Engl 12:  Folklore Important Information Fall 2008 August 18 - December 18 Instructor: Michael Roesch

Brief Course Syllabus/First Day Handout

Contact:   You can send me e-mail: folklorecourse@sbcglobal.net; I tend to check my e-mail each day, so you should have a fairly quick reply to any question you might have.

The Course: The class is three units (with a support hour) and can be applied to the AA, CSU, and UC. The Internet course was designed for students who, for whatever reason, cannot attend the COS campus on a regular basis. The course is an examination of folk wisdom, art and artifacts traditionally handed on by word of mouth or by custom and practice. In addition to reading about superstitions, proverbs, tall tales, and urban legends, students will have ample opportunity to explore their own family folklore and a few of the many local legends, i.e., Bigfoot and the Lemurians on Mt. Shasta. Students will also explore Native American myths, cowboy lore, fairy tales, jokes, folk songs, and folk games.  

Where: The class will be held via the Internet. 

Text and/or material needed: J.H.Brunvand's The Study of American Folklore (fourth edition ISBN 0-393-97223-2). The text is required reading, and it can be purchased from the COS Bookstore--either at the Yreka (530 842-1245) or WeedCampus (530 938-5236). Please call the appropriate bookstore to check on hours and that the text is in stock before visiting. The text is published by WW Norton and Company, and the fourth edition can likely be ordered from Amazon.com , Barnes and Noble or other bookstore on or off the Internet. 

"Homefun" sheets: The primary purpose of the weekly homefun sheet is to aid you in learning the specific folklore material that I believe is most relevant or necessary (they are also great study guides for the quizzes and final exam). A good student example of the "Legends" Homefun is on-line. You will only be required to complete and submit for grading  two  weekly homefun assignments.   Two 50 point sheets = 100 points.

Collection sheets:  The collection sheets offer you an opportunity to collect, record, analyze, and share folklore. You are required to complete two 50-point sheets (a good student example can be viewed on-line). Instead of doing the 2nd collection sheet, students can do an optional community service project. 

Folklore Discussion Board: The "Board" allows the instructor to create conference topic areas (Weekly Topic, Student Profile, Student Lounge, etc.) where students can post their responses and view the responses from other students. The Board allows us to exchange ideas, images, files, share folklore, and create a stronger sense of belonging to a specific college class. Subsequently, you will be required to join me in posting opinions, creations, and questions. 

Course Project: =  100 points  (good examples of Course Projects turned in by students are on-line). The Course Project assignment allows the student to do a creative, in-depth exploration of some aspect of folklore. Students are encouraged to collaborate, work on something that is personally relevant, and be creative.  The specific topic and approach (web page, written paper, slideshow, PowerPoint, video...) must be pre-approved by the instructor.

Quizzes:  Short (about 10-12 question) online quizzes will be given every week or so. The true or false, as well as multiple choice questions, will be based on the weekly reading assignment. There will also be a 30 question quiz about mid-term and a 50 question quiz at the end of the course. Approximately 15 quizzes: total of about 100 points. 

Final exam: = 50 points  (Although the final will be a "take-home," the essay questions will be designed to measure your knowledge of folklore. Students that keep up with the reading assignments in the Brunvand text, spend time visiting the linked folklore sites, and utilize the "Homefun" sheets as a study aid should do quite well on the final exam).

(Minor changes and additions to the above assignments may have to be made during the semester. Final grades will be based on the following formula: 90% or better = A; 80% = B; 70% = C; 60% = D; 50% = F).

• Cheating or plagiarizing will result in grade of "F" for work in question. I often submit major writing assignments to a global search engine or Turnitin.com in order to ensure that all sources used are credited. If you have any questions about plagiarism and how to avoid it, visit the COS Writing Lab links on plagiarism. 
• No late work will be accepted. If you do have an emergency, contact me before the assignment is due to discuss your options. I have found that most students can avoid deadline problems by clearly writing down due dates in a course calendar, establishing regularly scheduled hours each week to complete course tasks, and by visiting the folklore site often during the week.
• No early work will be accepted. Collection Sheets, Quizzes, as well as all other work, must be turned in or posted during the week they are due. This policy will help all of us to "be on the same page," and it will make the course grading manageable for the instructor.
• Student are expected to visit all sites linked from the weekly pages, explore each site, and consider how the site topic relates to folklore. Be aware that not all sites are equal in value, and some sites linked to might be down. If you can't access a site after 24 hours, please e-mail me about the problem and I will look into it.
• Students must be willing to spend the necessary time needed to succeed in this course. The lengthy readings, e-mail updates, numerous links, and many writing assignments will demand that the average student spend about 9 hours each week on the course. If you have any concerns or problems, do not hesitate to contact me. 
  
• All student writing is expected to be at the college level. You must do a spell check and ensure that all of your course writing is relatively free of gross grammar and punctuation problems. 
• The course content might be offensive to some people. During the semester you may well be asked to collect, read, and critically analyze material that some people may consider offensive. Although most material is quite harmless, crude jokes, sexually explicit creation stories, and sexist/racist language are quite likely to be encountered in a folklore course. If you are unable to handle such material, you should seriously consider taking a different course.