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English 110: Introduction to Academic Prose , 3 credits
Jason Strait
Fall Semester 2015
jstrait@bssd.net
Cell: 816-665-2512 (if you have a question, feel free to email or text me; that’s why it’s on here).
Room: 319
5th hour plan
Texts: Colombo, Cullen, & Lisle. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and
Writing, 7th edition.
The Sosland Journal (UMKC publication)
Supplemental articles will also be distributed.
Course Description
This course introduces students to college-level reading, writing and discourse analysis: it engages
students in the analysis and creation of texts that reveal multiple perspectives about specific rhetorical
situations and cultural issues. In addition to learning how to revise by analyzing their own writing,
students will learn to edit their own work and use proper academic documentation.
Students at Blue Springs South High School will encounter a highly structured, yet creative environment.
Our study will focus on a variety of techniques so that students are able to write well with different
audiences in mind. Rereading America examines provocative social issues such as family, cultural myths,
education, gender, freedom, justice, socio-economics and the power of the media. Students will be
expected to respond to the reading in the texts and to others’ writing in class. Multiple drafts of essays
will be written, shared in peer response groups and revised. Class participation will be an important
element for success in English 110/English 214.
Be Aware: A college writing class takes a great deal of time; therefore, your schedule should allow
plenty of time to write and to be prepared for class. You will have homework almost nightly. It must
be done when you get to class or you will not receive credit. Late work is NOT accepted.
UMKC Objectives for English 110: By the end of English 110 students should be able to
1. Demonstrate an ability to discover purpose in writing.
2. Develop appropriate, relevant, and compelling content to convey the writer’s purpose.
3. Develop effective inter-textual strategies for writing, including weaving sources into their own
writing in a purposeful way.
4. Demonstrate an ability to use writing as a way of thinking and as a means for discovering
knowledge, not just a mechanism for organizing and presenting it.
5. Demonstrate an understanding of basic rhetorical concepts and terms, such as genre, purpose, and
rhetorical situation, and an ability to apply those concepts by describing and analyzing rhetorical
uses of language.
6. Demonstrate an ability to respond to the needs of different audiences in their writing, using
appropriate formats, voice, tone, and structure for each audience and purpose.
7. Demonstrate ability to practice writing as a process, including invention, revision, editing, and
proofreading, understanding that it usually takes multiple drafts to create and complete a
successful text.
8. Demonstrate an ability to reflect on their own development as writers.
9. Demonstrate an ability to analyze and respond to their own and others’ works.
10. Demonstrate an ability to edit their writing both to fix mechanical errors and to improve stylistic
effectiveness of the writing.
11. Demonstrate an ability to appropriate cite sources in MLA or APA style.
12. Demonstrate an ability to understand and respond to scholarly conversations, engaging multiple
points of view on an issue.
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Required Tuition
The university will send bills to students at home. Each hour of college credit costs $90.03 First
semester students will earn 3 hours of college credit for English 110 for a total cost of $270.09. It is your
responsibility to mail in the payment to UMKC when it is due. You must pay the tuition in order to take
the class. A student cannot decide not to pay for the college credit and think that the university will
drop you from enrollment or reimburse tuition paid. If tuition is owed from history or debate last
year, the university will not enroll a student in English 110.
Tuition Assistance Link: It is the responsibility of the student to apply for tuition assistance should he or
she need to do so before September 9th: http://cas.umkc.edu/hscp/tuition-assistance.asp. This is the link
for tuition assistance.
Withdrawal from the University
Visit www.umkc.edu/hscp for important dates and information.
Transcripts
Transcripts will be available approximately two weeks after grades are submitted to UMKC. You may
request an official transcript in writing at the following address: the University of Missouri-Kansas City
Records Office 5100 Rockhill Road Kansas City, Missouri 64110-2499. Please include your social
security number, the name of the course, and the name and address of the institution to which the
transcript is to be sent. There is a $10.00 charge for each transcript. If you choose to go to UMKC to
request a transcript in person, it is still $10.00 and no cash is accepted.
Attendance
Attendance is mandatory for success in English 110. Each day is important for discussion, directions, due
dates, peer revision, writing activities, etc. The university expects no more than two or three absences
in order for grades not to be affected. Since we have class more often than classes held on a college
campus, we allow up to six absences. Students need to be dedicated to learning, expanding their realm of
thinking and be open-minded to learning new ideology to be successful in English 110. Excessive
absences hinder success. The BSSD attendance policy is followed in English 110/214.
Students with an approved pre-ab must be turned in prior to the student’s absence from school. Also, it is
up to the student to communicate with the instructor regarding absences that have been approved for the
day’s assignments. If you are absent on the day a major essay is due, it is important that you still turn it
in either through email or by having someone bring it to my mailbox by 3:00 p.m.
Grading
Grading scale: 90-100% =A 80-89% =B 70-79% =C 60-69% =D 59-0% =F
Semester grades will consist of an average of four percentages; one from class work (assignments and
activities given point values recorded in the grade book) that is 25%; the revisions and essay grades
(25%); the final exam that is 25% of the semester grade; and the critical casebook that is 25% of the
semester grade. The final is an essay exam and is 25% of a student’s semester grade. The UMKC GPA
from dual credit courses does transfer to MU.
The nature of dual-credit courses instills responsibility on the part of the student. There are no late essays,
homework assignments, portfolios accepted. If a student has an excused absence on the day an essay is
due, he/she may ask a friend to turn in the essay directly to me or may ask a parent to bring it to the
school office and place in my mailbox. Essays will not be read if they do not meet the deadline
established. Deadlines are usually at 3:00 pm on designated days unless otherwise instructed. Students
will receive no credit for a late paper or one that has not been through the process of prewriting, revision,
group sharing and additional drafting.
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Essays are carefully read and writing is evaluated fairly. Students need to be responsible and mature.
Instructor feedback on essays to document student growth is imperative for success in all college classes.
Students need to understand that writing is a process.
To summarize, your grades break down as follows:
 25%--Class work (including deconstructions and quizzes)
 25%--Formal essays, process work and revisions
 25%--Critical Casebook
 25%--Semester Final
Essays and Critical Casebook
Since English 110 is a critical thinking course in rhetoric, argumentation and exposition, essays developed
will be analytical in nature. The semester’s study regarding sociological academic essays from Rereading
America will serve as an impetus for the critical casebook. For the critical casebook, students will be
asked to analyze a social movement and how the rhetoric impacted change in America by choosing four
primary documents and four secondary documents for research. Students will be asked to derive a
pedagogical commentary regarding their social movement and use MLA documentation for citation of
sources to support their argument. Critical Casebooks will be due near the end of the semester for 25% of
the course grade.
Materials
Students need to be organized by purchasing an English 110 folder as well as a Composition Notebook,
preferably college ruled. They will also need a flash/thumb drive with which to save essays for electronic
feedback from the instructor.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the use of another person’s writing or ideas without giving that person credit by means of
quotation marked and source citation. All source material, whether presented through direct quotations,
summary, or paraphrase, must have an adequate source citation. UMKC assumes that all students are
enrolled to learn; therefore, any cheating is basically at variance without the purposes of both the student
and this institution. Any dishonesty detected in any course (including during examinations or in
submitting plagiarized material) may be cause for dismissal or suspension. (English Handbook
www.umkc.edu)
Classroom Decorum
Students are expected to behave in a mature, respectful way at all times. All building and district policies
are followed and supported. These policies include the dress code, tardies, cell phone and ipod etiquette,
language, etc. All trash will be thrown away at the end of the hour. Do not interupt the instructor or peers
while they are talking.
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Supplemental/Enrichment Activities
The curriculum of this course is designed to challenge students to think critically about their culture,
society, and world and how these issues act as catalysts for personal growth. The level of writing in all
texts is appropriate yet sophisticated. Although these objectives are met daily, we also operate under the
accepted policies of the Blue Springs R-IV School District. Please read with your parents/guardians this
syllabus and the following integrated films for study. Note: many of the films below will not be
viewed in their entirety or may not be viewed at all. These are merely possibilities.
The myth of freedom in America
Clip from Shawshank Redemption (Tim Robbins)
Clip from Cool Hand Luke (Paul Newman)
Clip from American History X (Edward Norton)
The myth of family in America
Pleasantville (Tobey Macguire) MPPA rating: PG-13
The power of the media in America
Wag the Dog (Robert DeNiro) written by David Mamet
This film is a satire that exaggerates the power of the media in contemporary society and is rated
R according to the MPPA due to language only
The Truman Show: (PG-13)
The art of satire
Clip from “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” (PG)
The myth of education in America
Clip Dead Poet’s Society (PG)
Clip “Teachers” (R)
Clip “Ferris Beuhler’s Day Off” (PG-13)
Two Million Minutes (documentary)
The myth of race in America
Crash (R)
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We have read the preceding course description, guidelines, instructional methodology and objectives for
success in English 110. We understand the policies of UMKC and the Blue Springs R-IV School District
as well as the fact that our children have elected to take dual-credit English 110 that requires a tuition
payment to UMKC.
Student’s name_________________________ Signature____________________________
Parent/Guardian signature__________________________________ Date______________