English 1: Section 16
Critical Reading and Composition
T/TH: 9:00 – 10:15 pm
Instructor: Monique Williams
Email: mwilliamschabotcollege@gmail.com
Blog: RebelRevEng.blogspot.com
Office: IOB, Room 453-N
Office Hours: Mon/Wed 12:00-1:00 pm in room 807
Tues/Thurs 12:00-1:00 pm in room 807
Required Texts:
- Ontiveros, Skye, The Passion Project II (transcript will be given to you)
- Kozol, Jonathan, Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools
- Boyle, Gregory, Tattoos on the Heart
- Hartmann, Thomas, Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight
- A portable dictionary and MLA writing guide
**Become familiar with the website Purdue Owl
Course Description:
Eng. 1 will focus on college-level reading, critical thinking, and writing. The overall theme of this course is going to be a focus on the inequalities faced by the poor in America. We will be reading a variety of materials dealing with these topics, and your papers will be in-depth explorations of some aspect of the course theme. We will also work to discover your passion and how it will help you have ownership of your education and assist your college success.
Objectives:
Students shall achieve the ability to write complete essays that demonstrate college-level proficiency in all of the following. Upon the successful completion of the course a student will be able to:
Write and revise college-level essays, in and out of class, relying on text-based argumentative strategies.
Comprehend and analyze critical essays of varying lengths.
Identify and use key structural elements of an essay, including thesis, topic sentences, and supporting details.
Perform the essential steps of the writing process.
Accurately and effectively summarize different lengths of work.
Organize and develop ideas in writing.
Develop argumentation skills in writing.
Demonstrate an ability to recognize grammatical patterns of error and revise accordingly.
Demonstrate the ability to write complete sentences of some syntactic complexity.
Integrate sources as evidence and use parenthetical citations.
In Class:
Please remember that the classroom should be a safe and friendly environment, where we share ideas and learn from one another - so be respectful to others. This will be an active classroom. You will need to express your thoughts and opinions in class regularly and help your peers work their thoughts out. The best way to develop critical thinking skills is to take in the thoughts and opinions of others and put them up against yours. By doing this, you can develop your own beliefs, arguments and ideas. In order to be able to share with one another, we have to agree to respect each others' ideas even when we have opposite beliefs. Disrespect of any kind will not be tolerated in this classroom.
Reading and Writing Assignments:
We will be reading a variety of essays and nonfiction books in this course. We will be examining each text closely in order to discover the ways in which each author uses certain rhetorical devices to argue his or her thesis as well as discuss the themes highlighted by the text. You won’t like everything you read--get over it. Recognize that you can learn from the thing you dislike and because of that they are still of value. Some readings will serve as models for your own writing, and your essays will be based on these works. Since this is a college-transfer course, some of the reading material is going to be challenging, so I expect you to commit a considerable amount time to your reading and annotating of the text. It won’t work to skim through the material before class.
Remember, in order to become a good writer you must also be a good, and active reader, which means reading closely and critically. I expect all reading I assign to you to be annotated and will check for this often. It is essential that you come to class prepared to discuss the day’s reading assignment(s). Also, get into the habit of looking up unfamiliar words in the dictionary.
You will have to create a blog for this class using Blogger. I will ask you almost every week to post a blog in response to the readings or class discussion. See other handout for blog expectations and how to create a blog.
Most writing assignments in this class will require you to do some type of research. Comparing your thoughts to the thoughts of others is a great way to develop your critical thinking skills. You will be required to reference the readings and/or class discussions in all writing assignments. Don’t freak out. We will do everything in steps. We will spend some time, early in the semester, reviewing the various steps in the writing process: prewriting, organizing, composing, revising, and editing. We will work in groups often and have peer review workshops. Peer review workshops are designed to help with some of the crucial steps in the writing process: revision and editing. We will also spend time discussing the readings together.
There will be several small writing assignments, four essays of 5-10 pages or more, an in-class midterm and final. You will not have to take the final if you attend class everyday. 2 tardies equal one absence. All writing assignments will be arguments, meaning you advocating for what you are finding in the text.
Essays must be typed, double-spaced, and they must adhere to the MLA guidelines.
Papers must be printed out and turned in the day they are due.
Quizzes and In-class assignments:
To ensure that you keep abreast of the readings and are adequately prepared to approach your writing assignments, I will periodically give quizzes. These may or may not be announced. There are no make-ups for any in-class work, including quizzes!
Grading:
Essays 60%
Participation/Midterm/Quizzes/Presentations/Final 25%
Blogs 15%
Due Dates:
All papers and assignments must be handed in on time. It is your responsibility to keep track of the due dates either by looking at the schedule or writing down the dates I tell you in class. Late papers are not accepted. However, if an unexpected situation does come up, it would be in your best interest to contact me before the due date, either by phone, Email, or in person.
Late papers will not be handed back in a timely fashion.
*Reminder: all essays must be completed in order to pass the course.
Attendance:
Attendance is mandatory and extremely important because regular participation is expected. Also, you are a part of the class, which means that if you are missing it is felt by the entire class and disrupts the space. It is your responsibility to be here and to contribute. In-class assignments will not be made up for points. Also, your participation is mandatory on days we have writing workshops.
Please do not make appointments with doctors, dentists, DMV, etc., during class time. After 2 absences, with every subsequent absence, your grade will be dropped a half a grade (B- to a C+). Tardiness is rude, disruptive and unacceptable. Two "tardies" equal one absence. If you leave class early and you have not communicated with me I will consider that an absence. If you sleep in class, I will consider that an absence.
I will rarely excuse an absence. I will only do so for an extreme circumstance.
Also, you will be dropped automatically if you miss 4 consecutive days (or two weeks). You will also be dropped if you miss 6 classes total.
If you do miss, it is your responsibility to get the work from another student. Do not email me and ask things like: did I miss anything important; did anything happen today; is there anything I need to know. I am going to say, “yes,” and be offended.
Email Etiquette:
Say hello or at least address the message to me, Ms. Williams.
Don’t send me a message in the subject line.
The subject line should be a summary of what your email is about, i.e. final paper, absence on 01/28/2015, question about homework, etc.
Close the email: Thank you for your time, see you soon, etc.
Follow-up: If you do not get an email from me confirming that I received your message, don’t assume that I did. Follow-up if I do not reply.
You have a virtual world that you can now represent yourself in. The way you conduct yourself in the virtual world does affect how you are seen. Learn to manage all your possible avenues of opportunity well.
Conferences:
You will have a mandatory 10-minute conference after your first essay to go over your writing. Then another mandatory 10-minute conference with me toward the end of the semester to address any reading and writing struggles you are experiencing. These conferences will be held during my office hours. You are, however, encouraged to meet me anytime during the semester.
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Plagiarism:
Plagiarism occurs when a student misrepresents the work of another as his or her own.
Plagiarism may consist of using ideas, sentences, paragraphs, or the whole text of another without appropriate acknowledgement, but it also includes employing or allowing another person to alter substantially work that a student then submits as his or her own. Any plagiarized work will be given an “F” grade, and will automatically be reported to the Dean of Language Arts.
Misc.:
I expect that you are familiar with and will abide Chabot’s policies in the Student Handbook regarding classroom behavior. Some of the rules include: bringing all required materials and texts for that day, doing your homework, turning off your cell phone, music devices, etc., and refraining from disruptive behavior. Also take care of your personal needs before or after class; walking in and out of class is disruptive.
Resources:
If you are having difficulties with your reading or writing assignments, please come by my office during office hours, or better, make an appointment with me. There are many excellent out of class resources available on campus.
You are required to visit the WRAC center before turning in your second paper. I will give you a handout that must be filled out by the tutor you see in the WRAC center.
You will also be required to use the Chabot Library Database to find research for your papers and will attend training during class this semester to help you do so.
You will not be “banked” on here.
I feel the need to explain what kind of classroom this will be because you come to college with an expectation driven by past experience and media portrayals that I will absolutely and purposely fail to emulate. I do not run a classroom that is focused on my knowledge or thoughts. I will present the language of literature to you and share with you my insights but much more important cognitive moments will happen in this classroom. I run a class that is focused on discovering what you have to say about what I put in front of you. We will engage in dialogue, conversations, most of the time that will hopefully lead you to a deeper understanding of your own thoughts, and where they come from, as well as cultivate a greater value for the thoughts of other. Most importantly, I don’t want the critical thinking you do in here to be limited to books, only triggered by the sound of my voice, or the environment I provide. I want you to walk around reading, interpreting, connecting to and picking apart the world. I want you to be hyper-conscious and you can’t be if you are not involved in your education. This classroom will use the strategies of a problem-posing system, coined by educational theorist and teacher Paulo Freire. I always ask you to think deeply, I will ask you why over and over again like an annoying child. I will ask you where your thoughts come from, what are you connecting to, where do you see that thought going and every answer you have for us, as long as you really take yourself seriously, will be astute. If you don’t take yourself or your thoughts seriously, you will only be making a joke out of yourself, which is an unfortunate act of violence lower-income students have inflicted upon themselves for a longtime. This does not mean that your ideas can’t be silly, funny or playful. OWN your intellect; don’t be afraid of it. Stay engage in classroom discussion, constantly process and connect the world you live in to what is happening in the classroom, and I am positive you will be successful in this class and beyond.
Tentative Schedule of readings and discussions:
Exact page numbers will be given to you in class.
Week 1, Jan 20: Syllabus and Education
Week 2, Jan 27: The practices of Education in America
Week 3, Feb 3: Internalized Oppression
Week 4, Feb 10: Rebel or Revolutionary - Do we need a system redesign and what would that look like
No school Feb 16th
Week 5, Feb 18 Essay Due
Week 6, Feb 24: Separate but equal, really? Intro to Savage Inequalities … beyond in the classroom how is the education system failing? The Rich and the rest of us.
Week 7, Mar 3: Savage Inequalities
Week 8, Mar 10: Savage Inequalities
Week 9, Mar 17: Savage Inequalities
Week 10, Mar 24: Essay week
Essay Due, March 26
Prisons need people: Incarceration or Rehabilitation, Cages or Compassion?
Week 11, March 30th-April 3rd Spring Break, Tattoos on the Heart
Week 12, April 7: Tattoos on the Heart
Week 13, April 14: Tattoos on the Heart
Week 14, April 21: Midterm
Week 15, April 28: Essay Development / Research Paper
Essay Due, April 30
A World of Waste
Week 16, May 5: Intro to Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight
Week 17, May 12: Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight
Week 18, May 19: Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight & Essay Development
Essay Due May 20th
May 21 Last Day of Instruction
Finals’ week 22-29—Check the Chabot website finals schedule
Final Day: May 26 @ 8:00-9:50
List of dates you won’t need to know for this class because you will all make it and do great.
Feb 8th last day to add or drop
April 19th last day to withdraw
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