Course Schedule

Assessment Scheme, Assignments, Instructions for Term Paper and Due Dates

Assessment Scheme

Students are assessed on their written assignments and their
online dialogues, which include student blogs with hyperlinks, online
commentary, sharing resources, and self-assessments. Students will also be
assessed on their participation in an online conference at the end of the term.

Students will be required to complete the following assignments:

  • 30% Blog Assignments
  • 20% Dialogues
  • 30% Conference Presentation
  • 20% Final Paper

Please Review the Guidelines for blog assignments

Assignments

ALL ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE before midnight

Lesson 1:1 

Assignment 1:1  Due: Jan 12

Follow the instructions in this lesson to set up your blog and write a short introduction (300 – 400 words) that includes at least two hyperlinks and a visual. This introduction should welcome your readers and include a brief description of the course and some commentary on your expectations for this course. Place a link to your blog on our Group Facebook page.

Lesson 1:2

Assignment 1:2:  Due Jan 14

Students are required to read two student blogs and post a significant and relevant observation or question in the comment box of each blog. By significant I mean; the comment offers a new insight or a question with some measure of complexity, or a criticism.

Assignment 1:3  Due  Jan 17

At the end of this lesson you will find a list of questions. Read each of the questions and select ONE that you would like to answer for your blog assignment.  Follow the blogging guidelines  and instructions in this lesson to write a 500- 600-word answer and post on your blog. Be sure to also respond to all comments on your blog.

Lesson 1:3 

Assignment 1:4 Due Jan 21

Students are required to read two student blogs and post a significant and relevant observation or question in the comment box of each blog. By significant I mean; the comment offers a new insight or a new example from the text that will enlarge the original answer, or a question with some measure of complexity, or a criticism supported by evidence from the Chamberlin reading or another scholarly source.

Assignment 1:5 Due Jan 23 

At the end of this lesson you will find detailed instructions for this assignment. Your task is to take the story that Kings tells about how evil comes into the world at the witches conference [In “The Truth About Stories” ] — and change the story any way you want — as long as the end remains the same: once you have told a story, you can never take it back. So, be careful of the stories you tell, AND the stories you listen to. 

Then learn your story by heart, and then tell the story to your friends and family. When you are finished, post a blog with your version of the story and some commentary on what you discovered. If you want, you can post a video of you telling the story, in place of text.

Lesson 2:1

Assignment 2:1 Due Jan 26

Students are required to read two student blogs and post a significant and relevant observation or question in the comment box of each blog.

Assignment 2:2  Due Jan 28

Write a short story (600 – 1000 words max) that describes your sense of home and the values and stories that you use to connect yourself to your home and respond to all comments on your blog.

Assignment 2:3 Due Feb 3

Read at least 6 students blog short stories about ‘home’ and make a list of the common shared assumptions, values and stories that you find. Post this list on your blog with some commentary about what you discovered.

Lesson 2:2

Assignment 2:4 Due  Feb  7

At the end of this lesson, you will find a list of questions. Read each of the questions and select one that you would like to answer for your blog assignment and respond to all comments on your blog.

Lesson 2:3

Assignment 2:5 Due Feb 12

Students are required to read two student blogs and post a significant and relevant observation with question in the comment box of each blog.

Assignment 2:6 Due Feb 19

At the end of this lesson, you will find a list of questions. Read each of the questions and select one that you would like to answer for your blog assignment and respond to all comments on your blog.

Lesson 3:1

Assignment 3:1 Due  Feb 24

Students are required to read two student blogs and post a significant and relevant observation or question in the comment box of each blog.

Assignment 3:2 Due  Feb 28

At the end of this lesson, you will find a list of questions. Read each of the questions and select one that you would like to answer for your blog assignment, and respond to all comments on your blog.

Assignments 3:3 Due  Mar 1

It is time to find working partners for your research projects. You need to find 3 people to collaborate with for the end of term online conference.  Ideally a research group will have four members. To find your group members, read through the blogs that interest you the most and study the comments as well. Connect via your blog comment boxes and discuss your common interests. Equally important is a discussion on your working habits; procrastinators and over-organizers should self-identify. So, be clear with each other on your schedules and working habits before committing to a group. One member of the group should post a list with your names on our Group Facebook page.

Lesson 3:2

Assignment 3:4 Due Mar 4

Students are required to read two student blogs and post a significant and relevant observation or question in the comment box.

Assignment 3:5 Due Mar 9

At the end of this lesson, you will find a list of questions. Read each of the questions and select one that you would like to answer for your blog assignment and respond to all comments on your blog.

Lesson 3:3

Assignment 3:6 Due Mar 14

Students are required to read two student blogs and post a significant and relevant observation or question in the comment box of each blog.

Assignment 3:7 Due Mar 18

Write a blog that hyper-links your research on the characters in GGRW according to the pages you have chosen. Be sure to make use of Jane Flick’s reference guide on you reading list.

Lesson 4:1

Assignment 4:1 Due  Mar 21

Students are required to read two student blogs and post a significant and relevant observation or question in the comment box of each blog and respond to all comments on your blog. If you do not receive any comments on your blog – post two extra comments on your peer’s pages.

Assignment 4:3 Due Mar 23

Create an About Page that includes:

  • A general introduction of your team’s area of research.
  • Each team member should write a very short bio and introduction with a  general description of your individual area of interest and one or two reasons why you are interested in this area of research.
  • A visual correctly cited
  • A short embedded video of interest to your team

Lesson 4:2

Assignment 4:4 Due Mar 28

  • Each student should have two annotated bibliography posts. Please note: Use MLA style guide to format your Annotated Bibliography. Do not post by student name or by numbers.
  • Each student should begin posting comments; I expect to see an ongoing dialogue grow on your Annotated bibliography comment box this week.

 

Assignment 4:5 Due April 5

  1. Each student will have contributed to the conference dialogue at least four times; two comments on your Annotated Bibliography page and — as a team: two comments on another team’s Annotated Bibliography. 

PLEASE NOTE: You must select another conference presentation to dialogue with – as a team, and indicate on your Dialogue Summary which team you have partnered with, thank you.

  1. See Conference Instructions for more details

Lesson 4:3

Assignment 4:6 Due Aprl 9

Conference websites are complete and ready for evaluation

Term papers are Due April 12

Email your instructor a pdf file of your paper please.

erika.paterson@ubc.ca

THERE IS NO FINAL EXAM FOR THIS COURSE:

Please no extensions for papers – only serious illness. 

Final Term Papers

Papers should be approximately 2000 words and formatted according to MLA formatting and style guide. Papers should be saved as a PDF file before emailing. You can choose from three types of papers: a reflective essay, a literary essay or a research paper. See the list with instructions below.

  1. A reflective essay that summarizes and comments on this course of studies.
    • This essay should focus on ONE of the following:
      • Examining where story and literature meet and observing what happens in those intersections.
      • Observations on the www and how new media capabilities are impacting literature and story.
      • Reading for allusions and symbolic knowledge outside of the Western traditions – and in turn learning to recognize colonizing narratives in literature and story.
  1. A literary essay based on your reading of Green Grass Running Water. This essay should address ONE of the following questions, or formulate a question and present it to your instructor for consideration.
    • Read the following quote:

      The lives of King’s characters are entangled in and informed by both the colonial legacy in the Americas and the narratives that enact and enable colonial domination. King begins to extricate his characters’ lives from the domination of the invader’s discourses by weaving their stories into both Native American oral traditions and into revisions of some of the most damaging narratives of domination and conquest: European American origin stories and national myths, canonical literary texts, and popular culture texts such as John Wayne films. These revisions are acts of narrative decolonization. James Cox. ‘All This Water Imagery Must Mean Something.’ Canadian Literature 161-162 (1999). Web April 04/2013.

      Explain what Cox means by ‘acts of narrative decolonization ‘ and describes three specific examples of acts of narrative decolonization in Green Grass Running Water.

    • Everyone is on the move in this novel, road trips abound and in
      order to hit the road what do we need‌ — A road map. Lionel, Charlie and
      Alberta are each seeking a new direction in life. The examples of mapping as a central metaphor in Green Grass Running Water are numerous and both obvious and subtle. Maps chart territory and provide directions; they also create borders and boundaries. There is more than one way to map, and just as this novel plays with conflicting story traditions, I King is also playing with conflicting ways to chart territory. Write an essay that provides three examples of mapping metaphors in Green Grass Running Water and offer an explanation for King’s ‘preoccupation with mapping’ (Goldman).

    Marline Goldman, ‘Mapping and Dreaming; Native Resistance in Green Grass Running Water.’ Canadian Literature 161-162 (1999). Web. April 04/2013.

    • In order to tell us the story of a stereo salesman, Lionel Red Deer (whose past mistakes continue to live on in his present), a high school teacher, Alberta Frank (who wants to have a child free of the hassle of wedlock—or even, apparently, the hassle of heterosex), and a retired professor, Eli Stands Alone (who wants to stop a dam from flooding his homeland), King must go back to the beginning of creation. Why do you think this is so
  1. A research paper based on conference research dialogues. This is an opportunity to use the research you presented for the conference to write a paper.

Course Readings

Canadian Studies 470

Week/Lesson Subject Reading Assignment
Lesson 1:1 Land & Stories Instructors Blog Tutorial on setting up your blog Blog assignment See due dates above
Lesson 1:2 Story & Literature Instructor’s Blog Chamberlin, Edward. If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories‌: Finding Common Ground.MacNeil Courtney. “Orality”Bony M. “The Rivers of Babylon.” LyricsChamberlin, Edward. “Interview with J. Edward Chamberlin.” Writer’s Café. Blog assignments #1 Comments:  Questions: Please be sure to indicate the question you are answering)
Lesson 1:3 Thomas King & Story King, Thomas. “The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative.” 2003 CBC Massey LecturesWilson, Jordan. “Another
Interview with Thomas King.”Canlit.ca/interviews. Video. Web. April 04/2013.		 Blog dialogue: Students are required to read two student blogs and post a significant and relevant observation or question in the comment box of each blog.Blog assignment
Lesson 2:1 Your Story / Our Story What I Learned In Class Today: Aboriginal Issues in the Classroom 1) Blog dialogue  Students are
required to read two student blogs and post a significant and relevant
observation or question in the comment box of each blog.2) Write a short story (600 – 1000 words max).3) Read at least 3 student-blog short stories about home and make a list of the common shared assumptions, values and stories that you
find.
Lesson 2:2 First Stories / Contact Stories Lutz, John. “First Contact as a Spiritual Performance: Aboriginal — Non-Aboriginal Encounters on the North American West CoastLutz, John. “Contact Over and Over Again.”Robinson, Harry. “Introduction” Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory.  1) Blog Assignment
J
Lesson 2:3		 Stories to Settle the Land and Un- settle the Settlers Asch, Michael. “Canadian Sovereignty and Universal History.” 29 – 39Carlson, Keith Thor. “Orality and Literacy: The ‘Black and White’ of Salish History.” 43-72.King, Thomas. “Godzilla vs. Post-Colonial.” Unhomely States: Theorizing English-Canadian Postcolonialism. 183- 190.Moodie, Susanna. Roughing it in the Bush. . Project Gutenberg.Robinson, Harry. ‘Coyote Makes a Deal with the King Of England.’ Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory 64-85. Blog dialogue : Students are required to read two student blogs and post a significant and relevant observation or question in the comment box of each blog
Lesson 3:1 A Canon to Build a Nation CanLit Guides. ‘Reading and Writing in Canada, A Classroom Guide to Nationalism.Flick, Jane. ‘Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water.’ Canadian Literature 161/162 (1999).Frye, Northrop. The Bush Garden; Essays on the Canadian Imagination.King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water.Maracle, Lee.’Toward a National Literature: A Body of Writing.’ Across Cultures/Across Borders: Canadian Aboriginal and Native American Literature. Blog dialogueBlog assignment #3  Finding your research team: You need to find 3 people to collaborate with for the end of term online conference.  Ideally a research group will have four members. To find your group members, read through the blogs that interest you the most and study the comments as well. Connect via your comment boxes and discuss your common interests. Equally important is a discussion on your working habits; procrastinators and over-organizers should self-identify. So, be clear with each other on your schedules and working habits before committing to a group. One member of the group should post a list with your names on the Instructor’s blog. 
Lesson 3:2 As Long as the Grass is Green and the Waters Run É King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water.Chester Blanca. “Green Grass Running Water: Theorizing the World of the Novel.”Flick, Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass Running Water.” Canadian Literature.King, Thomas. “I’m not the Indian You had in Mind.” Video.King, Thomas, “The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative.” CBC Massey Lectures. CBC Ideas

#1 Blog Dialouge

Students are required to read two student blogs and post a significant and relevant observation or question in the comment box of each blog.

 # 2 Blog Questions
Lesson 3:3 Hyper texting Green Grass Running Water  # 1 Dialouge

 # 2 : Hyperlinking Green Grass Running Water :Write a blog that hyper-links your research on the characters in GGRW according to the pages assigned to you. Be sure to make use of Jane Flick’s reference guide on you reading list.
Lesson 4:1 Intervention Project Barton, Matt and Klint, Karl. “A Student Guide to Collaborative Writing Technologies,” Writing Spaces.Fee, Margery ed. “50th Anniversary Interventions.” Spec. issue of Canadian Literature 204.”Get the Most From Word Press.com.” Learn Word Press. Blog dialogue due

 # 2 Creation of Research Team website

Create a Research Team schedule that includes:

  1. A general description of your area of interest and one or two reasons why you are interested in this area.
  2. Scheduled times for online meetings to
    discuss your research. I suggest you plan to work online together at least
    three times. You can use Skype, or a ‘Google Doc’ or a private Facebook group
    page for these online meetings.
  3. Tentative deadline dates for completing
    1. Brainstorming sessions
    2. Research description drafting
    3. Hyper-linked annotated bibliography
    4. Post this schedule on your Research Team website 
    5. Design and construct the website for your conference presentation. Link your website to the Instructor’s blog
Lesson 4:2 Research & Dialogue Conference Instructions

#1 Begin your annotated bibliography blog

# 2 Complete your Home page: welcome your visitors, summarize our course & conference goals, and introduce your research concerns.

#3 Contribute at least two times to your research team’s web- dialogue As well as twice to your partner research team’s bibliography dialogue. Complete your research team website ready for the Conference launch.
Lesson 4:3
  1.  

Final Term Papers

Papers should be approximately 2000 words and formatted according to MLA formatting and style guide. Papers should be saved as a PDF file before emailing. You can choose from three types of papers: a reflective essay, a literary essay or a research paper.