FYS 101-33 Robert Stapleton
Fall 2010 rstaplet@butler.edu
Jordan Hall 301 office: JH305D
MWF 2-2:50 office hours: T/TH 10:30-12
Rock and Roll High School
First Year Seminar
Course Description
Like rock and roll itself, this class will be a hybrid, an extended jam of threads and themes as we map the ideological geography of youth culture through literature, music, film, and art. This is not a history of rock and roll class, but rather an ongoing inquiry into the collective expressions of rebellion, coming-of-age, and generational battles. Semester one will examine the first half of the 20th century; semester two will consider the second half.
Required Texts
- The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
- The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
- Rimbaud: Complete Works, Selected Letters by Arthur Rimbaud
- Teenage: The Prehistory of Youth Culture by Jon Savage
- A Pocket Style Manual by Diana Hacker
Liberal Arts Objective
Our initial objective is to inventory the cultural landscape of youth identity and rebellion, particularly as manifested in musical expression. Accordingly, we will trace the historical echoes of like-minded voices through the framework of postmodern rock and roll and its subcultures. This investigation, then, will begin to shed light on the universal nature of human experience while defining the collective impulses that have shaped our teenage nation. A Liberal Arts education seeks to have students locate themselves in society as independent thinkers and responsible citizens. Training our collective focus on the chameleon developments of youth culture and the correlating socio-economic shifts will birth clarity and meaning for each of us as enlightened writers, scholars, and humans.
Writing Assignments
You will be doing a considerable amount of writing, both formal and informal. We will write four or five formal essays and analyses in response to the course texts and ideas, including a research essay. You will also complete informal writing assignments and responses to the reading. All papers should be typed and double-spaced, MLA format.
Reading Assignments
You will be prepared to discuss all readings on their discussion day. Besides the assigned texts, there will be various handouts. Please keep in mind that there are only two possible methods of assessment: written and oral. I maintain that we all read and discuss aloud. But quizzes will be proffered if the discussion falters.
FYS101 page 2
Attendance
The seminar is rooted in the notion that you, as members of the intellectual community, will be present and participating. This is not a lecture course. I will be eliciting oral and written responses from you always. As such, Participation is 20% of your grade: 10% determined for the first half of the course and 10% for the second half. Accumulating four absences will result in your grade being docked 5%, and each subsequent absence will cost your final grade an additional 1%.
Late Assignments
Quizzes, in-class assignments, homework, and informal writings will not be accepted late. Formal essays will be accepted late for a window of only one week, and for each day said paper is late, it will lose 10% of its original grade. For clarification, a paper is late if it is not submitted in class when I collect the assignment.
Grading
Attendance and Participation: 20%
4 Quizzes @ 5 each: 20%
Assignments: 10%
3 Essays @ 10 each: 30%
Research Paper: 20%
Requests for Academic Accommodations
It is the policy and practice of Butler University to make reasonable accommodations for students with properly documented disabilities. Written notification from Student Disability Services is required. If you are eligible to receive an accommodation and would like to request it for this course, please discuss it with me and allow one week advance notice. Otherwise, it is not guaranteed that the accommodation can be received on a timely basis. Students who have questions about Student Disability Services or who have, or think they may have, a disability (psychiatric, attentional, learning, vision, hearing, physical, medical, etc.) are invited to contact Student Disability Services for a confidential discussion in Jordan Hall 136 or by phone at extension 9308.
Plagiarism
One important task of FYS101 is for you to master integrating source material correctly and ethically into your own writing. You will have the opportunity to practice summarizing, paraphrasing, and directly quoting sources and then integrating the material into your own essays. The task will be for you to differentiate your original ideas from these sources. Recording source material as though it is your original idea constitutes plagiarism—whether intentional or not. All first-year seminar students will take the “Plagiarism Tutorial” on the Library’s website as well as completing the “Plagiarism Quiz” on Blackboard. An essay plagiarized in part or in full will receive an F and may place a student in jeopardy of course expulsion. Repeated incidents of Academic Dishonesty could result in a student’s suspension from the University. Students should also refer to the Butler University Student Handbook (available online @ www.butler.edu Student Life tab) for a full discussion of student rights and responsibilities regarding “Academic Integrity.”
FYS101/Rock and Roll High School Course Schedule
Week 1
W 8/25: Introductions
Read: Intros to Teenage and The Sorrows of Young Werther
F 8/27: Discuss syllabus, course content, Goethe, etc.
Read: The Sorrows of Young Werther, Book One
Week 2
M 8/30: Discuss reading
Read: The Sorrows of Young Werther, Book Two, 73-105
W 9/1: Assign Essay #1, discuss reading
Read: The Sorrows of Young Werther, 106-134
F 9/3: Discuss reading
Read: Part I of Teenage 3-73
Week 3
M 9/6: Labor Day/No Class
W 9/8: Discuss reading
Read the following from Rimbaud’s Complete Works: “Sensation”(13), “Novel”(39), “To Music”(49), “My Bohemian Life”(65), “Evening Prayer”(139), “Sonnet to an Asshole”(145), “Deserts of Love”(255), Letter to Paul Demeny, dated 15 May 1871(373)
F 9/10: Discuss reading
Read: Rimbaud’s A Season in Hell(263-305)
Week 4
M 9/13: Discuss reading
W 9/15: Discuss writing formal essays, MLA style
F 9/17: consider sample essays
Week 5
M 9/20: Essay #1 Due
Read: Teenage CH 7
W 9/22: Discuss reading, Assign Essay #2
Read: Teenage CH 9
F 9/24: Discuss reading
Read: Teenage CH 13
Week 6
M 9/27: Discuss reading
Read: Teenage CH 15
W 9/29: Discuss reading
Read Teenage CH 16
F 10/1: discuss essays
Week 7
M 10/4: Essay #2 Due
Read: Teenage CH 19
W 10/6: Assign Essay #3, discuss reading(early term grades due)
Read: Teenage CH 21
F 10/8: Discuss reading
Read: The Member of the Wedding, Part One(3-46)
Week 8
M 10/11: Discuss reading
Read: The Member of the Wedding, Part Two
W 10/13: Discuss reading
Read: The Member of the Wedding, Part Three
F 10/15: Reading Break/no classes
Week 9
M 10/18: Discuss reading, essays
W 10/20: Essay #3 Due
Read: Teenage CH 24
F 10/22: Discuss reading
Read: Teenage CH 26
Week 10
M 10/25: Discuss reading
Read: Teenage CH 29
W 10/27: Discuss reading
Read: Teenage CH 30
F 10/29: Discuss reading
Week 11
M 11/1: Discuss essays
W 11/3: Essay #4 Due, Assign Essay #5
Read: The Catcher in the Rye CH 1-5
F 11/5: Discuss reading
Read: The Catcher in the Rye CH 6-11
Week 12
M 11/8: Discuss reading
Read: The Catcher in the Rye CH 12-16
W 11/10: Discuss reading
Read: The Catcher in the Rye CH 17-21
F 11/12: Discuss reading
Read: The Catcher in the Rye CH 22-end
Week 13
M 11/15: Discuss reading, sample essays
W 11/17: Essay #5 Due
F 11/19: No class
Week 14
Thanksgiving Break/No classes
Week 15
M 11/29: Discuss Research Essay, all extra credit and revisions due
W 12/1: Conferences/No class
F 12/3: Conferences/No class
Week 16
M 12/6: Consider sample essays
W 12/8: Discuss Research Essay
F 12/10: Research Paper Due/Class Evals
Week 17
12/13-12/18: Finals