Welcome to COA Fall 2010

College of Alameda; Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A, Fall 2010
Course codes: 42729 Lec 11-11:50 AM MTWTh C-211

Class Meetings: August 23-Dec. 9; No classes: 9/6; 11/11; 11/25-28
Drop dates: Sept. 7 (w/refund), Sept. 24 (w/out a W), Nov. 24 (w/W).
Class blog: http://professorwandasposse.blogspot.com/


Each One, Pull One (Thinking of Lorraine Hansberry)

…We must say it all, as clearly
as we can. For, even before we are dead,
they are busy
trying to bury us.
—Alice Walker

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 Sept. 7, w/refund or Nov.24 with a W :-) 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 commit yourself to the task of writing
4. Know your strengths and recognize early on your weaknesses

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.

This semester we will look at multicultural America through a history of its peoples collected in Ronald Takaki’s A Different Mirror. We close the course with Edward P. Jones’s novel: The Known World. We’ll probably take a break and read Shakespeare’s The Tempest, since Takaki references it quite a bit in his book.

For the final essay students will choose a book of their own to write an essay to present to the class reflecting one of those silenced voices A Different Mirror seeks to illuminate. Try to choose an author or subject who is 30 or younger and from Northern California.

Stewart Pidd Hates English is recommended for those students who are new to writing or haven’t taken English 201 with me (smile). I will host study hall/office hours twice a week at two different times—morning and afternoon (Monday/Wednesday, 9:30-10:30 AM and 3-4 PM). If those times do not work for students, Tuesdays/ Thursdays after 12 noon are also a possibility.

I have grown to appreciate the lessons Pidd imparts via his writing, which always needs revising. He is a great case study in post-secondary composition— We will all review MLA and some of the more common grammatical errors, as well as paraphrasing and summarizing, but for some students, this brief review will not be enough. For those students, I recommend SPHE self-paced study with me to catch you up. Students who need Pidd, yet do not take the recommendation will find themselves writing correction narratives for each paper needing revision, revising the essay and then turning in the narrative essay, plus the revised essay and the graded first draft. Said students can only revise two essays.

We will use Takaki for in-class writing assignments, cyber-assignments and for discussion. All writing is research writing, so students will not write one long essay, rather three shorter essays: an essay based on the book you choose, the social entrepreneur essay, and the third a series of arguments (3) based on a claim developed from Jones’s book, The Known World. All these essays will have an oral component.

If you purchase SPHE, you don’t have to purchase Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers. If you have completed SPHE, then you need Hacker (smile). Students also need a notebook for in-class writing with a folder for handouts. You also need a couple of ink pens, a pencil with an eraser, a hole puncher, a stapler and a travel drive for saving one’s work.

We will keep a reading log for all the books we read beginning with A Different Mirror. Discussion groups will meet each week. This reading log or journal will be where students jot down key ideas and outlined responses for each discussion section, along with themes which arise, vocabulary and key arguments, along with primary writing strategies employed: description, process analysis, narration, argument, cause and effect, compare and contrast, definition, problem solving.

Additional Readings
Each student is to choose a book written by one of those silenced or voices absence in the national discourse. It doesn’t matter if the book is fiction or nonfiction. Everyone needs to clear the selection with me first. I’d like the author to live here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and be 30 years old or younger. If you’d like to argue for someone who lives elsewhere, I will listen.

Each student will make a book presentation and write a paper that takes its topic of theme from the book. The essay will be about 3-4 pages long.

Research Project
Each student will locate a social entrepreneur to profile in an essay. The person has to be alive, preferably living in Northern California and has been working in their field for over 5 years and have documented resources you can draw from: books, essays, articles, films.

The paper will be between 3-4 pages. This will include a works cited page and bibliography. Students will make 5-10 minute presentations of these papers in December. The paper will be due about two-three weeks prior to the presentation. We’ll discuss this task further later on. Start thinking of whom you might want to profile now. Hint: define social entrepreneur first.

New Heroes
Visit 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. If possible chose an entrepreneur who lives in Northern California, someone you’d like to interview and perhaps meet. There is also a series on PBS called Frontline World with many SE profiled.

Library Sessions: TBA.
We will meet in the library instead of the classroom.

Reading great authors and writers helps you develop your style. It’s similar to eating a balanced meal for optimum health. A writer is only as intellectually healthy as the material he or she reads. Models are often a great way to practice a style of writing. I will occasionally make copies of articles from magazines and textbooks I think illustrate a particular style of writing I’d like you to practice, or perhaps an argument which has peaked my interest. If you find an argument, either a visual one or a written one you’d like to share please do so.


Jot down briefly what your goals are this semester. List them in order of importance.

1.



2.



3.



4.



5.

Homework Assignment 1:
E-mail introduction, due Aug. 31-Sept. 2. Send to coasabirenglish1A@gmail.com

Please send me an email and introduce yourself to me. Besides the usual: where are you from? What languages do you speak besides English? What child are you in the family? What are your hobbies and why are you taking this class?

Include: your contact information: Name, Address, phone number, best e-mail address, best time to call and answers to the questions below.

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.

Homework Assignment 2:
Written Response to the Syllabus due by Sept. 2

Write a comment on the blog regarding the syllabus: your impressions, whether you think it is reasonable, questions, suggestions. This is our contract, I need to know you read it and understand the agreement. (Comment on the blog where the syllabus is posted.)


Presentation 1: Due Tuesday, Sept. 14
Bring in an object that represents American culture. Be prepared to share. Write a brief profile on the object justifying its inclusion in the archives (100 words or so). You will post the written response on the blog. I’ll take photos.


Grading:

A Different Mirror Assignments—in-class and on-line: 20 percent
The Known World Assignments: 15 percent—in-class and on-line, plus presentations
Student Book—oral presentation and essay: 15 percent
Research Essay—oral presentation and essay: 15 percent
Midterm: 10 percent
Portfolio: 25 percent

The cyber-essays and comments on student work are practice essays and count as participation. I changed the calculation this semester to force students to participate in our on-line discussions. Presentations accompany the major essays, but we have other presentations as well connected to the cyber-assignments. Save all your graded assignments for inclusion in the portfolio. Absent students cannot make up in-class writing assignments or presentations.

Plan to visit the Writing Center (L-234-231, 748-2132) weekly. Have a teacher evaluate your essays for form and content; the aim is lucid, precise, and clear prose. Tutors are also available.


The Writing Center
The Writing Lab 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. The Lab is open M-Th 8-7, Fridays, 8-2. It is also open on Saturday. There is an Open Lab for checking e-mail, a Math Lab, an Accounting Lab and there will be an ESL Lab. All academic labs are located in the Learning Resource Center (LRC) second floor.

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. There is also a Cyber Café in the F-Building on the second floor in the cafeteria area.

Students have to enroll in LRNE 501 (Supervised Tutoring) Class Code: 43990 to use the academic labs and to print essays. It is free and there no penalties. It takes 24-hours to kick in, so register now. Go to www.peralta.edu Click enroll now link. Click activate my account link… and follow the instructions to activate your account and set your password. The steps are too many to type here. If you have questions see Pat Denoncourt, LRC Coordinator, Rm. L-204. The student ID is necessary 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.


Revisions

Have a tutor or teacher sign off on your essays before you turn them in; if you have an “R,” which means revision necessary for a grade or “NC” which means “no credit.” Return both the graded original and the revision (with signature) to me. Revise does not mean “rewrite,” it means to “see again.” Also include a short narrative stating what you did to improve the essay.

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 minute session in the Lab. I will give students a handout designating five (5) areas s/he might want to have the tutor or teacher look at. 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. You can also come see me during my office hours. I am here everyday except Friday.

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.


Pedagogy or Waxing Philosophical

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.


Evaluation—Getting that “A”

We will be honest with one another. Grades are not necessarily the best response to work; grades do not take into consideration the effort or time spent, only whether or not a student 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 goals. I like to post essays on the academic blog as examples for other students. I will be asking students from time to time to submit copies for posting. The blog is cumulative, so you can read essays from Spring 2006 to now. I have posted a welcome letter on the syllabus. The address is http://professorwandasposse.blogspot.com/


Office Hours
I’d like to wish everyone good luck. I am available for consultation on MW 9:30-10:30 AM and MW 3-4 PM, and by appointment on TTh after 12 noon in L-236. 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 coaenglish1A@gmail.com Ask me for my cell phone number. I do not mind sharing it with you.

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 lose 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.)


Cheating
Plagiarism 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.


Homework
If 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 loose 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:
Required

Jones, Edward P. The Known World. New York: Amistad/Harper Collins, 2004.

Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America (Revised Edition). New York: Bay Back Books/Little Brown and Company, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-316-02236-1

Start thinking about a book you’d like to read to satisfy the final book requirement.

Recap: Each student is to choose a book written by one of those silenced or voices absence in the national discourse. It doesn’t matter if the book is fiction or nonfiction. Everyone needs to clear the selection with me first. I’d like the author to live here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and be 30 years old or younger. If you’d like to argue for someone who lives elsewhere, I will listen.

Each student will make a book presentation and write a paper that takes its topic of theme from the book. The essay will be about 3-4 pages long.

Recommended
Pollitt, Gary. Craig Baker. Stewart Pidd Hates English: Grammar, Punctuation, and Writing Exercises. First or Second Edition. California: Attack the Text Publishing, 2008/9. ISBN: 13: 978-0-9755923-4-2

Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers. Fourth or Fifth edition. Bedford/St. Martins.(Required for those students who have completed SPHE)

Students also need a dictionary. I recommend: The American Heritage Dictionary. Fourth Edition.

Also stay abreast of the news. Buy a daily paper. Listen to alternative radio: KPFA 94.1 FM, KQED 88.5, KALW 91.7. Visit news websites: AllAfrica.com, Al Jazeera, CNN.com, AlterNet.org, DemocracyNow.org, FlashPoint.org, CBS 60Minutes on-line.

* The syllabus is a living document, subject to change or alterations as needed to better address the needs of the class. I will of course inform you of any changes if such is necessary.


COA Sabir English Classes Fall 2010
Theatre Field Trips (4)

1. I’d like to take a field trip to see the play: Trouble in Mind By Alice Childress, Directed by Robin Stanton, August 20 – September 26, 2010

Obie award-winning classic Trouble in Mind follows a mixed-race cast attempting to mount a production of a “progressive” new play on Broadway in the 1950s. The play—an anti-lynching drama set in the South—is written by a white man and directed by a white man, and marks the first opportunity for a gifted black actress to play a leading role on Broadway. But what compromises must she make to succeed? More than 40 years after it was written, Trouble in Mind, according to The New York Times, “still has the power to make one feel its anger and humor.” Bay Area favorite Margo Hall will make her Aurora debut with this play. Taken from the website: http://www.auroratheatre.org/

Check your calendars for Tuesday, August 31, 7 PM, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010. Sunday, Sept. 19, 2 PM or 7 PM is also a possibility. Under 30 years old is always half price. I think they also have a student rate. We’d go as a group which is also discounted. The Aurora Theatre is in downtown Berkeley and on the BART route: 2081 Addison Street in Berkeley.

2. Another play I’d like to attend as a class is free: Genny Lim’s 1982 play, Paper Angels in a new multimedia production to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Angel Island, the Ellis Island of the West, Wednesday to Friday: September 15, 16 and 17 at dusk in Portsmouth Square, (the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown, (Grant Street at Clay Street) as a part of the San Francisco Fringe Festival. Visit www.sffringefestival.org and www.directarts.org. I am going Friday, Sept. 17. I have classes the other two nights.

Set in 1915 during the Chinese Exclusion Act, PAPER ANGELS is about an elderly Chinese railroad worker attempting to bring his wife to America after many decades of separation. A seminal play by San Francisco native Genny Lim, the play premiered in 1982 and was subsequently filmed for American Playhouse on PBS starring James Hong and Joan Chen. Dusting off this prescient gem nearly three decades later in the wake of heated debates on America’s immigration policy, Direct Arts’s new multimedia production incorporates projections of archival images, live traditional Chinese music, spoken word and segments of Chinese opera and folkdance.

3. The third play I’d like us to see, maybe three and four, respectively, are: Dan Hoyle’s THE REAL AMERICANS, through November 6, 2010. Developed with and directed by Charlie Varon, the show will play Wednesday through Friday at 8:00 pm and Saturday at 5:00 pm. All shows are on The Marsh MainStage, 1062 Valencia Street in San Francisco. For tickets, the public may call Brown Paper Tickets at 800-838-3006 or visit www.themarsh.org

Hoyle’s THE REAL AMERICANS connects two worlds that usually prefer to stay apart: the liberal, achingly hip, moral-relativism of gentrified city life and the conservative, absolutist, and often hostile populism that Hoyle found overflowing in small-town America. Living out of his van and sleeping in people’s yards and Walmart parking lots, Hoyle shared meals and conversation with cowboys, coal miners, soldiers, farmers, rural drug dealers, itinerant preachers, gun salesmen, closeted gay fundamentalists and creation theory experts. Frequently grateful for their hospitality, often perplexed by their beliefs, he sought to see the world through their eyes and understand their anger. Hoyle won the prestigious 2007 Will Glickman “Best New Play” Award for “Tings Dey Happen,” which enjoyed extended runs at The Marsh and also Off-Broadway, where it was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show. Both “Tings Dey Happen” and THE REAL AMERICANS are directed by Charlie Varon. We can talk about dates in class.

4. Don Reed's EAST 14TH - TRUE TALES OF A RELUCTANT PLAYER has been extended at The Marsh Berkeley through September 12, 2010. The show has now entered its second sold-out year – it started at The Marsh San Francisco in May, 2009! – and its fourteenth extension.

Recently, Reed shared one of the stories from EAST 14TH with Oprah's new television network. Entitled BUTTER, it is already available on her website at http://www.oprah.com/own/innerview.html?page_id=14 and will air beginning 1/1/11.

Reed, who is the comedian/warm-up host for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno during the week, is delighted to be spending his weekends performing on his home turf in the East Bay. When playing on Fridays, the show will start at 9:00 pm, on Saturdays at 8:00 pm and on Sundays at 7:00 pm. All shows take place at The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way in Berkeley. For tickets, the public may call Brown Paper Tickets at 800-838-3006 or visit www.themarsh.org

EAST 14TH chronicles the true tale of a young man raised by his mother and ultra-strict stepfather as a middle class, straight A, God-fearing church boy. The boy, however, wanted to be just like his dear old Dad. Too bad he didn't know dear old Dad was a pimp. Very funny, definitely poignant — a ride down a street you won't soon forget. The San Francisco Chronicle described Reed as an "Irresistible presence," and the East Bay Express declared the show ‘...Nothing short of amazing." The show is a best Bay Area Critics Circle Award Solo Performance nominee.

Friday, August 6; Sunday, August 8
Saturday, August 14; Sunday, August 15
Friday, August 20; Sunday, August 22
Saturday, August 28; Sunday, August 29
Saturday, September 4
Saturday, September 11; Sunday, September 25
Saturday, September 31; Sunday, September 12