English 1A, Environmental
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:
College of the Redwoods
SYLLABUS
______________________________________________________________________________
COURSE DESCRIPTION: English 1A is a course in transfer-level expository and argumentative
writing with critical reading of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. A substantial research paper utilizing proper
MLA documentation is required.
______________________________________________________________________________
PREREQUISITE: English 150
with a C grade or better or assessment recommendation for English 1A.
______________________________________________________________________________
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this
course, the student will be able to:
1. Narration (no more than one essay)
2. Classification
3. Definition
4. Comparison and contrast
5. Cause and effect
6. Critical analysis
COURSE CALENDAR
The weekly syllabus calendar will be posted on the course
website on Friday afternoons.
REQUIRED TEXTS/MATERIALS:
1)
2) Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert
3) Class Booklet (for sale in
the bookstore too)
4) Means of backup: Magic stick, CD, etc.
Required Materials (daily):
1) A binder (to hold class booklet, in-class writings and
notes, and binder paper).
2) Pen, pencil, and hi-liter.
Suggested
The Last Stand by
David Harris (it’s out of print, but you can find it locally at Booklegger or Tin Can Mailman; you can also find copies on
Amazon.com.
Triad:
Name: _______________________ Contact info: _______________________________
Name: _______________________ Contact info: _______________________________
Welcome to English 1A! 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 preparing for a
successful college transfer in English, particularly as it applies to writing,
research, reading, and thinking. In
order to do this, we will review mechanics and structure in essays; read essays
in our text and respond to them in journals, discussions, and essays; and learn
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: Aside from being an English teacher, Dave has done a little of
everything, including working as a taxi driver, fire fighter, cook, soldier,
house painter, and teacher. He earned
his BA in English at
Dave’s
Office:
The office is located in Life Sciences, #100. If you're walking away from the
Dave’s
Mailbox:
The mailbox is in the 200 hallway of the
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.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Required Essay Writing: three out-of-class, formal essays of 1000-2000 words. (Note: these essays will advance in point
value from 50-100-200.) Each essay must
include a prewrite and at least two drafts.
Please save all work that goes into papers! In addition, we will have at least two scored
timed essays using the
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. Absences are not acceptable on Draft
Workshop days unless it is an emergency and you have a written note from a
doctor. Attendance is the only
dependable way I have of (a) helping you improve your draft; and (b) protecting
you against plagiarism. You MUST
word-process your drafts. If this is a
problem for you, let me know right away so can help you find a computer on
campus to use. It is not acceptable to
bring handwritten drafts to draft workshops.
Late paper coupons cannot be used to excuse late first drafts!
Plagiarism: If you copy someone else’s work, 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 1A level is original.
This must be done before the paper is turned in to me; otherwise, you
will receive zero points for the paper (until you do turn it in to
turnitin.com). Then you’ll need to
return the graded paper to me (with a note that it’s now turned in to
turnitin.com). For your tardiness, you
will five percent off the final grade of the paper. 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. The class ID# and password
will be posted on our website for the first paper. (Once you’ve inputted the class ID# and
password, you don’t need to do it again.)
Paper Typing Format: All papers (and all drafts)
will be typed. The format will always be
the same: use MLA format as described in your Bedford Handbook in
sections 57a & 57b. (You'll find a
sample paper there too.) I've
also included a sample typed page behind the first paper assignment, so you can
see what the format looks like.
Automatic D's: If I ask for a four-page paper (at a minimum), and you give me three
and 3/4 pages, I will give you an automatic D.
Always go beyond the minimum to be safe.
Revisions: On papers one and two, you may revise your paper for a higher grade,
if you're not satisfied with the grade you received. However, in order to take advantage of this,
you must accomplish a significant revision, which means that once you receive
your paper back from you, you should revise and clean up the draft. Then you are required to see a tutor and get
his/her signature on the tutor sheet (you'll find this in the class
booklet). Also note that a significant
revision means more than simply correcting grammatical and mechanical errors: a
significant revision often means rethinking, rearranging, expanding, adding,
and rewording. You may not revise the
last paper.
Make-up Quizzes/Tests: You may not make up grammar quizzes.
You're given one freebie; beyond that, you lose points. With tests, if you're absent on the test day
and you don't have a written excuse (a doctor's note or an accident report),
then you may make up the test, but you lose 25% of the grade for your
absence. In other words, be there on
test days.
Late Work/Freebies: You will be allowed one late final
draft for this course; however, you may not use this on your last paper. There is a late paper coupon included in the
course booklet, and it will serve as your cover sheet for your late paper. 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.
Emailing Work: Unless it's an emergency, I strongly discourage this, as it wastes my
printer cartridges and encourages students to wait until the last minute.
Reading Quizzes: In order to improve our critical reading of essays this semester,
occasionally we’ll have reading quizzes and questions to answer on the material
we’ve read. Reading quizzes will be open
book and will typically be 5 pt. quizzes and will focus on key details, such as
names, ideas, time frame, etc. Reading
questions for the essays will be assigned out of the text.
Journal Assignments: In order to help you prepare for discussions and writing, with many
of the readings we do, there will also be journal assignments. These will be graded for both content and
length. The format is to put your name
and journal # at the top (do not use MLA format) and then type one page double-spaced. You may go longer than a page, if you
want. As for late journals, if for some
reason you do miss turning in a journal at a class, it's due by the Friday of
that week—or it will receive no points.
Grammar Quizzes: The grammar that we review in this class will be testable. Quizzes will be given in the first five
minutes of class, so if you're late, you get a zero (unless you've spoken with
me about it in advance or it's an emergency.)
These will be 5-10 pt. quizzes.
Grammar Presentations: Rather than bore you with grammar lectures, I am going to divide the
class into groups of three and have each group present a 5-10 minute review of
the grammatical point we'll be quizzing on.
Your presentations should be interesting and/or funny. Presentations should definitely include
handouts, overheads, etc. I encourage
you to use Power Point, and you'll find links to two online tutorials on my
website. Please do not write problems on
the board, as it takes too long! Also,
get together and practice your presentations so that they are interesting and
fit the required time slot.
Presentations are worth 20 possible pts.
The grammar presentations will be (from section #s in the
Bedford Handbook):
Group 1: 32a-c
Group 2: 32d-f
Group 3: 32g-j
Group 4: 19
Group 5: 20
Group 6: 34
Group 7: 35
Group 8: 22
Group 9: 23
Group 10: 9
Class Participation: This class involves extensive reading,
discussion, and writing. If you sit back
and leave others to talk, you'll get a lot less out of the course. Therefore, in order to encourage you to
participate in every class, there is a 2.5 percent class participation score
out of your total grade, which equates to about 20 points—enough to make a sizeable
difference at the end of the semester.
Extra Credit: I will offer one extra credit assignment this semester for 20
points. You may attend the Poets &
Writers event this semester, which I will announce in class. I may offer other venues too, but you'll have
to wait to hear about these. In order to
quality for the 20 pts., you will need to attend the reading, take notes, and
turn in a one-page journal (one page, double spaced, not in MLA format—simply
your name and Extra Credit Journal at the top) the next class session about
your opinion of the event. This will be
basically a review of the event.
Attendance/Promptness: I strongly discourage your coming more than 10 minutes late or
leaving more than 10 minutes without first clearing it with me. Such practices are disruptive for you and
everyone else. If you do come late or
leave early (more than 10 minutes) or unprepared that will count as ½ an
absence.
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.
Release from the Final: If you have a straight A at the end of week 15, I will release you
from the final.
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 semester.
Grading/Points:
350 pts.
formal essays
150 pts. timed
essays
100 pts. grammar quizzes
100 pts. miscellaneous quizzes, journals, etc.
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; 70-79 percent as a C; 60-69.5 percent as a D; work below this is usually so
late or so poorly composed that is an obviously an F.
Note:
This syllabus may be modified during the course of the semester, as
needed. If there are corrections or
additions, these will be posted on the syllabus calendar, which can be found on
the course website.