Arts and Science 350D

Arts and Science 350D

Summer Semester 2013

An Analysis of Sports in Literature and Film

Instructor: Clint McDuffie

Phone: 816-718-4798

E-Mail: [email protected]

Office Hours: By Appointment- I am not a full time faculty member at UMKC, I do not keep an office on campus. That does not mean that I am not available for assistance; if there is time needed for a one on one discussion it needs to be set up ahead of time. We can also meet online if needed.

We can meet online via Wimba or Skype @ mcduffiec

Course Description:

Developed as a means for studying sports’ influence and contribution to the world around us; this course is set up to take a critical analysis approach to literature and film which represent sport. By using critical thinking and rhetorical analysis, the course breaks down and interprets the impact and messages that literature and film can have on an individual or society, by using sports as the focus of the content. Sports are unique in that they offer a wide audience and are understood through a gamut of emotions and intellectual capacities- when using them as a means to promote a message or entertain they can become influential. An emphasis in this course will be to develop an understanding of rhetorical organization, diction, critical thinking analysis and cultural interpretation.

Sports illuminate and transform a society. Sports change lives, affect politics, fuel our economy, and shape our culture. The American Dream is personified in our champions, in the records they set and the barriers they break. The dynamic interaction of athletes, fans, and the media produces inexplicable loyalties, lasting legends, and revered heroes. The greatest champions stand for more than the records they break. They stand for the barriers they shatter—physical, social, psychological, racial, cultural—and change the way audiences think about the world.

Class Format and Expectations:

This course is more akin to an English course in style of presentation of material and there is a lot of reading material that must be completed during the course. Literature of any kind is about the human condition expressed in written form. Thus, unlike conventional science or fact-based courses, there are no “wrong” points of view or interpretations or answers. How well you do on an assignment or activity stems from how you present your logic (i.e. sound arguments and writing). My expectation is that each student has read or viewed the material assigned before the class discussion posts and writing assignments; discussion and analysis proceeds from that assumption.

Objectives

As you read, write, and think over the course of the semester, please keep the following objectives in mind:

Deeper appreciation of language, literature and film: Our primary objective is to expand our understanding of how words make meaning. You will become conversant with many linguistic and bibliographic terms (diction, dialect), formal features (character foil, motif), and always examining the ways that form shapes meaning.

Broader understanding of the humanities: To study literature and film is to study life. As we immerse ourselves in the content of these pieces of art, and the periods in which they were produced, we will become more adept at analyzing human thought (perception, motivation, relation), philosophy (free will, determinism, good, evil), and social issues (racism, feminism, economics).

Expanded cultural literacy: Because of the allusive nature of all language, particularly literature, names constitute a crucial part of a person’s vocabulary. As we study these novels and films, along with their context, you will expand your cultural vocabulary.

Reading: As we read this challenging literature, you not only will expand your vocabulary and your ability to extract meaning from sophisticated syntax, but you will also learn to infer information about audience and purpose, thus preparing yourself to interpret the complex, often veiled messages you encounter in law, business, and the media.

Research: You will learn to complement the knowledge you glean in class with knowledge you gather on your own through research. In addition to becoming familiar with standard literary reference materials, you will polish several general research skills (paraphrasing, quoting, documenting). 

Communication: In a variety of assignments and other activities, you will begin to master various aspects of writing (argumentation, editing).

Criteria:

Before you submit a final draft of any assignment, please review the following criteria, which I will use in grading each assignment, along with the writing rubric:

Content: The project should thoroughly and insightfully address its subject with accurate, credible, timely, and relevant information. If the project is supposed to be argumentative, it should state a clear, substantive, contestable, and precise claim early and support this claim with appropriate evidence.

Clarity: The project should present information in a clear, logical fashion. In particular, paragraphs generally should begin with precise topic sentences, followed by clear, well-organized sentences that support the topic sentence. The writer should use transitional words and phrases effectively to guide the reader through the information.

Readability: The project should engage the reader with lively, concise writing and should generally lack typographical errors, as well as lapses in tone, punctuation, spelling, word choice, and grammar. The project should effectively incorporate source material with proper use of attribution, paraphrases, and quotations. Longer projects should begin with an engaging introduction and include a satisfying conclusion.

Format: Parenthetical citations and the bibliography or list of works cited should conform to MLA style. Your review essays and Mind Mapping assignments will be typed in Times New Roman; size 12 font, double spaced and consists of a minimum of 4 sources for each assignment.

Required Materials:

Books:

Barney Polan’s Game, by Charley Rosen

Eight Men Out, by Eliot Asinof

The Game, by Jack London

Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen, by Joe Drape

Playing with the Boys: A Pretty Tough Novel, by Liz Tigelaar

Films:

Eight Men Out

Friday Night Lights

A League of Their Own

Ali (with Will Smith)

Hoop Dreams

Required Resources:

· You need to have access to the internet.

· You need the ability to hear audio on the computer for audio notes.

· You need to have Microsoft Word.

· You have to have the ability to rent/stream movies and view them on you own.

Blackboard: Under the Course Content tab is where all the content of the class will be held. Here you will find supplemental materials to consider as you work through each week’s material. The other tabs in Blackboard will contain useful information as well.

GRADING CRITERIA

Week One Discussion Forums: 6 points total

Student Lead Discussion Forums: 35 points total

Twitter Forum Posts: 14 points total

Mind Mapping: 20 points total

Review Essays 30 points total

__________________________________________________

Course total 105 points

All written assignments in this course should exhibit college-level skills appropriate for the level of study in grammar and mechanics. In addition to being typed and double-spaced with one-inch margins all around, your papers must follow MLA format. Cite in-text sources in parenthetical format, and include a complete works-cited list at the end of your paper.

GRADING SCALE.

100% -90% A

89%-80% B

79% – 70% C

69% – 60% D

59% and below F

Assignments:

Discussion Forums

Worth 3 points each (6 points total)

In week 1 you will have two forums to participate in. The forums in week one are intended to engage you with peers and prompt you to begin thinking about the topics we will cover in this course. I will post a question in the forums and you need to make your initial response by Thursday of week one at midnight and then comment to at least two of your peers by Sunday at midnight. You will do this for both forums in week one.

Worth 5 points each (35 points total)

In weeks 2-8 students will be assigned to lead weekly discussion forums. I will post the schedule in Blackboard that outlines which week is your week to lead the forum. If you are leading the forum in a given week your initial forum post is due by Thursday at midnight and needs to be a minimum of 150 words. You then need to keep up with and interact with any of your peers that post to your thread. If you are not leading the forum in a given week you are required to make two comments to any of your peers’ posts. The forum discussions will end Sunday at midnight. Those leading the forum need to make their initial 150 word post about that week’s film and text and how through literary and filmic techniques confront a particular social issue. Those of you leading in a given week may not have had time to read all of the material or view the entire film; that is all right, part of this exercise is to give students an opportunity to share ideas and guide one another in their interpretations of the texts and films we will see. It is fair to assume your thoughts in the forum will evolve as you progress through a given week.

Worth 2 points each (14 points total)

In weeks 2-8 you will engage in a “Twitter” forum. The concept behind Twitter is that it is a microblogging tool. What I like about it is that you are forced to express your thoughts in 140 characters or less. In the forums titled Twitter Forum you’ll need to make 2 posts of 140 characters or less that express your initial thoughts on either the film or text for that week. I want these to be uncensored or unfiltered ideas that you have as you read the first 20 or so pages and watch the first 15 or 20 minutes of a film. This way you are compelled to express your ideas in a truncated version-whereas in your book/film reviews you get to expand into deeper thoughts.

Mind Mapping Assignment

Due Week 7

Worth 20 points

Mind mapping is a way for you to coalesce a variety of ideas into a visual element that demonstrates how the ideas are interconnected. For this assignment you will choose any mind mapping tool you wish and map content from each week’s reading and film. The stipulation is that whichever mind mapping tool you choose you have to be able to share it with me and I have to be able to access it, so I can grade it. I recommend bubbl.us or Mindomo, but you can choose any one you prefer-you just have to be able to share it with me. Here is a link to a site with options: Lifehack. Each week the text you read and film you view will have themes that relate to society as a whole (race, gender, economics, violence, education, etc. . .) and for this assignment you are to pull out those themes and create a mind map. What content you decide on is up to you; you just have to isolate particular themes from the film/text for that week and through your mind map represent that theme and where applicable show relations between texts/films you experience throughout the course. Along with your mind map you will turn in during week 7 a 4-6 page essay where you deconstruct your mind map. In your paper you need to explain the elements you’ve chosen, what themes or topics those elements represent, how the film/text represented that theme or topic, and how the themes or topics are interconnected, if they are. This project may require you to use outside sources to support your claims through research and secondary materials, which is all right. Proper MLA formatting is required. You are not required to have four sources for this assignment, but if you pull from secondary resources you will need to properly cite that information.

Review Essays

Worth 15 points each (30 points total)

In order for you to engage in a deeper analysis you will write two 4-6 page book/film reviews. Beginning in week2 and lasting until week 8 you are assigned to read and watch a particular text and film. Your review essays are intended to give you an opportunity to delve deeper into your thoughts as you dissect and analyze the film/text. You get to choose which week’s content you wish to write about. Whichever week’s content you choose the review essay is due the following Sunday at midnight. For instance, if you choose the content from week 2 to write your review essay then it is due the Sunday of week 3 at midnight. The only week this does not apply to is week 8-if you choose the content from that week it is due that Sunday at midnight.

Within your review essay I am looking for how well you apply learned terminology, theories, and course concepts to your review. This project requires you to use four outside sources to support your claims through research and secondary materials, at a minimum. Proper MLA formatting and citation is required.

CLASS SCHEDULE:

Week	Assignment	Due Date	Points
Week One June 10-16	Read supplemental articles and view supplemental videos provided by the instructor. Week One Forum #1 Week One Forum #2	Thurs./Sunday Thurs./Sunday	3 3
Week Two June 17-23	Read Eight Men Out, by Eliot Asinof Watch Eight Men Out Student Lead Forum Post Twitter Forum Post	Thurs./Sunday Sunday	5 2
Week Three June 24-30	Read the first 100 pages of Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen, by Joe Drape Student Lead Forum Post Twitter Forum Post Review Essay for Week Two Material Due	Thurs./Sunday Sunday Sunday	5 2 15
Week Four July 1-7	Read the rest of Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen, by Joe Drape Watch Friday Night Lights Student Lead Forum Post Twitter Forum Post	Thurs./Sunday Sunday	5 2
Week Five July 8-14	Read the first 100 pages of Barney Polan’s Game, by Charley Rosen Student Lead Forum Post Twitter Forum Post Review Essay for Week Four Material Due	Thurs./Sunday Sunday Sunday	5 2 15
Week Six July 15-21	Read the rest of Barney Polan’s Game, by Charley Rosen Watch Hoop Dreams Student Lead Forum Post Twitter Forum Post	Thurs./Sunday Sunday	5 2
Week Seven July 22-28	Read Playing with the Boys: A Pretty Tough Novel, by Liz Tigelaar Watch A League of Their Own Student Lead Forum Post Twitter Forum Post Review Essay for Week Six Material Due Mind Map Assignment Due	Thurs./Sunday Sunday Sunday Sunday	5 2 15 20
Week Eight July 29-August 2	Read The Game, by Jack London Watch Ali (with Will Smith) Student Lead Forum Post Twitter Forum Post Review Essay for Weeks Seven and Eight are due	Thurs./Sunday Sunday Sunday	5 2 15

INSTRUCTOR’S EXPECTATIONS

Written Work:

All work is due by the assigned due date. For each day an assignment is late it drops in points one letter grade, and after three days I will no longer accept the assignment-with the exception of work due in the final week, that material cannot be late.

Forums:

Your forums posts need to be completed within the week they are assigned. Forums cannot be made up if they are missed; they end the Sunday of the week they are assigned.

Discussions:

I want the class to foster a comfortable environment where we exchange ideas openly and freely; however, if I deem any discussion forum material inappropriate I reserve the right to remove the content and you will not receive points for the exercise.

Plagiarism:

If you are found to have plagiarized you will fail the activity. If you plagiarize more than once you will not pass the course.

Mind Map:

It is your responsibility to ensure I am able to access and view your mind map; if I cannot you will not receive a grade for the assignment.

Student Learning:

Online learning puts more of the responsibility on the student to let the instructor know when there is an issue, confusion or general questions. I am available to help; you just have to let me know what it is that you need before it is too late. Please contact me before you are too far behind.