English 1A Fall 2007
Greetings students!We've been meeting now for over a month and it's about time I got this conversation blog going so we can be in touch with one another in ways the classroom setting doesn't allow. Here, I will recap assignments given in class, as well as, post assignments exclusive to the Internet, which you will post then respond to each other by certain due dates. You can also ask questions about assignments here. I will be reading the blog comments at least once, maybe twice a day, so it is a good place to contact me along with the email address: professorwandasposse@gmail.com.
Why don't you send me an email now and say hi, so I can create a group for English 1A Fall 2007 so I can do an email blast when necessary. If you don't have an email account, gmail.com is a great place to sign on or yahoo.com or hotmail.com. These servers are all free and you can retrieve your mail while at the college or any public library. I would suggest using your name as your address so friends and I know who you are more readily.
I will also post announcements for weekend activities, just in case you have a little time, plus other campus activities.
We have also finished our American Culture archives. I plan to post photos here of the presenters for that session and for the one on Hip Hop culture.
Homework for Monday, Sept. 9 was to read the East Bay Express Article on Too Short, Career Counselor. Visit http://www.eastbayexpress.com/2007-09-05/news/too-hort-career-counselor/. Students were to respond to the argument posed here: Will Too Short make a good career counselor, in 250 words.
Students were also to identify 5 arguments and their support. I believe I told students they could write in the book. I gave an example. Dyson's style of writing is pretty easy to scan. He puts his argument at the top the paragraph, most often as the topic sentence then uses the supporting sentences to flush out the claim.
We had fun listing all the slang terms students had identified for homework.
Lecture topics this week: Sabir: Talking Points Sept. 10-15
1. What is a thesis? It’s role in the essay drama. How to develop a thesis or invention strategies: topical invention, three-part thesis, other ideas (Hacker, Skwire and other sources)
Review sentence types (Hacker)
2. What is an essay? (Hacker and other sources)
Review types of essays. The role of planning. Why is documentation important. (Handout)
3. What is the difference between grammar and mechanics. Why is grammar important?
4. Audience. The role of peer support.
5. The writer’s voice is a blueprint.
6. Tools for the writer. (Skwire)
7. Summary, annotation, and other ways to engage the text, like highlighting or tabs, in other words: Digestion, discourse and other culinary forms (Handouts: How to Mark a Book)
Syllabus for Fall 2007English 1A, Fall 2007 College of Alameda
Professor Wanda Sabir Course code A0490
Class Meetings: August 22-Dec. 21 Room B203 11-12 MTWTh
No classes: 9/3; 10/24; 11/12; 11/22-25 Final Exam Week: M-F, Dec. 17-21
Syllabus for English 1A: College Composition and Reading
English 1A is the first transferable college writing course. Don’t get nervous, hopefully you took English 201 and passed with a B or better. Perhaps you’re fresh out of high school, did okay on the placement exam and voila wound up here. Maybe you’re returning to college after a significant hiatus and aren’t confident in your writing, yet once again passed that placement exam, which, if you recall, tested grammar not writing. Keep your receipt and notice the dates, so you can get a full refund if you cut your losses and drop by Tuesday, November 20. So my joke wasn’t funny? Hang in there and you’ll do fine in the class if you:
1. Know what an essay is
2. Have written one before
3. Are ready to do commit yourself to the task of writing
Plan to have a challenging, yet intellectually stimulating 18 weeks, which I hope you begin by setting goals for yourself. Make a schedule and join or create a study group. Writing is a social activity, especially the type of writing you’ll be doing here. We always consider our audience, have purpose or reason to write, and use research to substantiate our claims, even those we are considered experts in.
I believe we’re supposed to write about 8000 words or so at this level course. This includes drafts. What this amounts to is time at home writing, time in the library researching, reading documents to increase your facility with the ideas or themes your are contemplating, before you once again sit at your desk writing, revising, and writing some more.
Writing is a lonely process. No one can write for you. The social aspect comes into play once you are finished and you have an opportunity to share.
I thought it might be interesting to look at the life of one of rap’s more well-known artists, Tupac Amaru Shakur (25), who died before we had a chance to know the fullness of his genius. We’ll be reading a memoir about his mother Afeni Shakur:
Evolution of a Revolutionary by Jasmine Guy;
Holler if You Hear Me by Michael Eric Dyson, Ph.D.,
The Rose that Grew from Concrete by Tupac Shakur,
Elements of Style (any edition),
Rules for Writers (recommended), a college dictionary (American Heritage (recommended).
The questions and analysis will come out of the discussions and listening parties as we look for themes in the work and try to reconstruct the artist’s life through his songs which were quite autobiographical. Tupac loved his mother, but he was angry with her too. We will describe this relationship and how mother and son were able to mend it. Forgiveness is preached, however, it takes a certain kind of personality to actually let by-gones be by-gones. Tupac personified “thug life.” He had old ladies tattooing his TL on their arms. What is a thug and why did Tupac celebrate it?
Keep a reading log. Discussion groups will meet each week. Students will also keep a reading log/journal/notes with key ideas outlined for each discussion section, along with vocabulary and key arguments listed, along with primary writing strategies employed: description, process analysis, narration, argument, cause and effect, compare and contrast, definition, problem solving.
Research ProjectYour research project will entail finding a social entrepreneur who has been active in his or her community for at least 20 years and have documented resources you can draw from: books, essays, articles, films.
The paper will be about 10 pages. This will include a works cited page and bibliography. Students will make 5-10 minute presentations of these papers the day of the final. The paper will be due about two-three weeks prior to the presentation. We’ll discuss this task further later on.
New HeroesVisit PBS.org “The New Heroes,” to read about social entrepreneurs. (I’ll show you a few episodes from the series.) Too often people feel helpless or hopeless when there is a lot you can do as an individual as soon as you realize the answer lies inside of you.
Other textbooksA writer is only as good as the material he or she reads. Models are often a great way to practice a style of writing. There are plenty of excellent models in the literature chosen. We will decide on one other book together or students will have the opportunity to choose their own book after consulting with the instructor.
We will write short essays that reflect themes and ideas discussed that week. Some of these essays will be written in class. The research essay will be an argument. There will be a midterm and a final.
Jot down briefly what your goals are this semester. List them in order of importance.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
First assignment: Draft due Monday, August 27Bring in an object that represents hip hop culture. Be prepared to share and write about your object or someone else’s.
Second Assignment: Due Thursday, August 30Bring in an object that reflects America, American values, its people, landscape, or history.
GradingWeekly essays: 15 percent
Daily journals: 15 percent
Midterm: 10 percent
Final: 15 percent
Research Essay/Presentation: 20 percent
Portfolio: 15 percent
Peer Reviews from Lab teachers: 10 percent
Participation: 5 percent
Each book will have collected writings or essays. The essays which take their themes from the books are practice essays, and are about a fourth of your grade, your midterm and final are another fourth and your portfolio is the final fourth. (Save all of your work.) You can average the grades to see how to weigh the various components. Participation is included in the daily exercises and homework portion of the grade, so if your attendance is exemplary, yet you say nothing the entire 18 weeks, you loose percentage points.
You will also need to plan to spend time weekly in the Writing Lab (L-234-235, 748-2132). It is a great place to get one-on-on assistance on your essays, from brainstorming and planning the essays, to critique on the essay for clarity, organization, clearly stated thesis, evidence of support, logical conclusions, and grammatical problems for referrals to other ancillary materials to build strong writing muscles such as SkillsBank, the Bedford Handbook on-line, Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers on-line, Townsend Press, and other such computer and cyber-based resources. Call for hours. There is also an Open Lab for checking e-mail, and a Math Lab. All academic labs are located in the Learning Resource Center (LRC) or library.
Students need a student ID to use the labs and to check out books. The IDs are free and you can take the photo in the F-Building, Student Services.
Have a tutor of teacher sign off on your essays before you turn them in; if you have a “R,” which means revision necessary for a grade or “NC” which means “no credit,” you have to go to the lab and revise the essay with a tutor or teacher before you return both the graded original and the revision (with signature) to me. Revise does not mean “rewrite,” it means to “see again.”
When getting assistance on an essay, the teacher or tutor is not an editor, so have questions prepared for them to make best use of the 15-20 minute session in the Lab. For more specific assistance sign up for one-on-one tutoring, another free service. For those of you on other campuses, you can get assistance at the Merritt Colleges’ Writing Center, as well as Laney’s.
All essay assignments you receive comments on have to be revised prior to resubmission; included with the revision is a student narrative to me regarding your understanding of what needed to be done; a student can prepare this as a part of the Lab visit, especially if said student is unclear over what steps to take.
Students can also visit me in office hours for assistance; again, prepare your questions in advance to best make use of the time. Do not leave class without understanding the comments on a paper. I don’t mind reading them to you.
English language fluency in writing and reading; a certain comfort and ease with the language; confidence and skillful application of literary skills associated with academic writing. Familiarity if not mastery of the rhetorical styles used in argumentation, exposition and narration will be addressed in this class and is a key student learning outcome (SLO).
We will be evaluating what we know and how we came to know what we know, a field called epistemology or the study of knowledge. Granted, the perspective is western culture which eliminates the values of the majority populations, so-called underdeveloped or undeveloped countries or cultures. Let us not fall into typical superiority traps. Try to maintain a mental elasticity and a willingness to let go of concepts which not only limit your growth as an intelligent being, but put you at a distinct disadvantage as a species.
This is a highly charged and potentially revolutionary process - critical thinking. The process of evaluating all that you swallowed without chewing up to now is possibly even dangerous. This is one of the problems with bigotry; it’s easier to go with tradition than toss it, and create a new, more just, alternative protocol.
Grades, Portfolio
We will be honest with one another. Grades are not necessarily an honest response to work; grades do not take into consideration the effort or time spent, only whether or not students can demonstrate mastery of a skill - in this case: essay writing. Grades are an approximation, arbitrary at best, no matter how many safeguards one tries to put in place to avoid such ambiguity. Suffice it to say, your portfolio will illustrate your competence. It will represent your progress, your success or failure this summer session in meeting your goal.
Office HoursI’d like to wish everyone good luck. I am available for consultation on Monday and Wednesday mornings 9-11 a.m,, and by appointment in L-236. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my long days, 8-3 with one hour lunch, 12-1. Let me know the day before, if possible, when you’d like to meet with me. My office number is (510) 748-2131, e-mail professorwandasposse@gmail.com.
I don’t check my e-mail on weekends so I’d advise you to exchange phone numbers with classmates (2), so if you have a concern, it can be addressed more expediently. Again study groups are recommended, especially for those students finding the readings difficult; don’t forget, you can also discuss the readings as a group in the Lab with a teacher or tutor acting as facilitator. Keep a vocabulary log for the semester and an error chart (taken from comments on essay assignments). List the words you need to look up in the dictionary, also list where you first encountered them: page, book and definition, also use the word in a sentence. You will turn this in with your portfolio.
Students are expected to complete their work on time. If you need more time on an assignment, discuss this with me in advance, if possible to keep full credit. You loose credit each day an assignment is late and certain assignments, such as in-class essays cannot be made up. All assignments prepared outside of class are to be typed, 12-pt. font, double-spaced lines, indentations on paragraphs, 1-inch margins around the written work (see Hacker: The Writing Process; Document Design.)
CheatingPlagiarism is ethically abhorrent, and if any student tries to take credit for work authored by another person the result will be a failed grade on the assignment and possibly a failed grade in the course if this is attempted again. This is a graded course.
HomeworkIf you do not identify the assignment, I cannot grade it. If you do not return the original assignment you revised, I cannot compare what changed. If you accidentally toss out or lose the original assignment, you get a zero on the assignment to be revised. I will not look at revisions without the original attached - no exceptions.
All assignments completed away from class should be typed. Use blue or black ink when writing responses in class. You can annotate your books in pencil.
Textbooks Recap:The Rose that Grew from Concrete. Tupac Amaru Shakur. Pocket Books. 1999. ISBN: 0-671-02844-2
Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary. Jasmine Guy. 2004. Atria Books. ISBN: 0-7434-7054-0
Holler If You Hear Me. Michael Eric Dyson. Basic Civitas Books. 2001. ISBN: 0-465-01756-8 (or latest edition)
Rules For Writers. Fourth or Fifth edition. Diana Hacker. Bedford/St. Martins.
Elements of Style (any edition)
Suggested Reading
Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age. Diana Hacker. 4th Edition. ISBN: 10: 0-312-44339-0
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation. Jeff Chang. Picador. 2005. ISBN: 0-312-42579-1
Know What I Mean? Reflections on Hip Hop. Michael Eric Dyson. Basic Civitias Books. 2007. ISBN: 0-465-017716-9
Students also need a dictionary. I recommend: The American Heritage Dictionary. Fourth Edition.
Along with a dictionary, the prepared student needs pens with blue or black ink, along with a pencil for annotating texts, paper, a stapler or paper clips, floppy disks, a notebook, three hole punch, a folder for work-in-progress, and a divided binder to keep materials together.
Also stay abreast of the news. Buy a daily paper. Listen to alternative radio:
KPFA 94.1 FM (Hardknock), KQED 88.5, KALW 91.7. Visit news websites: AllAfrica.com, Al Jazeera, CNN.com, AlterNet.org, DemocracyNow.org, FlashPoints.org, CBS 60Minutes.
Index Cards Week 2 August 27-August 31 (I have cards for you to fill-out in class)
Please list your contact information: Name, Address, phone number e-mail address, best time to call.
What strengths do you bring to the class? What do you hope to obtain from the course – any particular exit skills? What do I need to know about you to help you meet your goals?
