Course Description

Reading Place-                                                                    Spring 2014

In Reading Place we will consider how texts define or construct places both virtual and natural.  We will closely read and consider how our own relationships to place are defined and mediated by diverse texts ranging from video games to The Bible. Through writing and project work, we will seek insight and clarity and share those with classmates and community.   

Objectives-

·         Write in creative, personal & expository modes with originality, effective structure, and control of language.

      (4 blog posts/quarter, 2 essays/quarter, 1 project/quarter)

·         Visual Project- create a visual essay/narrative that communicates with word, image and sound creatively, effectively, and with technical skill. 

·         Discussion skills- Show effective preparation, listening, participation and leadership in classroom discussions. (prepare/present/lead discussion on one reading this semester)

·         Independent Project- Choose, narrow, research, and present a thoughtful independent project on an area of interest and relevance to the key questions. 

·         Final Class project/exhibition/event built around key question(s). 

Guiding Questions-     

·         What is ‘nature’? What is ‘culture’? What is 'human'? How do they relate?  (venn diagram w/ man/nature/culture & inquiry essay about tech/outdoors as icons of each?  Analogous relationships?  Images? 

·         Are we inside or outside ‘nature’?

·         What is the relationship between the virtual and the natural?

·         What does Genesis mean? What does it mean to us now?

·         What are ‘feminism’ and ‘environmentalism’?  What are the connotations of these words?

·         What is sustainability?

·         What is the relationship of capitalism to nature? to humanity
How does literature (culture) represent/construct place (nature)?

Expectations-

·         Bring your computer and any texts we’re reading to class everyday.

·         Bring pencil/pen and paper, too.

·         Follow class assignments on the blog and on Veracross

·         More hope than expectations- Make this class what you want it to be!

Texts-

Virtuality-

      Wall-E

      Short videos

      Eggers’ The Circle (excerpts)

      Gibson’s Neuromancer(excerpt)

Nature-

      Ishmael- Quinn

      Arcadia- Stoppard

      Into the Wild- Krakauer

      "The Minister's Black Veil"- Hawthorne  (digital)
      Walden- Thoreau (digital)

      34 poems/paragraph readings- TOD (text of the day) quick response

      Our Land Ourselves- excerpts

Articles-

      J.C. Oates "On Nature"

      Joy Williams "Save the Whales, Screw the Shrimp"

      Nash "The Romantic Wilderness"

      Louv "Last Child in the Woods"

      Umberto Eco "6 walks in a Fictional Woods”

Projects

      Inquiry essay

      Observation visual essay w/ text

      Romanticism paintings w/ contemporary echoes

      Advertising image explication

Individual Project Topic ideas-

·         Hudson River School/

·         Feral children

·         Rousseau’s Emilie

·         Sustainability

·         Environment and cancer

·         Wolf hunting/endangered species act

·         Transhumanism

·         Nature Deficit Disorder (Louv)

·         Waste/recycling

·         Our relationship w/ nature vs our relationship w/ technology (written on a computer in a warm house on a subzero day!)

·         The Gaia hypothesis

·         The World Without Us-

Project formats-  creative writing (poem, story, drama), essay, lyric essay, PSA, video, public/community performance or publication.  No powerpoints or trifolds, please.