Spectacles of Blood: FYS 251: Course Overview Page

FYS 251- SPECTACLES OF BLOOD!
Course Overview

Required Books:

Martial, Epigams, v. 1 (Loeb Classical Library, No 94) D.R. Shackleton Bailey (Editor). Harvard University Press: ISBN: 0 674 99555 4

Tertullian : Apology and De Spectaculis (Loeb 250) G. H. Rendall (Translator). Harvard University Press ISBN: 0 674 99276 8

Joyce E. Salisbury, Perpetua's Passion : The Death and Memory of a Young Roman Woman, Routledge; ISBN: 0415918375 (October 1997)

Shadi Bartsch, Actors in the audience : theatricality and doublespeak from Nero to Hadrian, Cambridge, Mass. 1994

Daniel Boyarin, Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism Stanford, 1999

Joseph M. Williams, Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, Chicago. ISBN: 0226899152 (1990, 1995 reprint)
You must also purchase 3 ring binder and paper for your writing notebook. Do not use a spiral bound notebook.

Course Work:

Each night you will be assigned a reading and/or writing assignment. On nights when you are assigned reading and study guide questions, you must pick one of the questions and compose a one paragraph answer to that question in your Writing Notebook. Some nights you will be assigned a writing assignment in preparation of a workshop. Record that assignment in your writing notebook.

In addition to the question for which you prepare a formal answer, I expect you to read and think about each study guide question before class. If you couldn't begin to write an answer to the study guide question, you need to go back and read the assignment more closely.

You and a classmate will form a Team that will lead class discussion on two occasions throughout the semester. In order to perform this assignment you must:

a topic for the in class writing assignment
a description of your goal for the class (what do you want students to have learned in your class)
a description of the method you will use to achieve that goal (discussion questions; class exercises, debates, small group work, use of the web, overhead, etc.)
a criteria on which you will decide whether or not the class was successful

Meet with Mr. Holt to discuss, review and refine your teaching plan
Inform me 24 hours before class (by email is fine) of any special materials, equipment you will need for class.
Hand in a copy of the teaching plan at the start of class.

You will participate in 4 writing workshops
For each workshop you will write a critique of the papers of the 3 other students in your peer editing group.
The requirements for each critique will vary and are described on the Critique page. No critique may be longer than one page.
You will be graded both on the quality of your own writing and the usefulness of the comments you have made about the papers you critique.

Course Policies:

You have three "free" days (days for which you may skip class without sanction). After that you will lose 5 points from your total grade for every class you miss (i.e., a final grade of 90 will become a final grade of 85). It is possible to receive As on all your papers and fail this class over attendance.
Students who attend all classes (i.e., don’t use their "free" days), will receive 2 (two) extra credit points in the calculation of their grade (i.e., a 91 will become a 93).
Exceptions:

You have a dean’s excuse.
You are an observant adherent of a religion the practice of which prevents you from attending class on a given day [and you inform me of the fact in advance].

DO NOT COME TO CLASS IF YOU ARE SICK! [I will get your germs for sure and deeply resent you for it.] Go to the health center. Get drugs and a dean’s excuse and go to bed until you’re better.

You must complete all assignments to receive a passing grade in the course All deadlines are final and cannot be negotiated (unless you or a member of your family has been hospitalized or worse).