“Our solidarity must be affirmed by shared belief in a spirit of intellectual
openness that celebrates diversity, welcomes dissent, and rejoices in
collective dedication to truth.”-bell hooks
“If we do not participate in political life, we settle for less than we would
truly want if given a free choice, or if we misdirect our frustration and
anger, it is because we are not yet truly free. We have been trained into
passivity, powerlessness, and misdirection by a society that normalizes
mistreatment. We have been trained not to expect much from our society
and to believe that we can’t get what we want anyway.”- Nicky Gonzalez-Yuen
CIN Change It Now!
English 102-CIN: Reading, Reasoning and Writing- Accelerated
Course
Instructor: Carmen Johnston
Email:cjohnston@chabotcollege.edu
Voicemail: (510) 723-6809
Office Hours: M/W 12:30-2:00 ., T/TH: 2:15-3:00
Office: 452-N, Bldg 400
Welcome to the CIN, Change It Now! Social Justice Leadership
Program! In this class we will explore issues facing our communities. Often
we experience injustice and we don’t quite understand why it is happening,
where it originated from and we do not have language to describe it. We will
investigate all of these questions as well as expand our perspectives. We will
engage various texts and usethem to help us better comprehend our
experiences. You will also be given the opportunity to apply your knowledge
through experiential learning.
English 102 offers you a chance to develop your comprehension,
critical thinking and writing skills, so that you can be prepared for success in
college English. This is an “accelerated” course, which means we will be
moving pretty fast through the readings and assignments. It will be
imperative that you check in with me when you are struggling. You will build
your vocabulary through close readings and various writing assignments in
response to the text. The skills you develop in this class will not only lead to
success in college English, but in life! Critical thinking and good writing skills
are important in every profession.
.
The structure of this class is very experiential. Meaning, we will have
a lot of games, group work, excursions, presentations and discussions. Your
complete participation in all class activities will further your understanding
of the concepts we explore and will enable you to pass the class.
Furthermore, we will also be discussing sensitive issues such as race, class,
gender and sexuality. We will spend a lot of time creating a safe environment
where everyone’s voice can be heard and respected.
Course Work:
Readings (one book and several articles)
Class Discussion
Group Work
Journals
Discussion Papers
Blog Entries
1 exam
3 essays,
Group project
Required Texts and Materials:
Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
Grading Policy:
70% Written Assignments (Journals*, Discussion Papers*, Blog Entries*
Essays, Final, Group Project)
30% Class Participation (attendance, homework, discussions, group work)
*Journals, Discussion Papers and Blog entries are weekly assignments. The
total points for these assignments are equal to an essay.
Passing the class:
o You must complete every essay, including the final to pass the class.
o Because the journals and discussion papers totaled are equal to an
essay, they must be completed as well.
o You must complete 75% of all other assignments to pass the class.
o You may complete all of the assignments, but if your essays do not
average at least 75% or do not show significant improvement you will
not pass the class.
Class Policies
o Your consistent attendance is crucial. If you miss 4 classes or 3
consecutively without checking in with me, you will be dropped from
the class.
o We will be using Blackboard in this class, so you can keep up with
missed assignments by utilizing the Blackboard site. It is your
responsibility to keep up with your assignments.
o There are no make-up quizzes, or exams.
o Late papers will be accepted up to one week after the paper’s due
date.
o All Late papers will be taken down one full grade.
o Papers turned in electronically will not be accepted. You must turn in
your papers in class or during my office hours.
o If you receive a “D” grade or lower on your essays you may write them
over if you meet with me immediately. You have one week to turn in
the rewrite.
Blackboard
“Blackboard is a password-protected, web-based course management
system.” We will be using Blackboard to assist our learning environment. Our
site will contain the syllabus, assignments used in class, a discussion board,
as well as external links. You must be enrolled in the class to access
Blackboard. Only enrolled students will have the password needed to enter
our Blackboard site within the semester.
Plagiarism:
Within the world of academia, plagiarism is a serious offense. It will not be
tolerated in this class. If you plagiarize any assignment, you may receive and
“F” on the assignment or fail the class. Depending on the depth of the
offense, you may also experience further disciplinary actions from the
college.
Plagiarism can include:
Passing off something written by another person as your own writing
Not giving credit to your sources for their ideas, information and
words you have borrowed from them
Not quoting when you use an author’s exact words
Not changing the wording when paraphrasing
Tentative Class Schedule (subject to change)
Week
Aug 20
Assignment
Intro to Class/ Social Justice
Aug 27
Social Justice
Sept 3
Sept 10
Essay #1 due/Education
Education
Sept 17
Education
Sept 24
Sept 26
Oct 1
Oct 8
Oct 15
Oct 22
Oct 29
Conferences
Essay #2 due/ Class
Class
Gender
Gender
Race
Race
Nov 5
Nov 12
Essay # 3 due
Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Sower
Nov 19
Parable of the Sower
Nov 26
Parable of the Sower
Dec 3
Dec 10
Parable of the Sower, Essay #4 due
Blog Presentations
Notes
Sept 3rd Labor Day
Sept 6th Flex Day
Nov 9th- last day to
withdraw with a “W”
Nov 12th Veteran’s Day
(no class)
Nov 21-23 Thanksgiving
Break
Dec 17th
Blog Presentations
Finals Week Dec 15th21st