ENGLISH 2131 Fall 2009

Dates/Times: TR 6:00 - 7:15 p.m. in Room 706 of the Academy of Advanced Studies at Henry County High School

The texts for this class are included in the The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Fifth Edition edited by Paul Lauter. They are volumes A and B. The Thomas Paine text is on the Web.

Your final grade will be determined by the following, all of which must be completed in order to complete the course:

Research papers will be graded according to the CCSU Writing Guidelines, which are here. Presentations will be evaluated according to the following scale:

The link below is to the Basic Undergraduate Student Responsibilities from Clayton State's online Academic Catalog:
http://a-s.clayton.edu/BasicUndergraduateStudentResponsibilities.htm. Please familiarize yourself with these responsibilities as part of your contractual relationship with Clayton State University.

Disruptive Classroom Behavior¹

Disruptive behavior in the classroom can negatively affect the classroom environment as well as the educational experience for students enrolled in the course. Disruptive behavior is defined as any behaviors that hamper the ability of instructors to teach or students to learn. Common examples of disruptive behaviors include, but are not limited to:

Eating in class

Monopolizing classroom discussions

Failing to respect the rights of other students to express their viewpoints

Talking when the instructor or others are speaking

Constant questions or interruptions which interfere with the instructor’s presentation

Overt inattentiveness (e.g., sleeping or reading the paper in class)

Creating excessive noise

Entering the class late or leaving early

Use of pagers or cell phones in the classroom

Inordinate or inappropriate demands for time or attention

Poor personal hygiene (e.g., noticeably offensive body odor)

Refusal to comply with faculty direction

Students exhibiting these types of behaviors can expect a warning from the instructor or dismissal for the lesson in which the behavior occurs. Failure to correct such behaviors can result in dismissal from the course.

More extreme examples of disruptive behavior include, but are not limited to:

Use of profanity or pejorative language

Intoxication

Verbal abuse of instructor or other students (e.g., taunting, badgering, intimidation)

Harassment of instructor or other students

Threats to harm oneself or others

Physical violence

Students exhibiting these more extreme examples of disruptive behavior may be dismissed from the lesson or the entire course.

Students dismissed from a lesson will leave the classroom immediately or may be subject to additional penalties. Dismissed students are responsible for any course material or assignments missed.

Students dismissed from a course have the right to appeal the dismissal to the department head responsible for the course. Appeals beyond the department head may also be pursued. If no appeal is made or the appeal is unsuccessful, the student will receive a grade of WF (withdrawal – failing) regardless of the current grade in the course.

Conditions attributed to physical or psychological disabilities are not considered as a legitimate excuse for disruptive behavior.
^{1 The description of disruptive behavior and listings of
examples of disruptive behavior are taken from the Web sites of
James Madison University, the University of Delaware and Virginia
Tech.}

UNIVERSITY ATTENDANCE POLICY

Students are expected to attend and participate in every class meeting. Instructors establish specific policies relating to absences in their courses and communicate these policies to the students through the course syllabi. Individual instructors, based upon the nature of the course, determine what effect excused and unexcused absences have in determining grades and upon students’ ability to remain enrolled in their courses. The university reserves the right to determine that excessive absences, whether justified or not, are sufficient cause for institutional withdrawals or failing grades.

Dr. Copeland's Attendance, Roll Call, and Late or Missed Work Policies

See my attendance policy and its effect on grades above.

Roll will be called during each class period. Late papers will not be accepted without a physician's, or equally serious, documentation. The same is true with regard to missed exams; they cannot be made up without an acceptable and documented reason for absence. Missed quizzes cannot be made up, but a certain number of quizzes will be dropped from each individual student's record to accommodate for absences.

Plagiarism involves copying another person’s words or ideas without citing the source with appropriate documentation. A plagiarized paper is considered an incomplete assignment, and any student who plagiarizes fails this course. Any student who cheats on an exam also fails the exam and the course.

To obtain this document and all other course materials in an alternative format,contact Disability Services by telephone at 678-466-5445 or by e-mail at disabilityservices@clayton.edu.

Midterm grades will be posted before the deadline for withdrawal without academic penalty; that deadline is included in the schedule below. Midterm grades will be calculated by the average of each student’s graded work at that time.

All students at Clayton State are required to have access to a laptop computer and to use that computer actively in all courses for e-mail access, electronic submission of papers, and other uses.

On the schedule below are readings from our text or the Web (with pages and Web sites in parentheses) listed on the day for which you will be responsible for them in class. Check this schedule regularly for alterations.

27: Native American poetry (197-103); de Montaigne (109-110); Donne (111-112); Bacon (112)

1: Columbus (120-128); de Vaca (141-152); Hopi (203-207); de Laudonniere (216-218)

3: Smith (258-269); Morton (296-307); Plagiarism exercises; presentation topics due