First Year Experience Program

Since English 105 introduces students to a wide variety of poetic voices and diverse poetic genres, it is perfect for a FYE course. Students learn to read, to interpret, and to discuss poetry, which is highly concentrated language, and to implement what they have learned in written and visual formats.

I will be teaching two sections of 105 this Fall and will be happy to do a First Year Experience course for both.

1. Critical Thinking: Students learn to evaluate different approaches to interpreting poetry and to articulate the ways in which poets influence each other. Students begin to think creatively about disciplines to which poetry has been applied and brainstorm about inventing new applications.

2. Writing: Students write brief responses to poems in-class and at home and work on creating original examples of figures of speech in order to demonstrate their understanding of literary tropes. Also students work in groups and write group responses to interpretive questions, and in the process of doing so learn how to deal respectfully with divergent points of view.

3. Information literacy: Students learn to use the _Oxford English Dictionary_ to study the ways words change over time. Students have the option of producing web pages, blogs, or powerpoint presentations for their creative projects. This necessitates introducing students to the services of University Computing. Additionally, students are encouraged to find visual images online to illustrate, literally or figuratively, poets' verbal images.

4. Oral communication: Students present their group work to the class. Students are encouraged to raise interpretive questions about the poetry we read and/or to contribute their thoughts about the issues of any particular poem or group of poems.

5. Ethics: Students consider the ways poems raise issues of race, gender, and ethnicity and the impact of these issues on different audiences. Students also discuss the consequences of teaching poetry that deals with sensitive subjects, such as the banning of certain works from the classroom. Students learn to express their opinion in a respectful manner that provokes thought without insulting anyone.

1. Co-curricular involvement: Students are required to attend one art show and one poetry reading on campus and to write a one page response to these presentations.

2. Working in Groups: Once a month students will answer interpretive questions in groups and will learn to involve every group member in this process.

3. Information Literacy: Students create two interdisciplinary projects which integrate visual and verbal skills. Additionally, students are required to use today's technologies to create one of them. Students gain practice in finding art online to juxtapose thematically to the poetry.

4. Oral Communication: Class discussion and oral presentation of group work give students practice in articulating their ideas.

5. Ethics: Students discuss the ethical ramifications of poetry's use in the world of advertising and in political speeches.