In teaching this section of English 12 this Spring I will structure the entire course with an overarching theme which looks at how different academic and professional disciplines approach the AIDS epidemic. The three units of the course will deal specifically with discourse within Sociology, Biology and Art History. In utilizing some of the new and growing technologies that are available now (such as HTML and Web-page design, e-mail, listservs, CD-ROM databases and more), we will endeavor to familiarize ourselves as a group with a fourth form of discourse, namely information technology.
In doing the research and production of the unit projects for the first two assignments, you will be required to consult a number of different sources within the specific fields which we are studying. For example, as you do your research in Sociology, you will be expected (and required) not only to use print references, but to consult professional sociology databases, newsgroups, mailing lists, etc. in gathering your data. Part of the final papers which you produce will examine they ways in which the data is presented in these different formats, with an implicit examination of the relative usefulness of such information to both a lay as well as a professional understanding of the subject.
Then, for the final unit, I will substitute the group production of a web page for the written paper (we will have gradually familiarized ourselves with HTML via ATN seminars and in-class work over the course of the semester). The reasons for this are threefold:
![]() Unit 1: The Sociology of AIDS (Image taken from the Loel Poor Photo Exhibit on The Body page) | ![]() Unit 2: The Biology of AIDS | ![]() Unit 3: AIDS and the art world |
As we begin our discussion of AIDS, we must begin by looking at what we, as a group, know about the disease. In examining this, sociology provides us with some of the most relevant answers, since it focuses on larger communities rather than individuals in doing its research. Mr. Richard Wright, a respected rehabilitation counselor from Graham, NC, will come speak to the class about topics related to this issue so that we can get a first-hand look at how someone working in this specific field deals with the AIDS epidemic. The assignments for this unit will include gathering and formulating sociological data into standard formats for the discourse community (such as creating, performing and interpreting a survey that leads to valid sociological conclusions).
Class Date | Class Day | Today's activities | Assignments due |
---|---|---|---|
Jan. 8 | Wed. | Introduction. "Hi there, my name is ________!" Class introduction. Organize class into discussion groups for semester and exchange vital statistics. | None. |
Jan. 10 | Fri. | Introduction to Unit One. Overview of sociological discourse methods. | None. |
Jan. 13 | Mon. | Class discussion of sociological surveys using outside models. | None. |
Jan. 15 | Wed. | "What makes an effective questionnaire?": Discuss demographics, statistical validity, etc. | None. |
Jan. 17 | Fri. | Group work in class. | 1st Feeder Due |
Jan. 20 | Mon. | Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday. No class today! | None. |
Jan. 22 | Wed. | Discuss data collection techniques. | None. |
Jan. 24 | Fri. | Group work examining hard returns of student surveys. | 2nd Feeder Due |
Jan. 27 | Mon. | Discuss interpretation of
data. Click Here for Final Assignment | None. |
Jan. 29 | Wed. | Discuss sociological writing methods for reports. | None. |
Jan. 31 | Fri. | Group work using student drafts | Draft of Final Paper Due in class! |
Feb. 3 | Mon. | Guest speaker--Mr. Richard Wright--Q & A, Discussion | None. |
Feb. 5 | Wed. | Review. Troubleshooting. Revision techniques. | None. |
Feb. 7 | Fri. | Wrap up Unit 1. Introduce concepts for Unit 2. | Unit 1 Final Paper Due |
Group Work | Feeder Assignments | Office Hours and Conferences | Lectures | Free Writings | Guest Speaker | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arithmetic Mean Response | 3.94 | 3.86 | 3.77 | 3.44 | 3.05 | 2.94 |
# of "5" Responses | 7 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
# of "4" Responses | 7 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 3 |
# of "3" Responses | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
# of "2" Responses | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
# of "1" Responses | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
# of Non-Responses | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
In order to understand the AIDS epidemic more fully, it is necessary to understand how it works, both in an attempt to treat the disease once it appears and to prevent its transmission in the first place. In this unit we will look at the biology of the HIV virus, in order to create a model which can be accessible to our non-professional understanding. To do so, we must familiarize ourselves with at least the basic terminology and techniques of the biological discourse community. We may have a guest speaker for this unit that but that is still uncertain.
Class Date | Class Day | Today's activities | Assignments due |
---|---|---|---|
Feb. 10 | Mon. | Library tour. Data gathering in scientific discourse. | None. |
Feb. 12 | Wed. | Background lecture. Research methods. | None. |
Feb. 14 | Fri. | Valentine's Day. Did you know that St. Valentine was beheaded? Group work in class. | 1st Feeder Due |
Feb. 17 | Mon. | Scientific method as rhetoric. | None. |
Feb. 19 | Wed. | Differences/Similarities in Biology writing compared to Sociology. | None. |
Feb. 21 | Fri. | Group work. | 2nd Feeder Due |
Feb. 24 | Mon. | Discuss
scientific professional writing methods. Click Here for Final Assignment | None. |
Feb. 26 | Wed. | Possible speaker. If not, class discussion on research/data collecting. | None. |
Feb. 28 | Fri. | Group work discussion of drafts in class.. | Draft of Final Paper Due in class! |
Mar. 3 | Mon. | Proper documentation/format for scientific discourse. | None. |
Mar. 5 | Wed. | Review. Troubleshooting. Revision. | None. |
Mar. 7 | Fri. | Turn in papers,
then catch your flights to Colorado, Florida, Bahamas, Fuquay-Varina, etc.
| Unit 2 Final Paper Due |
The art community has been one of the hardest hit by AIDS, with such
notable and controversial figures as Keith Haring, John Bernd and Robert
Mapplethorpe (among many others) having already been lost due to
the disease. As we proceed in this unit, we wil not only look at the way
AIDS is treated by various artists in a number of media, but also examine
the way that the art history academic community has dealt with this
situation. Reading Susan Sontag's book and Rob Baker's
book (at least the relevant sections) would be an
excellent introduction to the general issues of the discussion. The first
week of the unit will be spent familiarizing ourselves with the basic
format of HTML and with HTML editors with the goal of creating a web page
at the end of the unit as a part of a discussion group. Co-operation and
attendance will be of the utmost importance in this unit because of the
group nature of the work. Attendance will count as a significant part of
the grade for this project.
Class Date | Class Day | Today's activities | Assignments due |
---|---|---|---|
NOTE: Schedule changes in red letters. | |||
Mar. 17 | Mon. | You're baa-ack...Begin Unit 3 with comprehensive introduction to HTML and the World-Wide Web (hopefully with a guest lecture by someone from ATN, probably in the Greenlaw computer lab...) | Bring floppy disks. |
Mar. 19 | Wed. | Q & A about HTML and some basic guidelines for working in groups (in Bingham 318). | None. |
Mar. 21 | Fri. | Background lecture and class discussion of unit goals/requirements/expectiations. | None. |
Mar. 24 | Mon. | HTML in-class primer. Learn how to use Hypertext Mark-up Language (the format in which we will be producing our web pages). ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL CLASS! | None. |
Mar. 26 | Wed. | Group work on 1st feeder. | 1st Feeder Due. |
Mar. 28 | Fri. | Good Friday. No classes! Isn't any Friday without classes a good one though? | None. |
Mar. 31 | Mon. | Class
discussion on art history research techniques.
Click Here for Final Assignment | None. |
Apr. 1 | Tue. | Meet in Greenlaw Hall computer lab (rm. 221) at 5 p.m. for hands-on HTML and web design session. Come either tonight or Thursday the 3rd (or both). One class attendance is mandatory. | BRING FLOPPY DISKS |
Apr. 2 | Wed. | Tour of the Ackland Art Museum. Meet in the lobby of the Ackland (just behind First Union on Columbia--if you need directions, please ask). Very important to be punctual today! | Bring pencils, not pens, and paper for note-taking. |
Apr. 3 | Thurs. | Meet in Greenlaw Hall computer lab (rm. 221) at 7 p.m. for hands-on HTML and web design session. Come either tonight or Tuesday the 1st (or both). One class attendance is mandatory. | BRING FLOPPY DISKS |
Apr. 4 | Fri. | No class (see Tues., April 1st or Thurs., Apr. 3rd) | None. |
Apr. 7 | Mon. | Discussion of multimedia presentation/How to present non-verbal information effectively. | 2nd feeder due in class |
Apr. 9 | Wed. | Balancing aesthetics and rhetoric in artistic criticism. | None. |
Apr. 11 | Fri. | Programming troubleshooting session. | None. |
Apr. 14 | Mon. | Group evaluation of Web page "drafts". Meet in Greenlaw computer lab. | Bring disk(s) with page "drafts". |
Apr. 16 | Wed. | Web page composition Q & A. | None. |
Apr. 18 | Fri. | How to streamline HTML presentations. Combining effective rhetoric with good visual presentation. | None. |
Apr. 21 | Mon. | Troubleshooting. Revision. Review. | None. |
Apr. 23 | Wed. | Class evaluations and general celebratory hysteria. | Turn in disk(s) with group page and then sing Alice Cooper's "School's Out" (skipping the verse about "school's been blown to pieces...") for the remainder of the month. |
Coming to class is extremely important, both to you as well as to myself and the rest of your classmates. The assignments and projects in this class are heavily geared towards group work and group analysis, so they are most effective if everyone actively participates. For this reason, I do take attendance and it does count as a part of your grade. However, merely coming to class to be a warm body in a cold chair does not constitute participation, so I base your class participation grade not only on whether you have been in the classroom but if you brought your mind and mouth with you. Everyone's opinion is equally valid in this class (and equally open to discussion and criticism--mine included!) so I encourage you to be a part of this class in more than just the seating chart. If you must be absent, please try to get word to me that day. I understand that people get sick, but bad hair days and hangovers are not good reasons to miss a class, and not having an assignment ready to turn in is an even worse reason. I will not kill you if you come to class without an assignment. I might consider it, though, if you don't come to class to avoid being seen the day an assignment is due. All you do to yourself in that situation is fall further behind and put yourself in double jeopardy. There is a correlation between performance and attendance and it is not because of the points you lose on your participation grade.
There are two kinds, neither has a place in the classroom. Accidental
plagiarism is a topic we will address early in the semester in order to
prevent it before it happens. Basically, this occurs when a lack of proper
documentation or attribution makes something that someone else has written
seem like your own work. There are several pages in the back of the
Guide that cover this topic. Read them, for your sake and
mine. The second kind of plagiarism is the one that none of us wants
to deal with, namely intentional misrepresentation of someone else's work
as your own. Let me simply state now that it is not difficult to spot this
kind of plagiarism, whether in the form of papers downloaded from the
Internet, or "borrowed" from an organization's files. Thus, please, do not
give in to the temptation to pass these papers off as your own. It is,
simply put, not worth the risk, as this kind of cheating is a violation of
the Honor Code that will result in an F for the course and probable
suspension from the University. The work assigned in class is not given to
you as an irritating hurdle to jump on the way to a degree. It is designed
to help you in all your writing, now and down the line, and not doing the
work will honestly haunt you later even if it doesn't hurt you now. To
make a long story short,
If you find that you are still having problems that can't be resolved in class or in consultation with your workshop groups, my office hours are solely intended for your benefit. Stop by during the ones I have posted or make an appointment with me and we can talk about whatever it is that concerns you, whether or not it is a specific assignment. I don't mind just chatting, but do ask that you defer to others who have specific writing concerns. I am always happy to talk to students during this time, or even if I have some spare minutes if you run into me on campus or in the halls.
Furthermore, if
you are having trouble with a particular assignment, or
just feel like you need some one-on-one advising, the Writing
Center, located in Phillips Annex, offers assistance with writing (by
appointment) to the entire University. I strongly encourage you to use
this resource if you feel like you want or need more feedback on your
writing. Don't be bashful. It isn't a failure or admission of
inferiority to ask for more help with your writing, only stubbornness.
The Writing Center's hours are M-Th 9 a.m.-8 p.m. and Fridays 9 a.m.-5
p.m. Call 962-7710 to set up an appointment. Be sure to take a copy of
the assignment on which you are working as well as what you have written
while working on that assignment.
Name | Phone # | E-mail address |
---|---|---|
Charleigh Barr | 914-7276 | cbarr1@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Kevin Bauguess | 914-2231 | kbaugues@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Danny Bridgman | 914-1091 | bridge@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Greg Culbertson | 914-0504 | gculbert@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Shaun Bowes | 918-3890 | dbowes@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Danny Gardner | 914-2236 | gardner5@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Erin Gilbert | 967-9439 | ergilber@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Courtney Keane | 914-5596 | ckeane@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Andreas Koniotis | 914-5344 | cykoniot@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Tremayne Manson | 914-6416 | tmanson@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Mike McGahey | 914-1327 | mmcgahey@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Arden McLaughlin | 914-2162 | mclaugh2@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Michelle McLean | 914-2950 | michelle@unc.edu Home Page |
Tolulope Osinowo | 914-4443 | tosinowo@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Sophia Papadeas | 914-4655 | spapadea@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Danielle Rhodes | 914-5037 | danielle@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Shon Smith | 914-2963 | catgirl@email.unc.edu |
Kate Smithson | 914-6533 | katesmit@email.unc.edu |
Allyson Thore | 914-4551 | athore@email.unc.edu Home Page |
Ashley Webb | 929-9804 | ashwebb@email.unc.edu Home Page |