JACKSON COLLEGE WRITING EXPERIENCE:
ENG 131.I50
Winter 2017
English Composition Instructor: Mrs. Agy
Lead faculty: ENG 201
Director of the Jackson College Writing Fellow Program
Director of the Jackson College Heritage Center
Office: WJ Maher (North) Campus: 110
Email:
NOTE: This course beginslate in the semester. As such, you will be completing more work each week to make sure all assignments are completed by the end of the semester. You must set aside much time to complete this work.
This course begins Feb 06 and May 5
Office Hours:
See below
Office Phone: 787-0800 ext. 7006 (Please know that I teach on several campus sites and will have limited access to my office phone. Email is the best way to reach me)
COURSE TEXTS:Here is the short of it with the textbooks:
You will need the Writing Today with the MLA update loose leaf pages. It is cheaper than the book. You will NOT need the Revel---that is the online version and you can use it if you like but we will NOT be using the REVEL (Online) version.
Writing Today Mla Update (loose pgs)(w/ REVEL Access)Edition: N/A
Author:Johnson-Sheehan
ISBN:9780134618678
Copyright Year:2017
Publisher:Pearson
COURSE MATERIALS: A flash (jump, thumb) drive (to back up and transport your
digital files) and daily access to a working computer and Internet access
ONLINE CLASS and EMAIL INFO: Click the “Online Jet Net” link on the JC homepage for online class site. Students should regularly check both student email accounts (access from the JC homepage & Jet Net) for messages.
This is not an independent study—it is a true class set in a virtual world. The benefit is that you can attend later or earlier in the day than you might in a face to face class and complete your work. But note: you must actively participate and make deadlines.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
JC Catalogue: This is an intensive writing course. Narrative and descriptive modes are stressed. Basic research strategies are introduced. An end of the semester portfolio is required. Prereq. ENG 085* and ENG 090*
WELCOME TO ENGLISH ENG 131!
I’m excited to be here, and I am excited about our working together this term! In this class, you will be examining two purposes of our course. First, you will focus on using writing as a place to explore serious inquiry; secondly, you will broaden your experiences with writing, reading, and critical thinking.
As the title of this course suggests, we are going to be looking at the different ways in which we engage the writing process and how this process helps us interact with one another. Even if we are not aware of it, we are writers in our everyday experiences. All of us participate in our communities and our workplace through writing. Whether these experiences are letters, memos, emails, directions, resumes, or the standard academic essay, we can agree that writing is an important part of our everyday lives. Some of us are comfortable communicating through writing, and some of us are not. I think some of this discomfort stems from a “mystique” that surrounds writing; we might think that some people are born writers, much like others are born singers or artists. This is not necessarily true, and this course will try to debunk some of these myths. My goal is to help you find your starting point and work with you so that you become more comfortable with and in the writing process. Since you will need to write for a variety of courses at JC, I want you to gain confidence in your own ability to communicate through written texts.
THIS CLASS IS A WORKSHOP
What I mean by “workshop” is that it is a cooperative venture that I will help guide, but you and your work will drive the course. This will require your full mental and physical participation every day. We will work on activities, collect evidence from a variety of sources, discuss topics, analyze readings or images, and practice various writing strategies. You will be expected to work in groups, and you will learn how to give constructive feedback to your peers.
It is a standard expectation that college students study two hours outside of class for every hour they are in class. This means you MUST find at least 6 hours per week (or more) for homework. Factor in job duties, children responsibilities, home life, etc… Six hours per week will be more than enough time to complete your work—but ONLY when you budget that time accordingly. I will facilitate discussions; conference with you; offer feedback; help you will prewriting, peer review, and editing skills; and prepare you for the portfolio assessment at the end of the semester. I will come to class prepared, supportive, and energetic; I’ll expect you to do the same.
Most importantly, I want you to better understand the reasons why you make the choices you do when you write. This will require active reflection or places where you consider what you wrote, how you wrote, why you made the changes you did, and how these changes influence your purpose or your audience. Understanding the whys will help you organize your thoughts and think more critically. These are great skills to develop.
The primary business of this class is to improve your writing process and skills and to find and develop your writing voice.
Writing is thought on paper (or screen), a complex intellectual exercise requiring you to stretch your thinking, to think critically and make valid and accurate choices, distinctions and decisions. Like all skills, effective writing requires practice and effort.
In this class, we will practice and write narrative, descriptive, informative, analytical and report styles. Although writing is more than grammar and punctuation, mastering these conventions is crucial to clear communication, and we will work on them as needed.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Students Acquire from this Course (Educational Objectives)
- Employ parts of the recursive writing process--including pre-writing/discovery, planning, focusing, organizing, drafting, revising, proofreading, and evaluating sources—to achieve purpose in audience-centered communication.
- Able to articulate and demonstrate use of rhetorical situation—purpose, audience, context-- in consciously crafted, audience-focused writing
- Use genres to navigate complex rhetorical challenges and compose texts that achieve purpose and meet audience needs
- Demonstrate ability to employ narrative, descriptive, and informative strategies in consciously crafted, audience-focused writing
- Ability to identify assumptions, point of view, and implications born of reasoning
- Ability to identify, explain, and employ concepts clearly
- Demonstrate functional organizational structure appropriate to genre and modality.
- Employ strategies for developing and supporting claims appropriate to rhetorical situation.
- Employ Write to Learn methods through reflective writing and research for further understanding and additional knowledge
- Demonstrate developing research skills including establishing research questions, defining the kind of information needed, where to find information, and evaluation of information
- Ability to integrate, cite, and document sourced material
- Practices correct grammar and usage
- Ability to work collaboratively and as a member of a team
- Ability to identify and assess the contributions of self and others working on a team
Please note that this is a General Education course. Below is Jackson College’s General Education Philosophy:
General education facilitates the development of an informed and educated person who recognizes and respects the diversity of communities, thinks critically, and is proficient at fundamental skills. General education engages students in active learning by providing opportunities to observe, analyze, and evaluate, and to apply these skills critically to problems. General education fosters the development of responsible, ethical human beings dedicated to improving their own lives and the lives of others through work, family life, social and political action, cultural awareness, and service to others.
Our course incorporates a specific General Education Outcome (GEO) established by the JC Board of Trustees, administration, and faculty: GEO 1: Write clearly, concisely, and intelligibly
GEO’s goals are in concert with four-year colleges and universities and reflect input from the professional communities we serve. GEOs guarantee students achieve goals necessary for graduation credit, transferability, and professional skills needed in many certification programs.
COURSE WRITING:
Our work together will all relate to the broad theme of “community.” We might want to say that “a community is a group of people who live in the same neighborhood” or “a community is a group of people with the same ideas, beliefs, and language.” While these generalizations might be true, they are still generalizations. We will be considering the idea of “community” more closely in this course; hence, for the next twelve or so weeks you will carefully consider parts of a community that you are involved in. Each assignment will enlighten others about your community, and it might help you better understand the people, language, and purpose of this particular community--this is thinking through writing! There’s much room here for you to shape the projects/units in ways that are important for you, and we’ll work together on this.
Three Units: 300 points
We’ll focus on three units this term. Be prepared to spend much time learning the different aspects of writing and much time practicing writing.
Unit I:
Unit one asks you to explore an event in your community that is relevant to you. Take us there; help us see the people and the events, and make us aware of how this might be significant to us, your audience. These narratives are wonderful places for academic analysis, and they also help us make connections to audience, purpose, and language. We will draw upon our own life experiences for this assignment; many times these life experiences will enrich our texts as well as give supporting evidence. We may also explore a significant person from the above community.
Unit II:
Unit II asks you practice analysis. More later.
Unit III:
Unit three asks you to write a persuasive piece about your community you chose. This lends to a more technical writing approach. Many of you will use this style in the science classes you take.
As we work on these, you’ll complete three kinds of writing this term:
- Prewriting and class work are intended to be pieces of the long essays that you’ll develop in the midst of each unit. Sometimes we will work on these in class; sometimes, you’ll start the assignment one day and return them the next. They are places where you can generate ideas (and text) that you can use in the long essay. Here, you will explore your wonderful ideas.
- Rough draft (RD) essays are the best drafts that you can develop stemming from the short prewriting exercises. Do not let the term “rough draft” confuse you--these should be wonderful examples of the assignment given. NOTE: If you do not participate inRD peer review—you lose the 40 points for the PR grade, or if you hand in aPR incomplete, 20 points will be deducted off the overall grade. If you miss PR, you must contact a Writing Fellow within 24 hours and participate in a WF conference—write a reflection about your revision, and submit that reflection with completed PR draft within the time frame I’ve given. You will NOT receive points for that meeting—but the engagement will allow you to place this paper in your portfolio. Remember, any paper in the portfolio must have gone through all of the process points (free write, rough draft, final draft) or it will not be allowed in the portfolio.
- Final working draft copies should be the very best work you can do. They will reflect where you are in terms of the course. But, remember that these will be submitted to me, resubmitted to your peers and myself at the end of the semester, and revised a final time for your portfolio. They will be very fine work when finished!
To receive full credit, you must hand in each essay and part when due. See below for how late work will affect grade. I must see the writing process, and I do not accept papers without all stages complete. The prewriting, rough drafts, and peer review receive 50 points, and the final draft receives 50 points. Remember, when you are working with a computer, you will be revising on the spot; this means that you must save your work often and label it “draft 1”, “draft 2”, etc… . I want to see lots of thinking and revising. Also, back up your work on one or more memory sticks; lost electronic work is not an excuse for not doing the work; work must be recreated if lost. I do not accept late work.
PORTFOLIO: 400 points
Our work will culminate in a portfolio; this packet will act as your final exam. As both a writer and a teacher, I understand that the more one writes, reflects, and rewrites the better a writer he/she becomes. Also, I understand that it is difficult to let others read our work and give us constructive criticism. But, I have learned how very helpful it is to read other peoples’ work, as well as to have them read mine. I grow as a writer and thinker every time I read your work, and nothing makes my heart smile better than to see your ideas and writing expand! To help you better engage in this writing process, we’ll use portfolio grading in this class. At the end of the term, you’ll revise three of your essays (10-12 pages) and upload them into the Jet Net. These must reflect your very best work and show your understand of writing, genre, and purpose. Each essay MUST have gone through the writing stages, all checked and reviewed by myself and your peers. If they have not, then they do not qualify for the portfolio.
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PARTICIPATION/ASSIGNMENTS: 300 points
As you can see, your participation grade is a substantial amount of the grade you’ll get in this course. If you are not here (meaning not ‘attending’; not actively participating; and not handing in work on time), you won’t earn this full credit; your grade in the course will thus decline. Sometimes, I understand that life interferes with one’s best intentions, but because of the workshop atmosphere, it is very important that you are actively participating in our class.
Attendance is essential to success in this course and is, therefore, required. If you do not participate or if you surf/scan through the online course, then you will be dropped. I will drop you from the course (if before the midterm drop date) or you will fail the course if you continue to not actively participate. If you need to be absent from class, you must contact me via email. I will excuse oneabsence due to emergencies (funeral). These must be backed up with documentation. Weddings, vacations, trips, job responsibilities, etc… do not mean one can miss work in our class.
I must repeat here: This is not an independent study—it is a true class set in a virtual world. The benefit is that you can attend later or earlier in the day than you might in a face to face class and complete your work. But note: you must actively participate and make deadlines.
Work Policy: As a rule, though, late work is not accepted NOTE: If I accept the late work, it will be because of a rare and/or an unavoidable emergency, and it must be documented—again, you are in the hospital or have a close family member who has passed away. I expect all work to be completed and handed in a timely manner.
Assigned readings and writings must be completed on time to receive full participation credit. Note: Complete all homework and paper assignments at home long before they are due. All work is due before or at the due day/time. Remember that computers will not always cooperate, so it is important for you to save often, and bring all work to our virtual class saved in rich text format.
Technology problems are not an excuse for late work. Please do not send your work to me via email. I have over 100 students, and I cannot accept work via email. All work must be dropped into the appropriate Jet Net upload spot in a timely manner.
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OTHER COURSE AND COLLEGE POLICIES:
1. Save all course work until you have received the end of the semester grade for this class. You are responsible for organizing and saving all class work. Electronic copies of your work are your responsibility; if they are lost, you will have to reproduce them for class credit.
2. Save all of your work as a Rich Text File; with some exceptions, this allows the JC computers to read your files; 2) if you continue to have problems transferring work from home to school contact the JC Solution Center and talk to one of our technicians. You can contact them by email at