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“Documenting Urban Ecology”
A Writing-Intensive, Service Learning Course on the Los Angeles River, the LA Aqueduct, and the History and Future of Water in Urban Environments
Instructor: Sara Torres, svtorres@ucla.edu
Classes: Mondays and Wednesdays 12-1:50pm @ Boelter Hall 5419 Office Hours: Fridays 1:30-3:30pm @ Powell Library InqLab
English 4wS: Critical Reading and Writing, with Service Learning, Fall 2013 (5 units; satisfies Writing II requirement)
Course Description
This writing-intensive service learning seminar examines representations of urban life and the relationship between cities and their environments. How do literature, film, and other media depict the environmental impact of urban development? How can an ethic of environmental stewardship inform our interpretation of literary texts and our engagement with the local Los Angeles
community? Students will have the opportunity to connect their coursework with events commemorating the LA Aqueduct Centennial, and will work alongside leading environmental nonprofits as they learn about the Los Angeles River, the LA Aqueduct, and the history and future of water management in urban environments. Readings will include Shakespeare, As You Like It; Mary Austin, Land of Little Rain; Barbara Kingsolver, Small Wonder; Rachel Carson, Silent Spring; poetry by William Wordsworth, John Keats, Mary Robinson, Charlotte Smith, Gerard Manly Hopkins, Langston Hughes, Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, and Gary Snyder; and documentary films by Jacques Cousteau, Al Gore, and several others.
Service Learning
Service learning is a pedagogical approach that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthens communities. Each week, you will participate in off-campus “fieldwork” at one of several designated service sites. Ideally, your experiences collaborating with local non-profit organizations will complement our theoretical discussions of city life and environmental conservation and degradation in the classroom. Moreover, over the course of the quarter, the
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academic skills of critical thinking, writing, research, and creative engagement with social issues will become directly applicable to your service commitments and final service-related writing project.
Schedule of Readings Week 1
Sept 30: Introductions, review of syllabus, and presentation on service learning component of course Oct 2: Picturing “Nature”; selection from Greg Garrard, Ecocriticism; Service learning site visitors
Week 2
Oct 7, 9: British Poetry, 18th- and 19th-century (course reader); Visiting Educator: Dr. Elizabeth Raisanen William Wordsworth, “The World Is Too Much With Us,” “Nutting,” and selection
from The Prelude, from Book Seventh: Residence in London
Mary Robinson, “London’s Summer Morning” and “January, 1795” Charlotte Smith, “The Sea View”
John Keats, “Robin Hood. To a Friend” Gerard Manly Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur” Alexander Pope, “Windsor-Forest”
Week 3
Oct 14, 16: American Poetry; Guest Presenters: Julia Glassman (UCLA Librarian) and Cathryn Berger Kaye (Service Learning Education Specialist)
Langston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
Carl Sandburg, “Chicago” and “Poems Done on a Late Night Car” Robert Frost, “The Oven-Bird” and “Acquainted with the Night” Joyce Kilmer, “Trees”
W. S. Graham, “The Night City”
Samuel Greenberg, “East River’s Charm”
Tino Villanueva, “Haciendo apenas la recolección” Jennifer Grotz, “Late Summer”
Gary Snyder, “Night Song of the Los Angeles Basin” Michael Hofmann, “Venice Beach”
Week 4
Oct 21, 23: Shakespeare, As You Like It, and selection from Bruce Boehrer, Environmental Degradation in Jacobean Drama
Week 5
3 Oct 30: Conan Doyle, Hound of the Baskervilles Week 6
Nov. 4, 6: Hound of the Baskervilles Week 7
Nov. 11, 13: Johnson, Ghost Map Week 8
Nov. 18: selections fromMary Hunter Austin, Land of Little Rain, and Barbara Kingsolver, “Patience of a Saint” from Small Wonder
Nov. 20: Chinatown (in-class screening and assignment); Cadillac Desert (watch out-of-class) Week 9
Nov. 25: Chinatown, and selections from Boom: A Journal of California 3.3
Nov. 27: Documentary Film: selections from Bill Nichols, Introduction to Documentary; selections from Jacques Cousteau, Odyssey; Mediterranean: Cradle or Coffin?; trailer for Lost Rivers and Anaconia;
selections from 11th Hour Week 10
Dec. 2: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (selections)
Dec 4: Presentations on Final Service Learning Project and Creation of Class “Aquazine”
Required Books
Edwin Barton, A Contemporary Guide to Literary Terms Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, introd. Linda Lear
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles (Dover Thrift Editions)
Steven Johnson, The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
Bill Nichols, Introduction to Documentary (2nd ed.)
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Course Requirements
1. Punctual attendance and thoughtful, enthusiastic participation in class discussion 2. Timely completion of all in-class and take-home assignments
3. Service Learning Component: You must complete at least 20 hours of service learning between Week 2 and Week 9 in order to pass this course. Missed hours may be made up during Week 10. At the end of the quarter, you will submit a time-sheet signed by your site supervisor by 5pm, Friday of Week 10 (December 6, 2013) to my mailbox in Humanities 149.
Course Evaluation
Participation: 20%: Earning full participation credit involves preparing assigned readings, engaging thoughtfully with course content, sharing ideas in class discussions, approaching groupwork in a
spirit of collaboration, and offering encouragement to fellow students in workshops.
Written assignments: 80% (you will receive detailed instructions for each assignment in class):
#1: Critical Concepts: “Nature” – due in class Oct. 2 (graded S/U) (5%)
#2: Poetry Annotation: “London in Romantic Poetry,” due in class Oct 7 (graded S/U) (5%) #3: Creative Response: “Urban Beats: America Cities in Poetry” due in class Oct. 16 (graded S/U) (5%)
#4: Critical Essay: Poetry, due October 18 via course website (Letter-graded) (10%) #5: Critical Essay: As You Like It in-class essay on October 28 (Letter-graded) (10%) #6: Critical Essay: Hound of the Baskervilles due November 15 via course website (15%) (Letter-graded)
#7: Chinatown: In-class assignment (5%) (graded S/U)
#8: Water Project/Class Aqua-zine Project (10%) (Letter-graded)
#9: Service Learning Final Project (15%), including 5-10 minute class presentation (Letter-graded) due December 4 in class
Optional Extra-Credit Assignments (pick one):
1) See the National Geographic Live documentary Polar Obsession: Photography from the Ends of the Earth at the Broad Stage on November 14 and write a 1.5 page review of the show:
http://thebroadstage.com/polar-obsession.
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Service Learning Partners
Weekly service with your community partner is an integral requirement of this course. During the first week of class, we will discuss service learning in general as well as the specific sites available and the methods for documenting your hours. On October 2, you will be paired with one of the
following community partners:
Friends of Ballona Wetlands – This non-profit organization champions the restoration and protection of the Ballona Wetlands, involving and educating the public as advocates and stewards. Through working with all ages, backgrounds and communities, The Friends educate people about the value of Ballona, watersheds and ecosystems, our natural and cultural heritage, and provide opportunities for service learning and volunteer activities at Ballona.
Available Times and Projects: Service learning students will primarily participate in developing and
implementing environmental education curriculum for Friends of Ballona Wetlands. Activities include research to support weekday programs with K-12 schools and weekend education and restoration programs for all ages. Students may also have the opportunity to assist with tours and field trips as well as direct restoration work in the wetlands. Students can work in the FBW office during regular business hours (generally Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm) Restoration projects are also held every second and fourth Saturday. Dates and times for specific field trips and projects will be provided by Patrick.
NOTE: When scheduled to work on program development from the FBW office, students
should plan to bring their own laptop computers if at all possible. Laptops MAY be able to check out laptops through the CLICC program at the UCLA Library but this option should be used sparingly—and only if students are sure they will be able to return the laptop on time and meet all other terms for use of Library Laptops. Consult
http://www.clicc.ucla.edu/tiki-index.php?page=borrow%20a%20laptop for more
information.
Location and Transportation: 211 Culver Blvd. Suite N, Playa del Rey, CA 90293. Take the Culver
City Bus 6 (or Rapid 6) south to Manchester and Sepulveda. Transfer to MTA Bus 115 heading west into Playa del Rey and get off at Culver and Vista Del Mar. OR: Take Big Blue Bus 3 to Manchester and Lincoln and transfer to MTA 115 heading west and get off at Culver and Vista Del Mar.
Contact: Patrick Tyrrell - patrickt@ballonafriends.org– 310.306.5994 (office) or 310.770.1512 cell
Website: http://www.ballonafriends.org/
Heal the Bay – This nonprofit environmental organization makes Southern California coastal waters and watersheds, including Santa Monica Bay, safe, healthy and clean. Heal the Bay uses science, education, community action and advocacy to pursue this mission and fight to protect the health of the ocean, its animals and plants, and all of the members of the public, like you, who swim, surf and play in the waves.
Available Times and Projects: Service learning students will primarily participate in developing and
implementing Heal the Bay’s high school curriculum on issues of water quality and on the links
between community and environmental health. Students can work on curriculum development
during regular business hours at the Heal the Bay office (Monday – Friday, 9-5:30) and should plan
to sign up for a regular shift each week. Students may also have opportunities to participate in field trips with Compton high school students (periodic Thursdays, dates TBD).
NOTE: Students who wish to participate in a field trip must complete a background check
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consult the instructor ASAP and coordinate with the Center for Community Learning in advance to ensure that reimbursement will be possible.
Location and Transportation: Main Office - 1444 9th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Take Big Blue
Bus 1 to Santa Monica Blvd and Lincoln, then walk to 9th Street.
NOTE: Students who elect to participate in field trips will travel from the Heal the Bay
office (with staff) to high schools near Compton Creek.
Contact: Eddie Murphy - emurphy@healthebay.org - 310.451.1500 (main office)
Website: www.healthebay.org
The Samburu Project – This LA-based nonprofit provides easy access to clean, safe drinking water as a foundation to development to communities throughout the Samburu District of Kenya. The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns. Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease. This lack of clean drinking water affects every aspect of the Samburu
people’s daily lives, including health, education, economics, and empowerment. The Samburu Project works to empower Samburu communities and mobilize stakeholders around the world to fight this global
humanitarian crisis.
Available Times and Projects: The Samburu Project’s main office is open Monday to Friday from
10am to 5pm. Service learning students will primarily support the Samburu Project’s TRIBE
program, which empowers youth to raise awareness and funds for the World Water Crisis while taking action in their own lives and communities through water conservation initiatives. Service
learning students will conduct research to support the Samburu Project’s efforts to high school
curriculum and will work as a group to help develop and implement an action plan.
Location and Transportation: 2510 Main St. Suite 202, Santa Monica, 90405. Take Big Blue Bus 1 to
Main St. and Ocean Park.
Contact: Stephanie Ng –stephanie@thesamburuproject.org– 310.881.7265
Website: www.thesamburuproject.org
Course Policies
Contacting the Instructor / Office Hours
The best way to reach me is via email—svtorres@ucla.edu. I do my best to respond to messages within 24-48 hours, Monday through Friday. I am happy to answer questions about the course over email, but the best way to get my undivided attention is to schedule an appointment to see me in office hours. In my experience as an instructor of English classes, I have found that attending office hours is a key component of the learning process, and I strongly encourage you to take advantage of this resource (one-on-one and collaborative learning!).
Guest Instructors and Visiting Educators
7 Planning Ahead to Avoid Late Assignments
Please take a long, thoughtful look at your schedule for the entire quarter (including travel plans, sports events, standardized test dates, family visits, grad school or internship application deadlines, religious and secular holidays, etc.) and plan your workflow accordingly. If you contact me early in the quarter about any potential conflicts, I will be happy to work with you so that you can complete assignments well in advance of their projected due date to avoid a midterm or end-of-quarter “crunch.” All assignments turned in late will be graded down one letter grade per day for each day turned in past the deadline (i.e. an A paper turned in two days late becomes a C). Assignments graded S/U will be converted to a U after two days past their due date. Assignments not turned in at all will result in an Incomplete.
Statement on Health and Wellness
Studying at UCLA can be an exciting and rewarding experience, but the pressures of academic commitments, harried schedules, family relations, and interpersonal relationships can sometimes loom large in students’ lives. If you need help establishing a healthy balance between your personal, academic, and financial responsibilities; if you feel that talking with a health-and-wellness
professional would give you insights into developing healthy study or personal habits; if you are experiencing chronic stress; or if you are in the midst of a crisis—UCLA has a wide range resources to help. Contact the Ashe Student Health Center http://www.studenthealth.ucla.edu
and/or Counseling and Psychological Services (310) 825-0768, www.caps.ucla.edu.
Statement on Disability
If you wish to request accommodations for a disability, please contact the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) as soon as possible at A255 Murphy Hall, 310.825.1501 or 310.206.6083
(telephone device for the deaf). Website: www.osd.ucla.edu. In addition to registering with OSD, please feel free to contact me privately.
Statement on Academic Integrity
All policies in the UCLA Student Code of Conduct regarding academic integrity apply to this course, including policies regarding plagiarism. When warranted, infractions will be reported to the Dean of Students and may result in disciplinary action. UCLA’s complete policy regarding academic
