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MISFITS AND MONSTERS: THE SOUTHERN GOTHIC

English 1102—English Composition II Writing and Communication Program School of Literature, Media, and Communication Georgia Institute of Technology Fall 2013

CLASS MEETS in the Stephen C. Hall Building, Room 106 Section EV2, Monday 6:00 – 9:00pm Section EV4, Tuesday/Thursday 6 – 7:30 Section EV6, Tuesday/Thursday 7:45 – 9:15

INSTRUCTOR CONTACT INFORMATION Lindsay Byron, PhD Location: Stephen C. Hall Building, Room 121 Office Hours: Mondays 9:30 – 12:30 Phone 404-894-5315 Email: lindsay.byron@lmc.gatech.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION The Southern gothic emerged as an American literary genre in the early twentieth century. Borrowing key elements of darkness, mystery, and the supernatural from the long tradition of gothic literature in Europe, the Southern gothic combines these classic elements with the setting and style of the American South. Damaged and delusional characters, unsolvable problems, and paranormal events populate crumbling mansions and dusty country towns in Southern gothic works. However, authors used these elements not merely to titillate readers, but moreover to explore the dark side of the human psyche and society in the nation’s most impoverished and troubled region. Rather than perpetuating romanticized stereotypes of the antebellum South, Southern gothic literature instead interrogates the racism, poverty, violence, and moral corruption plaguing the South in the early twentieth century, and often spotlights those who are ostracized or oppressed by traditional Southern culture - blacks, women, and gays, for example. In order to explore this genre and its cultural significance, we’ll read works by Edgar Allen Poe, William Faulkner, Carson McCullers, Flannery O’Conner, and more, as well as engage films, photographs, and music that invoke the Southern gothic.

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By producing a variety of multimedia artifacts that contribute to our understanding of the this uniquely American genre, you will employ the WOVEN approach to communication—which means you’ll use Written, Oral, Visual, Electronic, and Non-verbal methods in order to enrich your communication skills. Major assignments will include a traditional academic essay, a script for a short documentary, a podcast recording, a multimodal group presentation, and a visual design challenge, and each assignment will build upon the last to help you create your final assignment for the semester—a short personal documentary, also known as a “digital story,” that will engage elements of the Southern gothic genre.

EXPECT TO…. Produce numerous genres of artifacts, ranging from videos to multimedia

presentations to academic essays.

Create these artifacts both in and out of class

Collaborate, converse, and engage with your classmates

Participate online through blog posts and comments

Take notes on mini-lectures

Address real audiences in your works

Participate in peer review

Participate in critical thinking workshops

Speak and present artifacts before your peers

COURSE OBJECTIVES In addition to the course outcomes for all English 1102 courses listed in the Common Policies section on T-Square <goo.gl/niuy0c>, this course aims for the following learning outcomes. Students should:

Think critically about cultural narratives, interrogating assumptions about who and what we are allowed and expected to be

Imagine life from other social perspectives than your own

Utilize these intellectual exercises to develop your skills as a multimodal communicator as you express your analyses, questions, and conclusions through a variety of thought-provoking artifacts

REQUIRED MATERIALS WOVENText (the required program e-book) Three Gothic Novels: The Castle of Otranto; Vathek; Frankenstein by Horace Walpole, William Beckford, Mary Shelley and Peter Fairclough The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor

REQUIRED HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE A portable computing device—a laptop or a tablet—to bring to class every day

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Word processing (e.g., MSWord) Wordpress blogging platform Presentation generator (e.g., PowerPoint, Prezi) Audio recording technology (e.g. Audacity) Film editing technology (e.g. Final Cut for Macs, Windows Movie Maker for PC) Additional software available at the Multimedia Center in the library

QUICK GRADE BREAKDOWN Proposal, 15% Poster, 10% Podcast, 15% Digital Story, 20% Participation, 10% Blog discussions, 10% Group multimodal presentation, 10% Portfolio, 10%

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECTS Detailed project instructions will be distributed as assignments arise Work flow: each student will choose a theme around which to base several major assignments for the semester—namely, the proposal, poster, podcast, digital story, and group multimodal presentation. I will supply a list of characters, archetypes, settings, and concepts from which students may select their topic. This topic will be the controlling focus of each of these major assignments; however, students should approach the material from different angles with each new artifact they produce. 1. In the proposal, you will make an argument for the viability of your topic. In other words, you will give reasons and evidence that prove that 1) you have given thoughtful consideration as to why you’ve chosen this topic, and 2) that you have a (revisable) plan-of-action regarding how to address this topic in future assignments. Consider such questions as: Why did you choose this topic? What connection to you have to this theme? What directions to you imagine taking your research and production? How do you see your approach to this topic shift across different media and genres—the poster, the podcast, the digital story? 2. For the poster project, you will produce an infographic that describes key elements of your topic. These posters will be used throughout the semester during collaborative work to help your classmates remember and understand your topic. 3.Cultural artifacts come in many forms and carry many meanings—a vinyl record, an old magazine article, census statistics, even a rag doll speaks volumes about the culture in which it was produced. For the podcast, students will work in groups of three to produce an informative and entertaining audio track of 3 -5 minutes in length describing a cultural artifact that can shed light on some aspect of the Southern Gothic. Students will be put into groups

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based upon compatibility of each student’s chosen topic; from there, students will research to discover a cultural artifact that is relevant to each group member’s expertise. 3. A digital story is a short documentary film , usually personal in nature, made using digital tools. Effective digital storytelling uses the multimedia components of narrative, text, images, and sound to create a compelling story that sticks with the viewer long after your story ends. For this project, you should create a 3 – 4 minute long digital story that explores your theme through personal narrative. 4. In groups of four, students will give a multimodal presentation that teaches the class about a unique event or artifact related to the Southern Gothic. Get creative. Engage your audience. Integrate a WOVEN approach—use your voice, your words, digital tools, sound, and your body language to enrich your classmates’ knowledge while keeping them engaged. 4. All English 1102 students university-wide are required to submit a comprehensive, representative, and reflective portfolio of her or his work. For the portfolio, you will revise and polish each of your major projects, as well as provide four written reflections on the interplay among the WOVEN communication modes in your work. More detailed assignment instructions will follow, but for now you should be aware that you will need to keep electronic copies of all drafts of all assignments. PARTICIPATION This will be an interactive and collaborative class. The more that you speak during discussions, ask questions, and engage your peers, the more we can learn and enjoy our time together. If public speaking makes you nervous, try jotting down a few questions or thoughts to share before coming to class. Participation comes in many forms beyond just talking, however—doing your homework, being a productive group member, providing thoughtful feedback to peers, and being an active member of our online community are all ways you can participate fully in this course.

WOVEN COMMUNICATION Multimodal communication is the focus of this course, and for good reason—multimodality is the way we communicate regularly. When you write an email that includes a link, when you post a meme on social media, when you prepare a professional document that includes graphs and text, you are engaging in just a few examples of multimodal communication. Therefore, you will both think critically about multimodal artifacts (books, photographs, films, websites, podcasts, and digital stories, for instance), as well as produce your own, in your quest to enhance your communication abilities. Rather than isolate the different modes and media in your analysis and creation of artifacts, you will instead focus on the synergy of these different modes and media—in this way, the acronym WOVEN represents not only the discrete elements of communication (Written, Oral, Verbal, Electronic, and Non-Verbal), but moreover how these elements weave together to create rich messages.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, fabrication of information or citation, submitting work of another person or work previously used without

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informing the instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated and suspected cases of such dishonesty may be reported to GSU administration. Furthermore, plagiarism will result in a failing grade for this course—no exceptions.

WRITING AND COMMUNICATION PROGRAM POLICIES Please read and be familiar with the information at http://goo.gl/niuy0c on the following program-wide policies and information:

Learning Outcomes

Attendance

Class Participation

Academic Misconduct

Reflective Portfolio

Evaluation Equivalencies

Evaluation Rubric

Non-discrimination

Disability Accommodations

Syllabus Modifications

Week Preceding Final Exams (WPFE) You will be held responsible for this information.

MAKE-UP WORK Except for absences officially exempted by the Institute or exceptional and unanticipated situations, I do not allow students to make up missed quizzes, presentations, or in-class assignments.

LATE WORK Work is due by the beginning of class. For every day the work is late, the total possible points will drop by ten. Work turned in on the due date but after the beginning of class will lose five points. Furthermore, late work will receive minimal feedback. Late work will be considered on a case-by-case basis only if there are extenuating circumstances. If you know that you cannot turn in a work on the assigned day, please speak with me ahead of time.

CONFERENCES My office hours are in Stephen C. Hall Building, Room 121 on Mondays from 9:30 – 12:30, and other times by appointment. Feel free to set up an appointment with me via email at any time.

GRADING SCALE 100 – 90: A 80 – 90: B 70 – 80: C 60 – 70: D

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60 and below: F

EVALUATION RUBRIC:

Scale Basic Beginning Developing Competent Mature Exemplary

Rhetorical Awareness Response to the situation/assignment, considering elements such as purpose, audience, register, and context

Ignores two or more aspects of the situation and thus does not fulfill the task

Ignores at least one aspect of the situation and thus compromises effectiveness

Attempts to respond to all aspects of the situation, but the attempt is insufficient or inappropriate

Addresses the situation in a complete but perfunctory or predictable way

Addresses the situation completely, with unexpected insight

Addresses the situation in a complete, sophisticated manner that could advance professional discourse on the topic

Stance and Support Argument, evidence, and analysis

Involves an unspecified or confusing argument; lacks appropriate evidence

Makes an overly general argument; has weak or contradictory evidence

Lacks a unified argument; lacks significance (“so what?”); lacks sufficient analysis

Offers a unified, significant, and common position with predictable evidence and analysis

Offers a unified, distinct position with compelling evidence and analysis

Offers an inventive, expert-like position with precise and convincing evidence and analysis

Organization Structure and coherence, including elements such as introductions and conclusions as well as logical connections within and among paragraphs (or other meaningful chunks)

Lacks unity in constituent parts (such as paragraphs); fails to create coherence among constituent parts

Uses insufficient unifying statements (e.g., thesis statements, topic sentences, headings, or forecasting statements); uses few effective connections (e.g., transitions, match cuts, and hyperlinks)

Uses some effective unifying claims, but a few are unclear; makes connections weakly or inconsistently, as when claims appear as random lists or when paragraphs’ topics lack explicit ties to the thesis

States unifying claims with supporting points that relate clearly to the overall argument and employs an effective but mechanical scheme

Asserts and sustains a claim that develops progressively and adapts typical organizational schemes for the context, achieving substantive coherence

Asserts a sophisticated claim by incorporating diverse perspectives that are organized to achieve maximum coherence and momentum

Conventions Expectations for grammar, mechanics, style, citation, and genre

Involves errors that risk making the overall message distorted or incomprehensi

Involves a major pattern of errors

Involves some distracting errors

Meets expectations, with minor errors

Exceeds expectations in a virtually flawless manner

Manipulates expectations in ways that advance

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ble the argument

Design for Medium Features that use affordances to enhance factors such as comprehensibility and usability

Lacks the features necessary for the genre; neglects significant affordances, such as linking on the web; uses features that conflict with or ignore the argument

Omits some important features; involves distracting inconsistencies in features (e.g., type and headings); uses features that don’t support argument

Uses features that support with argument, but some match imprecisely with content; involves minor omissions or inconsistencies

Supports the argument with features that are generally suited to genre and content

Promotes engagement and supports the argument with features that efficiently use affordances

Persuades with careful, seamless integration of features and content and with innovative use of affordances

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1. Tuesday, January 7 Class Topics:

Introduction to the Southern Gothic

Introduction to WOVEN communication and the skills you will develop in the course Thursday, January 9 Class Topics:

Introduction to collaborative thinking

Using your skills: “If he would have seen the sawdust” collaborative thinking game Work Due:

Read WOVENText , Part 1: “Overview of Writing and Communication at Georgia Tech” and an excerpt of Part 2, “Process, Attribution, and Research,” from the beginning of Part 2 through “Working with Others” (inclusive)

2. Tuesday, January 14 Class Topics:

Understanding the rhetorical situation

The Southern Gothic, cultural contexts Work Due:

Read WOVENText, excerpt of Part 2: “Reading/Understanding the Rhetorical Situation” Thursday, January 16 Class Topics:

How to do a close reading

Using your skills: dissecting the rhetorical situation in “A Rose for Emily” or “A Good Man”

Work Due:

Read “A Rose for Emily” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Monday, January 20—MLK holiday 3. Tuesday, January 21 Class Topics:

Castle of Ontranto

Using your skills: close reading of a scene in Castle

The blog genre Work Due:

Read WOVENText, part 7, “Electronic”

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Thursday, January 23 Class Topics:

Essay writing basics, part one

Southern gothic in pop culture

Using your skills: selecting groups and topics for presentations Work Due:

Discussion blog 1

Read WOVENText, Part 4, “Written” 4. Tuesday, January 28 Class Topics:

Essay writing basics, part two

Castle of Ontranto, cont’d

Group presentation Work Due:

Comments on discussion blog 1

Group One presentation Thursday, January 30 Class Topics:

Essay writing basics, part three

Distribute prompt for Poster Project 5. Tuesday, February 4 Class Topics:

“The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Visual rhetoric, part one

Using your skills: deconstructing a visual argument Work Due:

Topic proposal

Read “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne Thursday, February 6 Class Topics:

Visual rhetoric, part two

“The Fall of the House of Usher”

Work Due: Read WOVENText, Part 6, “Visual”

Read “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe

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6. Tuesday, February 11 Class Topics:

The Ballad of the Sad Café

Group presentation Work Due:

Read The Ballad of the Sad Café

Group Two presentation

Thursday, February 13 Class Topics:

Oral communication

Introducing the podcast genre

Using your skills: analyzing a podcast Work Due:

Poster 7. Tuesday, February 18 Class Topics:

The Ballad of the Sad Café, cont’d

Using your skills: scripting a mini podcast

Group Three presentation Work Due:

Group Three presentation Thursday, February 20 Class Topics:

Presenting our mini-podcasts 8. Tuesday, February 25 Class Topics:

Wise Blood

Group Four presentation Work Due:

Read Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor

Group Four presentation Thursday, February 27 Class Topics:

Wise Blood, cont’d

Compose Discussion Blog Two

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Work Due:

Discussion blog two (in-class composition)

Comments on discussion blog two (also in class) 9. Tuesday, March 4 Class Topics:

Southern gothic music

Group Five presentation Work Due:

Group Five presentation Thursday, March 6 Class Topics:

Southern Gothic film: Slingblade 10. Tuesday, March 11 Class Topics: Slingblade, cont’d Thursday, March 13 Class Topics:

Comparisons among different media in the Southern Gothic Work Due:

Podcast 11.—No class, Spring Break 12. Tuesday, March 25 Class Topics:

Introduction to digital storytelling

Using your skills: rhetorical analysis of digital stories

Distribute prompt for Digital Storytelling Project Work Due:

Podcast comments

Read Digital Storytelling Handbook excerpt

Watch digital story examples online Thursday, March 27 Class Topics:

View two digital stories in class

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Using your skills: collaborative critique and group mini-presentation of one of the stories we watched in class

13. Tuesday, April 1 Class Topics: • Digital story script brainstorm • Using your skills: participate in story circle Work Due: • Watch skills tutorials online Thursday, April 3 Class Topics:

Digital story working day—in-class script composition Work Due: 14. Tuesday, April 8 Class Topics:

Digital story working day—in-class storyboarding Work Due: • Complete script • Compile artifacts; scan and save for storyboarding • Voice-over recorded Thursday, April 10 Class Topics:

In class storyboarding, cont’d 15. Tuesday, April 15 Class Topics:

Digital story screening! Work Due:

Digital story Thursday, April 17 Class Topics:

Digital story screening, cont’d. 16. Tuesday, April 22 Class Topics:

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Portfolio preparation Thursday, April 24 Class Topics:

Portfolio preparation