2012-2013 Academic Year Calendar - Marianopolis

General Education: Englishintended to prepare the students forthe transition to university by offeringguidance and practical experience inadvanced skills.Writing for ChildrenThe books we read as children mayremain with us all our lives. In thiscourse, students will learn to generateideas and turn them into prose thatappeals to a child audience. Thecourse introduces several genres ofchildren's writing: picture books,junior and young adult novels.Students analyze children's literatureand do short assignments focusing onliterary devices. Students produce twoedited short stories, as well as editingsheets analyzing the work of theirpeers. Students will also learn aboutthe children's literature market.JournalismThis course is an introduction to theworld of the journalist and its specialrequirements. Part of understandingthis world includes an intelligentevaluation of journalistic practicesand their effects upon society. Thecontent ranges from the straight newsstory formula and editorial writing tofeature writing and interviewingstrategies. Montreal journalists willbe invited to the class to share theirexperiences as sports writers,editorialists, and photo-journalists.ScreenwritingThis course is an introduction to thescreenwriting process, from generatingideas, to the components of filmnarrative, to the elements of visualcomposition. After studying guidesto story structure – the three-act plotstructure and Joseph Campbell’s TheHero with a Thousand Faces – theseparadigms are applied to the students’own short screenplays throughexercises in story structure, genre,characterization and dialogue. Inlearning the nine stages of screenplaydevelopment, from Character reviewthrough to the Final draft the studentsbecome familiar with Final Draft,screenwriting software and standardscreenplay formatting.Creative WritingThis course is designed for universityboundcollege students, allowingthem to develop their skills throughwriting short fiction. Through acombination of writing exercises anda consideration of texts, students willbe introduced to the use and effects ofspecific literary techniques, including:point of view, tense, significant detail,style, etc. Through writing seminars,feedback and revision, students willbe expected to develop an editorial“ear.” Beginning with exercises thataccess student’s creative process, theshort, directed assignments focus onspecific skills and conclude with acompleted short story.Creative Non-FictionThis course is designed for students todevelop their skills in writing creativenon-fiction. Focus is placed onexercises that encourage the creativeprocess, beginning with short,directed assignments and culminatingin longer, original pieces. In addition,students are introduced to the use ofspecific literary techniques anddevices that can be incorporated intotheir own work. Through the processof group writing seminars, feedbackfrom the instructor, revision, and classcritique, students learn to edit theirown work. All of these elements helpstudents find and develop their ownliterary voice.Life WritingThis is a writing course whichfocuses on non-fiction writing basedon personal experience. Through anexamination of critical theory, writingtechniques and participation in thewriting process, students explore howwe shape and remake our reality withwords. Readings include five genresof life writing: diary and journal,letters, autobiography, biography,and the personal essay.Physical Witness: Writers On TheBodyBeginning with an examination ofhow writers represent the humanbody and cultural attitudes towardsit, students explore the ways in whichthey condition and are conditioned bytheir bodily awareness. Discussed,among other topics, are the roles ofthe senses, bodies at work and play,body image and identity, dysmorphia,bodily pleasures and taboos, imaginedbodies, kinaesthetics, as well as variousauthors’ insights on mind/bodydualistic thinking.Contemporary Travel WritingThis course introduces students tothe conventions of ContemporaryTravel Writing. Bruce Chatwinand Pico Iyer are two of the mostrecognizable names in contemporarytravel writing. Chatwin laments anomadic tradition and Iyer embracesthe uncertainties of Globalization.Two fundamental questions informthe content of the course: How does acontemporary travel writer explore aworld that has already been mapped?and What politically, spiritually, andindividually motivates travel writersto embrace the open road?32