Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Contact Information
Professor: Merle Collins
Phone: 301 405 3775
Room: Tawes 3104
collinsm@umd.edu
Office hours: Face-to-face meetings or meetings via Skype or other online forum.
Also by appointment.
1
Grading
You will receive a letter grade.
You will be graded as follows:
Course Schedule
After each session, please visit Canvas/Discussion Board and, in designated
spaces, enter comments, discussing content (form and theme in the work
presented) and process (experience of working with young people at the
community group)
Week 1:
Tu. January 27
Orientation. Introductions. How the course will be run. Arranging initial meet with community
organization.
Th. January 29
Meet students at community organization.
Week 2
Tu. Feb. 3
Overview of Anglophone Caribbean writing.
Earl Lovelace (Trinidad & Tobago). Is Just a Movie.
At CAF, meet young people for homework and talk about various countries.
Th. Feb. 5
Earl Lovelace (Trinidad & Tobago). Is Just a Movie.
At CAF, discuss Lovelace and Is Just a Movie.
Week 3
Feb. 10
Danticat (Haiti), Children of the Sea. Krik! Krak!
(At CAF, discuss Lovelace and Is Just a Movie)
Feb. 12
Discuss Indonesia - The Adventures of Mouse Deer. Aaron Shepard, Folktales on Stage. Scripts for
Readers Theater. Shepard Publications, 2004, 13-32.
Phillip Sherlock, Introduction: From Sun-Spirit to Spider Man in Sherlock, West Indian Folk-tales.
Oxford University Press, 1979, 1-6.
At CAF, discuss Lovelace and Is Just a Movie
Week 4:
Feb. 17
USA/Migration
Paule Marshall (Barbados/USA). To Da-Duh, In Memoriam
At CAF, discuss Danticat, call and response and the Central African Republic
Feb. 19
See James Arnold et al, ed., A History of Literature in the Caribbean: English and
Dutch-Speaking countries, 83-85, 83085
Discuss, Edouard Glissant, The Open Boat.
At CAF, discuss Langston Hughes and Antony LaRose, An American
March 12
No face-to-face class meet. At CAF, discuss Sister Alno.
Online presentations about the process due by midnight at Canvas/VoiceThread.
Week 14:
May 4
May 8
Review. Questions and concerns.
At CAF, work with students on preparation for performance
Week 15:
May 12
Final week. Work with students on reading and performance of Lovelace story excerpt. Presentation
May 20: Exam week. Final paper due.
Reading
Readings listed below are required, but will be available on Canvas at Modules/Course Reserves. There is
one required text you should purchase.
Required Text (to be purchased):
Academic integrity: The student-administered Honor Code and Honor Pledge prohibit students from
cheating on exams, plagiarizing papers, submitting the same paper for credit in two courses without
authorization, buying papers, submitting fraudulent documents and forging signatures. On every
examination, paper or other academic exercise not specifically exempted by the instructor, students must
write by hand and sign the following pledge:
Copyright notice: Class lectures and other materials are copyrighted and they may not be reproduced
for anything other than personal use without written permission from the instructor.
Emergency protocol: Since the course has an online presence, unless you are notified otherwise you
will be expected to participate by submitting your comments online, in written and/or audio-visual form.
This syllabus is subject to change. Students will be notified in advance of important changes
that could affect grading, assignments, etc.
Course evaluations are a part of the process by which the University of Maryland seeks to improve
teaching and learning. Your participation in this official system is critical to the success of the process, and
all information submitted to CourseEvalUM is confidential. (Instructors can only view group summaries of
evaluations and cannot identify which submissions belong to which students.)
Diversity: The University of Maryland values the diversity of its student body. Along with the
University, I am committed to providing a classroom atmosphere that encourages the equitable
participation of all students regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, religion, or
sexual orientation. Potential devaluation of students in the classroom that can occur by reference to
demeaning stereotypes of any group and/or overlooking the contributions of a particular group to the topic
under discussion is inappropriate. (See Statement on Classroom Climate,
http://www.umd.edu/catalog/index.cfm/show/content.section/c/27/ss/1584/s/1541).