Schedule – The Secret Language of Comics

Week	Date	Assignment	Writing due
1	8/23	Introduction to the class
	8/27		Sketch 1: Avatar
2	8/28	Andrea Lunsford, “Rhetorical Situations” and “Reading Rhetorically” from Everyone’s an Author Allie Brosh, “Adventures in Depression, Part One” from Hyperbole and a Half Scott McCloud, “1 Setting the Record Straight,” Understanding Comics	Read the syllabus and leave a comment on this post Create WordPress site Join the Slack workspace
	8/30	Randy Olson, “Introduction: Why Science Needs Story” (pp. 1-21) Allie Brosh, “Adventures in Depression, Part Two“	X-pages exercise
	9/3		Sketch 2: Sunday Sketches
3	9/4	No class: Labor Day
	9/6	No class Sousanis, Nick. “The Importance of Seeing Double and Then Some” and “The Shape of Our Thoughts,” from Unflattening.	College add/drop/swap deadline Literacy Narrative, part 1
	9/10		Sketch 3: Visual Note Taking
3	9/11	Stitches — first 2/3rds of “I was six” (pages 8-63)
	9/13	Stitches — rest of “I was six” and “I was eleven” (64-156) Dan Roam, “First Draw a Circle, then Give it a Name” (chpt 3) from Draw to Win
	9/17		Sketch 4: Combophoto
4	9/18	Stitches — “I was fourteen” (157-242) Hillary Chute, “Comics for Grown-Ups” from Why Comics?: From Underground to Everywhere
	9/20	Stitches — “I was fifteen” & “A few years ago I had the following dream. In the dream I was a boy of six again” (243-329) Scott McCloud Making Comics, chpt 1 (recommended) Joe Sacco, “You Find Yourself in the Circle” from Paying the Land.
	9/24		Sketch 5: Triptych
5	9/25	Spinning– Prologue and chapters 1-3 (1-114)
	9/27	Spinning — chapters 4-5 (115-82)
	10/1		Sketch 6: What’s in your bag?
6	10/2	Hillary Chute, “Introduction: Women, Comics, and the Risk of Representation” from Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics. Spinning — chapters 6-8 (183-318)
	10/4	Spinning — chapters 9-10 & author’s note (319-94)	Literacy narrative comic storyboard (in class)
	10/8		Sketch 7: Quadriptych
7	10/9	No class: Fall Break
	10/11	It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth	Tracing Pages
	10/15		Data gathering for sketch 8

8	10/16	It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth	Literacy Narrative, part 2
	10/17	Sabrina — 1-50
	10/22		Data gathering for sketch 8
9	10/23	Sabrina — 51-100
	10/25	Sabrina — 101- 157
	10/29		Sketch 8: Data viz from everyday life
10	10/30	Sabrina –158-204
	11/1	Kindred — Introduction, Prologue, The River, The Fire (4-57)
	11/5		Sketch 9: Recreate a movie scene
11	11/6	Kindred — The Fall (58-99)
	11/8	Kindred — The Fight, The Storm, The Rope, Epilogue, About Octavia Butler & About the Adaptor and Artist (100-240)
	11/12		Sketch 10: Mix Tape
12	11/13	Parable of the Sower, Introduction & 2024	Literacy Narrative, part 3
	11/15	Parable of the Sower, 2025 & 2026
13	11/20	Parable of the Sower, 2027
	11/22	No class: Thanksgiving Break
14	11/27	Presentations in class	Halfa Kucha, day 1
	11/29	Presentations in class	Halfa Kucha, day 2
	12/3		Sketch 11: Assemblies
15	12/4	Last Day of class
	12/11	Final Exam Period (no exam, but that’s when your final portfolio is due)	Final Portfolio and Reflection LetterRevise projects, portfolio reflection letter, edit website

This schedule is subject to change as the semester progresses. Changes will be indicated in the table above and I will also announce significant changes in a blog post.