Syllabus

The Community College of Denver
The Center for Arts & Sciences / Language, Arts & Behavioral Sciences Department
ENG 121-005: ENGLISH COMPOSITION I

ENG 121-005 CRN #: 30018
T/TR 8:30-9:45 am, SO 104
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General Information:

Instructor: Jeff Becker
Office: SO 307
Office Hours: Tuesday, 10am to 11am; Wed. 8:30am to 9:30am or by appointment
Email: Jeffrey.becker@ccd.edu
Required texts:
Axelrod, Rise B. and Charles R . Cooper. St. Martin's Guide to Writing (Short 8th ed.)
Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference, 6th ed.

Teaching Philosophy: I enjoy teaching writing and rhetoric and take great pleasure in my students’ developing proficiency in academic reading, writing, and critical thinking. I approach my teaching like a coach or mentor, but please be advised that I consider higher education an exercise in self-reliance. That said, I will not rescue students from the consequences of their choices. Please understand that enrolling in this class does not mean that you should expect me as your teacher to be solely responsible for your unique learning experience. I will do my utmost to ensure that you do improve your writing abilities and leave my class better equipped to handle future courses and job requirements; however, you must take responsibility if you fail to live up to the demands of the course. I expect that students will familiarize themselves with the course requirements and policies and do their best to follow these guidelines.

In other words, I will do my part, you do yours.

BASIC COURSE SPIEL:

Course description: This course emphasizes the planning, writing, and revising of compositions, including the development of critical and logical thinking skills. This course includes a minimum of five compositions that stress analytical, evaluative, and persuasive/argumentative writing.

Prerequisites: ENG 090 with a grade of “C” or better or minimum college level English assessment score (Accuplacer Sent. Skills 95 or above).

Course Outcomes: Upon successful completion of the class, the student should be able to:
1) Write vivid, focused narratives that compellingly illustrate a theme.
2) Write unified, coherent and well-developed analytical/argumentative essays.
3) Write a small-scale, researched argument using at least 1-2 sources from the library.
4) Read a piece of writing, of any sort, and identify the author's intent.
5) Read critically, outline, and summarize complex analytical essays/articles.
6) Continue to master and apply the writing process.
7) Write grammatically correct sentences.

CLASS FORMAT: This class will adopt the style of a seminar. In a few instances, when I think the class can benefit from it, I will offer lecture on specific points of the writing process. For the most part, however, this means that this is a DISCUSSION- based course, not a lecture course, and what we learn will be driven by the questions, comments, ideas and energies that you bring to our in-class discussions.

In each class session you should be prepared to read, write and discuss the topics relevant to that day’s topic of interest.

GRADED WORK:

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS: This class will focus on the successful completion of five major essays. Each essay assignment will be described in a handout and posted on the blog (see below) so you can look over it as needed. Each major essay will be worth 100 points.

Paper 1: Narrative. 3-5 pages. Due: 2/24
Paper 2: Profile. 3-5 pages. Due: 3/19
Paper 3: Analyzing Causes. 4-7 pages. Due: 4/14
Paper 4: Arguing a position. 5-7 pages. Due: 4/30
Paper 5: Final In-Class Essay Due: 5/5

DAILY WORK: The majority of the class will be dedicated to reading, writing, and writing about what we read. The easiest way to fail this class is to refuse to do your homework. A lack of preparedness is like stepping into the batters box with a golf club in your hand.

A common feature of this course will be in- and out-of-class writing assignments. These will be brief (1-2 typed, double-spaced pages, unless assigned as in-class writing) informal opportunities for you to practice the skills you will need for the major assignments in the course. Although these assignments are not heavily weighted individually, they are important cumulatively to your final grade and invaluable for the learning they encourage. They will be graded with an “S” (10 pts) for satisfactory or “U” (5 pts) for unsatisfactory.

PRESENTATION: All of your work, be it a major essay or a daily assignment, must be edited and proofread before you turn it in. The work should appear neat and professional, but small handwritten corrections to the work are acceptable. Please feel free to discuss with me any issues or concerns you have with grammar and punctuation, editing and proofreading, etc. Work that is unreadable and filled with mistakes is impossible for me to grade (because I can’t access your ideas if they are not communicated in clear language) and will be returned to you for a mandatory revision.

REVISIONS: All good writing is rewriting. This process of creation, evaluation, and revision is the key to all good writing. Even after you have received a grade on an essay, you may still revise your work again. Depending on the improvement of your work, the revision may not raise your grade at all, or it may raise it substantially. A revision will never lower your grade. The grade will be determined as the average of the scores of the original and the revised essay.

In cases that I see fit, papers will be returned with a “R” which means the student must meet with me and revise the paper before it will be graded.

NOTE: Please turn in the original and a revision self-analysis with the revision. This analysis should explain what you have changed in your paper, why you think it is better, and what weaknesses it still has. I cannot accept your revision without these items.

Assignment Format: Apart from in-class mini-papers, all written assignments should be typed. Always double-space. In the upper left-hand or right-hand corner of the first page, write your name, the date, the course and section number, my name, and the assignment (Ie “Ch. 1 summary”). Skip a few lines, write your title, and begin the assignment. Number the pages. Please make a copy for yourself of each assignment. Computers are available in the Writing Center (SO 142) and in TE 104. Files saved in MS Word format are almost universally “openable.”

Course Grading:
Your final grade will be the average of your grade on the following six factors:

Essay 1 Narrative................………………….........................100 pts
Essay 2 Profile..................…………………............................100 pts
Essay 3 Analyzing Causes..............………………………………….100 pts
Essay 4 Arguing a Position.............................…………………..100 pts
Essay 5 In-Class Final Essay………………………………………….100 pts
Mini-papers and other homework…………..….............10 pts. Each
Participation………………………………………………………………..50 pts
Attendance.............................................................................50(-5 for each absence)

The grading scale is:
A 90-100% Superior mastery or achievement.
B 80-89% Better than average mastery or achievement.
C 70-79% Acceptable mastery or achievement.
D 60-69% Less than acceptable mastery or achievement.
F Below 60% Fails to demonstrate achievement of course objectives.

COURSE RULES AND PROCEEDURES:

ATTENDENCE in each class meeting is required. Students that miss more than SIX classes will lose up to 50 points. (Students that miss more than EIGHT classes will be encouraged to drop the class). Important: Students will be held responsible for any and all information missed due to absence, including assignments.

In addition, please be punctual. This class starts at ________. Late arrivals disrupt the class and are inconsiderate. Two late arrivals count as an absence. In extreme circumstances, say the morning of a snow storm, certain leniencies will be granted but they must be cleared by me.

PREPAREDNESS: You are required to do every iota of reading and writing BEFORE class starts in exactly the format required. Homework assignments are due at the beginning of class and NO LATE WORK will be accepted. Chronic lack of preparation (which is easy to spot) will result in a point deduction from your final grade.

PARTICIPATION: I try to design this course to help you develop your skills as an academic writer. While each student struggles with a unique set of challenges in his/her writing, it is important that we, as a group, discuss those issues and offer our ideas. As noted above, your participation is essential to the quality of this class, and without it, our time together will be reduced to me asking questions followed by 45 minutes of silence, which will be horrible in all kinds of ways. I am interested in creating an in-class environment in which we all feel safe to request clarification, share our ideas, respond to the reading, respond to someone’s response, ask a question, object and offer alternate points of view (though respectfully). In short, I want this to be a place of honest exchange, so you do your part and I’ll do mine.

I addition, all students are encouraged to visit with me during my office hours.

BE MELLOW: This classroom is a safe haven for all ideas. There are no rights and wrongs, just opinions. Throughout the class we will discuss topics on which we will not all agree. Respect everyone as an equal, even if you really, really, disagree with what they are saying. That means no punching, no cussing, no belittling/degrading a person’s pov, no yelling, etc. Basically, be cool. We are all unique individuals entitled to our own opinions and beliefs, however, any comments, jokes, actions, remarks, or sounds that denigrate the worth of an individual’s race, creed, culture, ethnic background, sexual preference, and gender are inappropriate and will not be tolerated. In other words, remember the golden rule, and everything will be fine. If you don’t think you can handle this, please drop now.

SCHEDULED CONFERENCES: On at least one occasion before the end of the semester you will be required to hold a conference with me to discuss your writing, your performance in this class, and any issues you have that pertain to this class. This will be “graded” in that attendance at this conference will be awarded points towards your final grade.

CLASS BLOG: I will keep a blog for this class that will act as a place for me to make notes, handouts, the syllabi, important information regarding the class, etc available to you. This blog is available at www.jeffbeckers121class.blogspot.com.

DISRUPTIONS: The use of cell phones, iPods and other such devices are disruptive to the class. Therefore, these gadgets must be turned off before class and anyone caught using them in class will be marked absent for that day.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses and represent violations of college policy. These violations will not be tolerated and will be dealt with according to the college’s Academic Integrity Procedures. The college defines plagiarism as intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise. The following are considered to be forms of plagiarism:

• Word-for-word copying of another person’s ideas or words
• Interspersing one’s own words within a document while, in essence, copying another’s work.
• Rewriting another’s work, yet still using the original author’s fundamental idea or theory.
• Inventing or counterfeiting sources.
• Submission of another’s work as one’s own.
• Neglecting quotation marks on material that is otherwise acknowledged.

Clear cases of plagiarism will result in a failing (zero) grade on the assignment and the student will be required to redo the entire project. In some cases, such a failing grade may result in a lowered or failing grade for the course. In the most serious cases, the instructor may pursue grievance procedures through the Dean of Students to administer a punitive failing grade or other appropriate disciplinary action.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Students with a documented disability who need reasonable accommodations to achieve course objectives should notify the instructors and apply for services at the Center for Persons with Disabilities with the first week of class.

Writing Center: All students are encouraged to work with tutors in the Writing Center or in the Online Writing Lab (OWL). The mission of the Writing Center is to provide a learning environment with rich and varied resources where a student may become an active learner. A student can work with a tutor on any part of a writing assignment or at any point during the writing process. The Writing Center is located in South Classroom, Room 142. The OWL can be accessed at: owl.ccd.edu.

IN SHORT: Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Write beautiful sentences, participate, be alive, try and when you are in this class find something you are interested in and run with it. Your enjoyment/happiness with this class, and all classes, is primarily wrought in your ability to make it your own. Put forth the effort. You are paying for it after all. If you aren’t interested in anything, well, I can’t really help you, that is your responsibility.


This syllabus acts as a contract. I have read and understand all parts of this syllabus.
Signed _________________________ Date __________________