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 – Summarizing, Quoting, Responding (1,000 words)

WEEK TWO – 1/23 and 1/25 

Read Chapter 12 (“I Take Your Point”: Entering Class Discussions)

Chapter 1 (“They Say”: Starting with What Others Are Saying)

NICHOLAS CARR, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” [p. 313]

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

WEEK THREE – 1/30 and 2/1

Read Chapter 14 (“What’s Motivating This Writer?”: Reading for the Conversation)

Chapter 2 (“Her Point Is”: The Art of Summarizing)

DAVID ZINCZENKO, “Don’t Blame the Eater” [p. 462]

Write Write a summary of Zinczenko’s essay

WEEK FOUR – 2/6 and 2/8

Read Chapter 4 (“Yes / No / Okay, But”: Three Ways to Respond)

RADLEY BALKO, “What You Eat Is Your Business” [p. 466]

DAVID H. FREEDMAN, “How Junk Food Can End Obesity” [p. 506]

Write Write a summary of and response to Balko’s essay (1-2 pages)

WEEK FIVE – 2/13 and 2/15

Read Chapter 3 (“As He Himself Puts It”: The Art of Quoting)

MICHAEL POLLAN, “Escape from the Western Diet” [p. 420] from In Defense of Food

MARY MAXFIELD, “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating” [p. 442]

Write Write first draft of Assignment 1 (1,000 words)

UNIT 2 – Entering a Conversation (1,000 + words)

WEEK SIX – 2/20 and 2/22

Read Chapter 5 (“And Yet”: Distinguishing What You Say from What They Say)

SHERYL SANDBERG, “Lean In: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?” [p. 642] from Lean In

BELL HOOKS, “Dig Deep: Beyond Lean In” [p. 659]

Write Assignment 1 due

WEEK SEVEN – 2/27 and 3/1

Read Chapter 6 (“Skeptics May Object”: Planting a Naysayer in Your Text)

ANNE-MARIE SLAUGHTER, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” [p. 676]

RICHARD DORMENT, “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All” [p. 697]

Write Answer “Joining the Conversation” question 5 after the Slaughter essay [p. 696] or “Joining the Conversation” question 4 after the Dorment essay [p. 717]

WEEK EIGHT – 3/6 and 3/8

Read Chapter 7 (“So What? Who Cares?”: Saying Why It Matters)

CHARLES MURRAY, “Are Too Many People Going to College?” [p. 234]

SANFORD J. UNGAR, “The New Liberal Arts” [p. 226]

Write Write first draft of Assignment 2 (1,000 – 1,500 words)

IN-CLASS MIDTERM

WEEK OF MARCH 13 – 17 SPRING BREAK

Unit 3 – Literary Analysis

WEEK NINE 3/20 and 3/22

Read Chapter 8 (“As a Result”: Connecting the Parts)

SANDRA CISNEROS Woman Hollering Creek [p. 1-56]

Write: Monday first draft of Assignment 2 (1,000 – 1,500 words); HW5 Summary/Response to “Eleven” 1 page

Wednesday Assignment 2 Due – Post on Class Blog; HW6 Summary/Response to “Woman Hollering Creek” 1 page

WEEK TEN 3/27 and 3/29

Read SANDRA CISNEROS Woman Hollering Creek [p. 57-115]

Write HW7 Summary/Response to “Never Marry a Mexican”

Due Friday Proposal for Literary Analysis emailed to Professor

WEEK ELEVEN 4/3 and 4/5

Read Chapter 9 (“Ain’t So / Is Not”: Academic Writing Doesn’t Always Mean Setting Aside Your Own Voice)

SANDRA CISNEROS Woman Hollering Creek [p. 116-165]

Write HW8 Summary/Response to Short Story from Woman Hollering Creek Your Choice

Due Friday Thesis and Intro for Assignment 3

Unit 4 – Joining a Conversation You’ve Researched

WEEK TWELVE 4/10 and 4/12

Read Chapter 10 (“But Don’t Get Me Wrong”: The Art of Metacommentary)

LIZ ADDISON, “Two Years Are Better than Four” [p. 255]

MICHELLE OBAMA, “Bowie State University Commencement Speech” [p. 285] Video Link

Write Assignment 3 due – Post on Class Blog; HW9 Answer Questions 1-3 [p. 258] OR Questions 1-2 [p. 295]

WEEK THIRTEEN 4/17 and 4/19

Read Chapter 15 (“Analyze This”: Writing in the Social Sciences)

Chapter 13 (“IMHO”: Is Digital Communication Good or Bad—or Both?)

JENNA WORTHAM, “I Had a Nice Time with You Tonight. On the App” [p. 393]

GERALD GRAFF, “Hidden Intellectualism” [p. 264]

Write Monday HW10 Answer Questions 1-2 [p. 271] OR Questions 1-3 [p. 397]

Thursday Proposal for Assignment 4 due

WEEK FOURTEEN 4/24 and 4/26

Read Review Chapter 4

PAUL KRUGMAN, “Confronting Inequality” [p. 561]

BRANDON KING, “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?” [p. 610]

Write HW11 Source Analysis: Discuss and evaluate two of the sources you’ve found for Assignment 4. Summarize each briefly, explaining what “they say,” and write a short response to each that includes what you say as well as how you might use these sources in a longer paper.

WEEK FIFTEEN 5/1 and 5/3

Read Review Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 8

Write HW12 Annotated Bibliography for Assignment 4 due

WEEK SIXTEEN 5/8 and 5/10

Read Chapter 11 (“He Says Contends”: Using the Templates to Revise)

Review Chapter 6 and Chapter 7

Write Assignment 4 draft due

WEEK SEVENTEEN 5/15 and 5/17

Write Assignment 4 due

Presentations

WEEK EIGHTEEN 5/22

Presentations and Finals

Spring 2017, Crafton Hills College English 101: Freshman Composition

Instructor: Sefferino Ramos	Email: professorseff@gmail.com
Voicemail/Text: (909) 453-2953	Website: ProfessorRamos.blog

 

English 101 – Section 40	M/W 3:00 – 4:50 PM	CDC 115
English 101 – Section 50	M/W 5:00 – 6:50 PM	West 110

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 we will learn how to compose our 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 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 online 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

• Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. They Say I Say with Readings, 3^rd edition. ISBN: 9780393617443
• Sandra Cisneros Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. ISBN: 9780679738565
• Folder or binder for keeping notes, handouts, drafts, essays, etc.
• An active Crafton email account
• USB flash drive or cloud account for saving your drafts
• Regular internet access to research and post online.

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.

Essay 1 Essay 2 Essay 3 Research Paper Midterm and Final Homework Participation Presentation Writing Center Visit	100 100 120 200 200 120 100 40 20	10% 10% 12% 20% 20% 12% 10% 4% 2%	Letter grades will be assigned as follows: A       90 – 100% B         80 – 89% C         70 – 79% D         60 – 69% F 59% and below
Total	1000	100%	To pass the class you need 700+ points.

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: Your attendance is requested. We will work together regularly in groups and to workshop assignments. For this to work, your attendance is required. You may miss three class sessions before your grade will begin to be affected. Please contact me before you are absent. If you do miss class, you can contact a class mate to get the notes or assignments required.

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.