Professor Ramos' Blog

A Community of Writers

English 101 Fall 2017

Course Schedule

  • The following is the schedule of assignments for this class. The schedule of readings and assignments is subject to change based upon the needs of the class.
  • All readings and assignments are listed on the day they are due. Please come to class with all readings and assignments complete.

Unit 1 – Narrative

WEEK ONE – 8/14 and 8/16

Monday Syllabus and Introduction, Ice Breaker, Genre, Literacy Narrative

Wednesday Intro to Literacy Narrative and Drafts

HOMEWORK

  • Lamott 3 Questions 10XP

WEEK TWO – 8/21 and 8/23

Monday The Conversation

Wednesday The Conversation and Carr

Homework

  • Answer Carr “Joining the Conversation” questions 1–4 [p. 328]

WEEK THREE – 8/28 and 8/30

Monday They Say Summary and Zinczenko

Wednesday Ideology and Paraphrase

HOMEWORK

  • Write a summary of Zinczenko’s essay 10XP
  • Summary/response to Haidt TED Talk 10XP

WEEK FOUR – 9/4 and 9/6

Monday Labor Day NO CLASS

Wednesday Responding and Debate

HOMEWORK

  • Write a summary of and response to Balko’s essay (1-2 pages) 10XP
  • Summary Response to Freedman Essay OR Joining the Conversation questions 1-4 [p. 537] 10XP

WEEK FIVE – 9/11 and 9/13

Monday Citation and Quoting

  • Read Chapter 3 (“As He Himself Puts It”: The Art of Quoting)
  • MICHAEL POLLAN, “Escape from the Western Diet” PDF [p. 420] from In Defense of Food 
  • MARY MAXFIELD, “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating” PDF [p. 442]

Wednesday Structure and Images

Weekly Homework

  • Summary/response Pollan or Joining the Conversation questions 1-2 [pg. 427] 10XP
  • Summary/response Maxfield  or Answer the Joining the Conversation questions 1-2 [p. 447] 10XP

UNIT 2 – Report

WEEK SIX – 9/18 and 9/20

Monday Meet in Library Computer Room

Sandberg and hooks

Wednesday Reflection and Intro to Report

Weekly Homework

  • Answer questions 1-3 after the Sandberg essay [p. 658] or Summary/Response 10XP
  • Answer Questions 1-4 after the Hooks essay [p. 675] or Summary/ Response to article 10XP

WEEK SEVEN – 9/25 and 9/27

Monday Report Purpose and Topic

Wednesday Annotated Bib and Dorment

Weekly Homework

  • Answer “Joining the Conversation” question 5 after the Slaughter essay [p. 696] or Write a Summary/Response 10XP
  • “Joining the Conversation” question 4 after the Dorment essay [p. 717] or Write a Summary/Response 10XP
  • PROPOSAL Emailed to Professor by Friday 10XP

WEEK EIGHT – 10/2 and 10/4

Monday College and So What?

Wednesday IN-CLASS MIDTERM 50XP

Weekly Homework

  • Writing Center Visit 1 DUE 20XP
  • Murray Summary/Response OR Questions 1-4. 10XP
  • Ungar Summary/Response OR Questions 1-4 10XP

Unit 3 – Literary Analysis

WEEK NINE 10/9 and 10/11

MONDAY Cisneros and Eleven, Intro to Literary Analysis

Due Assignment 2 posted on Class blog 100XP

Wednesday “Woman Hollering Creek” and La Llorona

Weekly Homework

  • “Eleven” Summary/Response 10XP
  • “Woman Hollering Creek” Summary/Response 10XP

WEEK TEN 10/16 and 10/18

Monday Scene Analysis and “Never Marry a Mexican”

  • Read SANDRA CISNEROS “Never Marry a Mexican”
  • SANDRA CISNEROS Woman Hollering Creek pages 114-136

Wednesday Proposal and Salsa

Weekly Homework

  • “Never Marry a Mexican” Summary/Response 10XP

WEEK ELEVEN 10/23 and 10/25

Monday “Bien Pretty” and Author’s Purpose

DUE Proposal for Literary Analysis 10XP

  • Read Chapter 9 (“Ain’t So / Is Not”: Academic Writing Doesn’t Always Mean Setting Aside Your Own Voice)
  • SANDRA CISNEROS “Bien Pretty”
  • Sandra Cisneros’s Modern Malinche

Analysis Structure and Evidence

Wednesday Academic Writing and Analysis Intros

Weekly Homework

  • “Bien Pretty” Summary/Response 10XP
  • “What is Academic Writing?” Questions 10XP

Unit 4 – Solution Argument

WEEK TWELVE 10/30 and 11/1

Monday Intro to Arguments

Wednesday Argument Clinic

Weekly Homework

  • Summary/Response Addison or Answer Questions 1-3 [p. 258] 10XP
  • Summary/Response Obama or Questions 1-2 [p. 295] 10XP

WEEK THIRTEEN 11/6 and 11/8

Monday  Argument Audience and Ethos

Wednesday Pathos and Fallacies

  • Proposal for Assignment 4 due 10XP

Weekly Homework

  • Summary/Response Wortham or Questions 1-3 [p. 397] 10XP
  • Summary/Response Graff or Answer Questions 1-2 [p. 271] 10XP

WEEK FOURTEEN 11/13 and 11/15

Monday Class Research for Presentations

Solution Examples and Structure

Wednesday Using Sources and Annotated Bib

  • Write Annotated Bibliography for Assignment 4 due 25XP

Weekly Homework

  • “Ten Ways to Think About Writing” questions 1-3 10XP

WEEK FIFTEEN 11/20 and 11/22

Monday Study Lesson and Multimodality

  • Read Review Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 8

Wednesday How to Peer Review and Visuals

WEEK SIXTEEN 11/27 and 11/29

Monday Fallacy Presentations, Audience, and Revision

  • Fallacy Project Presentation 50XP
  • Read Chapter 11 (“He Says Contends”: Using the Templates to Revise) (139-159)
  • Review Chapter 6 and Chapter 7

Wednesday In-Class Workshop

WEEK SEVENTEEN 12/4 and 12/6

Monday Elevator Pitch and Revision

Wednesday Solution Presentations

  • Solution Argument DUE 150XP

WEEK EIGHTEEN 12/11

Monday Presentations and Finals

English 101: Freshman Composition

Instructor: Sefferino Ramos Email: sramos@craftonhills.edu
Voicemail/Text: (909) 453-2953 Website: ProfessorRamos.blog
English 101 – 40 M/W 3:00 – 4:50 PM WEST-215

Course Description

Welcome to English 101! Over the next eighteen weeks we will study how to write different types of college essays. By studying and writing different types of compositions, you will learn how to compose your own effective and purposeful texts. We will study argumentation, learn to research, and practice the process of writing. We will study how good writing is dependent on the situation, reader, and purpose it is created for. What you say, how you say it, and who you are saying it to, are important to keep in mind as you write.

We will explore many concepts about writing: literacy, discourse communities, rhetoric, the writing process, the conversation, and critical reading, writing, and thinking, to name a few. This is one of the few writing classes you may ever take, the more you apply yourself here, the better you will be able to communicate effectively in college and your future careers. Come to class with an open mind and ready to work and you will learn a ton about writing.

This class is a work in progress. We will be reading and writing in class and we will utilize the class website to comment and respond to each other. Everything you will write in this class will be published online. Do not worry, this will be the highlight of the class. We will build a community of writers to learn from each other and produce knowledge for others to learn as well.

Course Objectives

Upon satisfactory completion of the course, you will be able to:

  1. Write a 1,000-word essay, consisting of introduction, multiple body paragraphs, and a conclusion, with a clear statement of thesis, written at the collegiate level;
  2. Adhere to principles of unity, clarity, development, organization, and coherence in essays;
  3. Write effective sentences with varying structures and type;
  4. Locate and evaluate the credibility of books, articles, periodicals, and newspapers related to particular subjects;
  5. Evaluate and effectively integrate ideas of others, relevant to a specific topic, through paraphrase, summary, and quotation into at least one multi-page essay;
  6. Choose and effectively employ in a multi-page essay a variety of rhetorical strategies, such as definition, comparison/ contrast, and argument;
  7. Produce a collegiate-level, multi-source research paper of at least 3,000 words, effectively following the MLA or APA documentation format;
  8. Proofread, revise, and edit essays for few to no gross errors in English grammar, usage, or punctuation;
  9. Analyze and evaluate a piece of writing for its rhetorical and technical merit, with consideration of the principles of unity, coherence, tone, persona, purpose, methods, and the effects on a target audience;
  10. Write a collegiate-level, in-class essay of at least 500-750 words that is unified, coherent, and relatively free from distracting sentence-writing errors that analyzes, evaluates, or argues a topic or piece of writing.

Learning Outcomes

The primary intention is for you to develop your academic writing skills in order to succeed in subsequent college courses. This happens through the following learning outcomes:

  1. Demonstrate the ability to critically examine, analyze, and respond to the writing of established authors.
  2. Compose error-free essays of varying lengths (500 – 1500 words) effectively utilizing various writing genres.
  3. Locate articles from academic journals and integrate information into a well-written research paper of approximately 3000 words.

Required Course Materials

Assessment and Grading

Specific instructions and rubrics will be provided to you for your work on the major projects. As we go through the course, we will clarify the assignments and make sure we agree on what good work looks like.

Crafton Hills does not use a + or – grading scale, only A, B, C, D, and F. The class uses a 1250-point grading scale. Points required for an A= 1125, B= 1000, and C=875. Anything less than 875 points is considered a failing grade. Essays 1 – 4 are mandatory for everyone. Everything else is up to you. You decide what grade you want to earn and how you will accomplish it. To check grades, we will use iGradePlus.com. I will send out invitations by next week.

Assignment Points Total Earned
Essay 1 100 100
Essay 2 100 100
Essay 3 125 125
Essay 4 150 150
Exam 1 50 50
Exam 2 100 100
Attendance 5 165
Reading Journals 10 150
Writing Center Visit 20 20
Proposals 10 40
Annotated Bibs 25 50
Rough Drafts 10 40
Peer Review 20 80
Worksheets 10 20
Fallacy Presentation 50 50
Present Essay 10 10
Workshop 10
Extra Credit
1250

Course Policies

Syllabus Revision: I may need to change or revise the syllabus during the semester. Students will receive ample notice of revisions.

Classroom Code of Conduct: We will be discussing controversial and/or adult oriented content in this course. You are all adults and are expected to conduct yourself accordingly in class and in all interactions with other students. Racist, sexist, bigoted, and hurtful language will not be tolerated and could get you removed from the course and/or reported to disciplinary authorities. While I am here to lecture and help facilitate discussion, it is up to you to participate in the class and keep up with the readings. I will be available through email and after class, so please see me if you need anything pertaining to our class.

Attendance: 5 Points just for showing up! Your attendance is requested. We will work together regularly in groups and to workshop assignments. For this to work, your attendance is necessary. If you do miss class, you can contact a class mate to get the notes or assignments required or check the blog.

Personal Writing: We will be doing personal writing in this class as we explore ourselves and each other. Do not write anything that you are not comfortable sharing with this class and outside of this class. The writing that we do here is for everyone in the class. If you have any questions about whether something is suitable, please discuss it with me or your class mates.

Plagiarism: Knowingly submitting the work of others as your own is considered plagiarism. Proper MLA citation is required for any and all sources used in the course. If you have any questions or need help with citation please see me. If you plagiarize, the least that will happen is you fail this course.

Electronic Devices: Electronic devices are not permitted during class time, unless specifically cleared by me. Please silence or turn off your electronics and phones. If you require special accommodation, please see the contact the Disabled Student Services office at (909) 389-3325. There is no texting, social media, or email during class.

Late Work and Make-up Work: All assignments are due at the start of class on the designated dates. It is your responsibility to have assignments submitted on time. In-class assignments and essays cannot be made up. Please contact me directly if you have any questions or need special accommodations. Make-up work will only be accepted in case of emergency or a case by case basis. Do not wait until the next class session to ask about make-up work. Contact me before it is late.

Revision: If you are not happy with a grade you receive on an assignment, you may revise the essay with the original attached and a one-page reflection on the revision process, within one week of receiving the grade.

ADA Compliance: If you are unable to participate fully in this class due to a disability that qualifies under the Americans with Disabilities Act, you should contact the Disabled Student Services office at (909) 389-3325.

Disclaimer: The best way to grow as a writer is to study other writers’ work, so I may use your writing as a model/sample in our class or for future classes. This is a great way for you to contribute to the growth and learning of your peers here at Crafton Hills College and beyond. Do not be embarrassed, we are all here learning from each other.

Classmates are an important resource for success: Use the space below to get the phone number or email of two or three students in this class.

Name:_________________________________ Contact Info:___________________________________

Name:_________________________________ Contact Info:___________________________________

Name:_________________________________ Contact Info:___________________________________