J. Graupman
English 1000
Course Syllabus
English 1000-31 Off-line
Fall 2008–Start Date: October 6, 2008
Instructor: Janet Graupman
Contact: Telephone (661) 763-7700 leave message
Email: jgraupman@taft.org
Office Hours: M & W 4:30-6:30; T & Th 12:30-1:00 in T-12A or by appointment
Mailing Address: Janet Graupman c/o Taft College, 29 Emmons Park Drive, Taft, CA
93268
Prerequisite: Qualification by assessment process or pass English 0900 with a grade
of “C” or better.
Course Description: This course is for those whose placement test score indicates a
need to review the mechanics of written composition: sentence structure, punctuation,
and spelling. Intensive training in paragraph and theme writing, reading for
understanding and vocabulary are included.
Textbook and Required Materials
Brandon, Lee. Sentences, Paragraphs, and Beyond. 5th Edition. (Contact the Taft
College Bookstore for current price).
Reading Book of student’s choice.
Estimated Time per Week: 8-10 hours per week.
What is Distance Learning Off-line?
Distance Learning offline is a mode of delivery that does not require Internet access and
is NOT delivered through the Etudes system. The class material is available through
the Taft College Web page or by contacting the instructor. You do not have to come to
campus. Instead, you will follow the directions given in this syllabus, complete and
submit your assignments by the deadlines given, and contact me if you have any
questions, comments, or concerns. All assignments must reach me by the deadlines
given in the class calendar. You can submit your assignments by email (best option),
through the Taft College Learning Resource Center (LRC), in person, or mail to my
attention to Taft College, 29 Emmons Park Drive, Taft, CA, 93268 (posted date must be
on or before due date). Make sure all work you leave it in the LRC is date stamped. If
you would like your papers returned to you, you will need to send me a self-addressed,
stamped envelop in care of the college address.
Special Note: If sending assignments via email, please send as attachments in Word.
Each paper must have a proper heading (name, date, and assignment or essay title). I
will always send a “received” email just to let you know that your email made it to me. If
you do not get a response from me within a couple of days, assume I did not receive
your assignment and resend it.
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J. Graupman
English 1000
How Does This Class Work?
You will need to read this syllabus carefully. All assignments are listed with a detailed
description and an assignment calendar format that shows what you need to complete
each week. I purposely made the due day on Saturday, so you would have an extra
“non-work week” day to accomplish the assignment if needed. The assignment will be
considered late if received after midnight of the due date. Since this is a late-start class,
we have to squeeze a lot of work into a short period of time. The best way to keep on
top of this class, is to try to spread out the work throughout the week, as opposed to
trying to do it all in one sitting!
If there are extenuating circumstances that make it impossible to get your assignment to
me by the due date, please email or call so we can discuss it. Being on time with your
assignments is vital to your grade. Assignments will always be taken before they are
due, just please double-check to make sure you have your name and the assignment
name on each paper. Late assignments will be taken for up to one week, but the grade
will be lowered by 10% for each day they’re late. Even though this is a distance
learning class, it does not mean you are completely on your own. You can contact me
anytime you have questions or concerns regarding an assignment or this syllabus.
Email is the most efficient way to get in touch with me.
Additional Help: If you’re having problems with some of the concepts in this book and
need help, the Taft College Library offers free tutoring services M-F, 8:00 am until 9:00
(Friday until 5:00). Please feel free to make use of this service as much as needed.
Attendance Policy
Because this is a distance learning course, attendance is determined by the coursework
you submit. If you do not submit the first assignment by the submission deadline
listed on the class calendar, I will assume you do not wish to remain in
attendance and will drop you from class. I will usually not drop you after that date.
Students may choose to drop the course unless the deadline for dropping with a “W”
has passed. It is your responsibility to notify the College if you wish to drop the course.
Plagiarism is not acceptable. Plagiarism refers to using other peoples’ words and/or
ideas as your own, either verbatim or by close paraphrasing without providing
necessary quotation marks and/or citations. If you closely paraphrase material from
another source, you must use quotation marks if appropriate and cite the source. You
may cite the source by embedding it in the text of the paper. Do this by listing, in
parentheses and immediately after the quoted or paraphrased material, the text and
pertinent paper number(s). DO NOT PLAGIARIZE; PLAGIARISM MERITS AND
AUTOMATIC “F” OR “O” ON THE ASSIGNMENT. CONTINUED PLAGIARISM
MERITS AN “F’ GRADE IN THE COURSE.
Students who believe they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to
contact Student Support Services at (661)763-7927 as soon as possible to better
ensure student accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion.
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J. Graupman
English 1000
GENERAL FORMAT OF CLASS
You will be required to read and complete all assignments from the textbook; read and
complete assignments from a literature book of your choice.
Textbook Reading and Assignments: You should read each assigned chapter and
complete the assignments. Type each assignment on a separate piece of paper (do not
send the torn-out page from the book) with a proper heading (your name, date, exercise
number and page number). Each assignment should include the questions and a
complete answer. If the exercise tells you to underline something in the text, please
type the beginning . . . and ending of the section that should be underlined or
highlighted. Make sure your answers are clear and you’re using complete sentences.
The assignments from the book jump around so we can complete all sections of the
book in the allotted time. The book has sections on The Writing Process; Writing
Paragraphs and Essays, and grammar and punctuation.
Literature Book: Read a literature book of your choice. The book should be
appropriate for a high school or college student and should be fiction in a narrative
format. Read the book throughout the semester and then write a 2-3 page essay about
the book. The first section of the essay should be a summary (like a book report) of the
text. The second part of your paper should be your reaction to the text. This section
should consider things such as: What did you think about the story? What
thoughts/ideas did it provoke? What did you like about the book? What didn’t you like?
etc. These are just a few of the questions you can answer. There are no right or wrong
answers to these questions. It is your personal opinion! Just make sure you back up
every opinion/idea with facts or examples. This paper needs to be double-spaced and
have a proper heading. It should not be longer than 3 pages. It’s the quality I’m looking
at, not quantity.
Book Journal: Keep a weekly journal and a list of vocabulary words from your reading
book. A one-page, typed, double-spaced paper is due each week until you finish your
book. *Try to spread out your reading evenly over the course of the class as best as
you can. Your weekly journal entry should have a proper heading (name, date,
assignment name (book journal) and the name of your book. Please include the page
numbers from the book that you are writing about. Include three to five vocabulary
words from your book with definitions. The summary and vocabulary words together
should not exceed one-page.
Important Note about Assignments: ALL assignments must have a proper heading
(your name, class, date, and assignment name – essays should also have a title) to
receive full credit.
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J. Graupman
English 1000
ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE
Week of
October 6-10
Textbook Chapters
Assignments
Chapter 1: From Reading to Writing
Read “American Space, Chinese
Place” on page 23 and complete
exercises 5 & 6 on page 24
Journal Entry #1 Due
Chapter 2: Parts of Speech
October 13-17
Chapter 3: Subject and Verbs
Chapter 2 Review Exercises
(review 1) pages 39-40
Chapter 3 Review Exercises
(reviews 2 & 3) pages 52-53
Journal Entry #2 Due
Chapter 4: Kinds of Sentences
October 20-24
Chapter 5: Combining Sentences
Chapter 4 Review Exercises
(reviews 2 & 3) pages 68-69
Chapter 5 Review Exercises
(reviews 2 & 3) pages 91-92
Journal Entry #3 Due
Chapter 6: Correcting Fragments, . . .
October 27-31
Chapter 14: The Writing Process 1
Chapter 15: The Writing Process 2
Chapter 7: Verbs
November 3-7
Chapter 6 Review Exercises
(reviews 1 & 2) pages 119-120
Read Chapter 14 (no exercise)
Chapter 15: exercise 4,
page 283-285
Journal Entry #4 Due
Chapter 7 Review Exercises
(reviews 1 & 2) pages 146-147
Chapter 16: exercise 2, page 292
Chapter 16: The Writing Process 3
Chapter 8: Pronouns
November 11-14
Chapter 17: Paragraphs and Essays
Chapter 18: Descriptive Narration
Journal Entry #5 Due
Chapter 8 Review Exercises
(reviews 1, 2, 3, & 4)
pages 171-174
Chapter 17: exercise 2,
pages 300-301
Pick a topic from page 331-333 and
write a one-page descriptive essay
Journal Entry #6 Due
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J. Graupman
English 1000
Chapter 9: Adjectives and Adverbs
Chapter 9 Review Exercises
(reviews 1 & 2) pages 191-192
Chapter 19: exercises 2 & 3
Pages 339-341
November 17-21
Chapter 19: Exemplification
Chapter 20: Process Analysis
Chapter 10: Balancing Sentence Parts
November 24-26
Chapter 21: Cause and Effect
Chapter 11: Punctuation and
Capitalization
Chapter 22: Comparison
December 1-5
Chapter 23: Analysis by Division
December 8-11
Chapter 24: Argument: Writing to
Persuade
Chapter 20: exercises 2
pages 360-361
Read “The Birth of an Island”
exercise 4, pages 363
Journal Entry #7 Due
Chapter 10 Review Exercises
(reviews 1 & 2) pages 206-207
Choose a topic from page 396-397
and write a two-page cause and
effect essay
Journal Entry #8 Due
Chapter 11 Review Exercises
(reviews 1 & 2) pages 241-242
Read “From B’wood to the ‘Hood”
on page 405, do exercise 4, page 406
Read “Men are from Mars, “ on
page 427, do exercise 7, page 430
Journal Entry #9 Due
Choose a topic from page 458-459
and write a two-page persuasive
essay
Journal Entry #10 Due
December 15-19
Final Paper due NO LATER than
December 15th
Two-three page essay on your
literature book
Grading System
Textbook Exercises
Textbook Writing Assignments
Literature Book Paper
Reading Journal & Vocabulary
25%
25%
30%
20%
Total 100%
Grade Scale: 90%-100%=A; 80%-89%=B; 70%-79%=C; 60%-69%=D; 59% or below=F
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J. Graupman
English 1000
Checking Grades
To check your grades at anytime (give me about a 3-5 day window from the due date to
get them posted) you may access www.eClassInfo.com from the Internet. Your ID is
your last name and your password is the last four digits of your student ID number. If
this is not an option for you, or you have problems with the program, please contact me
so we can discuss other options.
Looking forward to working with you.
Janet Graupman
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