Images of Women in Literature

Course Number:

ENG 222

Transcript Title:

Images of Women in Literature

Created:

Aug 10, 2022

Updated:

Jul 11, 2023

Total Credits:

4

Lecture Hours:

40

Lecture / Lab Hours:

0

Lab Hours:

0

Satisfies Cultural Literacy requirement:

Yes

Satisfies General Education requirement:

Yes

Grading Options

A-F, P/NP, Audit

Default Grading Options

A-F

Repeats available for credit:

0

Alignment with Institutional Learning Outcomes

Major

1. Communicate effectively using appropriate reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. (Communication)

Major

2. Creatively solve problems by using relevant methods of research, personal reflection, reasoning, and evaluation of information. (Critical thinking and Problem-Solving)

Not Addressed

3. Extract, interpret, evaluate, communicate, and apply quantitative information and methods to solve problems, evaluate claims, and support decisions in their academic, professional and private lives. (Quantitative Literacy)

Minor

4. Use an understanding of cultural differences to constructively address issues that arise in the workplace and community. (Cultural Awareness)

Minor

5. Recognize the consequences of human activity upon our social and natural world. (Community and Environmental Responsibility)

To establish an intentional learning environment, Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) require a clear definition of instructional strategies, evidence of recurrent instruction, and employment of several assessment modes.

Major Designation

1. The outcome is addressed recurrently in the curriculum, regularly enough to establish a thorough understanding.
2. Students can demonstrate and are assessed on a thorough understanding of the outcome.
   • The course includes at least one assignment that can be assessed by applying the appropriate CLO rubric.

Minor Designation

1. The outcome is addressed adequately in the curriculum, establishing fundamental understanding.
2. Students can demonstrate and are assessed on a fundamental understanding of the outcome.
   • The course includes at least one assignment that can be assessed by applying the appropriate CLO rubric.

Suggested Outcome Assessment Strategies

Assessment may include informal responses to study questions; evaluation of small- and full-group discussion; in-class and out-of-class writing; formal essays, as well as other types of informal writing; presentation by individuals and groups; short and long essay exams; close reading exercises using support/evidence; writing exercises which include evaluation of various interpretations of a text and their relative validity. Both instructor and peer evaluation may be incorporated in the assessment process.

May include student critiques of student work, evaluations of in-class and out-of-class writing, analysis of close reading exercises, instructor conferences, and written instructor comments.

Course Activities and Design

The determination of teaching strategies used in the delivery of outcomes is generally left to the discretion of the instructor. Here are some strategies that you might consider when designing your course: lecture, small group/forum discussion, flipped classroom, dyads, oral presentation, role play, simulation scenarios, group projects, service learning projects, hands-on lab, peer review/workshops, cooperative learning (jigsaw, fishbowl), inquiry based instruction, differentiated instruction (learning centers), graphic organizers, etc.

Course Content

• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Understanding prose fiction through contexts such as society, politics, artistic conventions, multiple interpretations of an author, etc.
• Writing about fiction.
• Close readings.
• Critical reading employing reviews and critical essays.
• Speaking and listening reflectively.
• Small-group collaboration.
• Information literacy.

Appreciation

• Articulate ways in which the text constructs images of women.
• Engage, through the text, unfamiliar and diverse cultures, experiences and points of view.
• Appreciate an apparently simple text as a complex fabric or document.

Context

• Recognize images of women in the text as products of particular cultures and historical movements.
• Understand the text within the context of a literary tradition or convention.
• Acknowledge the possibility of multiple interpretations of a text.
• Recognize the text’s relationship to different art forms.

Form/Structure

• Recognize the variety of stylistic choices that authors make within given forms, and how they affect the creation of images of women in literature. This may include decisions about theme, image, character, plot, setting, voice, point of view, figurative language, etc.
• Use knowledge of form as a tool to analyze the text, as well as to demonstrate how form influences meaning.

Analysis

• Evaluates various interpretations of a text and their validity through reading, writing, and speaking, and through individual and group responses.
• Through close reading of a text, discover and analyze the support/evidence for a particular interpretation.
• Write clear, focused, coherent essays about literature for an academic audience using standard English conventions and style.

Suggested Texts and Materials

At least 60% of all course texts and materials in the WFLL should be written by a combination of women and other marginalized communities (people of color, LGBTQ, disabled authors, etc.

Completely at the instructor’s discretion, but may include:

• a selection of international mythology featuring female archetypes such as Pandora (trouble-maker) or Hera (the jealous wife)
• The Book of Genesis in The Bible
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Zora Neale Nurston, Their Eyes were Watching God
• Sylvia Plath’s poetry
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s by truman Capote
• “Aint I a Woman” by Sojourner Truth
• Zadie Smith stories or essays
• Annie Lamott “A Day at the Beach with My Aunties” or other essays
• LIndy West “Lady Kluck” or other essays
• Louse Erdrich Love Medicine
• Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye
• Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents