108P F20 Condon | English Language and Literature

Popular Potter - ENGL 108P

Professor Frankie Condon

Hagey Hall 147, Department of English, University of Waterloo

fcondon@uwaterloo.ca - Email replies within 24 hours on weekdays

416.768.4253 - Texts accepted between 9am and 6pm Monday thru Friday

Office Hours: Tues: 1:00 – 3:00 and by appointment

I would like to acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Neutral), Anishnaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, land promised and given to Six Nations, which includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Further, I am a citizen of the United States and a Permanent Resident of Canada, where I now teach, research, and write. I recognize that I move through the world as a raced-white subject whose body, language, and history are privileged in both the nations I call home – not by virtue of any inherent quality they might possess but through the social operations of white supremacy. I acknowledge that the idea of whiteness and materiality of white supremacism are progenitors of systemic, institutional, symbolic, and individual racism. I hear Peoples of Colour and Indigenous Peoples who are subjected to racist violence as they cry out, “I can’t breathe.” I acknowledge my culpability for white supremacy and my responsibility as a white person to oppose and resist racism enacted in my name. I commit myself to this resistance and stand ready both to hold myself and to be held accountable by others for making this commitment actionable.

Why is it important to remember where we are and how we came to be in the places where we are?

In this course, we’ll read and discuss all seven of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels with the aim of deepening our understanding of the young adult novel. We will study, at least in an introductory way, the practice of literary criticism. Finally and most fully, we’ll begin to explore cultural studies and critical theory as they are engaged in the field of English Studies. None of these areas of study should preclude having fun together. If you’re worried that you don’t know anything about literary or critical theory or cultural studies, don’t be. Your job is to be open, curious, and invested in learning and my job is to teach you. There should be a place in the course for those of you who are fans as well as those of you who are Muggles (just kidding). My hope is that we will all learn more and better how much our enjoyment of the Harry Potter books is an effect of the quality of Rowling’s craft as a writer, as well as how much our tendency to read over the flaws in the books, their cracks or broken places is an effect of the cultures, ideologies, and material conditions that shape our lives as readers.

When you think about taking an online course (as opposed to meeting face-to-face in a classroom) what are you most worried about?

Required Readings

J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Additional readings as assigned

“Aren’t you ever going to read Hogwarts, A History?” ~Hermione Granger

Apparition (20 points):

Determination (6 points)

You will read every powerpoint and listen to every lecture, complete every weekly reflection, and contribute to the work of the Houses to which you are assigned with dedication.

Deliberation (6 ½ points)

You will will stay on task with your House, be a leader in your House, and support to the best of your ability the learning of others by being an active contributor to your House discussions on Learn and on the class activity feed, and will contribute to the work of your House. You will be interested and invested in your own learning and if you need help you will ask Dr. C (politely) for assistance.. This means you, Malfoy.

Destination (7 ½ points)

You will read the novels. If you have already read them, you will read them again for this class. You will not imagine, nor will you behave as if watching the movies could possibly substitute for reading the books. This means you, Ronald Weasley.

House Participation (20 points)

You will be assigned to a House in which you will be a member for half the term. At midterm, you will be assigned to a new House. As a member of those Houses, you will contribute to the work of the House and earn points for your house by contributing to the individual and collective success of your fellows.

Nomenclature: this House bears responsibility for tracing the etymology of names and spells in the novels

Divination: this House bears responsibility for tracing foreshadowing within and across the novels

Magical Creatures and Spirit Guides: this House bears responsibility for tracing the mythological forebears of all magical creatures and spirit guides in the novels

Archetypes: this House bears responsibility for identifying archetypal characters in the novels and relating appearances of these archetypes to their appearances in prior mythological and literary works

contribution of the House to our understanding of each novel through the quality of research the House provides. Houses may earn additional points by following the House points prompts in each class powerpoint.

Over the course of the term, each House will write a minimum of one article for each book we read to be contributed to our class project: an issue of The Daily Prophet. House articles will be newspaper length (five to ten paragraphs depending on the subject matter). House members may gain points by adding creative visual, audio, or video contributions over and above their minimum articles. Houses will also gain points for the degree of collaboration they enact as they research, write, and revise their Daily Prophet contributions.

Houses will lose points for a dearth of research and/or preparation and/or participation. Individual members of each House will lose points in this category if they fail to contribute to the work of the House. At the close of each House rotation, a House Cup will be awarded. Members of the House receiving the Cup will be bountifully rewarded.

Prefects

During each House cycle, four students will act as Prefects. Prefects will lead the work of their Houses but rather than writing Daily Prophet articles for their Houses will bear responsibility for helping their Houses revise their articles in preparation for publication at the end of term. Prefects will work together to read submitted articles, offer feedback, and editing advice. Prefects will coordinate the publication of the Daily Prophet. Prefects will have their own discussion space in which to work collaboratively on the Daily Prophet.

Collavorative Writng (20 points):

Daily Prophet articles should be collectively researched and collaboratively written. All Houses will aid the Prefects in the design, layout, and publication of our Daily Prophet issue. At a minimum, this aid will take the form of revising articles as requested, attending to any publication guidelines as developed by the Prefects, and by copyediting articles carefully under the guidance of the Prefects. Students are encouraged to be creative and innovative in their designs, to experiment with digital media and multimodal composition, and to consider carefully user access and interface with each issue.

Collaboratively written articles: co-authoring is harder than you might think, but it is also – when done well – more rewarding than you might imagine. You should discuss with your housemates the subject of each of the articles you will write together for the Daily Prophet. Once you have decided on topics, you may choose to work all together on both or to divide into smaller groups. You should talk extensively together as you draft your articles and, as much as possible, write them together (as opposed to dividing up the writing between you). At the end, it should be hard for any of you to discern or remember who wrote what or which words are whose. Each of you should take a pass at the final polishing and copyediting of the articles your House produces before passing them on to the Prefects for inclusion in the Daily Prophet. Warning: if it becomes clear to me that one or a few people have done most of the work for either or both articles your House produces, I will award points for those articles only to those who most actively and committedly produced them. Further, if it becomes clear to me that one or a few of you have interrupted, spoken over, or disregarded the contributions of quieter members of your group, I will award points to those who have been marginalized rather than to the most insistent speakers (or, in this case, writers) on the House’s discussion board. This means you, Hermione Granger!

The articles your House publishes should meet the following criteria:

Move beyond merely reporting what other scholars have written or said by contributing original critical insight or perspective
Are well researched, drawing both academic and popular materials you have gathered as well as assigned readings and House members’ investigations of literary scholarship
Are well-composed and crafted, written not only to inform, but to delight readers
Written through an extended process of peaceful collaboration

To determine an appropriate length for your House’s articles, you should follow the guidelines established by the Prefects for the issue as well as what is appropriate to the subject of your articles. You may also want to look at

a variety of traditional and electronic newspapers or other news sources to discern the style of writing appropriate to the genre of a news article. In general, such articles range from five to ten paragraphs.

Individual Writing (20 1/2 points):

You will write a reflection essay each week of the term. Questions to guide your writing of these essays may be found in the weekly powerpoints. I will be far more concerned with the depth and breadth of your thinking than with surface correctness. I will not grade individual reflections. Instead, I will read them and each of you will receive two letters from me over the course of the term in which I respond to what you have written. You can get 10 points simply for submitting every assigned reflection. You can receive an additional 5 points for writing well and thoughtfully (see assignment sheet for details). You can earn up to 5 1/2 points on top of the 15 by surprising, delighting, and teaching me well (see assignment sheet for details).

What questions do you have about the requirements for this course? Is there anything in the workload described above that worries you? If you have no worries, why not?

Course Examinations

OWLs (Ordinary Wizarding Levels) (9 and ¾ points):

On our course Learn site, you will find a series of ridiculous quizzes – one for each novel. Take each quiz and earn all the points for this category, regardless of your score on any individual quiz. Quizzes may be taken as many times as you like.

NEWTs (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests) (9 and ¾ points):

At the end of the term, you will be asked to choose three questions from any of the course powerpoints. Over the course of one week, you will write short essays in response to those questions. You may draw from any or all of the novels, any or all of the course powerpoints, and any or all of your reflection essays to write your short essays. The only stipulation is that you may not reuse any previously submitted reflection essay for your NEWT. You may quote yourself, summarize yourself, or paraphrase yourself so long as you CITE yourself. Finally, you may choose one House research topic or House question for a House to which you DID NOT belong to respond to with a fourth short essay. Your final NEWT submission – including all of your short essays – should total 8-10 pages. This is an open book, open powerpoint, open all the things examination.

COURSE GRADING Grade	Percentage	Element	Points
Outstanding	100-95	Apparition	20
Exceeds Expectations	94-79	House Membership	20
Acceptable	78-69	Collaborative Writing	20
Poor	68-59	Individual Writing	20 1/2
Dreadful	58-47	OWLs	9 ¾
Troll	46-0	NEWTs	9 ¾

Educational Decrees

Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Electronic Devices

Haha! Just kidding. You’ll need your devices. Please do not share classroom lectures without permission.

Decree for Academic Integrity

In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See the UWaterloo Academic Integrity webpage and the Arts Academic Integrity webpage for more information. Cordially refrain from asking Hermione Granger for help with your homework.

Decree of Discipline

A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offences, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. (Please note Argus Filch is not authorized to make such decisions.) When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 – Student Discipline. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline. For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

Regulations on Grievances

A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Ministry Policy on Appeals

A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals.

Ministry Liaison Office for Students with Disabilities

The AccessAbility Services office, located on the first floor of the Needles Hall extension (NH 1401), collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the AS office at the beginning of each academic term rather than wait for the Room of Requirements to appear.

Mesdames Bermingham and Ashdown, Purveyors of Aids to Conscientious Students, are proud to present the Writing Centre

The Writing Centre works across all faculties to help students clarify their ideas, develop their voices, and write in the style appropriate to their disciplines. Writing Centre staff offer one-on- one support in planning assignments and presentations, using and documenting research, organizing and structuring papers, and revising for clarity and coherence. You can make multiple appointments throughout the term, or drop in at the Library for quick questions or feedback. To book a 50-minute appointment and to see drop-in hours, visit their page. Group appointments for team-based projects, presentations, and papers are also available. Please note that writing specialists guide you to see your work as readers would. They can teach you revising skills and strategies, but will not proof-read or edit for you. Please bring hard copies of your assignment instructions and any notes or drafts to your appointment. Despite popular perception, it is not unplottable.

Weekly Schedule of Modules

First Day of Class - Tuesday, 8 September

Lecture - Course Orientation
Assignments
- First House assignment
- First weekly reflection
- Read Book One: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Week Two begins - Monday, 14 September

Lecture - Subjectivity, Perspective, and the Problems with Normal
Assignments
- Second house assignment
- Second weekly reflection
- Read Book Two: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Week Three Begins - Monday, 21 September

Lecture - Being and Becoming
Assignments
- Third house assignment
- Third weekly reflection

Week Four Begins - Monday, 28 September

Lecture - Race and the Social Order of the Wizarding World
Assignments
- Fourth House assignment
- Fourth weekly reflection
- Read Book Three: The Prisoner of Azkaban

Week Five Begins - Monday, 5 October

Lecture - Blood/Fear/Love
Assignments
- Fifth house assignment
- Fifth weekly reflection

Week Six Begins - Reading Week

Lecture - None
Assignments
- Read Book Four: Goblet of Fire
- Sixth house assignment
- NO WEEKLY REFLECTION

Week Seven Begins - Monday, 19 October

Move into new Houses House Cup Awarded!
Lecture - Blood: Identity, Place, and Conflict in Harry Potter
Assignments
- Read Book Five: The Order of the Phoenix
- Seventh house assignment
- Sixth weekly reflection

Week Eight Begins - Monday, 26 October

Lecture - Social Formation and the Organization of Resistance
Assignments
- Eighth house assignment
- Seventh weekly reflection

Week Nine Begins - Monday, 2 November

Lecture - Curating Life
Assignments
- Read Book Six: The Half-Blood Prince
- Ninth house assignment
- Eighth weekly reflection

Week Ten Begins - Monday, 9 November

Lecture - Notes on Terrorism: The rise of the Death Eaters in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Assignments
- Tenth house assignment
- Ninth weekly reflection

Week Eleven Begins - Monday, 16 November

Lecture - Love is a Double-Edged Sword: the Trials of Dumbledore
Assignments
- Read Book Seven: The Deathly Hallows
- Eleventh house assignment
- Tenth weekly reflection

Week Twelve Begins - Monday, 23 November

Lecture - Critiques of JK Rowling and her Politics of Representation
Assignments
- Twelfth house assignment
- Eleventh weekly reflection

Last Week of Class - Monday, 30 November

Lecture - Two Resurrections: Apotheosis and Antithesis
Assignments
- Thirteenth house assignment
- Twelfth weekly reflection

Last Day of Class - Monday, 7 December

House Cup Awarded
Lecture - None
Assignments
- Final House Assignment
- Final Reflection Assignment

The Daily Prophet Reveal Party – Attendance Optional – Monday, 14 December

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen sparrow?

Apparition

Apparition is the grading category that includes the most basic expectations for this course:

that you listen to lectures, review powerpoints, and show up for the work your house is assignment to complete
that you participate in the work of your house for as long as you are a member of that house
that you read or reread each of the novels in the Harry Potter series and do not – ever, ever, ever – imagine that having seen the movies will be a sufficient substitute for reading the books for this course

Assignment Description: House Membership (20 points)

Nomenclature: this House bears responsibility for tracing the etymology of names and spells in the novels
Divination: this House bears responsibility for tracing foreshadowing within and across the novels
Magical Creatures and Spirit Guides: this House bears responsibility for tracing the mythological forebears of all magical creatures and spirit guides in the novels
Archetypes: this House bears responsibility for identifying archetypal characters in the novels and relating appearances of these archetypes to their appearances in prior mythological and literary works

Each House will bring its ongoing research, deliberations, and contributions to the full class by updating us on the class activity feed. Assign one or two members each week to write an update on the research your House has achieved each week. Houses will earn points by the quality of individual contributions to discussion by their members, as well as by the quality of the collective contribution of the House to our understanding of each novel through the quality of research the House provides. Houses may earn additional points by following the House points prompts in each class powerpoint.

Weekly House Assignments will include: research on assigned or chosen topics associated with the focus of your House; reporting to class on the research your House has undertaken (members should take turns with this task and post their reports to the class activity feed); and writing, revising and/or editing your Daily Prophet articles.

House Membership Rubric

TROLL	WEASLEY	POTTER	LONGBOTTOM	GRANGER
Student does not support housemates, does not offer either acts of kindness or contribute to the earning of house points. This student neither asks for nor offers help.	Student does the minimum possible work to get by. They seem to be committed to passing rather than learning.	Student contributes to House discussion, is respectful of Housemates, and shows some interest in learning and commitment to facilitating the learning of housemates	Student is a regular and thoughtful contributor to House discussion, shows leadership, and offers kindness, generosity, and care to housemates	Student both participates and leads without dominating the work of the House, reaches out to include more introverted members of the House, amplifies the voices of those whom others might dismiss or ignore, and demonstrates kindness in every interaction with Housemates and Prefects
0 points (maximum)	5 points (maximum)	10 points (minimum)	15 points (minimum)	20 points (maximum)

House Membership – Prefects

Prefects’ Collaborative Work On Daily Prophet

TROLL	WEASLEY	POTTER	LONGBOTTOM	GRANGER
Prefect does not lead their House nor do they aid in the design, layout, editing, and production of the Daily Prophet	Prefect gets other people – housemates or other prefects – to do their work for them. The work gets done, but they’ve made minimal contributions to it	Prefect meets the minimum requirements of the assignment but allows other prefects to do the bulk of the work	Prefect works with dedication to complete the class issue of the Daily Prophet. Leads their House in the writing of Prophet articles and provides appropriate guidance and feedback to their House on its articles	Prefect works with dedication to complete the class issue of the Daily Prophet. Leads their House and provides super guidance and feedback to their House on its articles. But this Prefect goes above and beyond in exercising their intellect, creativity, leadership abilities, and above all, their kindness and generosity as they help not only their own House but the class as a whole complete an excellent issue of the Daily Prophet
0 points (maximum)	5 points (maximum)	10 points (minimum)	15 points (minimum)	20 points (maximum)

Weekly Reflections Assignment Description

NOTE: All reflections are due on or before the final sunday of that week and definitely before 11:59 pm. For example: week two begins monday, september 14. Your weekly refelctions are due on sunday, september 20 before 11:59.

Details:

Reflection Length: 11 inches minimum (hint: what are the dimensions of a

letter-sized piece of paper?)

Line Spacing: 1.5

Font: Verdana or Helvetica

Font Size: 11

Citations: Cite in-text when you quote, paraphrase, or summarize. Use year and page number. EXAMPLE: (1997 p. 394)

Works Cited page: author (last name), author (first name). year of publication. Title. Publisher. EXAMPLE: Rowling, JK. 1997. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Bloomsbury Children’s Books.

Note: you are not required to cite anything in your reflection essays. I am not counting the number of citations and you need not think of your reflections as formal essays. IF you quote, paraphrase, or summarize, however, you should give credit where credit is due.

Question: what is the significance of page 394? In what novel is that page number reference and by what character?

Reflection Rubric

TROLL	WEASLEY	POTTER	LONGBOTTOM	GRANGER
Turn in 5 or fewer reflections	Turn in more than 5 but less than 10 reflections	Turn in all assigned reflection essays	Turn in all assigned reflection essays; essays are detailed, thoughtful, and carefully composed	Turn in all assigned reflection essays; essays are elegantly crafted – but more than this, essays demonstrate deep engagement with both the novel and the questions being addressed. The writer demonstrates creativity as well as intellect.
0 points (maximum)	5 points (maximum)	10 points (minimum)	15 points (minimum)	20 ½ points (maximum)

Daily Prophet Assignment Description (Collaborative Writing)

Due Date: First House Daily Prophet Articles: 18 October Before 11:59 PM

Due Date: Second House Daily Prophet Articles: 9 December Before 11:59 PM

Over the course of the term, each House will write a minimum of one article for each book we read to be contributed to our class project: an issue of The Daily Prophet. Daily Prophet articles should be collectively researched and collaboratively written. Students are encouraged to be creative and innovative in their designs, to experiment with digital media and multimodal composition, and to consider carefully user access and interface with each issue.

Co-authoring is harder than you might think, but it is also – when done well – more rewarding than you might imagine. You should discuss with your housemates the subject of each of the articles you will write together for the Daily Prophet. Once you have decided on topics, you may choose to work all together on both or to divide into smaller groups. You should talk extensively together as you draft your articles and, as much as possible, write them together (as opposed to dividing up the writing between you). At the end, it should be hard for any of you to discern or remember who wrote what or which words are whose. Each of you should take a pass at the final polishing and copyediting of the articles your House produces before passing them on to the Prefects for inclusion in the Daily Prophet. Warning: if it becomes clear to me that one or a few people have done most of the work for either or both articles your House produces, I will award points for those articles only to those who most actively and committedly produced them. Further, if it becomes clear to me that one or a few of you have interrupted, spoken over, or disregarded the contributions of quieter members of your group, I will award points to those who have been marginalized rather than to the most insistent speakers (or, in this case, writers) on the House’s discussion board. This means you, Hermione Granger!

The articles your House publishes should meet the following criteria:

Move beyond merely reporting what other scholars have written or said by contributing original critical insight or perspective
Are well researched, drawing on both academic sources including but not limited to literary scholarship and popular materials you have gathered as well as assigned readings
Are well composed and crafted, written not only to inform, but to delight readers
Are produced through an extended process of peaceful collaboration

All Houses will aid the Prefects in the design, layout, and publication of our Daily Prophet issue. At a minimum, this aid will take the form of revising articles as requested, attending to any publication guidelines including length, typeface, citation style, etc. as developed by the Prefects, and by copyediting articles carefully under the guidance of the Prefects.

Daily Prophet Articles Rubric

TROLL	WEASLEY	POTTER	LONGBOTTOM	GRANGER
Student does not actively or significantly participate in either the research or the writing of Daily Prophet articles and does not assist in preparation for publication	Student does the bare minimum without contributing significantly to the research or writing of Daily Prophet articles. Plays minor role in preparation for publication	Student helps as a follower, offering few suggestions or original contributions but doing what is asked of them by their prefect or housemates	Student is a worker bee – doing what is needed as best they can. Student is thoughtful both in their contributions to the authorship of articles and in their care for their Housemates	Student takes the lead in organizing their House for collaborative writing, facilitates discussion about research topics and article writing. Works hard to facilitate not only the completion of articles but also to ensure that each article is excellent. Demonstrates creativity as well as intellect.
0 points (maximum)	5 points (maximum)	10 points (minimum)	15 points (minimum)	20 ½ points (maximum)