WLLS 101 First Year Experience

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WLLS 101
First-Year Experience
Approaches to the Liberal Arts
Topic for Fall 2001:
The Search for Human Understanding

Dean Ellen Hall's Plenary Talk: Why are we here? An approach to education in the liberal arts

Goals and Methods:

The interdisciplinary first-year core course at Wells College is designed to familiarize you with concepts and approaches from the college's four divisions (Social Sciences, Humanities, Sciences, Fine Arts) as ways to approach the Liberal Arts. Juxtaposing well-known and "classic" texts with less familiar but related contemporary readings, the course aims to help you develop skills needed for advanced work in college, including the ability to:

think, read, and write critically, reasonably, and humanely;
discuss complex issues;
communicate effectively (orally and in other modes);
learn collaboratively;
use college (and other) resources effectively;
engage the intellectual and cultural life of the college;
respect differences in a variety of texts and people;
account for the material assigned

The interdisciplinary character of the course reflects our belief that certain intellectual goals and methods are common to academic disciplines, including the creative arts. While students of modern dance, child psychology, 16th-century British poetry, and molecular biology analyze different objects, the work they do calls for similar intellectual skills, such as observing, comparing, and interpreting. You will choose a major and become familiar with its theories and methods later in your studies at Wells College. WLLS 101 will help you see the connections between the major you will choose and others.

The Organization of Wells 101: This course is taught in a discussion and workshop format, which allows you to participate fully in class and to receive individualized attention for your work. On occasion, the entire class of 2004 will meet together for lectures and plenary addresses. Each section of WLLS 101 shares a common syllabus, and all first-year students will be reading the same texts and doing the same ssignments. In addition, we will be developing a vocabulary for talking about writing that you can apply to all future assignments that feature critical essays. Due dates for writing assignments are listed below in the syllabus and, barring emergencies, should be consistent from section to section. Sections will vary in the pace at which material is covered, use of classroom time, and class policies. Because discussion and collaborative work are essential to building an effective intellectual community, your attendance at all class sessions is expected.

The professor of your assigned section will distribute her or his office hours and codes of conduct in the course. S/he will also serve as your academic advisor until you declare a major in your sophomore year. You should feel free to consult your WLLS 101 professor about your work not only in the course but also in other matters, such as your class schedule and concerns about college work.

WLLS 101 meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:05-12:20 and Fridays from 1:45-3:00.

WLLS 101 Faculty meet every ten days on alternate times (to accommodate scheduling conflicts): Fridays from 12:30-1:30 and Tuesdays (10 days after Friday) from 12:45-1:30.

Texts:

Andrea Lunsford. The Everyday Writer.
W.E.B.DuBois. The Souls of Black Folk.
Margaret Mead. Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilization.
Mary Shelley. Frankenstein.
E.H. Gombrich. Selections from Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation.
Selections from Galileo's Commandment: An Anthology of Great Science Writing. Ed. Edmund Blair Bolles.
Selected essays, films, and plenaries

Course Requirements:

1. 10 cultural events--10%

Because we regard campus cultural events as part of the interdisciplinary experience of the course, we are also asking that you attend ten (10) cultural events over the semester. You should go to a broad spectrum of events, such as poetry readings, lectures, art exhibits, science colloquia, and three of your events must be sponsored by each of the programs in Music, Theatre, and Dance. You will also be required to attend the Native American trio on October 23, which WLLS 101 is co-sponsoring. Your professor will circulate a sheet for you to indicate the events you attended. , and music, dance, and theatre performances.

2. Writing exercises--30%

a. Short paper with revisions;

b. The Writing Project (a series of graded exercises--including library exercises, peer editing, an oral presentation with handout, drafts of thesis paragraph, works cited and bibliographical material, etc.--that results in an 8-10 page essay).

The Writing Project:

Students produce one 8-10-page essay during the semester and one revision of that essay. (Details on formatting, etc. to follow). In general, the paper is to emerge from the course's content, and it should experiment with topics in the process of becoming a final essay. This essay will be produced in steps and revisions. Writing exercises can be done on texts or questions the students may eventually abandon. These exercises will focus on the following stages in the writing process:

the construction of a 250- to 300-word thesis paragraph that demonstrates the student's ability to create an argument (contained in a thesis sentence) as distinct from an observation only;
the construction of well-crafted paragraphs (mini-essays), including an opening and concluding paragraph, focused by topic sentences that refer back to the thesis;
the use of library exercises to refine the topic of the paper, construct the bibliography and the works cited page;
peer editing;
the presentation of oral remarks (which include a handout).

Dates for oral presentations will be assigned by your professor and distributed throughout the semester. The oral presentation need not be on the actual subject of the student's final essay, since the essay topic may change, transform, be revised several times during the semester.

3. 1 revision of the writing project--15%

4. Midterm and Final exams--30%

5. Attendance/Participation--15%. Each professor crafts her/his policies for attendance and participation, but there will be approximately three uniform and unannounced quizzes on the material issued throughout the semester.

Course Schedule:

WAYS OF KNOWING/ORGANIZING KNOWLEDGE

THURSDAY 8/30: Introduction to the Course Informal discussion in class (in preparation for the September 7th plenary): What is "the liberal arts," and how does Wells College practice this tradition?

Text: Xerox of Wells College's Mission Statement Text: Wells College's Honor Code

TUESDAY 9/4: Distribute and discuss Self-Guided Library Tour; Distribute and discuss directions for short paper (summary of Dean Hall's plenary on 9/7);Xerox: Introduction from E.H. Gombrich, Art and Illusion

THURSDAY 9/6: The Everyday Writer, pp. 9-24; pp. 30-42; Gombrich continued

FRIDAY 9/7: PLENARY in The Chapel: Dean Ellen Hall, "The Liberal Arts" Self-Guided Library Tour due

TUESDAY 9/11: Xerox: Chapter 1 from E.H. Gombrich, Art and Illusion;Short paper due; Writing Project ("the Long Paper") is introduced and described in detail

HUMANITY AND THE WHOLE FABRIC OF SOCIAL ORDER

THURSDAY 9/13: Margaret Mead, Coming of Age in Samoa (Ch. 1-4)

FRIDAY 9/14: PLENARY in Cleveland Auditorium: Professor Rosemary Welsh (lecture and slide show on how children acquire visual knowledge)

TUESDAY 9/18: Mead continued (Ch. 5-7)

THURSDAY 9/20: Mead continued (selections TBA)

FRIDAY 9/22: Film in Cleveland Auditorium: Tatau

TUESDAY 9/25: Xeroxed Essay: D. Smith, "Becoming Indian"; Distribute Library Exercise #2: Basic Library Research

THURSDAY 9/27: Writing Workshop: Revising the Short Paper (Thesis Paragraphs);The Everyday Writer, pp. 40-54

THE SEARCH FOR HUMAN UNDERSTANDING: THE MEANING OF RACIALIZATION

FRIDAY 9/28: Film in Cleveland Auditorium: Forgotten Fires

TUESDAY 10/2: Xerox: Rollo May, "The Man Who was Put into a Cage"

THURSDAY 10/4: W.E.B. DuBois's The Souls of Black Folk: Preface (pp. vii-ix); Introduction (pp. 1-33); and "A Dubois Chronology" (pp. 268-74)

FRIDAY 10/5: Dubois, TBA; Revised Thesis Paragraph due

TUESDAY 10/9: Fall break

THURSDAY 10/11: Dubois, TBA

FRIDAY 10/12: Dubois, TBA, and "The Afterthought"

TUESDAY 10/16: Prepare for Midterm

THURSDAY 10/17: Midterm Exam

HUMANITY AND THE METAPHYSICAL

FRIDAY 10/19: Film in Cleveland Auditorium: Part 1 of Longitude

TUESDAY 10/23: Oral presentations for Long paper begin;

Xerox: Selections from Galileo's Commandment: An Anthology of Great Science Writing

Evening (Time TBA): Native American Trio (your attendance is required)

THURSDAY 10/25: Xerox: Selections from Galileo's Commandment: An Anthology of Great Science Writing

FRIDAY 10/26: Film in Cleveland Auditorium: Part II of Longitude

TUESDAY 10/30: Xerox: Selections from Galileo's Commandment: An Anthology of Great Science Writing

THURSDAY 11/1: Distribute Library Exercise #3: Using Databases;Private conferences about the Writing Project;

Peer editing of thesis paragraph for the Writing Project

FRIDAY 11/2: No class

MYTHS OF ORIGIN

TUESDAY 11/6: Revised thesis paragraph due with Works Cited page and bibliography;

Xeroxed essays: J. Baird Callicott, "Far Western Environmental Ethics," pp. 109-132;

Ninian Smart, "Australia: Land of the Dreaming," pp.173-176;

Joseph Bruchac, Selections from Iroquois Stories, pp. 1-22

THURSDAY 11/8: Xerox: Leonard Bernstein, "Beethoven's Fifth Symphony" in The Joy of Music

FRIDAY 11/9: PLENARY: Professor Crawford Thoburn, (lecture on first movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Leonard Bernstein's analysis of it in The Joy of Music)

TUESDAY 11/13: Library exercise #3 collected;Library exercise #4 distributed;

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Preface and Volume I, pp. vii-58)

THURSDAY 11/15: Shelley (Volume II, pp.59-101)

FRIDAY 11/16: Film in Cleveland Auditorium: David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980), shown in its entirety (or Freaks, c. 1930s)

TUESDAY 11/20: Shelley (Volume III, pp. 103-156)

Thanksgiving

TUESDAY 11/27: Essay, Anne K. Mellor, "Possessing the Female" in Norton edition of Frankenstein (pp. 274-86)

THURSDAY 11/29: Workshop on Writing Project

FRIDAY 11/30: Draft of Writing Project due, along with Library Exercise #4 attached

TUESDAY 12/4: Workshop on Writing Project;Review for Final Exam

FRIDAY 12/7: Revised Writing Project due

Final Exam TBA

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Last updated: September 10, 2001.