Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Today in class we started our discussion groups. Students quickly (smile) exhausted the meager assignment, so I asked students to read up to Part Two page 73. This is the only homework.

Students can keep reading ahead. If there is no travel tracer or literary luminary, investigator or clarifier, each student in the group can add to this aspect of the discussion. One definitely needs to look on a map to see where Liberia is and how large it is in relationship to the United States.

We will continue the discussion tomorrow. If we have time or certainly by Thursday we will write something collaboratively about the literary journey thus far. What is Leymah saying? What do you say?

Homework for tomorrow is to read They Say pp. 19-41. Complete exercises on page 28-29. Bring to class.

Monday, January 30, 2012

They Say Cyber-Assignment Post
Post your essays here.

Today in class we shared our responses to They Say, exercise 1 & 2. Post the essay responses to 2 here, and if anyone completed them both, post 1 as well.

Handouts: Literature Circle job descriptions. Read it over and decide on 3 positions you could live with. Some groups are too small, enlerge them to at least 5-7 persons tomorrow.

If your group is not a good fit, migrate. Let me know. You want to be intellectually challenged. If you need help with a fit, I can place you.

A few students didn't have their materials and/or had not completed the reading. If ever you are not prepared, sit alone and catch up.

Reading from Mighty is to read up to page 27. This includes the prologue. By Thursday morning everyone should have watched the film: Pray the Devil Back to Hell. The link is: http://video.pbs.org/video/2155873888

I gave a brief description of how to write a reading log. The log is cumulative. If it is easier to write it in a journal do so and bring to class. Typed is better, but you can use a notebook.

The purpose of the notes is to prepare oneself for the discussion and to have material already processed when it comes time to decide on a topic for the essay. You will already have your evidence.

Make sure all the notes include page references. I have a log reference I like. When I find the book, I will make copies.

Here is a sample note:
Date
Source: Name of Book
Page numbers covered

1. Brief summary of passage.

2. Vocabulary words plus definitions

3. List of characters and their bios (who are these people? Why are they in the story? Are they experts? If so, what is their expertise?

You will add to this list as the story unfolds for the more important characters

4. Questions you might have for the author

5. Questions that arise from the reading perhaps related to cultural context, historic context

6. You can also note the Lit. Circle descriptions and whatever your position is, add this to the notes as well.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Homework this weekend is to complete your "State of the Union" collaborative essays. Don't forget to respond to another essay as an individual and expand it by adding additional information in your comment.

Read the first section of They Say, I Say (xiii to 15). Do exercise 1 & 2 (14-15). Bring the assignments to class to share. The essay response can be 1 page (250 words).

Bring in Mighty. We will start reading it next week beginning Monday. We can decide how many pages per session. Don't forget to keep a reading and vocabulary log. You will turn this in with the essay.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Cyber-Assignment

Post your collaborative essays on the State of the Union here.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Today we got in groups to discuss the president's State of the Union Address. Here is a link to transcripts and footage and commentary.



Bring in notes for tomorrow. In groups students will write a 3-4 paragraph essay discussing topics of interest to the group, analyzing the president's speech, weighing it for effectiveness and overall performance. Not to mention evaluating the writing, the crafting of the message which students will paraphrase in the critique.

Have at least 1-2 quotes in the essay response. Bring your books They Say, I Say and Diana Hacker Rules for Writers. We will look to see if there is a model we might employ. There will be homework from They Say, I Say over the weekend.

We'll start Mighty on Monday. I don't think it will take us more than a couple of weeks to read it. Monday the Pidd workshops begin. We'll start with an exam to see where people are. Again the time is 10:30 to 11:30 AM at my office D-219. If lots of students show up, we'll move to the LRC or Learning Resource Center.

If you haven't emailed me yet or responded to the syllabus, don't stress, you can have more time if you need it. Get it all in by Monday. Even if you hand work into me, so it isn't late, if it is a cyber-assignment, you still need to email the assignment to me as well.


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Homework is to watch the President's State of the Union Address. We will talk about it tomorrow. Listen for his key arguments, and evidence used to support claims.

If you missed the live broadcast visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Monday, January 23, 2012

I rearranged the room this afternoon. I don't know if it's my imagination or if it is really a bit more spacious. I'll let you be the judges. In any case, I removed all the large desks and replaced them with smaller lighter ones from next door.

Today students read an article from Skyways magazine about thinking outside of the cage--hamster cage, that is. After reading the article, students then introduced themselves to a classmate and shared.

We spoke about the class materials and the email I sent many students but not all. Hopefully, students have rectified this and added email addresses to their Peralta contact information. I wasn't able to drop anyone, so Permission Numbers are how we'll handle those who want to add the class.

There was no homework other than reading the syllabus and the letter I sent out this weekend. There are two assignments connected to the syllabus: one is an email to me, the other a response to the syllabus.

Make sure you use a heading when posting anything to the blog. Sign-in as anonymous. The heading is: Your complete name, my name plus title "Professor," the class name spelled out, and on the last line (4) the date: day month and year.

Joe Blow
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
23 January 2012

Tomorrow we will review the syllabus, talk a bit about the class, take an exam if we have time, talk about the President's final State of the Union Address that evening. We will see if we can apply a template from They Say, I Say to respond to it. We'll talk about this more on Wednesday.

Thursday we will watch the film or most of the film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell. There will be a cyber-writing assignment attached to the film. We start reading the book this weekend as well. It's a fast read. We will assign literature circles for discussion on Monday. Don't forget to keep a reading and vocabulary log for the assigned books this semester. Type your notes. You will turn them in with the essay.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Welcome to COA Spring 2012

English 1A, Spring 2012
Professor Wanda Sabir

Course codes: 21757


Class Meetings: Jan. 25—May 17, 9-10, MTWTh
Location: Room A-202

Drop dates: February 4, Full-Term Credit Classes and Receive a Refund. Note: Short-term and open-entry classes must be dropped within three days of the first class meeting to receive a refund. Feb. 5 last day to add. Feb. 11 last day to file for Pass/No pass. Feb. 16 last day to drop w/out a W. Drop February 24, Full-Term Credit Classes Without “W” Appearing on Transcript; April 25 (w/W) and no refund.

Holidays: Feb. 6, 17-20; May 18, May 30; Spring Break: April 2-8 M-Su Spring Recess

Final Exam Week: May 19-25. We have no sitting final. Portfolios are due by May 25, 12 noon electronically. Last day of semester May 25. 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 Feb. 4/16 (refund, no refund, no W), or Apr. 25 with a W/no refund :-) 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

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. Don’t let the numbers scare you. We’ll probably write more. 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 women and girls and the inequities which make their lives more difficult just because of the gender biases present in most of the developed and underdeveloped world.

No, you didn’t accidentally end up in a public policy or cultural anthropology class; however, I found the arguments presented in Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, compelling and thought provoking.

We will write an essay based on the themes from this book. We will start with a true heroine’s journey, Leymah Gbowee’s challenging and exciting story about peace in Liberia, a country once at war. Liberia is a country with a complex history. It is the country African Americans formerly enslaved were shipped to once slavery ended and free labor was outlawed. Gbowee’s story, Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War is really inspiring. Before the war, she’d planned to attend the university to become a doctor and war, the immediacy of war changed all that temporarily as the protagonist became a mother and common law wife.

Mighty
speaks to how dreams never really die as long as there is memory and hope and support, it also speaks to the great sacrifices a leader makes and the price these sacrifices have on oneself emotionally and physically, and on one’s family. The people who one loves and who one sacrifices for often don’t stand by one in the end as petty drama and jealousy eat at the fabric of the bond.

Excellently recounted, Mighty shows a woman whose life is a work in progress. At times I lose track of her age and then realize how young Gbowee is and what decisions she has to make concerning the lives of so many others. When the peace talk protests grow intense she is awake around the clock. I am amazed she has time for debriefing and self-reflection. Her sister’s support and her children’s understand is amazing. I love the aspects of the book that look at the culture she is a part of, which is clearly not western. The end of the book is too quickly summed up.

There is too much left to cover, I hope this is just part one of the story. I’d love to read the story from the perspective of Gbowee’s children, adopted and one’s she bore. I’d love to hear the story from the perspective of the wonderful friend she had in Tunde.

Mighty
isn’t a love story, unless perhaps it is the story about a young woman coming to value herself and that loves growth. Mighty addresses the stress or pressures a leader faces and how unhealthy habits escalate and grow. True to form we learn that Gbowee is stubborn and learns her lessons the hard way whether that is as a girl or a more mature woman. She is not one to be pushed. Luckily we know the end of the story, that she survives. Mighty fills in the details as we count the casualties along the way. It is a sad and triumph story. No one wants the hero’s journey. Those who jealously pulled at Gbowee’s glory didn’t really want what she suffered, though in many cases her comrades suffered as much or more. I wish there was more regarding the strategy the organizers used and more information about what their handbook covered. It would have also been great to hear more of the women’s stories, perhaps in another book we will.

All writing is research writing so students will not write one long essay, rather four shorter essays based on themes from: Mighty, the midterm based on Half the Sky, the third an essay based on the book you chose written by a woman or about a woman, and the fourth is on a social entrepreneur. You meet many examples of SE in Half the Sky. I will introduce you to others in the program, The New Heroes and also in on-line programs from Frontline World, and in films shown in class like To Educate a Girl.

We will use They Say, I Say along with Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers to practice writing style and organization as well as review grammar where needed. I will give grammar quizzes and if students do not make 100 percent, he or she will know where to focus their review work.

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. If you have a laptop, feel free to bring it to class. Tape recorders are fine too to record lectures.

We’ll read the play Lysistrata in March and celebrate love in February. We will also contemplate the cost of war in March as well as celebrate International Women’s Day and Earth Day.

We will keep a reading log for the two assigned books: Mighty and Half the Sky. Discussion groups will meet each week. These reading logs or journals 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.

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

The paper will be about 4-5 pages. This will include a works cited page and bibliography. Students will make 5-10 minute presentations of these papers in May. 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.

As already stated, the midterm will be based on a theme from Half the Sky. We might write the essay in class. We will talk about it.

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. Chose a female 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.

Academic Blog
In this course, students will submit essays and other written work on-line. The academic blog is an opportunity for students to utilize multiple intelligences as they engage one another in a variety modalities.
The site is: http://www.professorwandasposse.blogspot.com

Student Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course students will have an altered or heightened awareness of the world around them, especially discourse: speech and text. Students will see that everything is an argument, whether that is a cartoon, advertisement, or lyrics in a song. Students will be able to analyze and critique each incident or contact to evaluate its author’s purpose, audience, and evidence to determine whether or not such goal was met and if appropriate, act accordingly.

This course is intended to be both a group learning experience as well as an individually rewarding one. Mid-semester we will schedule conferences so students can confer with the instructor to evaluate his or her progress in the course. Classroom instruction will consist of lectures, small group work, and students working in pairs. This is an effective way for students to exchange ideas with classmates, compare reactions to readings and practice giving and receiving constructive feedback on class work.

Preparation for class, regular attendance and active participation is imperative for those students who wish to succeed in this course.

It is a student’s responsibility to contact the instructor if he or she plans to miss class. The student is responsible for all materials and information given during the class time, so please get telephone numbers for three (3) classmates in case you are late or absent. You will not be able to make up in-class assignments when you miss class.

Requirements for homework assignments:
Not late papers are accepted unless arranged in advance. Any papers below a C grade are an automatic revision or rewrite. Essays range between 2-5 pages, 500-1550 words. The cyber-assignments are generally shorter (250 words), as are freewrites.

Choose topics which give you enough to write about. We will use documentation to substantiate all of our claims. With this in mind, I expect all papers to utilize at least two (2) different outside print sources, in addition to the occasional interview, and broadcast news, that is, radio or television, Internet also.

You will learn to document sources; we will practice citing sources in text, using footnotes and end notes, and writing bibliographies and notes pages. Remember save all your work! This is a portfolio course.

All essay assignments you receive comments and 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 Writing Center visit (see below), especially if said student is unclear over what steps to take. The narrative might be in the form of a correction essay where the errors are cited, corrections given with rules and the essay is then revised after the correction essay is graded. These essays follow the Pidd template.

Library Sessions: TBA in February. 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 have peaked my interest. If you find an argument, either a visual one or a written one you’d like to share please do so for extra credit.

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

1.



2.



3.



4.



5.

Please include your goals along with your name, mailing address, phone number and e-mail address and send to me. The due date is January 26, 2011, by 12 noon.

Respond to the following questions as well in the same email:

What strengths do you bring to the class? What skills or knowledge would you like to leave with once the class ends? What can I do to help you achieve this? Is there anything I need to know, such as a hidden disability, childcare issues, etc., which might jeopardize this goal?

Email it to me at coasabirenglish1A@gmail.com by Do not forget to include the assignment in the subject line along with student name, course and time.

Cyber-Assignment Response to the Syllabus due by Thursday, Jan. 26, 12 noon. Include in your response acknowledgement that to pass the class one must have materials, such as textbooks preferably day 1 of classes, no later than the second week of classes day 1.

The syllabus response is a cyber-assignment due on the blog. Don’t email it to me. I will look for it there: http://professorwandasposse.blogspot.com Click comment and post your response to the syllabus there. Chose anonymous and type your name in the post.

Grading:
Mighty: 10 percent
They Say, I Say/Hacker Exercises: 10 percent
Student Book—presentation and essay: 15 percent
Midterm—Half the Sky: 15 percent
Social Entrepreneur Essay & presentation: 20 percent
Portfolio: 15 percent
Cyber-Assignments: 15 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. This portion of your grade is 15 percent. Presentations accompany the major essays, but we have other presentations as well connected to the cyber-assignments. 35 percent is attached to two paper presentations: research and independent study. The portfolio, which is a collection of your major work this semester, is another hefty chunk. Save all your graded assignments for inclusion.

Plan to visit the Writing Center (L-234 (510) 748-2132) weekly. Decide in advance what you’d like to cover. If you need help figuring that out, talk to me. Have a tutor evaluate your essays for form and content; the aim is lucid, precise, and clear prose.

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. 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. Check the times which might have changed.

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 need to enroll in a free class to use the academic labs. See the staff in the tutoring center or your counselor.

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 or correction essay 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 College Writing Center, as well as Laney’s. You can also come see me during my office hours. I am on campus every day 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. If I want a correction essay, I will let you know.

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 not posted the Spring 2012 welcome letter on the syllabus, what I have posted is a narrative of the syllabus. I am still writing the welcome. The address for the class blog is: http://professorwandasposse.blogspot.com/

Office Hours: D-219
I’d like to wish everyone good luck. I’d like to wish everyone good luck. I am available on Monday and Wednesday morning 10:30-12 noon, MW afternoons 3-4 p.m. and by appointment MTWTh 3-5 PM (510) 748-2286. Let me know the day before, if possible, when you’d like to meet with me. Ask me for my cell phone number. I do not mind sharing it with you. My email address again is: coasabirenglish1A@gmail.com

Exchange phone numbers with classmates (2), so if you have a concern, it can be addressed more expediently especially over the weekend or on holidays. 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.)

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:

Gbowee, Leyman, and Carol Mithers. Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War. New York: Beast Books, 2011.

Kristof, Nicholas D., and Sheryl WuDunn. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.

Students need to choose a book by a woman author or about a woman who lives here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Biographies and autobiographies are great. If you want to read a novel, let me see it first. Students will have a paper and a presentation based on the book. Choose one now and when we finish Half the Sky you can start reading it. The presentation and paper will be due in April.

Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers. Fourth-Sixth edition. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martins.


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

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

I will give students more detailed essay assignments for each of the four essays: Mighty, Half the Sky, Book Report Essay and Social Entrepreneur Essay.

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.

This syllabus is subject to change based on instructor assessment of class progress.
Syllabus Letter

22 January 2012


Dear Students:

I am still on South Africa time waking at two and four in the morning. The time difference is about 10 hours between here and there. It was great when I needed a bit more time to complete something, I could go to bed and wake up in the same day—different time zone. I got up today at 4 a.m. went to sleep yesterday about six or seven in the evening. Today is my granddaughter’s birthday. She is nine. Her mother is a graduate of COA: psychology, with a BS in psychology and women’s studies from Cal State East Bay (2011).

This morning I completed a wonderful book, might I say, a mighty work (smile), entitled, Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War, A Memoir, by Leyman Gbowee with Carol Mithers.

When I watched the film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, directed by Gini Reticker, produced by Abigail E. Disney, I marveled over the courage of the Liberian women to defeat the Charles Taylor war machine with prayer and nonviolent resistance. The women assembled along the road where the president’s caravan passed twice daily. Dressed in plain white garments, these women, from the city, from the countryside, rural women, educated and uneducated women, Christian and Muslim women, women who called on the ancient indigenous spirits and goddesses, sat or stood together in the oppressive heat and in the summer storms getting wet and growing dark and weak as they became the key voice for peace in a country that was violently spinning out of control. The film is on-line at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/full-episodes/pray-the-devil-back-to-hell/ There are also links to other films in the series: Women, War and Peace, as well as to interviews with Ms. Gbowee.

Unlike her memoir, the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell, is a heroines’ story, the story of a nation which is confronted by its most vulnerable population, its women. It is a story, Liberia’s quest for peace is a story, a story which ends as it begins. The film could be a miniseries; the culminating event is not the end, rather the beginning, which we’d never know unless we read 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Gbowee’s tale of triumph and personal sacrifice. I am happy Abigail Disney told me about the memoir when we last spoke in a radio interview—what a wonderful journey is has been this weekend. I am just disappointed I wasn’t able to meet Ms. Gbowee when she was here on tour last year.

I bought the book at the college book store Thursday where I have it listed as required. I assigned it for my English 1A class, along with Half the Sky, the Pulitzer Prize winning book from the married team, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Students either hate the book or love it. I never know what to expect from Spring semester to Spring semester over the past three years. One criticism is the formulaic nature of the book and the fact that men are not key characters and when they are, they are often the villains.

I assigned this book after seeing the authors and a woman profiled in Half the Sky on Oprah. You can imagine my great surprise when a student told me its authors were hosting a global event for International Women’s Day in theatres throughout the country. We attended of course. Locally our event was in Emeryville. Students bought tickets and I got some free ones from a sponsoring organization in San Francisco and we went. Students said they found the film and discussion inspiring.

We will start with Gbowee and then shift into the Kristof WuDunn land where all women are suffering— Yes, it would be depressing without evidence of triumph. Gbowee’s success is not singular, that is why her story is so remarkable. However, Half the Sky is unable to go into such depth, this is why we are reading her story first.

Students in English 1A will look for a woman entrepreneur in Northern California to profile in an essay. Students will also chose a book about the woman entrepreneur or a book by a woman to write an essay exploring the memoir, autobiography or novel’s themes and topics as relates to women’s empowerment or peace. These are the major essays for English 1A. We will write a series of short essays and post on the blog, these cyber-assignments will often start in class. All cyber-assignment are interactive and students have to respond to minimally 1-3 students posts for credit for the assignment. The first cyber assignment is a response to this letter, the second is a response to the syllabus. The second response includes a private response to me. My email addresses are: coasabirenglish201@gmail.com, coasabirenglish1A@gmail.com, coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com, coasabirenglish5@gmail.com

I love memoirs and autobiographies that cover political, social and historic movements, like this one does. The Warmth of Other Suns does a similar job, except Isabel Wilkerson didn’t live it, as Gbowee does. A short book, just under 250 pages, Gbowee’s work addressed in the award winning film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, doesn’t start until the book is nearly two thirds finished. I thought of all the murder mysteries I love where the crime is solved in the last ten pages; was this one of those reads?

Each Spring in honor of Women’s History Month in March, I have used women’s issues as the theme for the semester. So here we are again. In English 5 we are looking more are the criminalization of a population in California and in America, poor people of color, more specifically black people. California incarcerates more youth as adults than any other state and more women. I am concerned about this. I am a member of an organization called, California Coalition for Women Prisoners. We are an advocacy organization. I serve on its board.

Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, looks at the criminalization of a population and how this tale is not new when one looks at the historic Jim Crow polices of America’s south, instituted at the end of enslavement of an entire race for four centuries. Cornell West’s forward to the paperback edition is quite provocative as he raises questions and issues you might not be familiar with. As English 5 meets for 1 hour and 15 minutes. We will have to do a lot of preparation at home and come to class ready to talk and discuss what we have read, the theories we have explored in our text book or in other readings I will supply on other argument forms: Toulmin and Aristotelian. Writing Logically, Thinking Critically only uses the Rogerian argumentative form.

We will write four arguments using these forms. The last argument, which takes its theme from Alexander, will be an opportunity for a student to craft an argument using one of the three explored. There might be an opportunity for the “super students” to craft an argument taking on a topic they disagree with arguing its merits. Since this is an election year, it will be fun analyzing campaign speeches, looking for examples of logical fallacies or flawed logic in ads, op eds and other media.

All arguments are both written and oral. Students will present their written arguments for critique. Each of three arguments will take their topic from one of the texts. We will start with Yummy, then move to Mosely, and end with Alexander. Alexander is a hard read, so if you are a slow reader, start it early.

We are leaving Alexander for last, as I’d like to get through much of Writing Logically, along with its exercises, before we start the book. I love Walter Mosely’s work. He is one of my favorite writers since the Easy Rawlins’ series of detective novels, to his science fiction work, and lately his protagonist Socrates Fortlow novels, Fortlow who is just as thoughtful as Ezekiel "Easy" Porterhouse Rawlins, perhaps more.

One of my students in English 1A Fall 2010, shared the title with me and I checked it out from the Oakland Public Library. I read it in a day and a half and immediately decided to use it this Spring Semester. The argument is classic. How many of you ever thought the destination “hell” as negotiable (smile)? Well, Mosely’s character disagrees with his sentence and gets sent back to earth to work it out with his angel. There he meets the devil or Lucifer himself. It is a great story that makes the reader rethink her notion of right and wrong, good and evil.

When I was in Los Angeles last year in November to say good bye to a good friend who was dying, I went to the Holocaust Museum that Sunday, where the author of Yummy was receiving a book award. I hadn’t known the story of the child in Chicago. After reading Yummy, I decided to make it one of our texts this semester as it is an easy read and a story—those of us who live in urban communities can undoubtedly, unfortunately, relate to.

I also like films and in the classes longer than 50 minutes, we watch a few (smile). For English 1A, we will definitely watch, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, even if it takes two classes or I might assign it as homework (we’ll see).

Sandra Cisneros’s House on Mango Street, first, Yummy, second, and last, Always Running. Students will also read a book, a memoir of their own choosing. I suggest the sequel to Always Running, It Calls You Back.

There will be a Social Entrepreneur Essay for English 201 and English 1A students.

In English 201, we will take our freewrites in response to House on Mango Street and make a book. We’ll have a book release party with refreshments (smile). There will be five major essays, three tied to assigned textbooks, one tied to a memoir you choose, the last on the social entrepreneur.

Four of the five essays involve presentations: House on Mango Street, Always Running, SE Essay, Book Report Essay. The response to Yummy can be a graphic essay for the artistically inclined (smile). In English 201 we might read the play, Elephant Man. I see this play and its character as a metaphor for what happened to the protagonist in Yummy and what happened to Luis Rodríguez in Always Running.

I chose Always Running after many years of not teaching it, because of the recent by the author, whom I had the opportunity to interview when he was in town last November on a book tour. I loved teaching his Always Running, a classic tale similar to Down These Mean Streets by the late poet and author, Piri Thomas, Claude Brown’s Manchild in the Promised Land, Brothers and Keepers by John Edgar Wideman, and more recently, The Pact by Drs. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt with Lisa Frazier Page, and The Color of Water by James McBride. These coming of age tales about young men, are stories where growing up is not a given for the men who tell these stories, so how they survive proves instructive then and now.

In English 1A we will read the Greek play, Lysistrata. I also have a collection of poetry with the theme, war, which we will look at in English 1A in March as well.

I hope we can attend at least one play or author event as a community of writers. I will let students know what is opening and where. You can let me know of events you are attending as well. Films are also great, especially when the director is present or there is a discussion before or afterward.

Some students are not receiving this communiqués from me, which means, said student has no email address on file with admissions and records. Correct this omission immediately. Add an email address to your application. Make sure the phone numbers listed are the ones you are able to be reached at.

I have be using the book Stewart Pidd Hates English for too many years to recall when I started exactly, but suffice it to say over the years, “The Pidd Experience,” which many students hate as well as Pidd, has become a trademark text I have become well-known for on this campus and perhaps in the District (smile). It is a book that through a series of prescriptive exercises and essays covers many of the more salient errors writing students make which give their college teachers the most grief. The errors reviewed are both grammatical and mechanical, with an overview of summary and paraphrasing most third semester students have forgotten, not to mention a mind expanding section on plagiarism, which some scholars are not serious enough about, a slight which often comes back to haunt many a student as he or she crams at the end of the semester.

Deceptively simple, SPHE grows steadily more complex until the student who has been simply gliding along runs into major difficulty. This is around the third or fourth essays, Pronoun Case or BeVerbs. The fictional character, Stewart Pidd, supplies all the course work and students act as his teachers, grading his essays and offering comments on how he can improve by naming the errors and giving an example(s) of how he can correct the essays. These corrective essays are written as templates, which means there is little space for creativity, rather, the correct essay looks like everyone else’s, with perhaps originality in the title or often in the concluding paragraph. Many students cannot believe how simple the task is, until this simplicity is shattered by failing grades.

The essays are nonsense essays, which enable students to focus on the writing, rather than the content. This toSo fosters in students a false sense of competence failing grades quickly shatter. It isn’t the difficulty that gets students; it is the attention to detail that gets them over and over again.

Last semester, for the first time, I had students write an essay called, “The Stewart Pidd Experience.” I also had students write an essay where they evaluated their two grammar exams and an essay. This was a part of the class portfolio which is our final assignment. There is no sitting final in this class.

I have decided to not require Pidd for Spring Semester, except as a recommendation for all students who have never used the book before. The only class where this is not true is English 201 where I am making SPHE required. For everyone else, if your essays include errors covered in Pidd, students will have to write a correction essay outlining their errors, how to correct them and a revised essay.

The errors covered in SPHE are: confused words, sentence punctuation, pronoun agreement, pronoun case, be-verbs, possessives, verb tense, parallel structure, MLA, plagiarism, paraphrasing, summarizing, ellipsis use, signal phrases, works cited pages.

I plan to give students the quizzes and the exams, just so you can know if you need to get the book and run the exercises. Beginning Week 2, I will host a six week workshop on MW mornings (10:30-11:30) for students interested in “The Pidd Experience.” I could possibly host a meeting also on M or W afternoons, after 3 p.m., let’s say, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., if more than 5 students are interested. Students do not have to be in English 201 to attend. One has to commit to the entire six weeks though. The workshop is open to all Sabir students. Students in my English 1B class last semester who did not buy a grammar style book and made many errors up to the portfolio in MLA from works cited pages to ellipsis marks, received Bs instead of As in the course. For English 1A, it was crucial that students cited correctly. This is a key goal of Freshman composition. After English 1A, students are expected to know how to cite their sources and understand the importance of scholarly research when proving a point. Students are also expected to know the difference between free and literal paraphrasing, summarizing and plagiarism. It is that serious that students who are scholars know this information, so if you don’t, look at the book—SPHE, and think about this short refresher workshop.

I am teaching four classes: English 1B, 21792, 8-8:50 AM, MTWTh in C211; English 1A, 21757, 9-9:50 AM, MTWTh, A-202; English 5, 21763 & English 211, 21777, 11-12:15 AM, TTh, A-202; English 201A 21768 & English 201B 21774, MW, A 202, 1-2:50 PM. (The two classes ENG 201A & ENG 201B, as well as ENG 5 and ENG 211, run concurrently.)

As usual, I am looking to hold one class a week in a lab with computers so students can learn to navigate the blog and how I want essay portfolios sent to me.

If you do not have technology at home, use the computers here on campus in the LRC. There is the Open Lab and the Writing Center for your use. All you need is a Student ID, which is free. Make sure you get on early on. Students also need to sign up for a special LRC course, which is also free. Do this early in the semester as well.

For first year students, I suggest you fit College Success at COA into your schedules: Counseling 21739, MW 12-1:15, 3 Units, in C-113, with Cobb or Counseling 21738, MW 9:30-10:45, in CV-205 (portables) with Nakmo. Similar classes are offered at Laney and Merritt colleges (Peralta Colleges 2012 Schedule of Classes 96). There is a Grammar class at Laney: 20428 6-8:50 PM, Eng. 206A, English Grammar, 3 units (Peralta Colleges 2012 Spring Schedule of Classes 107). Here at the College of Alameda students can enroll in Grammar 6 in the ESL department.

In all except the English 5 or Critical Thinking class, I am using a new book, I hope students like or at least find useful, They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. Oh, no, students might cry, another book that uses templates?! What is wrong with Sabir, doesn’t she trust original thought (smile). You won’t believe this, but this book has been sitting on my desk for at least five years, maybe more and it wasn’t until a former student of mine, now professor, Maria Acuna, shared it with me last semester, did I decide to try it.

I have been reading it this weekend as well and I like the premise the authors use to explain why they wrote it. Granted, templates can get tiresome, but for those who are familiar with Stewart Pidd Hates English, these templates are nothing like the ones Pollitt and Baker use. Rest assured there (smile). Instead, this book helps students enter the discourse or conversation, often one which has been raging or simmering or bubbling over for a short or long while, a conversation you have never entered, however, one which affects your life in profound ways. Why haven’t you joined in? Often, the reason certain communities are not called to the table or invited to participate is intentional. The reason is, to do so doesn’t serve the interests of the body politic at the table.

Whether one is invited or not, whether one has a chair or not, whether one has the proper suit or proper language with which to engage those at the table using one’s life as a ping pong, the conversation is open in a democracy and it is yours to join even in an assignment for a class such as ours. I have students who have used their writing here to launch careers in politics. I have had students publish writing completed here in class in newspapers and respected journals. We are working in a laboratory where results can actually change lives beginning with our own. What you learn here is not “academic” if academic means useless. Each of you is a change agent; that is why you took time out of your life to show up.

Showing up is important. We all showed up for different reasons, some not as lofty as others, but you are here and because you are here, I expect great work from you. That is my goal and that is why and I am here and when you start hating me, remember, the promise I made to you here: meritocracy will never get a reward in this class. There is no grading on the curve. Everyone is held to a high standard and while I set the bar, well the State of California sets the bar and some of you will not reach it this time— keep trying and you will eventually.

The class might appear disorganized and I smile a lot and seem easy, this is an illusion. I am not easy. I demand a lot from each of you, but this is college—and you expect huge demands right? Don’t worry, I think you will get your money’s worth and then some. I do not assign writing assignments because I have nothing better to do. I can think or many tasks I love more than reading first drafts of students’ papers—you think they are final drafts, but they are not. I am a professional writer and I know what I am doing, so trust me when I tell you something is wrong. It is not personal, rather it is the writing not you I am critiquing. Some students enter the class with more skill sets than others. Some expect success in high school to tide them over here, and have rude awakenings. My suggestion is to come to class awake and sleep at home the night before.

I hope students surprise me and actually know a bit about the writing process and can read with comprehension and most importantly, are not lazy. You can enroll in this class not knowing everything, but if you do not exert yourself and fill in those spaces where perhaps time or preparation left you under-ready then, I expect you to get the extra help needed, whether that is attending my “Pidd Experience” workshop or a getting a tutor or both.

Be honest with yourself and do what you need to do to be successful here. Do not waste your time or your classmates. I will not let you waste mine or theirs or use my brain as your own. I do not suffer fools at all. Some students say I am rude, perhaps I am; however, when students are not prepared and want to waste the time of those who are, I cut them off. I am not interested in anything an unprepared student has to say. If you ever come to class unprepared, keep silent. Do not open your mouth except to tell us you are not prepared and are just observing that day.

I have to pay out of pocket for an assistant to help me with record keeping. I haven’t had a student aide in years to help students with their essays, so it’s on me and you. If you need help I can help you to a point—there is no magic. I am a great writer because I write and I kept writing when I got failing grades, had to take remedial writing classes at UC Berkeley, and got failing grades on first drafts at Holy Names.

Believe it or not, I didn’t know what a thesis sentence was until graduate school Teaching Writing course. I do not have hours to spend with one student a week, but you can get assistance, so ask when there are questions. I think faster than I write sometimes and I am an awful speller. No one is perfect. Learn what your strengths are. I have an almost photographic memory. Writing things down is a way for me to record them in my mind almost verbatim. I don’t hold hands and after last semester, a deadline is a deadline even if only one student makes it, so keep the due dates in your calendar, just in case I forget to remind you when something is due.

The blog is a place where reminders tend to go, but if you have limited access to the web, take good notes from the white board and get a few students phones numbers just in case. I suggest students hold study sessions to discuss readings and assignments. The library (first floor in the LRC or Learning Resource Center) has classrooms students can use for discussions.

Each class has varying requirements for the writing, which is about 6-8,000 words. I tend to assign more writing. In English 1A, students will have several short research essays, rather than one long essay. Each essay in English 1A will be about 3-4 pages, 250 words a page. In English 5 3-4 pages per essay. This is minimally. Essays can be a bit longer. In English 201 essays will be between 2-5 pages depending on the level. English 1B, 3-4 pages. This excludes the works cited page.

I am giving you all this in advance so you can drop the course and find a better fit.

Recap on textbooks. Find your class:

1. English 5: Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow; Walter Mosley's The Tempest Tales; Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, and Writing Logically, Thinking Critically 6th Edition. Recommended: Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers, American Heritage Dictionary.


2.English 1B:

Gardner, Janet E. Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide. Second Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print.

Grover, Linda Legarde. The Dance Boots. Athens, Georgia and London: The University of Georgia Press, 2010. Print.

Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. New York: Riverhead Books, 2010. Print.

Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. Pantheon Books, 2007. Print. ISBN 0375714839

Bannerjee, Neelanjana and Summi Kaipa, Pireeni Sundaralingam. Ed. Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian Poetry. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2010. Print.


Recommended: Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers, 4-7th editions. American Heritage Dictionary.

3. English 1A: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn; Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War by Leymah Gbowee, Diana Hacker Rules for Writers, American Heritage Dictionary. They Say, I Say, Second Edition, by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birenstein.

Recommended for students who have not taken my classes before: Stewart Pidd Hates English.

4. English 201A: Stewart Pidd Hates English*, Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Always Running: Gang Days in LA by Luis Rodriguez. American Heritage Dictionary.

English 201B: for Pidd Alumni: Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers and They Say, I Say by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birenstein. If a student has not had me for English 201A then Pidd is recommended.

Sincerely,

Wanda Sabir

English Professor, College of Alameda

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Greetings Students:

Welcome to English 1A!

Course materials for all Sabir courses Spring 2012. Find your class:

1. English 5: Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow; Walter Mosley's The Tempest Tales, Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, and Writing Logically, Thinking Critically 6th Edition. Recommended: Diana Hacker Rules for Writers, American Heritage Dictionary.


2. English 1B: The Dance Boots, Girl in Translation, The Complete Persepolis, Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian Poetry, Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide. Second Edition, Janet E. Gardner. Recommended: Diana Hacker Rules for Writers, American Heritage Dictionary.


3. English 1A: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War by Leymah Gbowee, Diana Hacker Rules for Writers, American Heritage Dictionary. They Say, I Say, SE by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birenstein.

Recommended for students who have not taken my classes before: Stewart Pidd Hates English.


4. English 201A: Stewart Pidd Hates English*, Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Always Running: Gang Days in LA by Luis Rodriguez. American Heritage Dictionary.


English 201B: for Pidd Alumni: Diana Hacker Rules for Writers and They Say, I Say by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birenstein. If a student has not had me for English 201A then Pidd is recommended.