DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

welcome

This course offers continued instruction in writing, research, and critical thinking, helping to develop student skills with frequent and varied writing assignments. Course sections 12-1869 and 12-1877, taught by Prof. Julia Miele Rodas, will center around the theme of monsters and the monstrous.

 

Although such a focus might seem frivolous, the idea and representation of the monster is more complex that it might seem on the surface. In fact, the monstrous figure often serves as a metaphor that negotiates serious social, historical, political, and psychological issues. Monsters hold a key place in literature, history, art, and oral tradition, providing a framework that will become a starting point for classroom discussion and writing projects about human identity and sexuality, relationships of power, the sacred and the taboo, gender and class relationships, and other topics.

 

Students will be asked to write during almost every class session, usually in response to reading assigned for that day, sometimes reacting to a brief prompt that will spur class discussion and begin the process of deeper analysis, sometimes to begin or develop longer, more formal writing projects. In addition, each student will develop his or her own ePortfolio site to reflect individual learning and to demonstrate growth in writing and thinking. Larger, more formal writing assignments will be posted to individual ePortfolio sites, enlarged and enriched with a variety of digital resources.

 

My goal for the class is that each student finish with greater skill and confidence as a writer and thinker, and that each student's ePortfolio accurately reflects that person's interests, abilities, and personality.

 

Work Cited

Smith, Joseph. Curse of the Werewolf. 1961. Movie poster. Learn About Movie Posters.com. Heritage Auction, 2011. Web. 2 Feb 2011.

 

NOTE: This course website is a work-in-progress. Please report errors and broken links and suggest changes and additions: julia.rodas@bcc.cuny.edu.

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.