English 1B Syllabus for Fall 2012 at the College of Alameda

Professor Wanda Sabir

Class code: 40009 Lec 09:00-10:50 AM TTh Sabir meets in A 200 at COA

Class Meetings: August 21-Dec. 6; Holidays: 9/3; 11/12; 11/22-25
Final Exam Week: Dec. 10-14 (Portfolios due via e-mail by Dec. 14)

Last Day to file for PASS/NO PASS Grading Option for Regular Session Classes: Sept. 10
Drop dates: Sept. 1 (w/refund); Nov. 17 (w/W).

Syllabus for English 1B: College Composition and Reading Course
http://poeticsrapandtothersocialdiscourses.blogspot.com/

English 1B is a transferable college writing course. It builds on the competencies gained in English 1A with a more careful and studied analysis of expository writing based on readings of selected plays, poems, novels, and short fiction.

Writing is a social activity, especially the type of writing students will 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.

We’re supposed to write about 8000 words or so at this level course. The 8000 words over the semester (not per essay) include drafts. What this amounts to is time at home writing, time in the library on campus and public libraries too. Students will be researching, and reading documents to increase his or her facility with the ideas or themes he or she is contemplating, before he or she once again sits at his or her 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.

We are practicing skills which you developed in English 1A. The difference is we are looking at literature and analyzing other genres, in our case: poetry, fiction, and dramatic literature or plays. In order to do justice to the topics you chose to explore, the writer cannot ignore the history of the genre nor its current discourses or new roots.

I will be looking at the writing, but more than this I will be paying attention to the scholarship, which is why each essay has to include a citation from a scholarly article—4-10+ pages.

Your essays can use multiple styles . . . be creative. However, I need to know that you know how to write an essay, so save the creative work for last (smile). And if you plan to deviate from the norm, don’t surprise me, share the idea with me first.

We are going to read a book or play every few weeks. We start with short fiction and then move into a novel, dramatic literature, another novel and conclude with poetry. I am going to show you film(s). We finish with students selecting writing outside of the assigned readings and writing a research analysis based on the work. The selection can be two short poems or a longer one, a novel, another play or a short story.

On Thursdays we will have critiques when an essay is due. We will practice writing research analyses mid-semester. Students will grade each other based on a rubric.

Office Hours
I am a phone person, so when I give you my telephone number, use it. My office is D-219, located in a suite of offices numbered from D-216.

If you are a poor writer, get a tutor. We will have minimal revisions, like none unless the essay is horrible—students only get 1-2 BAD ESSAY DAYs (and the penalty is writing a correction essay, plus revising the essay). We will do peer reviews. I want to see polished work.

Methodology

We will use Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide, Second Edition by Janet E. Gardner in the class. There is a chapter for each genre of literature we will examine. We will review a chapter every week or two. The first section of the book reviews the writing process.

Keep a reading log/journal/notes containing key ideas outlined for each discussion section, along with vocabulary and key arguments listed, along with primary writing strategies employed: description, process analysis, narration, argument, cause and effect, compare and contrast, definition, problem solving. I will collect these typed notes electronically with the completed essays. The essays will be submitted electronically. Type all your notes and in-class writing assignments.

I repeat: each book or play will have a corresponding essay. There will also be a series of short 250 word essay responses posted on the class blog pertaining to each piece of literature. Students have a choice of writing a new paper or expanding the cyber-assignment into a longer work. Each research paper will be between 3-4 pages long. This includes a works cited page.

Again, the final is an oral presentation of one’s paper or a defense of one’s thesis. The student portfolio is the FINAL for the class. We will talk about this more. If any students are creative writers and wants to lead a workshop, let me know (smile).

This semester, each student will have to attend a literary event of his or her choosing: lecture or author event, play or film. We can attend an event together or separately. The writing assignment will be an analysis/critique, like a review . . . but a bit deeper. I suggest students read published reviews beforehand to prepare for the task. This essay will be minimally two (2) pages or 500 words, not including a works cited page with minimally two (2) sources. All essays have to have 1 citation per page, so in the case of a two page essay, that is two citations (period).

Essay research requirements

Each essay needs to use at least 2-3 outside sources which should include at least one (1) scholarly article along with other material (taken from the COA on-line Library Database (if possible). Each essay should also include One (1) direct quote, one (1) free-paraphrase and one (1) block quote—one citation per page—no more, no less. Each essay also needs to include a works cited page and a bibliography. It needs to be perfect. We will practice this in class. We will write many of the shorter essays in class or for homework. The task should be simple once students decide which four (4) elements they’d like to respond to in depth.

I am making an assumption that students know how to correctly document their sources using MLA. Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers or text. At this level, I expect students to know how to write passing essays at the first submission. Submit your best work the first time. Don’t submit drafts, masquerading as polished work. I am serious.

Midterm

One of the essays will be the midterm, possibly fiction maybe dramatic literature (smile).

Jot down briefly what your goals are this semester and action steps to get there. Separate into what you can do alone or have control over and what you might not have control over and why.

List them in order of importance.

1.



2.



3.



4.



5.

Homework Assignment 1: E-mail introduction to me Thursday, August 30, 2012. Send to coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com.

Assignment:

Besides the usual: where are you from? What languages do you speak besides English? What child are you in the family? What are your hobbies and why are you taking this class?

Include: your contact information: Name, Address, phone number, best e-mail address, best time to call and answers to these questions as well: What strengths do you bring to the class? What do you hope to obtain from the course – any particular exit skills? What do I need to know about you to help you meet your goals?

Homework Assignment 2:

Respond on the blog to the syllabus, so I have a record of your reading it. Make sure you include examples from the syllabus to support your points. The response is due by August 31, 2012, 9 AM.

Write a comment to me regarding the syllabus: your impressions, whether you think it is reasonable, questions, suggestions. This is our contract, I need to know you read it and understand the agreement.

Grading
Essays: 55 percent of grade

Short Story
1. The Dance Boots by Linda Legarde Grover is the text for the short story unit. Each unit includes the definitive essay, plus in-class writing, group writing and blog assignments.

The Novel
2-3. Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok and The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is the text for the fiction unit (2 essays), plus a film.

Dramatic Literature:
4. Ruined or some other selection (handout).

Poetry Unit
5. Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian Poetry edited by Neelanjana Bannerjee, Summi Kaipa, and Pireeni Sundaralingam

6. Final essay –student choice

Portfolio: 25 percent

Participation: 20 percent

What do I mean by participation? This includes preparation and active participation in group assignments, blog responses and posted comments; discussion group preparedness, attitude and leadership. To post comments select “ANONYMOUS,” and then type your name in the post. Students do not need to get Gmail accounts.

To encourage participation, and for this, students have to be prepared, I weighed the preparedness and participation strongly which means I will be taking notes when students do not do their homework. If you are in a group where students are pretending to be prepared when they are not, drop me an anonymous note. If a student is absent, he or she cannot make up in-class assignments such as group work, freewrites, presentations, etc.

Portfolio Suggestion

Students can start a personal blog for the class and send me the link for your portfolio at the end of the course. This is not the only type of portfolio. The other is to submit a word document with the semester's writing.

Quizzes

I am not above pop quizzes on readings. Remember, this plan can change in a twinkling of the eye, if we find it isn’t working.

Writing Center

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 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 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 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 reviewing them with you.

Student Learning Outcomes

Reading:

Recognize the relevance of the power of story in the public and private sector

and use this understanding to shape the outcomes of various situations and

projects.

Identify logical fallacies in written materials in order to make effective decisions

and express ideas clearly.

Critical Thinking:

Evaluate and use evidence to support assertions, enhancing effectiveness as a

team member.

Writing:

Write coherent, organized reports, summaries, evaluations, and records.

Articulate ideas clearly so that all team members understand, thus moving a

project or a program forward.


Last words on Grades

We will be honest with one another. Grades are not necessarily an honest response to work; grades do not take into consideration the effort or time spent, only whether or not students can demonstrate mastery of a skill – in this case: essay writing. Grades are an approximation, arbitrary at best, no matter how many safeguards one tries to put in place to avoid such ambiguity. Suffice it to say, your portfolio will illustrate your competence. It will represent your progress, your success or failure this semester in meeting your goal.

Office Hours

I’d like to wish everyone much success. I am available for consultation on Wednesdays, 9:30-10:30 AM and on MW by appointment. I am also available after 3:30 PM Tuesdays and Thursdays by appointment. I will be offering a Writing Workshop using Stewart Pidd Hates English beginning Monday, Sept. 10, 9:30-10:30 for 4 consecutive weeks or through Oct. 1. My office is located in the D-216 suite. My campus number is (510) 748-2131, however, I don’t have an office phone number yet. I will share that with students later this month or next.

My email again is: coasabirenglish1B@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.

I am a phone person, especially on weekends, so 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.

I really am more a phone person than an email person, so you can call me if I don’t respond to an email. I do read your blog posts.

I’d encourage students to exchange phone numbers with classmates (2), so if you have a concern, it can be addressed more expediently between classes. The semester will fly, if you don’t buckle up (smile). Study groups are recommended, especially for those students finding the readings difficult.

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 electronically.

I do not expect students to confuse literal with free paraphrase (a literal paraphrase is plagiarism). Students should also not make confused word errors, sentence fragment errors, comma splice errors, subject verb agreement errors, errors in parallel structure, subject verb agreement errors, MLA citations errors, errors with ellipses, formatting an essays—margins, headings, etc. If you are not clear on what I mean, again I suggest drop the class and take it over the 18 week semester at a more leisurely pace.

Students are expected to complete work on time. If you need more time on an assignment, discuss this with me in advance to keep full credit. Again certain assignments, such as in-class essays cannot be made up. All assignments 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.)

In class writing is to be written in ink—blue or black, then typed for inclusion in portfolio or posting on blog: http://poeticsrapandtothersocialdiscourses.blogspot.com/.

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 lose the original assignment, you get a zero on the assignment to be revised. I will not look at revisions without the original attached – no exceptions. Some student essays will be posted on-line at the website. Students will also have the option of submitting assignments via email: coasabirenglish1B@gmail.com

Textbooks Recap:

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:

Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers. Sixth or Seventh edition. Bedford/St. Martins. (If you don’t already have such a book.)

A college dictionary. I recommend American Heritage.

Additional materials:

Along with a college dictionary, the prepared student needs pens with blue or black ink, along with a pencil for annotating texts, paper, a stapler or paper clips, floppy disks, a notebook, three hole punch, a folder for work-in-progress, and a divided binder to keep materials together.

Stay abreast of the news. Buy a daily paper. Listen to alternative radio:
KPFA 94.1 FM (Hardknock), KQED 88.5, KALW 91.7. Visit news websites: AllAfrica.com, Al Jazeera, CNN.com, AlterNet.org, Democracy Now.org, FlashPoints.org, CBS 60 Minutes.