Third Quarter, 2010

The Creative Female class will be taught by Mai Vang, a pre-service teacher from Edgewood College. Mai brings a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm with her to Shabazz. She will add great twists to the class.

Course guidelines will be posted soon!

COURSE SYLLABUS

Creative Female
Course Outline
Quarter One – 2008-09

Course led by Katy Ainslie (Edgewood College)

This course will take a look at what women write about and their contributions to literature, poetry, art, music, and society. We will work both as a collective group and individually to define creativity and explore gendered contributions to the arts. Using our own definitions, we will then compare those ideas to what we discover from what we see, read, hear, and feel.

Weeks 1 – 4 (September 3-26) we will begin by brainstorming what we think women write about and how we define “creativity” and “feminine.” We will then be reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice which is considered a timeless classic that is mimicked in literature and film to this day. Before reading, we will spend a day researching early 19th-century England and Austen’s life in order to better understand the author, the experiences of the time in which she lived, and how both are reflected in her writing. We will alternate reading aloud in class with silent reading and conduct a daily discussion on the current chapters. After finishing the book, we will then watch the 2005 film representation featuring Keira Knightley. A 2-3 page final paper will be due shortly after we conclude the novel and watch the movie. I will have a few topic options from which you can pick or you are free to come up with your own topic.

Week 5 (September 29 – October 3) we will study poetry by women. We will be looking at the imagery, themes, metaphors, meaning, etc in the poetry we read and will also listen to some audio of the poets reading their own work (assuming we can get the computer to cooperate!). A journal entry will be expected in your reflective journals for each poem. At the end of this unit, we will write our own creative poetry to share with the class.

Weeks 6 - 7 (October 6 - 17) we will read short stories from women writers and discuss them as a group. Again, a journal entry for each story is required. We may cut this unit short depending on time!

Weeks 8 - 9 (October 20 - Oct 29 ) we will look at women artists. Each student will present a woman artist that they have researched and will give a brief bio and an example(s) of the artist’s work. We will hopefully have access to the internet as well as hard copies of books from the LMC for this project. If time permits, we may also create our own self portraits using a medium or mode of your choice (also dependent upon material availability).

All Quarter
Each week we will have a piece (or more) of music that we will listen to. Each student is expected to bring in a song by a female artist and give a brief bio of that artist and their work. We will put together a compilation CD for the end of the quarter to rock out to and fondly remember our time together as we celebrate the female artist.


Final Project: You will use your reflective journal as material for your final project. Taking what you have written, you will cut up your entries to create a cohesive paper about what women write about and how your views may or may not have changed over the course of the quarter.

* Times are approximate! We may have to cut week 7 short so that we have enough time for the art unit!

Course Schedule Overview:
Week One: Brainstorming about what women write about, defining “feminine” and
“creativity,” and beginning Pride and Prejudice. (Music)
Week Two: Pride and Prejudice. Reflections. (Music)
Week Three: Pride and Prejudice. Reflections. (Music)
Week Four: Watch movie, Pride and Prejudice. 2-3 page paper on P&P due. (Music)
Week Five: Poetry readings and discussion. Biographies?? Reflections. (Music)
Week Six: Finish poetry and write and present our own poetry. Reflections. Start short stories. (Music)
Week Seven: Short stories. Reflections. (Music)
Week Eight: Women artists. FINAL PAPER WORK. (Music)
Week Nine: Present artists and their artwork. FINAL PAPER DUE!

Assessment Based on:

• Journals ~ I will check in each week to make sure that students are writing.
• Music ~ each student presents at least one artist and song.
• P&P paper ~ 2-3 page paper.
• Poetry ~ Creative poem presentation.
• Art ~ artist presentation and self portrait (if time permits)
• Attendance.
• Discussion and participation.

Attendance:
The Shabazz attendance policy will be strictly enforced in this class. Students will earn a No Credit evaluation after their 6th absence. Remember that all tardies are accounted for (3 tardies = 1 absence). Students who arrive to class more than 15 minutes late will earn an absence for that class period. No make-up time opportunities will be given. Note: Students who sleep during class time or violate other work guidelines are not considered to be in attendance. No warnings will be given. Consider this handout your warning about attendance, dozing, or general lazing around. If students complete all of the assignment requirements for the course early, they still must meet the attendance requirements. They may use the class time to work on assignments due for other instructors or to read purely for their own enjoyment.

Late Work:
Students must use a late assignment ticket for each class day after a missed due date until the work is finished. Students will be allowed a total of 4 tickets during the quarter. Tickets may not be duplicated nor transferred to another student. All late assignment tickets expire at the end of the day on October 29th. (The only exceptions to this guideline may occur for students with documented special education writing concerns. Those students must have a dialogue with me about those concerns in the first week of the course. Permission for extensions must be in line with a student’s IEP and requested in advance of the due dates.) Students are expected to participate in sharing sessions and may not use those days for writing or project work time.

Plagiarism:
If it is discovered that students “borrow” text from other book reviews, papers, or classmates, it will be considered direct plagiarism and intellectual theft. Students who choose to take such inappropriate action will receive an automatic No Credit grade/evaluation in the course. Plagiarism is just wrong!

Book Return:
Students must return all books checked out for class to be eligible for credit in any English class. If a book is lost, talk with your instructor about where you can find a replacement copy, arrange for an alternative replacement, or provide payment for the text. Books have become extremely expensive in the last few years, so in order to maintain our excellent resource libraries here at Shabazz, we must keep close tabs on all our texts.

Basic Course Description -- Quarter One -- 2008-09

This class will be led by Katy Ainslie, a pre-service teacher from Edgewood College.

In order to broaden the traditional creative canon offered to high school students, this course will explore contributions in literature, art, and music made primarily by the female pen, brush, and voice. Students will be responsible for individual analysis of materials and completion of a variety of self-directed, creative projects. Research, presentations, and some individual work outside of class time are expected. Students should be willing to explore and share their own creative voices in this class. Although the focus will be primarily on past female contributions to the arts, male students are especially encouraged to enroll and develop their own creative theories.

All students will read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice this quarter.