English 1020/[CRN] – Composition I
Fall 2008
[Instructor]
[office/phone]
[e-mail]
Office hours:
Texts
Aaron, Jane E. The Little, Brown Compact Handbook. 6th ed. New York:
Pearson/Longman, 2007.
Glenn, Cheryl. Making Sense: A Real-World Rhetorical Reader. 2nd ed.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005.
Final Exam:
Belief Statement: The Central educator is a competent, caring, reflective practitioner
committed to the premise that all can learn.
Mission: As a cornerstone of the institution for over 130 years, the University of Central
Missouri's Teacher Education Program develops teachers and other school professionals
who are well grounded in theory, display competence in content knowledge and
instructional strategies, and possess the dispositions to ensure success for all
learners. The Teacher Education Program prepares individuals as professional educators
for an ever-changing, culturally diverse population. Faculty and candidates provide
support and service to schools in meeting their present and future challenges by
developing communities that learn through research and scholarly activities. Educator
preparation is a campus-wide responsibility, a commitment that reflects the honor and
worth of serving a vital profession.
General Education Competencies are skills the state of Missouri expects all
college graduates to possess; this course will help you attain the skills listed.
Communicating: Students should demonstrate the following primary
outcomes
-Apply the criteria of effective communication to assess the communication of
self and others
-Conceive of writing as a recursive process that involves many strategies,
including generating material, evaluating sources when used, drafting,
revising, and editing
-Make formal written and oral presentations with consistent effectiveness
-Adapt language and communication strategies to a variety of situations
-Employ various organizational structures in a variety of communications
-Adapt communication to a variety of audiences
Managing Information: Students should demonstrate the following primary
outcomes
-Use appropriate technology to organize, store, and retrieve information
effectively
-Present information clearly and concisely, using traditional and
contemporary technologies, while avoiding plagiarism
English Program Goals
The English Department has adopted a series of goals for its courses.
The following goals apply to this course:
Expression Goal, Level 1 – Students should be able to write formally and/or
informally as situations warrant and distinguish between tentative and
polished expression as they develop a personal writing style.
Research Goal, Level 1 – Students should be able to understand the purposes
of research and documentation.
Language Goal, Level 1- Students should be able to distinguish among levels
of English usage—colloquial, informal, formal, literary—and between the
nature of spoken and written language; understand and apply traditional
grammatical terms and rules to their own and others’ writings.
MoSTEP Competencies
1.1
the interrelation of reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
1.2
effective oral and written usage.
3.1
reading processes (pre-, during, post-).
3.4
techniques and strategies for the ongoing development of independent
vocabulary acquisition.
3.5
how to locate and use a variety of print and non-print reference sources.
3.7
how to help students think critically about what they read.
3.8
methods for promoting personalized reactions to reading and the value of
sharing those responses.
4.1
a broad range of pre-, during, and post-writing strategies to generate
meaning and to clarify understanding.
4.2
varied methods of argument, types of appeals, and persuasive strategies
in writing and speaking.
4.3. use of evidence and documentation.
4.4
composing processes used to prepare information to share orally, visually,
and/or in writing.
4.5
different organizational patterns and strategies used for writing and
speaking for different audiences and purposes.
4.7
how to respond to film, video, graphic, photographic, audio, and
multimedia texts.
4.8
technology used to enhance learning and reflection on learning.
4.9
how to help students develop the capacity to listen so they comprehend,
analyze, consider, respond to, and discuss spoken material, non-fiction,
fiction, dramatic works, and poetry.
Course Requirements
Readings should be completed before class on the dates indicated below.
Papers and other written assignments are due at the beginning of class. Late
papers will be downgraded, but in this class it is always better to turn in a
late paper than no paper at all. Papers should be 3-4 double-spaced, typed
pages, unless otherwise indicated. Use a legible, 12-point font and 1”
margins. Course requirements will include approximately six short papers
(100 points each for those that will be graded) and a final exam (100 points).
Several homework assignments, in-class writing assignments, and quizzes
will also be required (10-100 pts. each).
I will meet with each of you in individual tutorial sessions during the
semester to discuss your writing, but I hope you will meet with me during my
office hours if you have concerns about your work.
Regular attendance at class meetings and at tutorial sessions is a
requirement of this course. Grade penalties or failure to receive credit for the
course are the consequences of excessive absence. The UCM Undergraduate
Catalog 2007 lists the university’s attendance policy on page 17.
Grading
Grading will be calculated as a percentage of total points available,
both on individual assignments and for the course as a whole. A=90-100%,
B=80-89%, C=70-79%, D=60-69%, F=59% or below.
Readings and Assignments
Week 1 (8/19-8/22)
Introduction
in-class writing sample
Week 2 (8/25-8/29)
read Glenn 3-20 and/or exercises on the reading/writing connection
read Glenn 47-67 and/or exercises on description/assign description paper
read Rember, “Closing Doors” (63-65) and Orlean, “The American Man, Age
Ten” (68-79)
Week 3 (9/1-9/5)
LABOR DAY: No class on Monday
read Daum, “Music is My Bag” (86-97)
PAPER #1 (description) DUE
Week 4 (9/8-9/12)
prewriting/invention; read Aaron 8-20
read Glenn 271-291 and/or exercises on classification and division/assign
classification and division paper
read Zinsser, “College Pressures” (292-300) and Moyer, “My Circle of Friends”
(306-309)
Week 5 (9/15-9/19)
read Stepp, “Alpha Girl: In Middle School, Learning to Handle the ABCs of
Power” (310-318) and Ericsson, “The Ways We Lie” (319-327)
address concerns from first papers/assign section(s) of Aaron
PAPER #2 (classification and division) DUE with peer review: please bring
two copies of your paper to class.
Week 6 (9/22-9/26)
tutorials
Week 7 (9/29-10/3)
REWRITE OF PAPER #1 OR PAPER #2 DUE (#3)
read Glenn, 353-370 and/or exercises on comparison and contrast
read Tannen, “Cross Talk” (371-375) and Hatfield, “Smoothing Rough Edges”
(388-392)
Week 8 (10/6-10/10)
read Barry, “Guys vs. Men” (399-407) and Hurston, “How It Feels to Be
Colored Me” (413-419)
read Shakespeare, Sonnet 18 (420) and Aaron 21-23 on drafting
in-class essay: comparison and contrast
Week 9 (10/13- 10/17)
quiz on description, classification and division, comparison and contrast
modes
read Glenn, 429-444 and/or exercises on process analysis/assign process
analysis paper
read Antoniotti, “Marshmallow Mayhem: Fun (and Sweet) Alternative to Toy
Guns” (445-448); Dillon, “Mission Possible” (449-452); and Mitford,
“The Embalming of Mr. Jones” (453-459)
Week 10 (10/20-10/24)
revising; read Aaron 23-37
read Wuethrich, “Getting Stupid” (460-467) and Gladwell, “The Trouble with
Fries” (471-477)
PAPER #4 (process analysis) DUE
Week 11 (10/27-10/31)
read Glenn, 485-503 and/or exercises on cause-and-consequence
analysis/assign cause-and-consequence analysis paper
read McMillan, “Easing My Heart Inside” (504-508) and Sylves, “Credit Card
Debt Among College Students: Just What Does It Cost?” (509-517);
introduce MLA documentation
read Brooks, “The Triumph of Hope Over Self-Interest” (518-521) and Weeks,
“The No-Book Report: Skim It and Weep” (522-528)
Week 12 (11/3-11/7)
read Glaspell, “A Jury of Her Peers” (551-566)
PAPER #5 (cause-and-consequence analysis) DUE with peer review: please
bring two copies of your paper to class.
tutorials Friday
Week 13 (11/10-11/14)
tutorials Monday and Wednesday
REWRITE OF PAPER #4 OR PAPER #5 DUE (#6)
Week 14 (11/17-11/21)
read Glenn, 573-590 and/or exercises on definition
read Banjo, “Personalizing Your College Education” (602-605) and Olson,
“Shifting Baselines: Slow Motion Disaster Below the Waves” (610-614)
read Dyson, “The Public Obligations of Intellectuals” (615-621)
- THANKSGIVING BREAK Week 15 (12/1-12/5)
in-class essay: definition
review for final exam
course evaluations/strategies for Composition II/wrap-up
Accessibility
Students with documented disabilities who are seeking academic
accommodations should contact the Office of Accessibility Services, Union 220,
(Voice and TTY) 660-543-4421.
Writing Lab
UCM provides a free Writing Lab, located in Humphreys 116, staffed by
experienced writers and used by student writers of all levels and abilities.
The opportunity to sit down with an experienced writer and discuss your
paper can be very helpful, and I encourage you to use this service. However,
the Writing Lab is not a proofreading service; the staff will help you, but
they won’t do your work for you.