ENGL 511 Special Topics in Writing: Young Adult Literature
TENTATIVE SYLLABUS
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Need to be in touch with me?
Lee Torda, PhD Interim Dean of Undergraduate Studies 200 Clement C. Maxwell Library 508.531.1790 Teaching Website: www.leetorda.com |
OFFICE HOURS: By appointment. Email me at [email protected] with times/days you'd like to meet, and I will respond within 24 hours.
“Let’s save pessimism for better times” --Eduardo Galeano |
ZOOM link to attend class: https://bridgew.zoom.us/j/91202035302?pwd=akVFQ4cdIaHX77ttkfZFFM10iTdtmW.1
28 January 2025
Introduction to the course. Getting to know each other and what you hope to get out of this class. Class Profile page explanation and Partner interview. In-Class work on drafting and workshopping class profile. Explanation of Mentor Text Memoir assignment.
4 February 2025
READ: This short essay by Ray Bradbury (a sample mentor text memoir). Read, also, the following short (and not scholarly but popular) articles about Young Adult Lit: "Torn Apart: The Viscious War. . . ", "YA Isn't Just for Young Adults", "Against YA", "A Brief History of YA", "How YA Fiction Came of Age", "Memo on School Book Bans". DUE AT CLASS TIME: Copy of your mentor text memoir for workshopping. Make sure you’ve created a link to share that gives readers permission to edit. Overview of Reader’s Notes assignment, in-class practice.
11 February 2025
READ: This mix of critical and popular articles about the history and present state of banned books: "Memo on School Book Bans". BE "American's Views on Banned Books in Public Schools.", "Banned in the USA: Beyond the Shelves", "The History (And Present) of Banning Books in America", "Book Bans in Political Context", "Book Bans and the Librarians Who Won't be Hushed". READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussions, overview and practice. DUE: Mentor text memoir to me.
18 February 2025
PLEASE NOTE: TONIGHT'S CLASS WILL BE ASYNCHRONOUS. Because I have to attend this evenings Board of Trustee's meeting, we will postpone our fuller discussion of Little Women when we can meet, albeit online. Instead, Please participate in the following discussion boards.
1. First, watch this short-ish PowerPoint overview of how I'm positioning LIttle Women as a sort of first of its kind.
2. Discussion Board Number One: The point that I'm trying to make in the powerpoint is that LIttle Women provides broad archetypes for the genre that continue to influence the genre to this day. To that end, and I hope it will be fun for you, how would you update the story? What is your 2025 version of Little Women? NOTE: For next week's class, be sure to have read some if not all of your classmate's ideas for updating the novel.
3. Discussion Board Number Two: Read at least five of your classmate's Mentor Text Memoirs, available linked to the Class Profile page. Once you've done that, post to the discussion board about what you notice about the reading experiences of your classmates. What can you extrapolate about reading as an experience, about how literacy education takes shape in and out of school?
4. Finally, just for fun, download this CLASS PROFILE MADE LIB. Email me when you have the answers and you can earn a pass on one set of reader's notes of your choosing. It will, of course, require you to read your classmate's profiles.
25 February 2025
READ: Little Women. Read, also, this scholarly piece about the novel. READ also at least some if not all of your classmate's ideas for updating LIttle Women. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Your Reader’s Notes. Explanation of online Book Clubs. IN-CLASS: First Book Club meeting. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion.
4 March 2025
READ: To Kill a Mockingbird. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Second Book Club Meeting. IN-CLASS: Overview of Final Project and Reading Theory Group Pecha Kucha.
11 March 2025 Spring Break No Classes
18 March 2025
READ: For Lamb. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Third Book Club Meeting.
25 March 2025
READ: The following poems, "Seven Stones", "Farewell", . Your assigned Reading Theory Article. Articles assigned (below) by book club group. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes on poems, not necessary for your article. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Fourth Book Club Meeting. Also, time in class to talk about your article and make a tentative plan for how you will get the work done.
Introduction to the course. Getting to know each other and what you hope to get out of this class. Class Profile page explanation and Partner interview. In-Class work on drafting and workshopping class profile. Explanation of Mentor Text Memoir assignment.
4 February 2025
READ: This short essay by Ray Bradbury (a sample mentor text memoir). Read, also, the following short (and not scholarly but popular) articles about Young Adult Lit: "Torn Apart: The Viscious War. . . ", "YA Isn't Just for Young Adults", "Against YA", "A Brief History of YA", "How YA Fiction Came of Age", "Memo on School Book Bans". DUE AT CLASS TIME: Copy of your mentor text memoir for workshopping. Make sure you’ve created a link to share that gives readers permission to edit. Overview of Reader’s Notes assignment, in-class practice.
11 February 2025
READ: This mix of critical and popular articles about the history and present state of banned books: "Memo on School Book Bans". BE "American's Views on Banned Books in Public Schools.", "Banned in the USA: Beyond the Shelves", "The History (And Present) of Banning Books in America", "Book Bans in Political Context", "Book Bans and the Librarians Who Won't be Hushed". READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussions, overview and practice. DUE: Mentor text memoir to me.
18 February 2025
PLEASE NOTE: TONIGHT'S CLASS WILL BE ASYNCHRONOUS. Because I have to attend this evenings Board of Trustee's meeting, we will postpone our fuller discussion of Little Women when we can meet, albeit online. Instead, Please participate in the following discussion boards.
1. First, watch this short-ish PowerPoint overview of how I'm positioning LIttle Women as a sort of first of its kind.
2. Discussion Board Number One: The point that I'm trying to make in the powerpoint is that LIttle Women provides broad archetypes for the genre that continue to influence the genre to this day. To that end, and I hope it will be fun for you, how would you update the story? What is your 2025 version of Little Women? NOTE: For next week's class, be sure to have read some if not all of your classmate's ideas for updating the novel.
3. Discussion Board Number Two: Read at least five of your classmate's Mentor Text Memoirs, available linked to the Class Profile page. Once you've done that, post to the discussion board about what you notice about the reading experiences of your classmates. What can you extrapolate about reading as an experience, about how literacy education takes shape in and out of school?
4. Finally, just for fun, download this CLASS PROFILE MADE LIB. Email me when you have the answers and you can earn a pass on one set of reader's notes of your choosing. It will, of course, require you to read your classmate's profiles.
25 February 2025
READ: Little Women. Read, also, this scholarly piece about the novel. READ also at least some if not all of your classmate's ideas for updating LIttle Women. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Your Reader’s Notes. Explanation of online Book Clubs. IN-CLASS: First Book Club meeting. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion.
4 March 2025
READ: To Kill a Mockingbird. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Second Book Club Meeting. IN-CLASS: Overview of Final Project and Reading Theory Group Pecha Kucha.
11 March 2025 Spring Break No Classes
18 March 2025
READ: For Lamb. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Third Book Club Meeting.
25 March 2025
READ: The following poems, "Seven Stones", "Farewell", . Your assigned Reading Theory Article. Articles assigned (below) by book club group. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes on poems, not necessary for your article. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Fourth Book Club Meeting. Also, time in class to talk about your article and make a tentative plan for how you will get the work done.
1 April 2025
READ: The Catcher in the Rye. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion.IN-CLASS: Fifth Book Club Meeting. IN-CLASS: Midterm Portfolio Reflection.
8 April 2025
READ: Dear Medusa (A Novel In Verse). BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Sixth Book Club Meeting. Time in class to work on what 20 seconds looks like for real. IN-CLASS: Overview of YA short story.
15 April 2025 NOTE: CLASS WILL START TONIGHT AT 6:30 DUE TO BOT MEETING.
READ: Saints of the Household. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Seventh Book Club Meeting. DUE: Draft of YA short story for workshopping. DUE, ALSO: at least one of your annotations for you articles that are not your main article. In, class, whole-class workshopping annotations. IN-CLASS: Overview of individual final project.
22 April 2025
READ: Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Eighth Book Club Meeting. DUE: Draft of YA due to me. Time in-class to write a short analysis of your piece. Time in class to talk about images for your group pecha kucha. Talk about the tech. Troubleshoot. Sign up for individual project conferences.
29 April 2025
READ: Warrior Girl Unearthed. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Final (ninth) Book Club Meeting. Last time you'll have to work with groupmates to get your Pecha Kucha's together.
Hello Everyone--
I mentioned last week that I would be attending Joyce Rain Anderson’s award ceremony in honor of her lifetime achievement award. If you’ve ever had the chance to take a class with her, you know why it’s important for me to be there to celebrate her and to celebrate with her.
The zoom space will be open at 6:00, and I will be able to put you in break out rooms as soon as 6:00. You can use that time to finish up any work you need to do with your group—if you need it. Your other group task will be to share and discuss your reading journals about Warrior Girl. There will also be a discussion board post—our last of the semester—that asks you to do some synthesis across the texts that we’ve read this semester. I hope to use that as a basis for our last conversation.
I’ll return to the zoom space at 7:00. I’ll field questions about the group or individual projects, explain how our last class will work, and I hope to use the time to bring together some significant observations about the genre from the semester.
See you soon.
LT
6 May 2025
FINAL EXAM MEETING. IN-CLASS: Whole class workshop of final individual projects, IN-CLASS: Reading Theory Group Pecha Kucha.
If we met in person we'd have dinner together.
13 May 2025 by 5:00
Last day to turn in the Final Portfolio. You are welcome to turn it in early.
READ: The Catcher in the Rye. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion.IN-CLASS: Fifth Book Club Meeting. IN-CLASS: Midterm Portfolio Reflection.
8 April 2025
READ: Dear Medusa (A Novel In Verse). BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Sixth Book Club Meeting. Time in class to work on what 20 seconds looks like for real. IN-CLASS: Overview of YA short story.
15 April 2025 NOTE: CLASS WILL START TONIGHT AT 6:30 DUE TO BOT MEETING.
READ: Saints of the Household. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Seventh Book Club Meeting. DUE: Draft of YA short story for workshopping. DUE, ALSO: at least one of your annotations for you articles that are not your main article. In, class, whole-class workshopping annotations. IN-CLASS: Overview of individual final project.
22 April 2025
READ: Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Eighth Book Club Meeting. DUE: Draft of YA due to me. Time in-class to write a short analysis of your piece. Time in class to talk about images for your group pecha kucha. Talk about the tech. Troubleshoot. Sign up for individual project conferences.
29 April 2025
READ: Warrior Girl Unearthed. BE READY TO POST BY CLASS TIME: Reader’s Notes. IN-CLASS: Discussion Board Discussion. IN-CLASS: Final (ninth) Book Club Meeting. Last time you'll have to work with groupmates to get your Pecha Kucha's together.
Hello Everyone--
I mentioned last week that I would be attending Joyce Rain Anderson’s award ceremony in honor of her lifetime achievement award. If you’ve ever had the chance to take a class with her, you know why it’s important for me to be there to celebrate her and to celebrate with her.
The zoom space will be open at 6:00, and I will be able to put you in break out rooms as soon as 6:00. You can use that time to finish up any work you need to do with your group—if you need it. Your other group task will be to share and discuss your reading journals about Warrior Girl. There will also be a discussion board post—our last of the semester—that asks you to do some synthesis across the texts that we’ve read this semester. I hope to use that as a basis for our last conversation.
I’ll return to the zoom space at 7:00. I’ll field questions about the group or individual projects, explain how our last class will work, and I hope to use the time to bring together some significant observations about the genre from the semester.
See you soon.
LT
6 May 2025
FINAL EXAM MEETING. IN-CLASS: Whole class workshop of final individual projects, IN-CLASS: Reading Theory Group Pecha Kucha.
If we met in person we'd have dinner together.
13 May 2025 by 5:00
Last day to turn in the Final Portfolio. You are welcome to turn it in early.