Eng 57 syllabus

English 150:

Dave Holper: Office #: 707-476-4370

Email: david-holper@redwoods.edu

Website: http://www.redwoods.edu/departments/english/instructors/Holper/index.htm

Life Sciences 100: Office Hours:

Writing Center Hours:

College of the Redwoods

SYLLABUS

"Outside of a dog a book is a man's best friend. Inside, it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx

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COURSE DESCRIPTION: English 150 focuses on the development of college-level reading and writing skills

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COREQUISITE: You must be enrolled in English 150L (College Grammar Review Lab) along with English 150. This lab begins in the third week of school. English 150L is .5 unit CR/NC lab course that will help you to review college entry-level grammar, usage, and mechanics. You will spend at least 1 ½ hours per week in the lab (AT 101), during a regular time period which you will schedule before the third week of classes. You have an 18 hour 45 minute obligation to the Lab.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

· Competency in writing a college-level essay

· Competency in critical writing

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REQUIRED TEXTS/, MATERIALS:

1) Prentice Hall Reader, 7^th edition by George Miller

2) Simon & Schuster Workbook for Writers

3) Bluebooks (approximately three); two scantrons forms

Required Materials:

1) A binder (to hold handouts) and binder paper.

2) Pen, pencil, and hi-liter.

3) Diskette and cover case

Triad:

Name: _____________________________ Contact info: _______________________________

Welcome to English 150! I'm excited to be your teacher and I hope that each of us will enjoy and learn a great deal during this semester. This will be an intensive course because I will ask a lot of each one of you, but in return, I hope you will find this to be one of your most memorable writing classes. The primary goals of this course are to help you in developing writing, reading, and critical thinking skills, as well as prepare you for English 1A, college writing. In order to do this, we will concentrate on reviewing grammar, doing practice exercises in our text, writing essays, and learning how to analyze various modes of writing. Beyond that--and perhaps more importantly--I want you to learn to write more powerfully, passionately, and naturally.

Your Instructor: Dave has done a little of everything, including taxi driver, fire fighter, cook, soldier, house painter, and teacher. He took his BA in English at Humboldt State University way back in 1983, where he also studied journalism. After his graduation, he served for four years in the Army Military Intelligence Corps, then went on to take a Masters of Fine Arts in English at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he wrote a book of short stories. He has since taught at Christian Brothers High School, Jesuit High School, Yuba College, Solano College, and Sacramento City College. Currently he lives in Eureka with his wife and three children.

My Office: My office is in Life Sciences, #100. This building is the one before Math/Science. Please knock before entering. (Don't arm wrestle with a rattlesnake!)

My Mailbox: You'll find my mailbox in the 200 hallway of the Forum Building. The mailboxes are roughly halfway down the hall. Mine is marked with my name.

Reading Quizzes: In order to improve our critical reading of the essays this semester, we’ll have reading quizzes and questions to answer on the material we’ve read. Reading quizzes will typically be 5 pt. quizzes and will focus on key details, such as names, plot, setting, etc. These reading quizzes will be at the start of class.

Required Essay Writing: three out-of-class, formal essays of 750-1000 words. Each essay must include a prewrite and at least two drafts. You must keep a copy for yourself of the paper. Please save all work that goes into papers!

Tutoring: On all three of the out-of-class essays you do, you must have an instructor/tutor conference (in the Writing Center or with me in my office). Please note: if you use the Light Center or the LAC tutoring staff, this is also okay, as long as the tutoring form is filled out and signed. After our draft workshop, you must then revise the essay, and bring the assignment, the first draft, the revised draft, and the tutor form to the Writing Center for your conference. You'll need to make sure the tutor form is completed before going, as I'll ask you to write questions for the tutor. There are tutor conference forms in your class packet, and you will need to have these filled out by the tutor and then turn it in to me with the essay packet.

Late Work/Freebies: Final drafts are due at the beginning of class on the due date on your syllabus. You are allowed one late final draft for this course (there is a late paper coupon in the packet), but this may only be used on the first two papers. The freebie is good to turn in a paper one week late; that's seven days. As for excuses beyond the freebie date, unless it's an emergency, remember that I've heard better than you can imagine: quarantined for chicken pox, assault with a deadly weapon, AIDS test, etc. I do not accept late papers: these will be given an F.

Draft Workshops: These are required. In order to make sure you understand how important these are, first drafts are worth 25 percent of the value of each paper. Thus, you cannot go higher than a “C” on a final draft of a paper if you have missed the Draft Workshop or come with no work at all. Abscences are not acceptable on Draft Workshop days unless it is an emergency and you have a written note from a doctor. It is not acceptable to bring handwritten drafts to workshops. No exceptions lounge lizards!

Papers: All papers (and all drafts) will be typed. Typing directions for MLA (Modern Language Association) format are included just behind the paper #1 assignment in the class booklet. In addition, there is an MLA template for writing papers available in the Writing Center. You'll find the icon for this on the entry screen when you sit down at a computer there.

Revisions: You are entitled to revise both of the first two papers this semester. In order to do a revision, however, you must attend a tutor conference and turn in all your original work, your tutor slip, and your revision.

Plagiarism: If you plagiarize, and I catch you, you automatically will fail the course.

Turnitin.com: On all the out-of-class papers that we do, you'll be responsible to turn in your paper to the turnitin.com website, which helps all of us in insuring that all work done at the 150 level is original. Directions for how to use turnitin.com can be found on the class website, along with a link that will take you to turnitin.com

Attendance/Promptness: If you miss a class, please remember, it is your responsibility to find out from another student what you missed by calling someone on the phone list. If you come 15 minutes late or unprepared that will count as ½ an absence. Also, if you leave more than 15 minutes early, it will also count as an absence. Also, if you miss more than six classes, you will fail the course.

Pet Peeves:

1) Don't get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the class, unless it is absolutely necessary.

2) Don't eat in class unless you're a diabetic.

3) Don't crinkle up paper when the writing isn't going well.

4) Don't come strolling in late or leave early; don't schedule appointments during class sessions.

5) Don't tell me you don't know what's going on in class when the syllabus calendar is already posted with the details of what we've done or what we're going to do.

6) Don't ask me for information that is available by reading the syllabus.

Extra Credit: During the course of the semester, I'll announce several literary events. For extra credit, you may attend one of these events and write up a one page review of what you thought of this event (be specific, so take notes). The review is due at our next class session. It should be one page, typed, double spaced. There are twenty possible points for this assignment. You may only do the extra credit assignment once, although I encourage you to attend all the literary events.

Your Portfolio: Please save all your work this semester so that you can verify your improvement, so that you're covered in case I accidentally do not record the grade, and so that you will be able to choose one essay to rewrite at the close of the summer session.

Grading/Points:

40 %: Papers (each paper will double in value)

20%: Reading

20 %: Competency Exam (in-class essay)

15%: Grammar/Sentence Skills

Rough total (please note that this varies from semester to semester):

1) Three papers (50, 100, 200) 350

2) 12 readings @ 15 pts. each 180

3) Unit Tests 100

4) Competency Exam 180

5) Achievement Test 50

Note: Dave does not grade on a curve; he uses straight point tallies with 90 percent and above as a A, 80 to 89 percent as a B; 72.5-79 percent as a C; 60-69 percent as a D; work below this is usually so late or so poorly composed that is an obviously an F.