write a citation; knows when to cite. Rudimentary
understanding of plagiarism. |
Understands that there
are different types of formats. Knows when to ask for help. Knows to use
more than one source. Understands that good research takes time. Needs
help formulating question. |
Understands that search engines do not vet web pages, but may not understand that analysis of other resources is also necessary. |
Can identify some
database(s), but does not always use them. Asks for help to choose
appropriate database. Uses Google when appropriate. |
Understands difference
between opinion and fact, may not be able to distinguish that difference. |
|
Expert |
Understands catalog
record. Understands different search skills (e.g. keyword, subject,
browse). Understands how to use subject terms. |
Can write an
appropriate citation in the style needed; understands and respects
intellectual property. Understands that they are contributing
to the knowledge-base of the field. |
Selects proper formats
for information needs. Uses a variety of resources effectively. Uses
Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) effectively. Modifies strategy as
research progresses; breaks down tasks into manageable time pieces. |
Analyzes all
resources for accuracy. |
Uses appropriate
database for research need. Understands the value of a subscription
database. |
Understands and can
identify bias/opinion. Recognizes that there is a difference between
popular and scholarly material. |
Created by: Ms.
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Last updated 01/22/08