Descriptions of Past Courses
LITERATURE COURSES
Survey of British Romanticism (Rice University, Spring 2016)
An upper-division course that introduces students to the multiple literary genres and textual mediums of the Romantic period. Throughout the course, students refine the dictionary definition of “Romanticism:” the movement of art, literature, and music during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Europe that emphasized feeling, individuality, and passion. By delving into Romanticism’s historical context—namely the French Revolution and British imperial expansion—students understand how British Romantic writers experimented with literary genres (philosophical treatises, political essays, literary criticism, gothic novels, poetry) as a means of better understanding and representing their rapidly changing society. In sum, students explore Romanticism’s origins, development, and lasting influence upon literature and intellectual thought today.
Global Literatures in English (Rice University, Fall 2013)
A freshman-level course that introduces students to twentieth-century global literature. Students trace literary developments from late Victorian proto-modernism to modernism to post-colonialism to post-modernism through British, American, and Anglophone texts representing locales such as the Sudan, China, Eastern Europe, India, and Ireland. Students improve their critical reading skills, which allow them to establish connections between literary texts and literary history. Students develop their writing skills through assignments including blog posts, close readings, essays, and critical reports.
Topics in Literature: Images of China in the Western Imaginary (University of Colorado-Denver’s International College Beijing, Summer 2013)
An upper-division seminar on Western literary representations of China from the thirteenth to the twenty-first century. Students encounter diverse genres (travel narratives, dramas, novels, and poetry) through which they determine not simply the “accuracy” of each text’s depictions of China, but rather the role that literary invocations of the East play in nationalism, imperialism, economic development, and aesthetics. Students develop an understanding of how literature has influenced Western relations with China.
Narrative Art in Literature and Film (University of Colorado-Denver’s International College Beijing, Fall 2009)
A general-education English course that introduces students to the nature of narrative: particular v. universal qualities, plot v. character development, artistic license, etc. Students learn to identify common elements of narrative as well as the ways in which authors and filmmakers deviate from expected narrative norms. Students develop their reading and analytical skills, which they use to establish narrative connections between American and European texts and films of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Survey of British Literature I: Literature Before 1800 (Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Fall 2007) and Survey of British Literature II: Literature Since 1800 (Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Spring 2008)
[N.B. Course description combined because department catalogued class as a single yearlong course.] A junior-level survey that provides students with an overview of the major texts, authors, and literary movements from (in Survey I) Anglo-Saxon riddles and Beowulf through the Restoration and long eighteenth century–or–from (in Survey II) the Romantic era through postmodernism. In this two-course sequence, students read multiple literary genres including novels, short stories, poems, and essays to develop a general understanding of British literature’s development from the English Renaissance to the Victorian era to the present. Students develop the skills to interact directly with texts rather than simply relying on second-hand sources. By year’s end, students become critical readers with the ability to discuss and analyze literary problems or themes by anchoring their ideas in textual evidence.
Survey of American Literature (Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Fall 2006)
A senior-level survey that provides students with an overview of the major texts, authors, and literary movements from early European accounts of Native American culture to post-1945 literature. Students read multiple literary genres including novels, short stories, poems, and essays to develop a general understanding of American literature’s development. Students develop the skills to interact directly with texts rather than simply relying on second-hand sources. Students become critical readers with the ability to discuss and analyze literary problems or themes by anchoring their ideas in textual evidence.
FIRST-YEAR WRITING-INTENSIVE SEMINARS
Déjà vu: Literary Adaptations and Spinoffs (Rice University, 2016–2017)
In this course, students examine four different narratives and their cultural afterlives in adaptations and spinoffs. The course investigates not only the motivations behind consequent adaptations but also the “success” of the remake. Through examinations of numerous genres (dramas, short stories, fairy tales, novels, movie posters, and films), students analyze the writing style of each author or screenwriter. They study how writers adjusts the story for his/her intended audience. Through this consideration of different writing methodologies, students reflect on their writing practices. Students have opportunities throughout the semester to write analytically and creatively via different textual mediums.
The Mad Scientist: Science, Caricature, and Social Critique (Rice University, Spring 2017)
This course examines the literary figure of the “mad scientist” as well as the popular reception of cutting-edge science. To study this reception, students explore the intersections between science and politics, science and geographical exploration, science and religion, and science and literature. Through each intersection, students define science’s cultural impact (real and imagined). Through readings of scientific theory alongside science fiction, students analyze similarities and differences in writing styles. When and to what effect do scientists use the rhetorical devices that generally typify fiction writing? How might an author incorporate scientific objectivity into an otherwise fictional text? Students explore these questions through assignments that challenge them to write for different audiences, situations, and purposes.
Kung Fu and Pandas: China in the Western Imagination (Rice University, Fall 2016)
This course examines the history of Western (particularly British and American) representations of China. How has China, both as a geographic reality and a fictional locale, been described within Western literature, art, and film? Through multiple genres (travel narratives, engravings, novels, films, and poetry), students examine not simply the “accuracy” of each text’s depictions of China but rather the role that textual representations of the East play in issues of nationalism, imperialism, economic development, children’s education, and aesthetics. This course teaches students how to become critical readers as they are exposed to a wide variety of texts including articles, photography, maps, and film. Students practice their critical reading skills through the design and development of argument essays.
COMPOSITION COURSES
Composition II: Academic and Research-Based Writing (University of Colorado-Denver’s International College Beijing, 2008–2010)
A sophomore-level writing seminar—the second in a two-course composition sequence required of all College of Liberal Arts and Sciences students—focuses primarily on academic and other types of research-based writing. Building upon and augmenting the quality of the work completed in Composition I, the course enhances students’ critical thinking, reading, and writing and encourages increased contact with primary and secondary source materials to produce several research-based essays. Students’ research includes the use of both print-based and electronic-based information.
Composition I: The Fundamentals of Writing (University of Colorado-Denver’s International College Beijing, 2008–2010)
A freshman-level writing seminar—the first in a two-course composition sequence required of all College of Liberal Arts and Sciences students—focuses on writing for different purposes and audiences with an emphasis on learning how to respond to various rhetorical situations. Through their readings of diverse scholarly and mainstream articles, students improve their critical thinking, reading, and writing abilities. Students develop a greater understanding of various writing processes and a deeper knowledge of English language conventions.
Writing V: Academic Writing (Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Spring 2008)
A senior-level seminar that guides and mentors students through the completion of their senior theses. The class has two primary goals: to augment students’ understanding of English rhetorical grammar and to develop students’ research skills. An understanding of rhetorical grammar allows students to understand the grammatical choices available to them and the rhetorical effects those choices have on a reader. Students have numerous opportunities to practice basic techniques in conducting individual research—from brainstorming research topics to researching library and web-based archives to conducting expert interviews to drafting working theses for their senior projects.
Writing IV: Practical Writing (Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Fall 2007)
This junior-level seminar’s purpose is twofold: to prepare students for the kinds of writing required for job searches or graduate school applications and to teach students to identify and analyze arguments in popular culture. The semester’s first unit includes an overview of resumes, cover letters, and statements of purpose and culminates with mock job interviews. During the second unit, students revisit the principles of an argument essay (learned in Writing III) and apply these concepts to the analysis and creation of a variety of media including Public Service Announcements, magazine advertisements, and commercial jingles. Students learn to identify and to create arguments in multiple artistic mediums.
Writing III: Expository and Argument Writing (Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Spring 2007) and Freshman Writing Seminar (University of Colorado at Boulder, 2005)
[N.B. In teaching Writing III, I developed upon my earlier syllabus. While my teaching methodologies changed, these classes shared at least seventy-five percent of the same goals and course materials.] A lower-division course that provides students with training and practice in writing and critical thinking. Students are introduced to the writing process, the fundamentals of composition, and the structure of argument. Additionally, students learn to read critically—to explore and speculate on a particular problem, issue, or theme by anchoring their ideas in textual evidence—through the examination of diverse texts including scholarly articles, poetry, photo essays, novellas, websites, and film. Course assignments develop progressively from the building blocks of discussion to close readings to the selection of evidence to in-class debates to drafts of theses and introductions, and so on. Cumulatively, students learn how to write an argumentative essay, including the design, development, and support of an engaging thesis. Students transform personal responses to texts into crafted, thought-provoking, analytical essays.
HISTORY AND CULTURE COURSES
Background to English-Speaking Cultures (Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Spring 2007)
A sophomore-level interdisciplinary course designed to introduce Chinese students to English-speaking, specifically British and American, culture and history. Students acquire broad knowledge ranging from politics to contemporary art, from diverse religious practices to pop music, from the intricacies of foreign affairs to the film industry. Students develop an understanding of British and American society from an historical as well as a contemporary perspective. Having acquired a general understanding of English-speaking cultures, students are prepared for their junior- and senior-level surveys of American and British literature.
Introduction to European Culture and History (Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Fall 2006)
A junior-level interdisciplinary lecture class that introduces students to European Culture through an historical examination of artistic movements associated with diverse cultures from the Roman Empire to Renaissance Italy, from Restoration Britain to Cold War Germany. Through a range of printed texts (including both primary and secondary sources), movie clips, art slides, and music, students acquire a general overview of European Culture from the ancient Greeks to the present. Students also learn to interpret and analyze various mediums of art including sculpture, painting, literature, and music.
Audio-Visual, Levels 1–4 (Lanzhou Jiaotong University, 2006–8)
A four-course sequence for freshman and sophomore English majors that, through feature-length films and television programs, enhances students’ English listening skills, develops students’ film appreciation, and provides students (predominantly Chinese nationals) with new knowledge of Western (especially American) culture. Students develop English-language proficiency through weekly viewing guides that test aural comprehension, introduce new vocabulary, and provide necessary cultural context. Through extensive classroom discussions, students trace character development, analyze different narrative forms, and identify artistic engagement with cultural problems/debates.