I took Romanticism & Modern World (LIT212R) this Spring 2022 Semester with Professor Jo-Ann Schlesinger and would absolutely recommend this course (along with any of Jo-Ann’s other courses) to anyone interested in reading, discussing, and writing about literature. We began the semester reading works by Wordsworth, Emerson, and Whitman, then moved on to The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World. Students were also invited to introduce the class to their own favorite pieces of modern romantic literature, film, music, etc.
Jo-Ann has such an infectious passion for literature and makes sure her students are able to connect to the topics discussed in class, happily allowing conversations to be led by ideas which are of the most interest to her students. Homework for this class was manageable and engaging; discussion board posts were the most common form of homework and served as opportunities for students to stretch their creative muscles or to share quotes or ideas from the text which they personally connected with. In my section of this class, we completed a total of ten discussion board posts, each being at least 200 words in length.
With LIT212R being a writing enhanced course, we were required to write three papers, with the third paper serving as the basis for a presentation at the end of the semester. Because this course is honors non-exclusive, honors students had slightly different page requirements than non-honors students for the first two papers. Peer review was mandatory at some points, encouraged at others, and there was constant support from Jo-Ann throughout the writing process. Overall, this is a course which I would recommend to any student interested in getting better at interpreting literature, practicing their writing skills, and learning to make meaningful connections between class materials and daily life experiences.
Disclaimer: Course specifics may be subject to change from semester to semester!