ENGL 108P F22 Racicot

English 108P: Popular Potter – Fall 2022 – Syllabus

Instructor: Toben Racicot

Contact: tsracicot@uwaterloo.ca

Office hours: Mondays 2-4pm in EC1 – 1247 P & Zoom

Course Objectives

The purpose of this course is to expand your view of the fantasy genre through the seven Harry Potter novels. This course focuses on literary analysis techniques, fiction writing concepts, and elements of adaptation. Harry Potter, as a monumental franchise, altered how story is taken in, but it draws from a wealth of history of mythology, genre-tropes, and more. By the end of the term you’ll be able to:

• Explain the hero’s journey as a foundational aspect of all stories
• Perform close readings of texts and draw out interesting conclusions
• Explain and engage in a variety of literary analysis techniques

Required Readings

All texts are provided on Learn. The breakdown for each week’s readings is provided on

Learn under the Content tab.

Assignments

Note: All assignments are to be submitted to the appropriate Dropbox on Learn, unless otherwise specified in the assignment details. Full assignment details will be posted on Learn throughout the semester well in advance of each due date.

Reading (40%): 4100 pages is a lot to ask you to read with everything else going on. Which is why it is weighted the most out of the assignments. Read or listen to the books. Be prepared to share insights and interesting finds during class.

Group Discussions (25%): Each Thursday, the majority of class time is dedicated to hosting group discussions to talk about the books and course material. After class on Tuesdays, students submit questions to Learn. I compile the questions into a workbook and come with printed workbooks to Thursday’s class to guide the discussion.

Final Project (30%): What does the Hogwarts of your country look like? Where is it located? How many houses? What are their names? The final assignments asks you to design a detailed school of magic. More details will be on Learn.

Contributions (5%): Throughout the term I’ll ask for feedback through Learn surveys and ask that you complete the course evaluation to provide feedback on my teaching. These points correspond to that.

Regrading Policy

Unfortunately, the schedule will not allow for a revision period for each major assignment. Each assignment is designed to require a small workload and have a balanced weight in the overall scale of term. Therefore, I will not do any regrading of assignments. If I do math wrong, which happens, I will correct my error, but no assignments will be regraded.

Late Policy / Extension Policy

Rather than give out late marks, I’d much prefer to give extensions. I know everyone is busy, schooling during a pandemic is tricky, which is why I ask that you communicate your needs early in order to: a) develop professional communication practices, and b) I don’t want to give out

late marks. I’d much rather have the lesson you learn be that you contact me early than try to

crunch in more work and suffer. So please, ask early, I will not say no to giving an extension.

Email Contact Policy

I am on email from 9am to 9pm, I have it open all day. I will not respond outside of those hours. Additionally, I do not answer emails on Sundays. So again, please contact me early and with enough time for me to respond. Thank you!

Territorial Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that we are living and working on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (also known as Neutral), Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River.

Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See the UWaterloo Academic Integritity webpage and the Arts Academic Integrity webpage for more information.

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. 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.

Grievance: 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.