First Class

Th 8.27

• Introductions and syllabus overview
• Post: Create a thread in today’s Blackboard discussion forum (located under “discussions” on your course menu) and introduce yourself to the class. Give your name, major or area of interest, a sentence or two on why you decided to take this course, and your favorite book or film.

Assignment:

Post: Find a piece of writing of your choosing that mentions psychopathology, psychology, or mental health to the thread in blackboard. Post a link and a brief description to the blackboard thread titled “Week 1 Articles”

 

Week 1

T 9.01

• Introduction of Rhetorical Terms
• Respond to two of your peers, discussing the articles they chose in detail. Offer some thoughts and insight to your classmate, recognizing where your opinions and interests overlap or diverge.

Assignment:

Post: Identify the Author, Audience, and Purpose of the piece you chose. Continue on the thread you started with your article link. due before next class.

 

Th 9.03

• Continuation of Rhetorical terms.
• Register: Sign in to the CUNY Academic Commons using your CCNY email. Build a site with your last name + FIQWSf2020. Post a link to your site in the relevant forum.

Assignment:

Post: continue the thread you began on Tuesday, this time expanding to identify the Genre, Medium, Tone, and comment on the Language of the piece. Provide textual evidence. due by Friday 9.04, end of day

Journal: Create a page on your website and begin your journal. Reflect on the first week of this course, and offer some more detail on why you chose to take this course and how both psychology and literature manifest in your life. ***Journals Will be updated weekly from here on, by midnight every Monday.

Read: “The Fall of The House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe for next class.

 

 

Week 2

T 9.08

• Post: Discuss “Usher” and the literary devices in BB forum. Choose an object or piece of scenery that reveals something about the mental state of the story’s characters. + 2 responses.

Assignment:

Read: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Catherine Anne Perkins

 

Th 9.10

• Post:  Wallpaper discussion 2 responses.

Assignment:

Read: “Colloquy” and “The Daemon Lover” by Shirley Jackson

Update Journal: include thoughts on at least one of the stories you’ve read so far.

 

 

Week 3

T 9.15

• Post: Discussion of Jackson stories

Assignment:

Read: “A Perfect Day for Banana Fish” by J.D Salinger

 

Th 9.17 

• Post: BB discussion of Salinger + 2 responses.

Assignment:

Short Assignment #1: Personal Narrative. Choose a story from the packet and discuss how it connects to a personal experience or memory of yours. First Daft due Tues 9.22, via BB submission module.

Update Journal

 

Week 4

T 9.22

• Post: Peer review.
  • You will be broken up into groups of 2 or 3 and will share and discuss your narrative drafts with your partners in a dedicated group thread.

Assignment:

Peer Review: Read your partner’s Personal Narrative draft, provide positive and critical feedback, about 1 page, for your partner to use during revision. Due next class.

 

Th 9.24

• Locate and Post: research two pieces of writing to apply to your personal narrative, one story and one piece of scholarly work. Post these in your group thread, with an explanation of how they relate to your piece. 

Assignment:

Revise: Using the notes from your peers and myself, create a new draft of your personal narrative, incorporating the two pieces you researched. Final draft of Narrative due via BB before class on Thursday.

Read: “The Angel of the Bridge” by John Cheever

Update Journal.

 

Week 5 – No class Tu (Classes follow Mon. sched)

Th 10.01

• Post: Cheever Discussion 

Assignment:

Consider: The characters we have read so far, and think of which one you might want to choose for you Character Profile Assignment. Review the assignment instructions on the course site.

Read: “The Stone Boy” by Gine Berriault

Don’t forget: Update Journal!

 

Week 6

T 10.06

• Post: Berriault Discussion

Assignment:

Read: “The House of Asterion” by Jorge Luis Borges & “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia MArquez

 

Th 10.08

• Post: Discussion of Borges and Marquez

Assignment:

Character Profile Topic Proposal:  Prepare your topic proposal. No assigned reading.

Update Journal.

 

Week 7

T 10.13 

Topic Proposal: post your character of choice, the angle you have taken on that character.

Assignment:

Begin: research element of Character Profile assignment on your own. No assigned reading.

Th 10.15 

Character groups: In small groups, peer review your work in progress. By now you should know your character, what scene you will focus on, and have some idea of a direction for your research. Share ideas with others focusing on the same of similar characters (I will put you in groups).

Assignment:

Read: “The Disembodied Lady” and “The Lost Mariner” by Oliver Sacks

Character Profile Assignment due T 10.23 via BB Module.

 

Week 8

T 10.20

• Post: Sacks Discussion

Assignment:

Read: “Now We Are Five” by David Sedaris  

Th 10.22

Reminder: Character Profile Assignment due T 10.23 via BB Module.

 

Week 9

T 10.27 

• Post: Sedaris Discussion

 Assignment:

Read: “Strawberry Spring” and “The Man Who Loved Flowers” by Stephen King.

Th 10.29

• Post: King Discussion +Halloween Recommendations

Assignment:

Read: Excerpt from “In The Dream House” by Carmen Maria Machado”

VOTE.

Week 10

T 11.03

• Post: Novel Updates

Assignment: 

Read: Machado Excerpts

Th 11.05

• Post: Machado Discussion

Assignment: 

Read: Continue your novels (to be finished by 11.17)

Update Journal. (only 4 weeks left!)

 

Week 11

T 11.10 

• Post: Genre Discussion

Assignment:

Brainstorm genres you might want to use for the upcoming project. Make a list of possible approaches (project proposals will be shared next week).

Read: Continue your novels (to be finished by 11.17)

 Th 11.12

• Post: Experimental Writing, Visual Storytelling Discussion 

Assignment:

Finish: your chosen novel.

Update Journal.

 

Week 12

T 11.17

• Novel Update: having finished your novel, discuss it within your group.

Assignment: 

Prepare Project Proposal/outline to post during next class.

Th 11.19  

• Post: Composition in 2 Genres Project Proposals. Include both genres you will be composing in, and how you plan to go about this. Respond with helpful critiques.

Assignment:

Composition in 2 Genres due by Wednesday 11.25, end of day.

Update Journal.

  

Week 13

T 11.24

• Introductions of Final Research Paper.
• Post: Freely describe what you have found most interesting in this class so far and what you might want to focus on for your final paper. + 2 responses.

Assignment:

Read: George Saunders’ “Elliot Spencer”

Th 11.26 – No Class

 

Week 14

T 12.01

• Post: Saunders Discussion, Contemporary Fiction and Activism

Assignment:

Prepare Final Research Paper topic proposal.

Work on Commons portfolio site (build pages, upload your final works from across the semester).

Th 12.03

• Post: Final Research Paper Topic Proposal, peer review.

  

Final Class

Tu 12.08

• Share Portfolio in Progress, Wrap up and final thoughts.

 

Final Research Paper due Tu 12.15

Final Portfolio due Fr 12.18

• All updated and edited final assignments should be uploaded to your journal site, presenting an overview of all of the work you have done over the course of the semester. Make one final journal post reflecting on the semester as a whole, and the writing you have done.

 

All outstanding work must be submitted by 12.20, end of term, at the latest