Course Syllabus
English 4.2, Fall 2014
M, W, F: 9:30-10:20
Room 115, Vairo Library
Dr. Vickie Fedele
Office: 119 Vairo Library
Office Hours: M, W 10:30-11:30
Mailbox: 129 Vairo Library, Academic Affairs Office
E-mail: vtf2@psu.edu
Course Website: http://sites.psu.edu/fedele
Course Description and Objectives
In English 4, our primary objective is for you to acquire the grammar and composition skills that
you will need to succeed in English 15, PSU’s freshman composition course. Moving
methodically from the sentence, to the paragraph, to the essay, we will work to improve your
understanding of how to use words effectively in a variety of contexts. I will remind you
frequently that good writing results far more often from hard work—from a willingness to
brainstorm, draft, revise, and if necessary, revise again—than from innate ability or inspiration.
You may find yourself hearing me pose this question on multiple occasions throughout the
semester: how many times did Ernest Hemingway, the Nobel Prize-winning author, rewrite the
ending to his famous novel A Farewell to Arms? (The answer, by the way, is 47.)
Required Text
Stepping Stones: A Guided Approach to Writing Sentences and Paragraphs. 2nd ed. Chris
Juzwiak. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012.
Required Access
Because I post important resources and announcements on our course website and require you to
submit formal writing assignments via Angel’s dropbox function, you will need to have routine
and reliable computer and Internet access. If you are having difficulty obtaining such access,
you are welcome to use a campus computer.
Note: You may access our course’s website at http://sites.psu.edu/fedele and Angel site at
https://cms.psu.edu/default.asp. Remember, to enter either site, you will need to log on with your
PSU username and password.
Required Assignments
To fulfill the requirements of this course, you will need to complete the following assignments
successfully:
Fully-developed paragraphs (4)
Multi-paragraph papers (2)
Writing Exercises (various)
Blog Responses (approx. 10)
Grammar/Composition Quizzes (approx. 11)
Group Work
Portfolio
Grading
Classroom/Support Assignments—20% (includes grades for how thoroughly you revise
paragraphs/essays and complete writing exercises both inside and outside of class)
Blogs—20% (includes 2 grades per blog entry, 1 based on grammar/composition and 1 based on
content)
Grammar/Composition Quizzes—20%
Group Work—20% (includes grades for peer review and any group work that you do inside or
outside of class)
Portfolio – 20% (details to follow)
Additional Note: You must receive at least a 70% on the grammar/composition components of
this course in order to pass it. These components include the grammar quizzes and the
grammar/composition portion of your blog grades.
Blog Assignments
For most Wednesdays,* I will ask you to post a blog on the course website related to one of the
essays in the textbook’s “A Writer’s Reader.” I will post the specific nature of each blog
assignment at least one class period prior to its due date. In general, I will allow you to choose
from several topics on which to blog and then ask you to apply recent writing concepts from the
textbook to the composition of your blog entry. For example, for your first blog assignment, I
will ask you to do the following: Read Sherman Alexie’s “The Joy of Reading and Writing:
Superman and Me” on pp. 441-43. Then, choose any of the questions from the “Write about the
Reading” or the “Write about Your Life” categories on p. 444. Finally, choose and identify a
particular audience and reason for your response and write your blog entry accordingly. I will
give you two grades for this and other blog entries: one for content and one for the particular
grammar/composition skill that I’ve asked you to apply to your entry. Blog assignments are
designed to strengthen your critical reading skills while reinforcing the writing skills that you
have studied recently in the textbook.
A note about privacy: your blog entries will be available to the general Internet public unless you
mark them “private” or password-protect them. I recommend that you make your blog entries
visible at least to your classmates by protecting your entries with the classroom password, which
I will share with you shortly. Please note that I, as administrator of the course website, will be
able to view your blog posts regardless of the level of privacy that you assign them. I will
review how to adjust the privacy settings of your blog entries in class.
*The first blog entry will actually be due on a Friday. See course calendar for details.
Attendance
Absenteeism: Because much of the learning in English 4 occurs via workshop, you must
regularly and promptly attend class to fulfill the requirements of this course. Therefore, if you
have five or more unexcused absences, you will fail English 4. A less severe but nevertheless
serious consequence of unexcused absenteeism will include your inability to make up any missed
in-class assignments or quizzes, for which you will receive zeroes.
What constitutes an excused absence? According to PSU policy, instructors may excuse
absences for “legitimate, unavoidable reasons,” including “illness, injury, family emergency, or
religious observance.” (To read the full statement of the University’s official stance on
attendance, see http://www.psu.edu/ufs/policies/ and scroll to #42-27 and #E-11.) If you would like
for me to excuse an absence, your chances are greatest if you communicate with me in a timely
and thorough fashion about your situation. Specifically, please alert me well in advance about
planned absences and as soon as possible after unplanned ones. Also, be prepared to document
the reasons for your absence.
Tardiness: Entering class late and leaving class early will also undermine your ability to fulfill
the requirements of this course. Therefore, I will count three tardies and/or early departures
as one unexcused absence. Please note that I take attendance at the beginning of class, so if you
come to class late, I may have already marked you absent. It is your responsibility to see me
after class to remind me that your “absence” should be changed to a “tardy.”
Late Assignments
Late assignments will be penalized in the following manner: for every day that your work is
late, I will deduct an increment from your final grade on it (e.g., lower an “A” to an “A-”).
Because you submit work to me electronically, every day that your assignment fails to reach me
counts against you per my late policy. For example, if an assignment is due on a Wednesday and
you do not submit it until the following Monday, your work will be counted as five days late.
Any assignments that are received on the assigned due date but after the class period in which
they are due will still be counted as one day late.
Note: If you cannot submit an assignment on Angel for an unexpected technical reason, you
should email it to me and/or give me a hard copy of it as soon as possible. Then, you should
determine how to post the assignment on Angel at your earliest opportunity—if your assignment
fails to appear online promptly, it is possible that you will not receive credit for it.
Additional note: YOU SHOULD ALWAYS HAND IN ALL ASSIGNMENTS, EVEN IF
THEY ARE SO LATE THAT THEY WOULD RECEIVE A FAILING GRADE. WHY?
Work late enough to receive an “F” counts 50% towards your grade, whereas work missing
altogether counts 0%.
Conferences
Several times this semester, I will require you to attend a mandatory individual conference with
me about your writing. Because conferencing plays a crucial role in your development as a
writer, I will count a missed conference as two unexcused absences. Be sure to schedule and
attend conferences as required!
Academic Integrity
All students are expected to act with civility and personal integrity; respect other students'
dignity, rights and property; and help create and maintain an environment in which all can
succeed through the fruits of their own efforts. An environment of academic integrity is requisite
to respect for self and others and a civil community. Academic integrity includes a commitment
not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of
dishonesty include cheating or copying, plagiarizing, submitting another person’s work as one's
own, using Internet sources without citation, fabricating field data or citations, "ghosting" (taking
or having another student take an exam), stealing examinations, tampering with the academic
work of another student, facilitating other students' acts of academic dishonesty, etc.
Students charged with a breach of academic integrity will receive due process and, if the charge
is found valid, academic sanctions may range from F for the assignment to F for the course,
depending on the severity of the offense. The University's statement on academic integrity, from
which the above statement is drawn, is available at http://www.psu.edu/dept/oue/aappm/G9.html
Grading Scale
93-100 A
90-92 A87-89 B+
83-86 B
80-82 B77-79 C+
73-76 C
70-72 C67-69 D+
63-66 D
60-62 Dbelow 60 F
Writing Studio
At the PSU-Brandywine Writing Studio, you have the opportunity to work with professional
tutors on writing assignments from any course. These tutors will help you at every stage of the
writing process. They will talk out ideas with you, show you areas of strength and weakness in
your papers, and explain grammatical concepts to you. However, they do not serve as
proofreaders or editors of your writing. Think of these tutors as writing guides who can help to
lead you down the path of strong composition. They do not walk this path for you.
I will require you to visit the Writing Studio at least twice this semester for assistance with
various English 4 assignments. (At least one visit must occur during the week of 9/8-9/12.) I
encourage you, however, to visit the Writing Studio as often as you need assistance in this and
other courses.
For more information, see http://brandywine.psu.edu/16692.htm or call 610-892-1352.
Scheduling an appointment before you visit is encouraged.
Note to Students with Disabilities
In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, it is Penn State’s policy to
provide reasonable academic adjustments for students with documented disabilities. If you have
a disability-related need for modifications in this course, contact Sharon Manco at 610-892-1461
or sam26@psu.edu. You may also visit www.equity.psu.edu/ods/ for further information.
If Ms. Manco has already assigned you accommodations for this course, please see me at the
beginning of the semester so that we can discuss how to implement them. You may expect
discretion and confidentiality from me in any and all of these discussions.
Course Calendar
Special Notes:
√Bring Stepping Stones daily.
√Expect to have regular homework from or based on the material in Stepping Stones. I will
post the specific assignments on the course website at least one class period before they are due.
Generally speaking, you will need to read and complete several exercises from each chapter of
the textbook before we discuss it in class.
√In addition to having textbook-based homework, for most Wednesdays you will write a short
blog in response to an essay in the textbook (see “Blog Assignments” above for more details)
and on most Fridays you will take a short quiz covering recent topics in grammar and
composition. I will post details about these blogs and quizzes on the course website at least one
class period prior to their due dates.
√All information in the following calendar is tentative and subject to change based on the
needs of the class. I will inform you of any changes well in advance of their occurrence and
post the amended syllabus on the course website.
Date
Topic
Week 1
Monday, August 25
*Introductions and Syllabus
Wednesday, August 27
Chapter 1—“Seeing the Big Picture”
Friday, August 29
Chapter 2—“Developing a Topic”
Week 2
Monday, September 1
LABOR DAY—NO CLASS
Wednesday, September 3
Chapter 3—“Organizing Your Ideas”
Friday, September 5
Chapter 4—“Outlining Your
Paragraph”
Week 3
Monday, September 8
Wednesday, September 10
Friday, September 12
Due Dates for Major Assignments
*Weekly Quiz
Overview of Angel software
NO FORMAL CLASS--Attend
Brandywine Learning Center
Workshop on Time Management
(110 Vairo, Common Hour)
NO FORMAL CLASS—visit the
Writing Studio one time this week
and do all homework/online activities
posted on the course website.
Week 4
Monday, September 15
Chapter 10—“The Simple Sentence”
Wednesday, September 17
Ch. 10 (con’t.)
*Weekly Blog Due—Alexie Essay*
*Weekly Blog Due—Barry Essay
Ch. 10 (con’t.)
*Weekly Quiz
Chapter 11—“The Compound
Sentence”
Ch. 11 (con’t.)
Peer Review Workshop
Ch. 11 (con’t.)
*Paragraph 1 Due
*Paragraph 1 Revisions Due
Wednesday, October 1
Chapter 12—“The Complex
Sentence”
Ch. 12 (con’t.)
Friday, October 3
Ch. 12 (con’t.)
Friday, September 19
Week 5
Monday, September 22
Wednesday, September 24
Friday, September 26
Week 6
Monday, September 29
*Weekly Blog Due—Kamau Essay
*Peer Review Evaluations for Para. 1
*Weekly Quiz
*No Weekly Blog—Online Grammar
Units Due Instead
*Weekly Quiz
Week 7
Chapter 13—“More Complex
Sentences”
Ch. 13 (con’t.)
Peer Review Workshop
Chapter 14—“Sentences with
Modifiers”
*Paragraph 2 Due
Monday, October 13
Ch. 14 (con’t.)
*Paragraph 2 Revisions Due
Wednesday, October 15
Chapter 6—“Revising”
*Weekly Blog Due--Tan Essay
Friday, October 17
Ch. 6 (con’t.)
*Weekly Quiz
Chapter 8—“Patterns of
Development”
Ch. 8 (con’t.)
Peer Review Workshop
Ch. 8 (con’t.)
*Paragraph 3 Due
Monday, October 27
Ch. 8 (con’t.)
*Paragraph 3 Revisions Due
Wednesday, October 29
Ch. 8 (con’t.)
*Weekly Blog Due—Chapman Essay
Friday, October 31
Ch. 8 (con’t.)
*Weekly Quiz
Chapter 15—“Using Verbs
Correctly”
Ch. 15 (con’t.)
Peer Review Workshop
Chapter 9—“Moving from
Paragraphs to Essays”
*Paragraph 4 Due
Monday, November 10
Ch. 9 (con’t.)
*Paragraph 4 Revisions Due
Wednesday, November 12
Ch. 9 (con’t.)
*Weekly Blog Due—Rowley Essay
Friday, November 14
Ch. 9 (con’t.)
*Weekly Quiz
Monday, October 6
Wednesday, October 8
Friday, October 10
*Weekly Blog Due—Lopez Essay
*Peer Review Evaluations for Para. 2
*Weekly Quiz
Week 8
Week 9
Monday, October 20
Wednesday, October 22
Friday, October 24
*Weekly Blog Due—Meier Essay
*Peer Review Evaluations for Para. 3
*Weekly Quiz
Week 10
Week 11
Monday, November 3
Wednesday, November 5
Friday, November 7
*Weekly Blog Due—Soto Essay
*Peer Review Evaluations for Para. 4
*Weekly Quiz
Week 12
Week 13
Monday, November 17
Wednesday, November 19
Friday, November 21
Verb Review (Agreement, Strength,
and Consistency)
Library Computer Lab
*Exercises on Introductions
*Finish composing Essay 1
Library Computer Lab
*Exercises on Conclusions
*Peer Review Workshop
*Essay 1 Due
*Peer Review Evaluations for Essay 1
Week 14
Monday, November 24Friday, November 28
Week 15
THANKSGIVING—NO CLASS
Monday, December 1
*Essay 1 Revisions Due
Wednesday, December 3
*Transitions between Paragraphs
*Chapter 16—“Using Pronouns
Correctly”
Ch. 16 (con’t.)
Friday, December 5
Grammar and Prose Bowl
*Essay 2 Due
Library Computer Lab
*Peer Review Workshop
Library Computer Lab
*In-Class Paragraph for Portfolio
NO CLASS—OPTIONAL
CONFERENCES
*Peer Review Evaluations for Essay 2
Week 16
Monday, December 8
Wednesday, December 10
Friday, December 12
*Essay 2 Revisions Due
*Portfolio Due during the Course’s
Final Examination Period (TBA)