COA ENG 1A Spring 2013 Syllabus
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A Composition and Reading
(3classes)
Class code: 20128 Lec 09:00-9:50 AM MTWTh Sabir meets in A 202
Class code: 20130 Lec 1:00-2:50 PM MW Sabir meets in D205
Class code: 20131 Lec 4:00-5:50 PM MW Sabir meets in D205
Class Meetings: January 21-May 16; Holidays: 1/21; 2/15; 2/18; 3/29; 5/17;
3/25-31
Final Exam Week: May 18-24 (Portfolios due via e-mail by May 24).
Drop dates: Feb. 3 (w/refund); April 27 (w/W).
Syllabus for English 1A: College Composition and Reading
http://professorwandasposse.blogspot.com/
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.
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 reading, writing and thinking
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.
In the past I have used primary sources, this semester I am using a textbook
for the first time in a long while. It is my hope those
50 Essays: A Portable Anthology, Third Edition by Samuel Cohen,
will give students the kind of guidance often needed by beginning writers no
matter how skilled. We will read the essays by topic, which means we will skip
around in the book. We might not read all 50, but we will make a serious dent
in the book. You will definitely get your money’s worth (smile).
One of the primary goals of Freshman Comp is to familiarize students with
academic scholarship, how one reads a variety of sources and then through
synthesis comes up with new, often original, ideas. Scholarship is based on
sound texts and the way the writer shares his or her document trail to the
audience is through what is called MLA documentation in the form of both
in-text and works cited pages at the end of the essay. There are specific
standardized ways to note this research and at the end of the course, students
might not have all of the forms memorized, but certainly one should leave the
course a lot more familiar with how to find the answer in your grammar style
book (Diana Hacker’s
Rules for Writers
Seventh Edition). Bring this book to class daily.
Recommended for students who feel shaky on the writing front is
Stewart Pidd Hates English by Gary
Pollitt and Craig Baker
. These two
Cal State University Fullerton professors wrote this book in response to the
horrific papers freshmen turned into them. Fast drafts are fine. The problem
comes into play when a writer does not know how to edit their work. Based on
Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers, the professors take the more common errors,
create a character called Stewart Pidd and in a series of essays teach students
how to correct Pidd’s essays and thus, transfer these skills to their own
writing.
Whether students purchase or rent the book or not, each of you is held
responsible to the material within its pages.
Stewart Pidd reviews many of the more
common writing errors and topics such as free paraphrase and summaries, run-on
sentences, subject-verb agreement, parallel structure, plurals and possessives,
pronoun agreement and confused words, not to mention correct MLS for essays and
how to write works cited pages and bibliographies.
Stewart Pidd will provide a context for essay writing which will
hopefully allow students the opportunity to become conversant about the writing
process and use grammar in context, as well as, employ MLA documentation.
Week four, February 21, we will have a month long
Writing Intensive using SPHE. All are welcome. I will host this
workshop on Thursday, 12:30-1:30-2 p.m. I am looking to have the workshop in an
electronic classroom. More later.
Students are encouraged to drop by and visit me at my office hours at least
twice this semester. Come prepared with questions. It is a good opportunity to
get to know one another. My office is located in D-219 (an office space with a
separate entrance.) Office hours will be Thursday 2-4 by appointment,
Wednesdays, 3-3:30 p.m., Mondays 12-12:30 p.m. and 6-6:30 p.m. in D-219.
This semester we are looking at “happiness,” per author Gretchen Rubin year
long quest. We will read her book and once a week in groups discuss our own
“happiness projects.” We will read her book at the same time as reading the
essays in out textbook to strengthen our grasp of rhetorical form.
Note the reading list below for Rubin:
Jan. 28-Jan. 31 prepare: pp. xviii-68; 293-294; 295-296. Read" The
Happiness Project Manifesto." Skim the "Tips" section at the end
of the book.
Note Reading Group Guide for your discussions in class (smile). Note
"Suggestions for Further Reading" for your book report essay pp.
311-315.
Tentative Reading Schedule—students
are encouraged to read ahead. Finish the book.
Feb. 4-7 prepare: pp. 69-111
Feb. 11-14 prepare pp. 112-140
Feb. 18-21 prepare pp. 141-193
Feb. 25-28 prepare: pp. 194-220
Mar. 4-7 prepare: pp. 221-257
Mar. 11-14 prepare: pp. 258-292
Essay due dates:
First essay due: March 18 with Initial Planning Sheet and Outline. Final draft
due March 20/21.
Get book approved for Book Report Essay about or by a happy person
(smile). Book Report
Essay due date: April 15 with IPS and Outline. Final draft due April 17/18.
Final Essay due on social entrepreneur: May 6. Final draft due May 8/9.
Presentations the week of May 13-16.
Reading Logs for Analysis
Keep a reading log for Rubin. In the log, note her changing definition of
“happiness,” also note the scholars she cites who validate her query and the
direction of her research. Include a brief summary of each chapter and what
stood out most for you as a reader—of course this note will vary based on
individual experience.
Discussion groups will meet each week. The reading log/journal/ will include
key vocabulary and arguments listed, with primary writing strategies employed:
description, process analysis, narration, argument, cause and effect, compare
and contrast, definition, problem solving. As Rubin’s year progresses month by
month, she builds on previous lessons which she often repeats for her audience,
just in case we forgot.
For English 1A,
Stewart Pidd Hates English is a review of grammar and
essay writing skills students should be familiar with already. I hope we can
wiz through the book in six weeks, 1-essay per week beginning Feb. 21. If you
are struggling, come to the drop-in workshop and/or come by my office for extra
assistance. Students can also get help in the Writing Center and Tutoring
Center in the Learning Resources Center (LRC), located on the second level of
the L-bldg. where the library is located. To use these services students have
to enroll in the free class LRNE 501 (Supervised Tutoring). It takes 24 hours
for the class to become effective, so enroll now.
Using
50 Essays, students will write
essays demonstrating mastery of each rhetorical mode which fall between
narration, exposition and argumentation (9)—I happen to believe that everything
is an argument (smile). These short essays (250 words max) will be an
opportunity for students to practice for the larger essays which will determine
their grade in the course
.
Grading:
These essays and comments on peers’ essays from 50 Essays and They Say,
are 25 percent of the grade.
Schedule
Week 1—Jan. 21-24
M— College closed
W—Course Introduction
Essay handouts: Helen Keller; Malcolm X
Week 2—Jan. 28-31
Education
M:
50 Essays: Sherman Alexie, “The Joy of Reading and Writing:
Superman and Me,” pp. 15-19; Getting Started and Finding a Focus (Hacker 1-18)
T/W:
50 Essays: Frederick Douglass, “Learning to Read and Write,” pp.
129-35.
Sketch a plan (Hacker 19-23). Developing a thesis (Hacker 23-33).
Week 3—Feb. 4-7
Identity
M-T Lec: Developing and Organizing Ideas 50 Essays: Gloria Anzaldua, “How
to Tame a Wild tongue pp. 33-45. Hacker: “Revising and Editing (33-45).
W-Th: 50 Essays: Nancy Mairs, “On
Being a Cripple,” pp. 244-56; Hacker: Writing an Argument and Thinking
Critically” (84-109)
They Say: “Entering the Conversation”
xiii-17
Week 4—Feb. 11-14
Family
M-T “Top Ten Problems and Basic
Grammar Review”
50 Essays: Maxine Hong Kingston: “No
Name Woman,” pp. 221-33
Research Basics.
Hacker pp. 419-451.
W-
50 Essays: Sarah Vowell,
“Shooting
Dad,” pp. 412-419.
Part 1.
They Say 17-42
Week 5—Feb. 18-21
Gender/Ethics
M School closed
TW 50 Essays: Brent Staples, “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public
Spaces,” pp. 383-386.
Research essay workshop—sources
50 Essays: Barbara Ehrenreich,
“Serving in Florida,” pp. 136-145.
50
Essays: Susan Sontag, “Regarding the Pain of Others,” pp. 373-78.
They Say: Part 1, The Art of Quoting
pp.42-52
Week 6—Feb. 25-28
History and Politics
M-T 50 Essays: Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue,” pp. 396-402. Lec.: “The Five
C’s of Style”
W-Th 50 Essays: Bharati Mukherjee, “Two Ways to Belong in America,” pp.
280-83 or student choice.
They Say: Part 2. “I Say,” pp. 53-67;
68-102.
Week 7—March 4-7
M Race and Culture
50 Essays: James Baldwin, Notes of a
Native Son,” pp. 50-71
T-W 50 Essays: Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,”
pp. 203-20 and/or
N. Scott Momaday, “The Way to Rainy Mountain,” pp. 273-279.
They Say: Part 2 con’t.
Week 8—March 11-14
If there is time, students can choose 2-4 essays we haven’t read to analyze
(smile). Recommended:
50 Essays: Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue,”
pp. 396-402
While we are reading these essays and reviewing the various writing concepts
indicated, we will also consider the templates in
They Say, I Say: The Moves
That Matter in Academic Writing: Second Edition, by Gerald Graff and Cathy
Birkenstein.
They Say: Part 3, “Tying it all Together,” 103-138.
Spring Break: March 25-28
Weeks 9 -11—
March 18-21 & April 1-4 Students can
choose 4 essays we haven’t read to analyze if there is time.
They Say, Review of Parts 1, 2, 3. Part 4: “I Take Your Point,” “What’s
Motivating this Writer?”, pp. 103-155.
Students can read on if they like section 13 and 14.
Grading con’t.:
The three mastery essays are 40 percent of the grade:
Happiness Project Narrative and Plan
Book Report Essay and presentation (by or about a “happy” person”
Profile and Presentation of an Entrepreneur whose service work brings happiness
(the person has to be alive and living in Northern California). I do not expect
students to complete their Happiness Project in a semester. We will read
Rubin’s book, have lively discussions and use the subjects of our research to
shape the important questions Rubin raises. How does your subject’s “Manifesto”
read (297)? What quote(s) do you resonate with most (Rubin 309-310)?
Poster and Presentation are 15 percent
of the grade.
The student portfolio is 20 percent of
the grade as well.
Students will 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, and a stapler.
Cyber-Assignments
These often daily assignments are posted on the class blog. The
50 Essays for the most part will be
cyber-assignments. Keep a copy of all posted assignments. You might want to
create a private blog for the class:
http://professorwandasposse.blogspot.com/
To post comments select “ANONYMOUS,” and then type your name in the post.
Students do not need to get Gmail accounts. I read the cyber-assignments. If a
student wants specific feedback from me ask. For many of the assignments,
students are to engage each other (min. 2) in conversation.
Research Project
Your research project will entail finding a happy person here in Northern
California who is a social entrepreneur. The person has to be alive. I would
like students to look for a person whose service brings happiness to others and
to him or herself. The paper will be about 4-5 pages. This will include a works
cited page and bibliography.
New Heroes
Visit
http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/
to read about social entrepreneurs. PBS.org has another program call:
Frontline
World which also explores social entrepreneurship. Visit:
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/socialentrepreneurs.html. We will
explore this assignment more, later in the course. The Skoll Foundation lists
many SE as does the San Francisco Foundation and other foundations and
charities. You are profiling a person who is alive, not the organization.
Why socially responsible economics?
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. Rubin’s query
comes back to this truism often. Choose an entrepreneur who lives in Northern
California, someone you’d like to interview and perhaps meet. Students can work
on the project together, share resources. Each person has to write his or her
own paper, but you can make a group presentation if you like.
Rubin has a website with
the Happiness
Project Group Starter Kit. Some of what is suggested works for our
purposes, but we first have to complete her book:
http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2011/09/want-to-launch-or-join-a-happiness-project-group/
We’ll develop Literature Circles and see how that works this semester.
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 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.
There are roles for the participants in the
Literature
Circles: Discussion Director, Vocabulary Enricher, Summarizer, Literary
Luminary, and others. The roles are fluid and each week students can switch
roles, so that by the end of the text, everyone will have had an opportunity to
try several if not all performance hats.
Jot down briefly what your goals are this semester. List them in order of
importance.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Email the following data to me: coasabirenglish1A@gmail.com today, Monday, Jan.
28, 2013.
Your name, mailing address, phone number and e-mail answer, along with answers
to the following questions:
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?
Bring your laptops to class. Once the semester
is under way, we will meet in a classroom with technology once a week (if need
be).
Homework Assignment 2:
This is a
Cyber-Assignment. Post on
the blog by January 31, 2013 6 p.m.
Respond to the syllabus on the blog, so I have a record of your reading it.
Make sure to include examples from the syllabus to support your points. Include
your impressions, whether you think the syllabus is reasonable, any questions,
and/or suggestions. This is our contract. I need to know that you read it and
understand the agreement.
If ever, a post is too personal for all eyes, students have the option of
sending it to me at coasabirenglish1A@gmail.com Let me know in advance or after
it is sent, so you get credit for the assignment.
The Writing Center
The cyber-essays posted on the class blog are practice analytical essays.
Initially, plan to visit the Writing Center (L-234-231, (510) 748-2132) weekly.
Have a teacher evaluate your essays for form and content; the aim is lucid,
precise, and clear prose.
This is a portfolio course, so 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 lose percentage points.
Students cannot make up cyber-assignments after the date has passed or when they
are absent unless arranged in advance.
Each book will have collected writings or essays. This in itself is its own
“portfolio.” Save all of your work. There will be four mini-portfolios:
50 Essays, Rubin and “The Happiness
Project,” (notes and essay), Book Report Essay and Social Entrepreneur.
You can average the grades to see how to weigh the various components.
The Writing Center is a great place to get one-on-on assistance on your essays,
from brainstorming and planning the essays, to critique in areas like clarity,
organization, clearly stated thesis, evidence or support, logical conclusions,
and grammatical problems. In the Writing Center there are ancillary materials
for student use. These writing programs build strong writing muscles. The
Bedford Handbook on-line, Diana Hacker’s
Rules
for Writers on-line,
Townsend Press,
and other such computer and cyber-based resources are a few of the many
databases available. There is also an Open Lab for checking e-mail, a Math Lab.
All academic labs are located in the Learning Resource Center (LRC) or upstairs
from the library. The Cyber Café is located in the F-bldg.
Again, students need a student ID to use the labs and to check out books. The
IDs are free. Ask in Student Services (A-bldg.) where photos are taken.
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. I will give you a handout which looks at 5 areas of the essay you
can use as a guide when shaping your questions for your peer review sessions.
Please use these guidelines when planning your discussions with me also.
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’s Writing Center, as well as Laney College’s Writing Labs.
Correction Essays; Essay Narratives
All major 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, that is, a detailed list of the
error(s) and its correction; a student can prepare this as a part of the Lab
visit, especially if said student is unclear over what steps to take. Cite from
a scholarly source the rule and recommendations for its correction.
Students can also visit me during office hours for assistance; again, prepare
your questions in advance to best make use of the time. Meeting times are 15-30
minute segments, esp. when there is a line. Do not leave class without
understanding the comments on a paper. I don’t mind reviewing them with you.
Student Learning Outcomes
Reading:
Apply strategies for understanding and evaluating a range of professional and
public writing and be able to express and synthesize the main ideas.
Writing:
Assess clearly in writing the tools and materials in the workplace and in the
community and be able to suggest changes in order to increase personal and
institutional effectiveness.
Critical Thinking:
Recognize messages and arguments in speech and text, analyze and critique such
messages, and act accordingly.
Diverse Perspectives:
Expand and deepen understanding of diverse life experiences and differing
perspectives, identify their impact on written and spoken communication, and
express sensitivity toward the values and ideas of coworkers, family members,
and local and global neighbors.
More on grades, and portfolio
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 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 session in meeting your goal.
In past semesters, students have skipped the portfolio and/or the final.
Neither is optional.
Office Hours
I’d like to wish everyone much success. I am available for consultation on
Wednesdays, 3:00-3:30 p.m. and on 6-6:30 p.m. I am also available by
appointment Thursdays 2-4 p.m. My office, D-219 is located in the D-216
suite. My campus number is (510) 748-2286. Leave messages on my cell number.
My email again is: coasabirenglish1A@gmail.com. Let me know the day before, if
possible, when you’d like to meet with me. I am more of a phone person. Texts
are fine. Ask me for my cell phone number. I do not mind sharing it with you.
Take time to exchange email and phone numbers with classmates (2), so if you
have a concern, it can be addressed more expeditiously. 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.
More on Logs
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 for
50 Essays and
The Happiness Project.
Students are expected to complete their work on time. If you need more time on
an assignment, discuss this with me in advance, 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 SPHE and Hacker.
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. There might be an option to take this course
C/NC Peralta College Catalog.
Textbooks Recap:
Cohen, Samuel.
50 Essays: A Portable
Anthology. Third Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. Print.
Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birenstein.
They Say, I Say: The Moves that
Matter in Academic Writing, Second Edition. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, Inc., 2010. Print.
Hacker, Diane, and Nancy Sommers.
Rules for Writers. 7th Editions.
Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martins. Print. If anyone has 2006, make sure it
has a sticker with “2009 MLA Update” indicated.
Recommended:
Pollitt, Gary, and Craig Baker.
Stewart Pidd Hates English: Grammar,
Punctuation, and Writing Exercises. Fullerton: Attack the Text Publishing,
2011. Print.
Students also need a dictionary. I recommend:
The American Heritage Dictionary. Fourth Edition.
The Prepared Student also needs...
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,
a jump drive to save work from college computers, 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 (Hard Knock), KQED 88.5, KALW 91.7. Visit news websites:
AllAfrica.com, Al Jazeera, CNN.com, AlterNet.org, DemocracyNow.org,
FlashPoints.org, CBS 60Minutes.
The
syllabus and course schedule are subject to change, at the instructor's
discretion, so stay loose and flexible.
