Dr. M. Diane Krantz

English 1010

CRN 35054

 

Office: 453 Elizabeth Hall                 

Spring 2012

Classroom: EH 217                            

TTh 10:30-11:45 am

Off. Hours: MW 10:30-11:20 am; T 9:30-10:15 am; or by appointment        

Phone 626-6543                                                         

Email: dkrantz@weber.edu

http://faculty.weber.edu/dkrantz       

 

Course Description: English 1010 is designed to involve you in methods of organizing your thoughts into written compositions. It emphasizes the writing process including selecting and narrowing the topic, and formulating, analyzing, and developing the thesis statement to provide unity, coherence, and correct emphasis. To stimulate your writing, you will be reading texts in different formats:  description, narration, definition; cause/effect, and comparison/contrast. Part of the goal of the course is to encourage you to write in connective, imaginative, and analytical ways that will intensify your experience of reading and of life. You must obtain a grade of C or better to enroll in English 2010.

 

Required Texts (available in the bookstore):

á VanderMey et al., COMP: Read
á The Pocket Wadsworth Handbook by Kirszner & Mandell

á Other Materials: 

           A good dictionary

           A folder in which all writing assignments are to be placed, along with drafts and journal entries recording the procedures followed in writing and revising. The contents of the folder will be evaluated at the end of the term.

           A device on which to back up your papers.  Losing an essay because of a computer crash is not an acceptable excuse for lateness.

 

Tasks for this course:

Writing:

1. Textual annotations. Write responses to your text in the margins. Periodically, without warning, I will spot check your copies of the assigned readings (about 4 times during the semester) to see how actively you are using this technique. This is tough work, but very important for your whole college experience. Failure to do sufficient annotating will result in a lowered grade at the end of the course. No excuses will be accepted, including absences.

 

 2. Weekly notebook. You will use it for the  weekly writings you do outside of class and supplement it with handwritten work done inside class. In it create a file for each week of the course; collect and revise the following as computer files:

 

*  Writings prompted by readings in your text (See the ÒReviewÓ questions after each reading.)

 

*  Your response to, reaction about, notation of conversations around you, television shows, or any type of electronic communication/entertainment;

 

*  Essays prompted by the types of readings we are doing

 

The heading for essays will include your name, this course number and section, the date on which the writing is due, and (unless noted in the piece) the specific texts that inspired the writings.

 

These will be collected and the essays will be commented on according to the assignment schedule.

 

A missed essay must be made up by the end of the following week. Only two such makeups are allowed under any circumstances for the whole course.

The essays are the backbone of the course. Their importance is reflected in the final grading.

 

 3. Participation and Attendance: We will function in a workshop environment--writing, collaborating in pairs or small groups, and discussing as a class. Therefore, attendance is crucial. You have three excused absences. All other absence is unexcused. A total of three absences will lower your final grade by one third letter (eg B to B-; four absences will lower it by a full letter, (eg A to B) five absences by another third and so on. If you must be absent, contact a classmate to find out what you missed and get the assignment. You will be expected to come to the next class meeting prepared. This week come to our next class with your email address to exchange with a classmate.

 

 4. Individual Conferences. These are part of the grade. You and I will meet one-on-one once or twice during the term to talk about your progress and experience with the course and our mutual assessment of your work.

 

 5. A final portfolio of your best writings from the term. You will not be graded on individual essays except for the midterm, but to get at least a C grade, you must correct any types of errors noted on your returned essays. Portfolio Description.

 

Evaluation of the Portfolios and Final Grading

In draft stages you will receive written and oral feedback on your portfolio pieces from me and from other members of the class. During the semester you and I will also meet individually to discuss your work. The portfolio will consist of highly revised pieces from your notebook and introductions to those pieces. For inclusion in the notebook, a draft of the pieces must have been seen and commented on by me. Criteria for grading portfolios.

 

Policies:

As a matter of courtesy, please turn off all cell phones, ipods, pagers during class. If you are using a laptop, limit yourself to class work and note taking; engaging in other activities (e.g., instant messaging, tweeting, texting, or web browsing) will result in loss of laptop-use privileges.  Use of a cell phone or iphone for any reason will result in your being asked to leave the classroom for the class period and will be counted as an absence.

 

 

Students with Disabilities: Any student requiring accommodations or services due to a disability must contact Services for Students with disabilities (SSD) in room 181 of the Student Service Center. SSD can also arrange to provide course materials (including this syllabus) in alternative formats if necessary.

Ethics: Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, collusion, falsification, accessing unauthorized course or test information, using unauthorized resources, or breaching copyright law. WSU does not allow Òdouble-dippingÓ: using a paper for more than one course. The penalty for such dishonesty will be an E in this course, and it may result in charges issued, hearings held, and/or sanctions imposed.

Emergency Closure: In the event of an extended campus closure I will continue to provide instruction and interaction via email and my online syllabus. My email address is dkrantz@weber.edu; you can expect an email message from me on Monday and Thursday of each week during the closure. The message will contain a Word file attachment that will provide a supplement to the syllabus links, directions for any written assignments and readings, and any other relevant information. You are to complete assignments during that same week and submit them as an attachment (if you have Microsoft Word) or pasted into an email message back to me by the following Sarturday evening. Tests and exams will be postponed until students are able to return to campus unless the closure extends beyond three weeks. In that case I will send an email message containing a link to a Chi Tester assessment with specific instructions for completing the assessment. It is imperative that you provide an email address linked to an email account that you plan to access on a regular basis and which has adequate storage capacity for transmitting documents. I will collect your email address and verify its availability during the first week of class. Please let me know by the end of the first week of the semester if you do not have access to a computer and/or the Internet from your home.

Core Beliefs: According to PPM 6-22 IV, students are to Ò[d]etermine, before the last day to drop courses without penalty, when course requirements conflict with a student's core beliefs. If there is such a conflict, the student should consider dropping the class. A student who finds this solution impracticable may request a resolution from the instructor. This policy does not oblige the instructor to grant the request, except in those cases when a denial would be arbitrary and capricious or illegal. This request must be made to the instructor in writing and the student must deliver a copy of the request to the office of the department head. The student's request must articulate the burden the requirement would place on the student's beliefs.Ó

 

Schedule of Assigned Work:

This syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor. Any changes will be provided to the students in a timely fashion. Bring your texts to class every day as well as working drafts of your current papers. All readings are from COMP: Read unless otherwise specified.The reading is due on the date listed.

T 1/03: Introduction to course, read syllabus, Writing Process.

Th 1/05 Rhetorical Triangle. Chapter 1, ÒCritical Thinking Through Reading.Ó
Read Chapter 3, ÒNarration and Description.Ó Freewriting assignment
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T 1/10 Thesis work; General to Specific; Abstract to concrete.  Development and Organization of papers: Chapter 3 continued

Th 1/12:  Chapter 3 continued; Developing Paragraphs; Paragraph focus and unity; Introductions and Conclusions

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T 1/17 Read Chapter 4; Descriptive paragraph written in class;  Finding the topic sentence. How other sentences contribute.

Th 1/19 Chapter 4, ÒDescription and ReflectionÓ; Workshop paragraph.
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T 1/24 Submit the paragraph for teacher comments.  Chapter 4 continuedÓ; Assign personal narrative paper.  (Essay 1). Chapter 16

Th 1/26 Bring completed draft to class for in-class revision; Mini-lesson on Sentences.
Write a revised draft of the paragraph in class to exchange with a classmate for reading and revision.

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T 1/31: : Personal narrative paper due; Chapter 8, ÒComparison and Contrast.Ó Assign comparison-contrast paper. Bring ideas for paper topics on Comparison to class.

Th 2/2.Chapter 8, continued. Bring working outline for paper to class.

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T 2/07: Chapter 13, ÒPunctuation.Ó Peer revision. Bring paper draft to class.

Th 2/09: Comparison-contrast paper due. Chapter 5, ÒDefinition.Ó Assign definition paper. Discuss and assign OED exercise.

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T 2/14: Chapter 5, continued. OED exercise, continued. Bring ideas for paper topics to class.

Th 2/16: Bring introductions and outlines to class.  Chapter 17 and Wadsworth:  Sentence Errors
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T 2/21 Chapter 6, Process. Peer revision. Bring paper draft of definition essay to class.

Th  2/23: Peer revision cont. Bring paper draft to class. Midterm Prep
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T 2/28: Midterm in the writing center

Th 3/01: Conferences; Definition paper due.
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T 3/06: Chapter 7, ÒClassification.Ó Assign classification paper.

Th  3/08: Chapter 7, continued. Bring paper topic, thesis, outline, and introduction to class.

3/12-16 Spring Break
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T 3/20: Chapter 17 revisted. Bring completed draft to class for peer review and revision.

Th 3/22: Chapter 17, continued. Chapter 14: Mechanics review. Classification essay due.
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T 3/27: Chapter 9, ÒCause and Effect.Ó Assign c/e paper.

Th/F 3/29-30: No class. NCUR Conference.  You are responsible for attending and writing a summary of one session

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T 4/03: Chapter 9, continued. Peer editing Cause and Effect: bring paper topic and thesis and outline and introduction to class.
Th/Fr 4/5-6. The class must agree to attend sessions of NULCon Friday (unless you are attending the banquet on Thursday evening) or we will hold class and do peer revision. If class is cancelled, you are responsible for attending any one session on Friday and writing a short critique.

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T 4/10: Peer revision. Bring paper draft to class. Chapter 15, continued.

Th 4/12: Revised c/e paper submitted for my perusal during class. Bring Portfolio papers to class to workshop including the portolio Introduction.

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Portfolios due: At the time of the final: Thursday, 4/19, 11-11:30 am in my office, EH 453.  Put your name on the cover.  Black out any information you don't want put in the trash.  You may pick up the corrected portfolio in the English office Monday 4/23 from 8-4, or it will be discarded unless special arrangements are made to pick it up on Tuesday, 4/24.