Composition I
|
|
English 111L Section L
(HOPW 15) Linked
with POLI 111 Fall,
2007 MWF L: 9-9:50
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Dr.
Chidsey Dickson Office:
Carnegie 222 544-8110
dickson_c@lynchburg.edu Office
Hours: M&W 10-10:45am (in library foyer) and 2-3pm (Carnegie 222). |
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Required Materials
Brief
Thomson Handbook David Blakesley and Jeffrey Hoogeveen
Stolen
Sharpie Revolution: A DIY Zine Resource Alex Wrekk
Sentence
Composing
Don Killgallon
Bound
By Law Jennifer
Jenkins
Notebook
or loose leaf binder to do your freewrites and record notes in class. Bring
this notebook/binder to every class (see “Participation” Grade).
Course Description
Writing is less a “skill”
(like riding a bike) than a practice (like getting along with others, playing
soccer, etc) consisting of many skills and strategies, as well as some accrued
judgment about which skills and strategies best apply to a particular
situation. To communicate well, regardless of medium or purpose, you have to
develop and hone a writing process that is flexible enough to handle a variety
of rhetorical situations. Editing at the sentence level (for clarity and
correctness) is an essential, but relatively small part of the whole process.
For the most part, writing is about generating a lot of ideas, sorting and
sifting for the best ones, and developing and framing those for a particular
audience/purpose/medium. In a nutshell, that’s what we’ll be doing for 15
weeks.
We’ll spend most of our time
in class together doing informal writing, sharing it, and in general talking
about whatever comes up. Typically, we talk often and complexly about invention (how does a writer find
something to say?) and about the
rhetorical situation (what are the particular constraints that guide a
writer’s choices?).
This course is “linked” with
Dr. Meinke’s POLI 111, “Quest For Justice.” The linkage between the two courses
consists of a:
- shared interest in higher education as training
for an active citizenry (so, one question is: what constitutes
“participation” in a democratic society?)
- concerted effort to
foreground (and contrast) the two disciplines’ methods of inquiry (so, one
question is: how does a political scientist approach an event or debate
vs. a rhetorician/writer?)
- joint exploration of
the “rhetoric of memorials” in a Field Trip (Oct 10.)
As
for learning mechanics and grammar, I do assign several mini-lessons/quizzes
from an on-line grammar. You will also have opportunities to improve your
grammar when you respond to my feedback to your work (Note: be alert for
recurrent problems). In general, know this: the burden for improving the
“correctness” of your writing lies with you. If you want to master Standard
Edited English, you definitely will. If you’re ho-hum about it and not already
gifted in that area, then you’ll probably continue making the same kinds of
error you’ve made in the past. This
doesn’t mean you won’t be a good writer in the sense of using writing to
discover and develop ideas, but it does mean that the writing you do on the job
(reports, emails) or in public contexts (blogs, correspondence) might contain
embarrassing gaffes (like misplacing commas or using “affect’ when the word
really should be “effect”). There are some tricks I can share with you about
editing your work, about learning to spell better, and so on, but this kind of
polishing work hardly ever happens when writers are not interested in what they
are writing. Writing really is like playing a sport—a coach can’t make you a
good player.
Grades
|
Participation (Attendance, Peer
Feedback, Sentence Composing*, etc) |
20% |
|
1-1
Conference Preparation (1 required @ %5) |
5% |
|
|
5% |
|
Ecology of a Cracker
Childhood
Essay |
5% |
|
Writing
Projects (3 @ 15%) |
45% |
E-Portfolio |
20% |
*
On dates when there is sentence composing homework, you will turn in your HW to
me in hard copy. I’ll have an accordion file folder and it will be up to you to
put your HW in the slot with your name on it. If you’d like (and this would
make sense for some assignments), you can make a Xerox copy of the book and
work directly on the copy page. Typically, we will not go over this homework in class unless you have a specific
question. This is a workbook, so the idea is that you do the exercises and it
builds up certain kinds of prose-making “muscles.” Whether this works or not
you depends on how much you put into it. If you miss a day, you can still turn
in your homework outside my office door the same day by 5pm. You will receive
half-credit but it’s better than nothing. At the end of the semester, I will
add up the completed Sentence Composing Homeworks, which will factor into about
half of your Participation Grade.
Standards
To get an A in the class you:
- Prepare fully for every class—do the grammar
homework, the reading, the writing, and be ready to discuss your current
project. Being “prepared” for class also means being ready and able to
help the whole class or your small group engage with the material for the
day. Slouching down in your seat, hood-or-iPod-earpiece-wearing, sleeping
or head-on-desk: all indicate a lack of engagement. Basically, one slough
per semester is acceptable. Beyond that, it’s a liability for the class
and so you’ll be docked points for your Participation Grade.
- Responding in class—this means listening
attentively to what others are saying (not just the instructor) and
RESPOND. Don’t hog the stage but don’t sit back and let others keep the
ball rolling. Be thinking, comparing what two people said for similarities
and differences. Make connections to previous discussions and to the
current project. Be intellectually awake!
- Turn in
all assignments on time (exceptions can be negotiated as they arise, but
must involve good reasoning and be discussed in a timely fashion).
- Revise work until it is not only insightful and
briskly written but also polished (proofread)
- Miss no more than three classes (extreme
exceptions can be dealt with on an individual basis).
To get a B, you will generally need to meet the criteria of an
A, but with some inconsistencies—or, you do all the work but the writing does
not meet the departmental standards. The “inconsistency” could happen in any
area, but generally it shows up as not being prepared for every class (not
having the reading done, not handing in assignments on time), writing projects
that don't meet all the assignment criteria, sporadic participation in class,
or attendance or tardiness problems. The key here is that you are generally
meeting the criteria for an A, but occasionally or in a particular area you are
not.
To get a C, one or two inconsistencies become a norm rather
than an exception. So, you could be working hard and learning a lot—improving your writing abilities—but
your writing that continually misses the mark (doesn’t respond fully to the
assignment description), or you show little to no participation in class
discussions, your is routinely late, so on.
Consistently
failing to meet the criteria to receive any of these grades will result in a D or a failing grade.
Attendance/Class Behavior
- More than three
unexcused absences from class indicates that, regardless of your writing ability
or performance, you are not really invested in the course. After three
absences, I might ask to speak to you about what’s hindering your full
engagement (problems with workload, difficulty of assignments, etc.). Students who have six or more absences
automatically fail the class. Since the class is only 50 minutes long
(5 minutes of which is taken up with roll-taking and announcements), being
on time is absolutely necessary. If you are chronically late, I will have
to begin to count each lateness as one half an absence.
- No food is allowed in class but you can bring a
drink if there is a top.
- Use the restroom before
you come to class, but if you need to go, you don’t need to ask
permission—just be quiet as you leave and return. Also, sometimes during
the middle of class you just need to stretch your legs and take a deep
breath—if you can do this quietly I have no problem with it.
Behavioral Standards for Learning Environments
(excerpted
from the Hornet)
The values and attitudes that should guide student behavior consistent with
maintaining an environment conducive to learning are set forth in the
The following standards and procedures apply to all learning environments.
However, each School and each instructor may have codes to specify additional
standards suitable for learning environments or activities.
No student in
- Arriving
on time.
- Being
seated when it is time to begin and being attentive throughout.
- Refraining
from engaging in conversations with others unless participating in group
activities.
- Using
a courteous tone when speaking.
- Using
appropriate language.
- Refraining
from leaving the event while it is in progress (except for illness or with
prior approval).
- Treating
others with respect.
- Refraining
from eating.
- Respecting
the process of discussion and group activities.
- Leaving
the facility in a neat and clean condition.
Missed Classes
Due to sickness, athletic
events, family problems, etc., you will probably miss one or two classes during
the semester. There’s no need to notify me if that’s all you miss. It is your
responsibility, though, to have contact information for another person in the
class (email and phone number) so that if you do miss a class you can find out
what you missed, possible changes to the syllabus, etc.. More than three
unexcused absences results in a drop in your semester grade by ½ letter grade.
Picking Up Work After an Absence
Most of my response to your
writing will occur online, but you will occasionally turn in hard copies. If you
are absent on the day I return a hardcopy of your work, you can pick it up
later outside my office door in a cardboard box marked “ENGLISH 111 Dr.
Dickson.” If you leave your work there for weeks and weeks, it will indicate to
me a lack of interest in improving your work (see “Participation Grade”).
Class Preparedness and Late Assignments
Late assignments are
penalized a half a letter grade for every day they are late. My feedback to
your work will be prompt if it is turned in on time, but if you turn something
in late, I cannot promise that I will have time to turn your work around as
quickly. It may be 4-7 days before I have time to respond.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious act
of intellectual theft and will not be tolerated. All language and ideas you
deploy in formal projects that you derive from sources must be credited. We
will discuss the MLA guidelines for incorporating and documenting sources. As
far as CW posts go, you are on your honor not to read your peers’ posts and
merely paraphrase what they say. If I see that this is a problem, I will speak
to you individually. If the problem is not addressed, I may choose to turn off
your ability to see your peers’ posts, which disrupts part of the point of the
electronic forum: seeing what others have to say.
What to Bring to Class (this is part of your “Participation Grade”)
- Notebook and pen
- Any text from which there is a reading assignment
for that particular day
- Any work (drafts, notes, etc.) from the major
writing project you’re working on
All writers can benefit from
discussing their work with another interested writer; hence, the individual
attention provided by the
-
invention and focusing your document in the early stages
-
developing and organizing ideas in the rough draft
-
integrating and documenting sources (when applicable)
-
editing and proofreading before a final draft
You may like to visit the
Teacher Licensure
This course is designed to assist students preparing to meet Virginia
Department of Education, Teacher Licensure Competencies in English as
follows:
Competency 1: Understanding of the knowledge,
skills, and process of English as defined in the Virginia Standards of
Learning. (SOLS are 9.6-9.7; 10.7-10.9; 11.7-11.8 for ENGL 111; and all of
these plus 9.8-9.9; 10.10-10.11; 11.9-11.10; 12.7-12.8 for ENGL 112).
Competency 3: Knowledge of grammar, usage, and mechanics and their
integration in writing
Writing Projects: Overview
WP#1 Zine
One
of the big complaints that college writers make is that no one really reads
their writing—no one really cares what they write. It’s all just “make-work”
B.S. for a grade. That’s a rather cynical view on what might be better
classified as “writing-to-learn” or “writing-to-demonstrate-comprehension”—two
kinds of writing that really only have the teacher as an audience. In this
assignment, you’ll have to work out your own purpose and audience by first
doing some research on “zines”—self-published magazines that cover a variety of
topics for a variety of reasons, not all of them persuasive in the traditional
sense of the word of trying to convince someone of the truth of your position.
Some zines draw on others sources in a rigorous way (being careful to summarize
the logic of an argument) and some zines use sources to “riff” (improvise) new
content. We’ll discuss a different
heuristics for generating insight into
topics and we’ll go over the basics of zine construction. We may even have a
guest artist in to discuss book-binding. Though this is an “arty” project,
there will be very clear grading criteria to steer by. And there will be
non-negotiable due dates for different stages of the project. The three stages
will be:
·
Research zines
and brainstorm topics of interest
·
Production
Workshops (how to format and produce)
·
Drafts to Share
·
Revision
WP#2 Letter
This is a scenario-based assignment,
meaning that I will describe a predicament and you will figure out how writing
can ameliorate the situation (but maybe not “solve” the problem).
This is a “scenario-based” assignment,
meaning that I will describe a predicament and you will figure out how writing
can ameliorate the situation (but maybe not “solve” the problem).
Here’s the basic situation:
Your son/daughter attends a
school that has just banned three t-shirts:
o
anything with
guns on it (including mention of the NRA)
o
anything with mid
or full body shots of women or men dressed "seductively"
o
anything with a
Confederate flag
After the announcement of
the ban, there was an outcry from some students and parents, though there was
quite a variety of different criticisms being offered. Some thought some
aspects of a dress code were appropriate, but not others. Some believed that
First Amendment issues were at stake so, as a matter of principle, they
rejected the bans. Some fully endorsed the bans but felt there were more pressing
issues (like how to create more student input on curriculum or how to support
more collaboration among different ages and between school and the community).
You will choose ONE of the following two
scenarios:
Scenario One:
the PTO is meeting and, as an active parent and visible community member,
you've been asked to write a letter addressing the PTO on how parents should
address the school board. This letter will go out to parents before the PTO
meets in an open forum.
Scenario Two:
you are one of the stakeholders described above (a student or a parent holding
this or that position) and you are writing to the principal. You are trying to
convince her/him to reconsider some aspect of the decision.
In either case, your job is
to (not necessarily in this order):
·
show
that you fully understand the issue(s) and the stakes
·
articulate a
position on one or more of the issues and make it convincing for
the particular audience you have chosen
·
create a clear
statement of how to proceed next
WP#3 Audio Essay
To
introduce you a bit to
·
Research and
brainstorming on memorials and erasures
·
Print Essay on an
interesting question about public writing
·
Remediation of
Print Essay à Audio Essay
·
Final Reflection
e-Portfolio
You will gather together
four or five examples of the writing you did this semester that illustrate
different discoveries you’ve made about writing. We will discuss different
strategies for commenting on your work and then drawing out generalizations
about all the work you did this semester. This portfolio will be constructed as
a simple webpage. The stages:
·
Simple
Webpage Design Workshop
·
Group
Brainstorming on the Writing Process
·
Draft of
Portfolio (hard copy) to Share
·
E-Portfolio Draft
then Revision
Schedule of Assignments Fall
2007
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Date |
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Grammar/Mechanics/Style Assignments
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AUGUST
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M 27 |
Introduction to Course*;
hand-out (prompt for Cracker Essay) *I will be present at your first
POLI 111 class to discuss the Learning Community themes: justice and
community |
|
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W 29 |
Read Course Syllabus and
Chapter 2 of the Brief Thomson Handbook (BTH)
à
quiz on syllabus and chap 2 Using some of the BTH guidelines
on reading, read one zine (in library). Take notes. Browse 1/2 of Sharpie
Revolution (SR) |
|
|
F 31 |
Due: 3
page (typed, double-spaced) essay on Ecology
of a Cracker Childhood. In class: Matt McCormick’s
short film, “The Art of Graffiti Removal” & “American Nutria” |
|
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SEPTEMBER |
||
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3 |
Read rest of SR and assignment description
for WP#1 Read 3 other zines
(library). Take some notes. Write 2-paragraph
description/analysis of 2 zines (total =
4 paragraphs). “Description” covers what zine content and anything
surprising about the stories or arguments made. “Analysis” suggests how the
content might have been invented or the relevance of the layout/design
features or the content given mainstream or official treatments of the topic.
In other words: how does the zine offer something different—is it
different in terms of bringing out
voices or views usually not heard/seen, or is it different formally, in how
the form shapes the readers’ experience of the content. (Recall the McCormick
short films) |
|
|
5 |
Read Chapter One in BTH Write two 1-page
(single-spaced) freewrites on two different possible topics for your own zine
(NOTE: you will share
these) Meet in Computer Lab for Workshop |
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sentences.htm [Whenever there are assignments from this online grammar
source, your assignment is to read the information, note the examples, and
then take the quiz. You will immediately
get the corrected answers. If you didn’t get 70% or better correct, it
probably means you need to spend more time with this page and/or see me] |
|
7 |
Write feedback to your
peer. Research design aesthetics
for zines (titles, covers, introductions, and layout): what differences do
you notice? Come with 4-5 written observations to share. Meet in Computer Lab for
Workshop |
|
|
F 10 |
WP#1 Write 2 pages
(single-spaced) of text Gather (and email to
yourself and/or put on your P-drive) 3-4 images (1 historic) pertaining to your topic. Meet in Computer Lab |
|
|
12 |
||
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F 14 |
Due Complete Polished Draft of WP#1 Staple a “Checklist” on
top of your zine draft.
|
|
|
17 |
(I’ll return first drafts
with my comments.) Read assignment description for WP#2 Write a 2 page
(single-spaced) freewrite on the scenario you choose. Also, bring in one bit
of useful research on the topic of “free speech” on school campuses/with
minors to share with the group. |
Read Chap 8 in BTH |
|
19 |
Meet in computer lab to
work on zines |
|
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F21 |
Revision of WP#1 Due (make 5 copies to share) |
|
|
24 |
Draft of your letter (WP#2) |
Read Chap 9 in BTH |
|
26 |
Sentence Composing 3 |
|
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F 28 |
Revision of Letter (hard copy) plus 1-page Reflection |
|
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OCTOBER |
||
|
1 |
Meet in Computer Lab
(workshop on audio) |
Sentence Composing 4 |
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3 |
Meet in Computer Lab
(workshop on audio) |
Read Chap 11 in BTH |
|
F5 |
Meet in Computer Lab
(mini assignment audio)
Final Draft of Letter
|
|
|
8 |
Sentence Composing 5 |
|
|
10 |
Field Trip (gather at 8:30
in circle outside Daura Gallery) |
Sentence Composing 6 |
|
F12 |
Due 2
pages of the 4-page (typed, double-spaced) essay on an interesting question
related to the fieldtrip |
|
|
15 |
|
|
|
17 |
Meet in Computer Lab (workshop
on audio) |
Sentence Composing 7 |
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F19 |
Due: 4
page (typed, double-spaced) essay Meet in Computer Lab |
|
|
22 |
Due:
Storyboard of audio essay |
|
|
24 |
Due: 2
assets for project Meet in Computer Lab |
Sentence Composing 8 |
|
F26 |
Due: 2-3
more assets for project Meet in Computer Lab |
Sentence Composing 9 |
|
29 |
Due: Draft
of Audio Essay (ready to share) Meet in Computer Lab |
|
|
31 |
Meet in Computer Lab |
Sentence Composing 10 |
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NOVEMBER |
||
|
F 2 |
Due: Final
Audio Essay (and Reflection) |
|
|
5 |
Sentence Composing 11 |
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|
7 |
TBA |
Sentence Composing 12 |
|
F9 |
Sentence Composing 13 |
|
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12 |
TBA |
Re-take one of the earlier
quizzes from the online grammar that you did not do well in. |
|
14 |
TBA |
Re-take one of the earlier
quizzes from the online grammar that you did not do well in. |
|
F16 |
Come to class with copies
of your selections for the Portfolio plus
two questions about writing that you find interesting (that is, not easily
answered) |
|
|
19 |
Due: Draft
of Final Reflection |
|
|
21 |
|
|
|
23 |
|
|
|
26 |
Re-take one of the earlier
quizzes from the online grammar that you did not do well in. |
|
|
28 |
TBA |
|
|
F 30 |
TBA |
|
|
DECEMBER |
||
|
3 |
TBA |
|
|
5 |
|
|
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F 7 |
Due:
e-Portfolio (print out a text version of your Reflection and write your url at
the bottom) |
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Next semester,
in English 112, we will focus on research-based writing. And again we will
explore both print and multi-media compositions. To prepare us for this work, I
am asking that you read the comic book, Bound
By Law. In addition to reading BBL, I’d like you to start your own blog on
a subject of your choice. (There are several free services out there,
blogger.com being the most popular). It
could just be an online diary, as many blogs are. Or it could gloss little bits
of news and commentary, as is also very common. Or, because it’s relevant to
our interest in composing in various media, you can look over and begin to
think through the “New Contexts for
Writing” (beginning on page 2)
in the BTH.