All work will be completed in French.
Weekly Response Papers
Each week students will submit a short paper (200 words, due at the start of class) that responds to the week’s theme / materials. These will be graded for argument, engagement with the readings, and quality of writing.
Presentation
Working in pairs, students will choose a project from the following list of possible topics and dates. The topics will relate to the theme of each week. Presentations will be 10 minutes (no longer!). Presenters must provide enough material / points of departure to animate the next five minutes of class. They will use multimedia materials and make an argument about them. Students are strongly encouraged to speak, not read. Presentations will be graded for their argument, content, use of images, and language skills.
Creative Project
Students will complete a creative project of their own choosing that engages with what you learn about Paris during this semester. These might take the form of a short story, a scale model, an architectural plan, a series of poems (à la Baudelaire or L’ode à la ligne 29 de l’autobus), a memoire excerpt, a photo essay (never been to Paris? Tour it using Google street View), a short film, a board game (etc, etc). You have a wide range of flexibility here to work on a project that engages you (and to work in groups, with an understandable expectation that the scope of the work will broaden), but each project must be approved by the professor. If your project is not approved, it will receive an automatic failing grade. Each project must be accompanied by a 300 word written description that explains how it engages with the themes of the course. This must cites relevant texts, films, images, and class discussions. Students who do not wish to complete a creative project may write a 5–7 page research paper instead.
Project Proposal: Proposals will define the subject and team members, explaining why the project is interesting. They will give a rough timeline for completion.
Late assignments will lose one full letter grade for each day past the deadline. Assignments handed in a week late will automatically receive no credit. No extensions will be granted after an assignment’s due date has passed.
