Nicolas CSEM Fall 2010

The “I” of The Storm

CSEM-09

Nicolas

Fall 2010

Drew University

Dr. Melissa Nicolas                                                    Class Meets:  MF 12:00-12:50         

306 Sitterly House                                                     office phone:  (973) 408-3136

mnicolas@drew.edu

Office hours:  MW 1:00-2:30 in the Writing Center and by appointment

The best way to get in touch with me outside scheduled office hours is via e-mail.  During the week, I usually respond to e-mail within 24 hours.  Over the weekend and holidays, my response time may be longer.

Peer Mentor:  Miya Carey:  mcarey1@drew.edu

Course Description

When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005, people rushed to send help, supplies, and money. The media captured many poignant and disturbing images of New Orleans. There were national debates about race and class. For many months, Katrina and her aftermath dominated the news and the public consciousness. But there are other stories, too. Stories that did not make the nightly news or get played on YouTube. The purpose of this seminar is to examine some of those stories. Using data collected from Katrina victims immediately after the storm as well as follow-up data from 5 years later, this seminar we will explore the ways narrative helps people make sense of trauma and disaster.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of the College Seminar, students will be able to:

• Enter into and participate in a scholarly conversation both orally and in writing;
• Comprehend, evaluate and analyze materials and texts [written, aural, visual numeric] as well as think synthetically and creatively about them;
• Evaluate and explain the appropriate use of different kinds of information from a variety of academic and non-academic sources
• Understand and employ interview methodology as a form of academic inquiry
• Generate research questions based on observation of ordinary and extraordinary phenomena

Required Texts

 *Readings are available on Moodle.  *You must print out a hard copy of each reading and bring it to class with you.

Major Assignments

Forum Postings

Forum postings are informal but significant writing assignments that ask you to interact with the reading and/or class discussion in a meaningful way.  Forum postings are due by 11:59 am on the dates specified on the daily schedule.  Forum postings cannot be turned in late.  If you are absent from class, you can still post, as long as you post by 11:59 am on the due date.   There are 10 forum posts for the semester.  Completing only 7 (or fewer) will result in a maximum grade of C minus for this assignment.

Class Wiki

Each week, two people are responsible for finding an interesting artifact or resource related to either Hurricanes Katrina or Rita, hurricanes in general, or something related to our class conversation.  Each student will post what s/he finds to the wiki accompanied by a brief explanation of what the artifact or resource is.   Posts to the wiki are due by 5:00 pm on the day before you are scheduled to present your item to the class.

N.B.  Resources and artifacts cannot be pages from Wikipedia or simple pictures unless those pictures are accompanied by thoughtful and insightful commentary by the poster.  Also, typing in the words "Hurricane Katrina" into Google and posting the first hit as your resource will not win you many points for effort.

Interview Project

This seminar focuses on the stories that people told about how a traumatic event--in this case, a hurricane or hurricanes--shaped their lives, but not all stories have to be about trauma.  People use stories to make sense of all aspects of their lives.  The purpose of this project is to give you a chance to become a qualitative researcher and collect a story from someone.  This project has multiple stages.  All stages must be completed in order for you to get full credit for this project.  If any piece of the project is missing, the highest grade you can get for this project is a C minus.

1. Short proposal
2. Interview
3. Write-up of findings
4. Oral presentation
   

More detailed instructions will be given out in class.

Reflective Letter

This final assignment will ask you to reflect on what you learned this semester.  Approximately 500 words.    More detailed instructions to follow.

Grades

The College Seminar is a collective exploration of a topic.  Its success depends on the thorough preparation and participation of each of its members.  Missing class means depriving yourself of the insights you will gain through discussion and depriving others in the room of your contributions.  Therefore students are expected to be present at each meeting of the seminar and prepared to participate fully in the conversation.  The College Seminar will be graded as follows:

Attendance and Participation  50% 
Students will not be penalized for absences covered by a Drew Policy (Religious Observance, Athletics, Serious Illness, Death in the Family) (e.g. Athletes are allowed a maximum of two absences, i.e. x/24 rather than x/26). However, it is possible for a student to miss so many classes that they cannot be considered to have taken the class and will not earn credit for it.

“Attendance” means being in class for the entire class period.  Being late, leaving early, or taking 20 minute breaks means that you are not attending and you will marked as absent.

“Participation” means completing the homework, contributing to discussion, actively listening, paying attention, and participating.  Surfing the internet, facebooking, listening to your ipod, texting, sleeping, doing homework for another class, etc. are all examples of non-participation. Participation will be evaluated on the basis of a rubric.

Course Assignments  50%
            Writing to learn exercises are not counted if you are not in class; missed in-class writing    assignments or oral presentations or activities cannot be made up.

 NOTE:  No extra credit will be offered in this class.            

50% Attendance/participation

15%  Forum postings

15%  Wiki project

20%  Interview project

            ___________________

100% = final course grade

Grade range

A = 93-100                              A- = 92-90                              B+ = 89-86                  B = 85-83

B- = 82-80                               C+ = 79-76                              C = 75-73                    C- = 72-70

D+ = 69-66                             D = 65-63                                D- = 62-60                  F = 59-0

Policies

Academic Accommodations Should you require academic accommodations, you must file a request with the Office of Educational Affairs (BC 114, extension 3327). It is your responsibility to self-identify with the Office of Educational Affairs and to provide me with the appropriate documentation from that office at least one week prior to any request for specific course accommodations.  There are no retroactive accommodations.

Academic Integrity All work in the College Seminar must adhere to the College Standards on Academic Integrity. You must do your own work. You must cite sources appropriately in all papers and presentations. You must acknowledge the contribution of other students to your work. Any student who is in violation of this policy will be referred to the Dean’s Office for further action. The policy can be found at: http://www.depts.drew.edu/composition/Academic_Honesty.htm]

DoNUt and Library Training

* *This seminar is designed with the assumption that you will have completed both the orientation to the Drew Computing environment (DoNUT) and the orientation to basic use of the Drew Library, both of which are a part of the Common Hour, within the first four weeks of the semester.

Written work

All written work submitted in this class may be shared with other students in the class for purposes of peer review and/or teaching. 

Major assignments

In order to pass this class you need to complete all the major assignments as outlined on this syllabus.  Failure to complete all required work for this class may result in an “F” for the course.

Quizzes

Quizzes may be given at my discretion.

Missing class

If you miss class, for whatever reason, it is your responsibility to find out from a classmate what you missed.  I will not conduct private classes to catch you up.  I also will not send lengthy e-mail about the missed class. 

If you miss an in-class writing assignment or quiz, you cannot make it up.

Late work

All work is due at the beginning of class on the assigned day.  If you are absent on a day work is due, you still need to get the work to me by the start of class.  I will consider accepting late work on a case-by-case basis if:

1. There are extenuating circumstances---running out of toner for your printer is

not an extenuating circumstance!

-OR-

2.  You make arrangements with me prior to the due date---asking me for an

extension on your way into the classroom on the day an assignment is due does

not satisfy the “prior” condition.

Late work will receive minimal, if any, feedback  and is not eligible for revision.

Confidentiality

As writers, we know how protective we can be of our own work and how difficult it can be to share that work with other people, especially if we don’t feel we have produced a quality document.  Additionally, an essential component of collaboration is building trust between writer and reader.  This trust is impossible to gain if the writer is worried someone in the group may “talk about” him or her outside the context of the class.  In light of these concerns, it is important that we talk about the essays we work with in Writing Seminar with respect and that any information shared in our class does not leave our classroom.

General Classroom Etiquette

To maintain an environment that is conducive to the sharing of thoughts and ideas, even when those thoughts and ideas are not necessarily popular, I expect that students will address each other and me with respect and dignity. 

Also, for the sake of everyone’s sanity, please turn-off cell phones, pagers, beepers, buzzers, alarms, or any other gadget that makes noise before class starts. 

Daily Schedule

Subject to Change

CSEM 009

Nicolas