Syllabi for Dr. Lake

Introduction to Humanities 2020

Introduction to Humanities

 

Instructor: Sean Lake

E-mail: slake4@valenciacollege.edu  

Please remember I can only respond to emails from your Valencia College account 

215-690-1184 (no texts - THIS IS A GOOGLE NUMBER - Do NOT text me)

Skype: seanelake

 

Office Hours: Please do not wait until the last week of class to address an issue or grade emergency.

 

East Campus Building 1 Room 145

Monday

7:20 – 8:20 and 11:20 – 12:50 and 3:50 – 4:15

Tuesday (Virtual)

9am -1 pm

Wednesday

7:20 – 8:20 and 11:20 – 12:50 and 3:50 – 4:15 pm

Thursday (Virtual)

9am -1 pm

Friday (Virtual)

9-11 am

 

 

Credit Hours: 3 hours

 

Online Classes

Attendance in an online class is based on a student's completion of assignments, quizzes, discussion board postings, and tests. Students who fail to complete six (6) assigned items (whether assignments, discussions, quizzes, or exams,) will receive a warning. Upon the seventh (7) missed assignment, the student will automatically be withdrawn from the course by the instructor.

o  (NOTE: The instructor does not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences.)

o   Upon the sixth missed assignment, the student will be notified that missing one other assignment will result in their withdrawal from the course.

o   For severe medical conditions that result in excessive absences, consult the Dean of Students concerning Valencia’s medical withdrawal policy.

o   International students, and students receiving financial aid, should be aware of how a “W” will affect their status.

 

 http://international.valenciacollege.edu/current-students/maintaining-visa-status/

 http://valenciacollege.edu/finaid/satisfactory_progress.cfm

 

 

 Evaluation and Grading: The following grading scale is used based on total points possible -    

A=90-100%; B=80-89%; C=70-79%; D=60-69%; F=below 60%

 

Below is a rough outline of points possible. The numbers are not exact but are meant to give an idea of how each assignment is weighted.

Quizzes: 20%

Midterm: 20%

Written Assignments and Discussions: 20%

Final Exam: 20%

Regular Participation and Attendance Online (this means you are online each week, watch the videos, post questions in the modules regularly, and complete assignments on time): 5%

Presentation: 15% (students will create a 5 minute video about a topic assigned in the 5th week of class and due during the 15th week)

 

Week One: Introduction and Gilgamesh 

ALL WRITTEN WORK DUE FRIDAY AT 11:59pm = 8/28

  1. Read "Gilgames, Enkidu, and the Underworld online (instructions below in bold).
  2. Complete the assignment “Key Passage Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Underworld.” Choose one passage that you think is worthy of comment because it is beautiful, or confusing, or funny, or interesting, or important, etc. You will be graded by the following criteria:
  1. Quote the passage and write down the page number (5 pts)
  2. Explain why you chose the passage in 3-4 sentences. (5 pts)

Instructions to find Gilgmas, Enkidu, and the Underworld online:

Go to the Valencia library website. Go to databases and find "E book Central." Search in E book Central for "Literature of Ancient Sumer."

Click "Read online."

The table of contents should be on the left hand side of the screen. Under "Heroes and Kings" find "Gilgames, Enkidu, and the Underworld." It starts on the bottom of page 96.

  1. Read "Gilgames and Huwawa" from the same ebrary book you used for the last assignment Literature of Ancient Sumer. In the book, it starts on page 343. On the website, however, it says page 408 (near the top right of the page, below "Bookshelf").  
  2. Complete the assignment "Key Passage of Gilgames and Huwawa". You will be graded by the following criteria:
  1. Quote the passage and write down the page number (5 pts)
  2. Explain why you chose the passage in 3-4 sentences. (5 pts)
  1. Watch the videos and take the quizzes in the module.

 

Week Two: Gilgamesh and Zarathustra/Zoroaster

ALL WRITTEN WORK DUE FRIDAY AT 11:59pm = 9/4

  1. Read The Hymns of Zoroaster under Module Two on Canvas.
  2. Complete the assignment that is called "Key Passage of Zoroaster". You will be graded by the following criteria:
  1. Quote the passage and write down the page number (5 pts)
  2. Explain why you chose the passage in 3-4 sentences. (5 pts)
  1. Watch the videos and take the quizzes in the module.

Week Three:  Homer and Archaic Age Greece

ALL WRITTEN WORK DUE FRIDAY AT 11:59pm = 9/11

  1. Under module three read: selections from Homer's Iliad.
  2. Watch the videos in the module.
  3. Take the quizzes in the module.
  4. Discussion Assignment: Complete the discussion in the module called Comparison of Homeric Passages. In that assignment, explain what the two passages you read from the Iliad have in common. There is no right answer, but there are important thing worth comparing.  Respond to one other student and state whether or not you found the same points of comparison. If you did not find the same things to compare, explain what you found in your response to the other student.

Week Four:  The Book of Job

ALL WRITTEN WORK DUE FRIDAY AT 11:59pm = 9/18

  1. Read the Book of Job in the module.
  2. Watch the videos in the module.
  3. Take the quizzes in the module.
  4. 1. Identify the most "perplexing" passage and be prepared to explain why. Quote the passage from our translation.
  5. 2. Identify  the passage that explains the nature of the divine or the nature of God. Try to think of a comparison in the Bhagavad Gita. That is, how are these two texts similar or different in regard to their depiction of divinity.
  6. 3. Identify a passage that most summarizes the character or personality of job. Quote the passage and be prepared to explain what it says about Job.
  7. 4. Find the passage where the text explains why bad things happened to such a good man and try to quote the text if you can.
  8. 5. What is Job's greatest quality. Try to find a passage that exemplifies this quality.
  9. 6. This book is often praised as being beautiful, a work of genius, a masterpiece, etc., especially by other artists and geniuses. Do you agree with this assessment? Explain why.

 

Week Five: The Classical Age and Plato

ALL WRITTEN WORK DUE FRIDAY AT 11:59pm = 9/27

  1. Read the selection from Plato's Republic in module four. 
  2. Read "the Myth of Er" under module three.  
  3. Watch the videos in the module.
  4. Take the quizzes in the module. 

Week Six: The Spring and Autumn Period and Confucius

  1. Read The Analects by Confucius
  2. Watch the videos in the module
  3. Take the quizzes in the module. 

Week Seven: The Warring States Period, Lao Tzu and Sun Tzu

  1. Read the Tao te Ching:Read Chapters 1-15, 21, 33-34; It is found on the library website, under Databases (the same one used for Gilgamesh), Ebook Central, and search for this exact title, translator, and date of publication: Tao Te Ching by Hinton, David. Counterpoint. June 2015.
  1. Watch the videos in the module.
  2. Take the quizzes in the module.
  3. Read the Art of War

 

Week Eight: Bhagavad Gita and India

ALL WRITTEN WORK DUE FRIDAY AT 11:59pm = 10/2

  1. Read the selections from the Bhagavad Gita under module Six.  
  2. Watch the videos in the module.
  3. Take the quizzes in the module.

 

Week Nine: Roman Republic and Propertius

ALL WRITTEN WORK DUE FRIDAY AT 11:59pm = 10/9

  1. Read the Roman poet Propertius on Ebook Central (under Library Databases). On Ebook Central, Search for Propertius in Love : The Elegies

DO NOT READ THE FOREWARD OR INTRODUCTION. The poems start on page 3. You will read the first 22 poems. The poems are numbered as follows: a Roman number I (the capital letter “i”) followed by an arabic numeral (like 1,2,3,4, 5, etc.)

  1. Complete the midterm. You have two attempts for the average score.

 

Week Ten: Roman Empire and Epictetus

ALL WRITTEN WORK DUE FRIDAY AT 11:59pm = 10/16

  1. On Ebook Central (on the library website, under databases), search for and read: Enchiridion, or The Manual by Epictetus

 

Week Eleven:  Fall of Rome and Medieval Period

ALL WRITTEN WORK DUE FRIDAY AT 11:59pm = 10/23

  1. Read Augustine The Confessions pages 20 - 26 (THE INSTRUCTIONS TO FIND THIS TEXT ARE BELOW - IT IS ON ebook central under library databases). Start with the paragraph that says "In boyhood itself, however..." and end with the bottom of page 26.
  2. Read Augustine The Confessions: All of Book 2.
  3. What does he think about reading Homer and Vergil? In particular, what does he say about reading Vergil's story of Aeneas?
  4. What is the story of the pears about? 
  5. What does he think a "sin" is?

 

Go to Ebook Central for this edition: Confessions of St. Augustine by Saint Augustine. Pusey, Edward Bouveri

Week Twelve: Dante and Petrarch

ALL WRITTEN WORK DUE FRIDAY AT 11:59pm = 11/8

  1. For Monday and Wednesday: Read Dante's Inferno Cantos 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The text you should read is pasted below the assignment.  
  2. Who is Dante's guide?
  3. What does Dante first see?
  4. Whom does he meet in Canto 3?
  5. Whom does he find in Canto 5 that we have read before?
  6. What happens in Canto 6? Provide a summary
  7. What is the name of his beloved? 

Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Volume 1 : Inferno by Dante Alighieri. Durling, Robert M., Martinez, Ronald L. Oxford University Press, USA. February 1996

 

Week Thirteen:  Islamic Golden Age

ALL WRITTEN WORK DUE FRIDAY AT 11:59pm = 11/22

  1. Read Ibn Khaldun. Write down 1 quotation related to each question:
  2. what is history?
  3. what is history NOT?
  4. what do laws do?
  5. What is justice?
  6. what does God have to do with history/civilization/justice?
  7. What does Aristotle know or not know?
  8. How is the world like a garden?
  9. How is man different from other animals?
  10. what are the kinds of civilization?
  11. why does man need civilization?

 

Week Fourteen:  The Renaissance

ALL WRITTEN WORK DUE FRIDAY AT 11:59pm = 12/6

  1. Read Chaucer in the module.
  2. Read Montaigne in the module.
  3. Read Spenser in the module.
  4. Watch the videos in the module.
  5. Take the quizzes in the module.

 

Week Fifteen: The Enlightenment and Beyond

  1. Read Don Quixote in the module.
  2. Read Rousseau’s Confessions in the module.
  3. Watch the videos in the module.
  4. Take the quizzes in the module.
  5. Read Roger Shattuck's essay in the module.

 

Disability Statement:

 "Students with disabilities who qualify for academic accommodations must provide a Notification to Instructor (NTI) form from the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) and discuss specific needs with the professor, preferably during the first two weeks of class. The Office for Students with Disabilities determine accommodations based on appropriate documentation of disabilities. Please contact your home campus for more information." For East campus the number is Ph.: 407-582-2229.  Here is the link to Valencia’s OSD website: http://www.valenciacc.edu/osd 

Statement of support for students with food/housing/financial needs:

Any student who has difficulty accessing sufficient food to eat, or who lacks a safe and stable place to live, and believes this may affect his or her performance in the course, is urged to meet with a Counselor in the Advising Center for information about resources that may be available from the college or community.

 

Student Conduct and Academic Honesty:

Valencia College is dedicated to promoting honorable personal and social conduct. By enrolling at Valencia, a student assumes the responsibility for knowing and abiding by the rules articulated in the Student Code of Conduct (6Hx28:10-03). The instructor reserves the right to refer students who engage in activities that are disruptive to the learning environment to the Dean of Students for disciplinary action. This include any composition where a translator or unauthorized human assistance has been used or where the level of proficiency is higher than the one shown in class.

Students may collaborate on group assignments. This does NOT include duplication of work. Collaboration should be used to edit or to clarify doubts. If anyone is involved in incidents of cheating a zero grade (0) will be assigned for that activity, quiz, exam, or project without regard to who did the original work or who may have benefited. Each student is expected to be in total compliance with the college policy of Academic Honesty as set forth in the admissions catalog and the student handbook. Any student(s) cheating on an exam will receive a zero (0) grade, and the professor can at his/her discretion withdraw you from the class. This includes submitting work on which a translator or unauthorized human assistance has been used or in which the level of proficiency is higher than the one expected in the course. In addition, Valencia College strives to provide a drug-free learning environment for all those involved in the academic experience.

 

Drug-free Policy:

“In compliance with the provisions of the Federal Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1989, Valencia College will take such steps as are necessary in order to adopt and implement a program to prevent the unlawful possession, use, or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol by Valencia College students or employees on college premises or as part of any college activity.” 

Valencia College Expected student conduct: 10-03 Student Code of Conduct 

Specific Authority:

1006.60, FS.

Law Implemented:

1006.60, FS.

 

Valencia College is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and learning, and to the development of responsible personal and social conduct. By enrolling at Valencia, a student assumes the responsibility for knowing and abiding by the rules of appropriate behavior as articulated in the Student Code of Conduct. The primary responsibility for managing the classroom environment rests with the faculty. Faculty may direct students who engage in inappropriate behavior that results in disruption of a class to leave the class. Such students may be subject to other disciplinary action which may include a warning, withdrawal from class, probation, suspension, or expulsion from the college. Please read the Student Code of Conduct in the current Valencia Student Handbook.

Here is the link to Valencia’s Student Code of Conduct http://valenciacollege.edu/generalcounsel/policy/default.cfm?policyID=180&volumeID_1=8&navst=0

 

Valencia College is interested in making sure all our students have a rewarding and successful college experience. For that purpose, Valencia students can get immediate help with issues dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, adjustment difficulties, substance abuse, time management as well as relationship problems dealing with school, home or work.

BayCare Behavioral Health Student Assistance Program (SAP) services are free to all Valencia students and available 24 hours a day by calling (800) 878-5470. Free face-to-face counseling is also available.

Disclaimer Statement: 

This syllabus may be changed at the instructor’s discretion, during the course of the term. It is the responsibility of the student to make any adjustments as announced. 

 

 Withdrawal Policy:

It is the student’s responsibility to withdraw from the course if he or she feels he can not complete the requirements of the course. Students may withdraw at any time until the Withdrawal Deadline and receive a W. After the deadline, however, only I will be able to withdraw students and, then, only for excessive absences.

 

Withdrawal from a Course Policy:

  1. A student is permitted to withdraw from a class on or before the withdrawal deadline, as published in the College calendar. A student is not permitted to withdraw from a class after the withdrawal deadline.
  2. A faculty member is permitted to withdraw a student from the faculty member’s class for violation of the faculty member’s attendance policy with written notification to the student prior to the beginning of the final exam period, as published in the faculty member’s syllabus. A faculty member is not permitted to withdraw a student from his or her class as a response to student conduct which falls under the jurisdiction of the Student Code of Conduct (6Hx28:10-03).
  3. A student who withdraws from a class before the withdrawal deadline will receive a grade of "W." A student who is withdrawn by a professor will receive a grade of "W." A student who is withdrawn for administrative reasons at any time will receive a grade of "W" or other grade as determined in consultation with the professor. Any student who withdraws or is withdrawn from a class during a third or subsequent attempt in the same course will be assigned a grade of "F". The grades of “WP” and “WF” are eliminated.
  4. A student who receives a grade of “W” will not receive credit for the course, and the W will not be calculated in the student’s grade point average; however, the enrollment will count in the student’s total attempts in the specific course.
  5. If a student withdraws from a class, the student may, upon request and only with the faculty member’s permission (which may be withheld at any time in the sole discretion of the faculty member), continue to attend the course. If a student is withdrawn by a faculty member or is administratively withdrawn, the student is not permitted to continue to attend the class.

 

Humanities Department Attendance Policy

Face to Face Classes

Students are allowed five (5) absences during the semester. (NOTE: The instructor does not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences.) Upon the fifth absence, the student will be notified that a further absence will result in their withdrawal from the course. Upon the sixth absence, the student will automatically be withdrawn from the course by the instructor. A student will be marked absent if they do not answer when their name is called, if their signature does not appear on the sign-in sheet for that day, or if they miss more than 15 minutes of class by arriving late or leaving early. It is the attendance records of the instructor, not the recollections of the student, which will be consulted for proof of attendance/absences. For severe medical conditions that result in excessive absences, consult the Dean of Students concerning Valencia’s medical withdrawal policy. International students, and students receiving financial aid, should be aware of how a “W” will affect their status.

Online Classes

Attendance in an online class is based on a student's completion of assignments, quizzes, discussion board postings, and tests. Students who fail to complete six (6) assigned items (whether assignments, discussions, quizzes, or exams,) will receive a warning. Upon the sixth (6) missed assignment, the student will automatically be withdrawn from the course by the instructor.

o (NOTE: The instructor does not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences.)

o Upon the sixth missed assignment, the student will be notified that missing one other assignment will result in their withdrawal from the course.

o For severe medical conditions that result in excessive absences, consult the Dean of Students concerning Valencia’s medical withdrawal policy.

o International students, and students receiving financial aid, should be aware of how a “W” will affect their status.