Keeping a journal in which you respond to the stories, poems, and plays we read in class will be a feature of Composition II this spring. Every week, you will write two journal entries. For one of the entries, you will respond to a question or prompt I will post on this blog. The second journal entry topic is up to you. Think of your free journal topic as an arena to explore possible topics that could be developed into a short paper or research paper.
Each journal entry should be typed and should total at least 25 lines of text. You have the option to either create your own blog using blogger.com (click on the big "B" in the left hand corner and follow the directions to set up a blog) or keep a hard copy journal in a folder. The entries should be composed in developed paragraphs with relatively few errors in grammar and punctuation. You will be graded on how thoughtfully you respond to the prompt or how thoughfully you create a topic, how effectively you manage sentence skills in the entry, and how attententively you attribute outside sources in your entry. Any entry shorter than 25 lines will receive a grade of F.
Here is your prompt for your first journal entry, due by the end of class today.
Chapter 1, "Exploring Literature," discusses the term literary canon—the way it has developed, its conflicted yet persistent existence in education and literary scholarship, and the political implications of the literary canon. In short, the literary canon, according to our textbook, "has come to denote a group of works generally agreed upon by writer, teachers, and critics to be worth reading and studying." In other words, the literary canon is simply the works that a culture thinks are important for students to study and for people to know.
Ultimately, I want to you to consider the literary canon as a living, breathing representation of what we as a culture consider important—values, lessons, representations of experiences, common goals. Because those things change over time, the literary canon changes as well. Who decides what is included? We do. In the spirit of that understanding, I want you to write a list of imaginary criteria for works of the literary canon. In other words, what attributes do you think works of literature must have to be considered part of literary canon? You may use examples from books you have read as part of your educational experience or books you have read independently to make your points. Finally, I want you to tell me what role you believe literature plays in the life of a culture.
When you finish typing your journal entry, folling the directions in chapter 1 of the Turnitin.com user guide to create an account on Turnitin.com and submit your first journal entry. Click Here
