REVISED 9/23/16 PLEASE FOLLOW THIS SCHEDULE!
English 1301
Mrs. Beard
Fall 2016
1stNine Weeks Syllabus/Unit Plan
Primary objective: To provide students with the tools necessary to think, read and write critically. This course is also designed to help students understand the writing process and to become fluent in a variety of writing styles. Students will be asked to both evaluate and create different writing techniques. Students will also be exposed to a variety of different rhetorical strategies and will connect those strategies to meaning within certain literary works.
Course Description:
Intensive study of and practice in writing processes, from invention and researching to drafting, revising, and editing, both individually and collaboratively. Emphasis on effective rhetorical choices, including audience, purpose, arrangement, and style. Focus on writing the academic essay as a vehicle for learning, communicating, and critical analysis. Credits: 3 college credit hours. .5 high school credit
Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion of this course, students will…
- Demonstrate knowledge of individual and collaborative writing processes.
- Develop ideas with appropriate support and attribution, following standard style guidelines in documenting sources. Analyze a text (both written and visual) based on its rhetorical strategies, strengths, and weaknesses.
- Write in a style appropriate to audience and purpose.
- Read, reflect, and respond critically to a variety of text. Construct arguments that offers logical support from other resources/examples
- Use edited American English in academic essays.
Core Objectives:
- Critical Thinking Skills: To include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information.
- Communication Skills: To include effective written, oral, and visual communication. Discuss the meaning of rhetoric: purpose, audience, organization, voice, tone, structure.
- Teamwork: To include the ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal.
- Personal Responsibility: To include the ability to connect choices, actions, and consequences to ethical decision-making.
Texts: The Glass Castle, Outliers, and Everything’s an Argument, and teacher-selected pieces
Essential Questions: What is an argument? What must one understand about the process and crafting of an argument? What are the essential qualities of a strong argument? How does narration both tell a story and present an argument? Why is it important to understand the needs of the audience in crafting an argument? What steps should one take in choosing appropriate support and evidence for an argument? What is the impact of style on an argument?
Each student will need a composition bookto be used solely for this class. It will be kept primarily in the classroom and submitted every three weeks (dates are noted on the calendar). The work will be graded on both completeness and effort. Journals will be assigned every Friday, with some topics addressed during the week as well. No late work on this assignment. It is your responsibility to make certain the journal is ready for my review by the date listed on the syllabus.
August 22-26 (you are expected to have the required text(s) in class every day).
Mon: Welcome, “meet and greet” and discuss the summer reading assessment and the focus of the course.
Tues: Review course expectations and other procedures.
Wed/ThursAssign reader response essay (summer reading)—summative.Note-taking activity: Everything’s an Argument! .2, 3,4, A, B HW: Prepare notecards for next week’s discussion of the summer reading.
Fri:Free-write Friday w/connections to The Glass Castle. Bring your book! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, A, B ***Pep Rally day!
HW: Finish reading Chapters 1-4 of Everything’s An Argument
August 29- September 2
Mon: Student-led discussion of summer reading A, B
Tues: Reader response essay due to turnitin.com by 7:15 am (summative). Hard copies are due in class. Work not submitted according to these guidelines will be counted late; continue student-led discussion A, B
Wed/Thurs: Senior Picture Day ;TED TALK—discuss and connect back to Walls , B, 4
Fri: free-write Friday 1, 2, 3, 4, A, B,
September 5-9
Mon:Introduce the narrative essay assignment. Discuss the goals of narration. 4, A
HW:Read sample narrative essays. (We will begin this in class. The goal is to develop some ideas for ways to tell your own story.)
Tues: Students will work with partners on their introductions. This will give students the opportunity to reflect and revise based on peer/instructor feedback. 1, 2, A, B, C,
Wed/Thurs: Writing Workshop for narrative Essay--formative (bring intro and one body paragraph—2 typed, properly formatted copies) You will receive a zero without the required TWO copies. NO EXCEPTIONS. Work is due at the beginning of class. If you are absent, the work must be emailed to me no later than 3pm on the day you are scheduled for class, otherwise a late penalty will apply. 1-5, A, B
Fri: Friday free-write 1-5
HW: continue working on narrative essay, study for vocabulary quiz 1
September 12-16***You have reading assignments from the text book this week! It’s your responsibility to be prepared. It is my right to give a pop quiz.
Mon:Unit 1 Vocab. Quiz (formative);review results from reader response essay and discuss writing strategies/skills.1
HW: Finish narrative essay. BRING TWO COPIES!
Tues: Writing Workshop: NarrativeEssay (full essay due for workshop. TWO typed, properly formatted copies are required in order to receive credit.) Students will complete one self-edit and one peer edit (formative) Remember that the work must be emailed before 3pm if you’re absent! 1-5, A, B) (CHECK JOURNALS—formative) HW: Read “Little Girls or Little Woman? The Disney Princess Effect,” “Toddlers in Tiaras,” and “The Culture of Thin Bites Fiji.” (pp. 482-504)
Wed/Thurs: Review rhetorical analysis (meaning and method); Group project: provide a rhetorical analysis of the assigned piece and present to the class. Students will work in groups to break down the following questions: What are the strengths/weaknesses of the article? What appeals does the writer employ? What rhetorical strategies and devices are in use? What is their overall effect? 4, A, B, C, D
Fri: Narrative Essay due by 7:15 am to turnitin.com (Summative) . Hard copies are due in class. Receipt should be stapled to the back of the essay. Essays not submitted on time will be subject to the late work policy.
Free-write Friday.. 1-5, A
HW: Read “Barbie Doll,” “The Story of an Hour, “Little Woman,” and “A Story as Wet as Tears.” (posted on website if you missed them in class)
September 19-23
Mon: Introduce the argument essay assignment; discussion of short pieces1-5, A, B
Tues:continue discussion 1-5, A, B
HW: Write the introduction for your compare/contrast essay.
Wed/Thurs: Unit 2 Vocabulary quiz (formative); Writing Workshop for argument essay--formative (bring intro—2 typed, properly formatted copies) You will receive a zero without the required TWO copies. NO EXCEPTIONS. Work is due at the beginning of class. 1-5, A,
Fri: Free-write Friday. Evaluate the use of stereotype in Disney films; what message is this media mogul sending to young girls? What other fallacies do we witness in everyday life? 1-5, A, B
HW: Read “At the Root of Identity” and “The Freedom to Choose Your Pronoun” p. 550-567
September 26-30
Mon:Class discussion of articles. How is gender affected by stereotype? What are the pitfalls of gender identification? 4, A
Tues: continue discussion of short pieces with a focus on comparison. 4, A
Wed/Thurs: Writing Workshop for argument essay--formative (full essay—2 typed, properly formatted copies) You will receive a zero without the required TWO copies. NO EXCEPTIONS. Work is due at the beginning of class. 1-5, A, B
Fri: Argument essay due by 7:15 am to turnitin.com (Summative) . Hard copies are due in class. Receipt should be stapled to the back of the essay. Essays not submitted on time will be subject to the late work policy. Reading time after essay submission and free-write; Bring your book! (20 minutes or so) 1-5, A, B
HW: Read Chapters 1-3 of Outliers Will there be a quiz?!??! Be prepared!
October 3-7
Mon: Teacher-led discussion, Chapters 1-3 4, A, B READ CHAPTERS 4-6
HW: Select a passage from your assigned chapter and prepare to lead the discussion on block day. You should prepare a minimum of two HIGHER level questions to ask the questions about your passage.
Tues: Introduce Outlierssynthesis essay and annotated bibliography assignments; student-led discussion ofOutliers 4, A, B
Wed/Thurs:Counselor’s Visit (bring your book—if there’s any extra time, you will be able to continue your reading of the book)
Fri: Friday free-write; Discuss Information Literacy (start working on handout) 1-5, A, B
HW: Finish Outliers; decide the approach you will take for your essay!
October 10-14
Mon: student holiday
Tues:Unit 3 Vocab Quiz (formative)continue discussion of Outliers 1-5, A, B
Wed/Thurs:Review Outliers essay and bibliography assignment and the goal for our time in the library; Library: Research Day 1—finalize your position, begin selecting articles you can use in constructing your argument 4, 5, A, B HW: INFORMATION LITERACY HANDOUT DUE TOMORROW
Fri: Library: Research Day 2, continue to select articles 2, 4, A, D ***turn in information literacy handout today
October 17-21
Mon: Library Research Day 3; finalize your selections,create a works cited page which should be submitted by the END of the class period (formative).If you are absent, you must email the work to me no later than 3 pm in order to receive full credit. A hard copy must be submitted as soon you return to campus. 2, 4, A, D
Tues: Library Research Day 4 (correct works cited page (if needed) and work annotated bibliography)—first summative on the next grading period!)2, 4, A, D
BRING ALL YOUR PRINTED SOURCES TO CLASSS TOMORROW
Wed/Thurs:Vocabulary Test (units 1-3) (summative); Evaluating Sources Activity—You will be talking about your research in your writing communities. Be prepared. 1-5, A, B, C
HW: finalize the annotated bibliography
Fri: Annotated bibliography due by 7:15 am to turnitin.com (summative). Hard copies due at the beginning of class.Friday free-write;1-5, A, B, C
Tutoring: room 2602: Tuesday, Thursday: 2:50-3:30 Mornings and other afternoonsby appointment only.
Make-ups: If you need to make up a quiz or test (essays), please see me and we will work out a time. Students have one week to make up a test, quiz, or in-class essay. However, if a student misses a reading check, the makeup must be taken the day the student returns to class.
Absences: If a student is absent, it is his/her responsibility to make up the work within the allotted time. Failure to make up a quiz or a test within the allotted time will result in a zero. Your absence does not increase the amount of time allotted to complete the work. (ie. You must keep up with the reading schedule even while absent.)
Grades: 75% summative (tests, reading checks and essays)
25% formative (quizzes, reading checks and other grades)
***AP/Dual Credit courses do not allow for retesting on either formatives or summatives.
Summatives: (4) Formatives: (10) ***plus any pop quizzes I deem necessary
Reader Response EssayVocabulary Quiz (3)
Narrative EssayWorkshops (4)
Argument EssayWorks Cited page (1)
Vocabulary TestJournal Checks (2)