EN 110, Spring 2020
Professor: Bob Boon
Office: Cuples 425
Email: rboon@centralmethodist.edu
Office Hours: MWF 10-10:50, and by appointment
COURSE INFORMATION
EN 110 B Composition I
Spring 2020
Classic 100, MWF 11-11:50 am
Final Exam Schedule:
CATALOG COURSE DESCRIPTION
EN110 introduces students to writing as a process, exploring genres and rhetorical situations, and using strategies to compose effective texts.
This course provides students with the foundations that prepare them for the demands of academic writing, especially the kinds of assignments encountered in other writing classes. In general, we’ll be working with various kinds of materials, exploring issues and ideas that require serious investigation. We’ll practice different ways of approaching writing assignments, including ways of gathering sources, taking notes and finding patterns, and producing documents that meet different goals. This course will also teach students to develop rhetorical sensitivity by responding to the writing of others and by using the suggestions of their teacher and their peers to improve their own writing.
As one aspect of this, we will work extensively in small groups. Be committed to this.
This specific section will be organized around the general idea of the environment, in all the many ways that we interact with the world and its many other creatures, lands and waters.
TEXTBOOK INFORMATION
Zodiac. Neal Stephenson. Grove Press, 2007. ISBN-10: 0802143156, ISBN-13: 978-0802143150
How to Write Anything. John Ruszkiewicz. Bedford, 4th ed., 2019.ISBN: 9781319282363
COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
EN110: In the course of EN110, students will...
• Explore genre as a way to respond to various rhetorical situations and contexts
• Practice writing as a process that usually includes multiple drafts and revisions
• Give and act on productive feedback
• Use strategies—such as analysis, interpretation, synthesis, description, and summary—to compose texts that develop and support the writer's ideas
• Edit for style, correctness, and clarity
CMU MISSION STATEMENT
Central Methodist University prepares students to make a difference in the world by emphasizing academic and professional excellence, ethical leadership, and social responsibility.
CMU LEARNING OUTCOMES
Communication (articulate, multimodal, professional)
- Students are articulate, able to speak and write clearly and effectively.
- Students are multimodal, able to interpret and express ideas through multiple modes of communication.
- Students are professional, able to adapt to and interact with others in a confident, responsible, and engaged manner.
Curiosity (discover, analyze, create)
- Students can discover, explore, and seek solutions based on accumulated knowledge and current research.
- Students can analyze, evaluate, interpret, and summarize data.
- Students can create and innovate using critical thinking and collaborative skills.
Community (serve, respect, lead)
- Students will serve others and be ethical and informed citizens.
- Students will understand and respect diversity, including other’s viewpoints, positions, and beliefs
- Students will lead creatively and collaboratively to produce positive changes in the broader world.
STUDENTS REQUIRING SPECIAL ACCOMODATIONS
Central Methodist University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual preference, religion, sex, national origin, age, or federally defined disability/state defined handicap ("disability"). This includes but is not limited to recruitment and admission of students, educational programs, services, activities, financial aid, and scholarship programs. The University complies with all federal and state non-discrimination requirements. The Center for Learning & Teaching at Central Methodist University is committed to ensuring nondiscrimination and equal access to all programs, service, and activities for qualified students with a disability. It is the responsibility of any student who wishes to claim a disability and seek an accommodation to file official documentation confirming the disability and a completed Disability Services Student Information Form with the Center of Learning and Teaching prior to seeking any accommodation based on the disability.
GRIEVANCE POLICY
Central Methodist University has established a grievance policy and process designed to provide students and others with a process to resolve potential issues. This policy and process is established to provide persons with an avenue to file a written concern and to establish a process to track and implement changes as a result of said concern. For more detailed information, consult the CLAS catalog at: http://www.centralmethodist.edu/academics/catalog/clas-catalog/policies/index.php.
If an issue cannot be solved through consultation with the faculty or division chair, students can report an incident/issue within 30 days of the event via the online web form https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?CentralMethodistUniv&layout_id=3
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND ACADEMIC CONDUCT
ACADEMIC CONDUCT: Any student found guilty of academic misconduct on any assignment, quiz or exam in this class will earn a zero for that assignment, quiz or exam. Furthermore, that student will come under the auspices of the Academic Conduct Policy of CMU. It is the student's responsibility to review and understand the CMU Academic Conduct Policy. Plagiarism falls under this code. I have no sense of humor nor forgiveness for any plagiarism. At best, plagiarized work will receive a zero and be formally reported to the Provost. Plagiarized work cannot be done over. Severe or repeated episodes of plagiarism will likely guarantee an F in the course and may result in the offender being dropped from the course.
Reading: I do expect each of you to read the course materials. I do consider consulting or copying from online summaries instead of reading the material itself to be a form of academic misconduct.
Group activities: I do expect each person in a group to participate reasonably and fairly. It is not acceptable to simply show up for a presentation without doing any of the preparation work. Do let me know if one or more group members is not contributing.
CLASS CONDUCT: In class, we need to be alert, civil and courteous to others. Partly this means being prepared for the day’s work; this also means staying reasonably focused on our activities. So, you shouldn’t be on Facebook or Snapchat or whatever other social media, not texting, not listening to music, not playing games, not watching sports during class. No earphones at any time. Don’t bring your phones out, especially not during group work. Use your iPads, but if you abuse the privilege, you may be asked to leave class and not return until we have a talk with your advisor.
Do be civil—we will discuss a number of controversial issues. You certainly don’t have to agree with everyone, or with me, but we do need to discuss issues, to argue productively, not insult or name-call. But you know these things.
ATTENDANCE: Regular attendance is not only expected, but is vital to academic success. We will have activities every class that add to the overall learning experience. In general, except for official school activities, I do not excuse any absences. However, please let me know if there are exceptional circumstances.
Like every teacher, I expect everyone to be in class each day and to arrive on time. And because this class depends on your active participation, it’s especially important that you be here to contribute. Of course, I understand that sometimes the circumstances of life may cause you to miss class (and maybe even to be a little late once or twice, but surely not every day). If you miss more than ten classes, however, your chances of getting at least a D will be in jeopardy, and so I reserve the right to drop you from the class or lower your final course grade. In general, except for official school activities, I do not excuse any absences. However, please let me know if there are exceptional circumstances.
Tardiness: If you are late to class, you may be marked tardy, which may reduce your final course grade. If you are late to class as many as 10 times, I will consider lowering your whole semester grade by at least one letter grade.
WRITING STUDIO: All on-campus sections of EN110 have a writing studio component. I’ve assigned 12 points for this activity, spread over the semester, three points for each of the 4 required sessions.
All 110, 111 and 120 students are required to attend at least two writing studio sessions in the first 8 weeks, and at least two more before the last day of class. Writing Studio will be held weekly (starting in week 2), but there will be fewer writing studio times per week.
Students can sign up for writing studio times with our new scheduling system, centralmethodist.mywconline.com . There will also be an icon on their iPad home screens that will take them to the scheduler. Be sure you sign up and get the tutors to check you in. If you don’t accomplish this, you won’t get points for the visit. I need to get an official email from the Writing Center to give you points.
A couple more specifications—you do need to work on this course during the session. You need to not skip this class to do your Writing Studio. You can only attend the Writing Studio/Center for course points once during any given week.
WRITING CENTER: Please take advantage of the Center throughout the semester. This extra attention to your writing can make a significant difference in what you learn about writing. Schedule appointments here: http://www.centralmethodist.edu/academics/english/writingcenter.php
ANNOUNCEMENTS
I tend to make frequent use of the Announcements in myCMU. You are responsible for information and course materials in the Announcements.
CLASS CANCELATION
If there is a weather emergency, please check the CMU website for school cancellation. If I have a personal emergency or illness, I will attempt to post that in the course Announcements.
MAKE-UP AND LATE WORK: We have a fairly tight schedule, and so a caution—late work will put you at many disadvantages throughout the course, not only in terms of grades. Not being prepared is more than a little rude to the group and class members who depend on your active contribution. So, I do reserve the right to penalize or refuse entirely any late work throughout the semester. Any make-up work must be done within two weeks of the original due date. Do not email papers without asking me first.
ASSIGNMENTS AND POINTS BREAKDOWN
DESCRIPTION OF MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS
Notice that all of these assignments involve several steps along the way. This will always include various brainstorming/invention activities, such as freewriting, so you will need to bring something to write with/on to every class. We will almost always work through stages of writing through group activities.
Plagiarism exercise: Please go to this website, http://www.lib.usm.edu/plagiarism_tutorial/, which contains a plagiarism tutorial. Work through the exercises, and take the test at the very end. Print that result for me, sign it, and turn it in.
Where I Stand: This first essay should explain what you already know about environmental issues, explore how you learned what you have, and perhaps sketch out your initial beliefs. This is not at all a research exercise. Do not go look up outside information. Instead, write about your relevant experiences, whether in the classroom or in your wider life. 2-3 pages, typed, double-spaced.
Blog project: For this project, I will ask you to commit to one of 4 issue groups, which I will tentatively call conservation/extinction, energy, land use, and technologies. Your group’s task will be to set up a blog using Wordpress, and then on a regular basis to find new information relevant to your topic, to post a link, some brief summary, and some comment on it. We’ll discuss more details when we see how big the groups turn to be. In general, I plan to have the posts due by Sunday night each week. Late postings will be penalized, since this greatly impacts other students.
Blog responses: Once we get the blogs set up, we will also set up followers. The job of each follower is to read and respond to various postings from the blog you read. I’m planning to have the responses due before class on Wednesday each week. In general, I’ll ask you to respond only to the most recent set of blog posts.
Response papers: These informal papers will ask you to reflect and expand on your ideas about our book, Zodiac. These are not meant to be thesis-driven, 5 paragraph essays. Rather, each response paper is a place to test out your own ideas, to connect with your own experiences, your memories, travels, perhaps material from other classes, films, conversations you’ve had, and so on. 2 typed pages each. (Serious about two full pages.)
Film project/presentation: This is a group project. I’ll supply you with a list of film choices and ask each group to view and discuss its chosen film, in terms of what we learn about place and how people adapt to places from the film. Each group should then present an overview of the film—which means you do need to tell us the plot and main characters—and your group’s ideas about the film to the class. If possible, show a very brief film clip to the class to illustrate key points (preferably not a trailer). Do write, individually, a one-page paper to turn in to me, giving your key ideas, or disagreements with the group’s conclusions. This one page is due with the presentation.
Intermediate report/presentation: This will be a report on your own group’s accumulated research and new understandings from your blog. Each person should write a short paper (2 pages), and all together, the group will tell the class what you are figuring out.
Reflection essay: This essay comes at the very end of the semester. Its purpose is for you to think back on what you have learned from your overall reading and writing experiences, to make sense of it. This is not a simple summary exercise, but rather more a personal meditation on your own learning. This essay is also part of the CMU English Department’s assessment process. 3 pages, typed.
Portfolio: This activity is the other part of the assessment process. Each of you should, all semester long, be collecting samples of your writing, in all its many aspects. So, you might decide to include some of your freewriting, various drafts, part of your blogs, some finished essays…rather up to you. We’ll talk more about this as we go—but start right away, making a habit of keeping your writing. Your responsibility! At the end of the semester, we’ll talk more about how and where to upload this material.
N. b., Paper format: all papers should be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point font, and stapled. I prefer Times New Roman. Page lengths: when a paper assignment asks, for example, for 2 pages, that means two full pages; a partial second page will not get full credit. Yes, go find a stapler! And when we have peer reviews, or papers to turn in, do that and be ready before class. Not ok to “check in” and then run off to go print/copy.
GRADING
100%-90% = A
89%-80% = B
79%-70% = C
69%-60% = D
59% or below = F
Assessment of Student Learning:
Your final grade in the class will be largely determined from these activities:
Where I Stand
Peer review 6
Final draft 10
Plagiarism exercise 3
Blog project (3 points each)
Blog responses (2 points each)
Film project/presentation 15
Response papers 45 (3 x 15)
Intermediate report/presentation 10
Reflection essay
Draft/peer review 6
Final draft 25
Portfolio 10
Writing Studio 12 (3 x 4 sessions)
In-class writing/activities, as time permits. Points open-ended
Reading quizzes (0-40): I prefer to not give quizzes, but I insist on reason efforts in reading our texts.
COURSE SCHEDULE: This schedule is subject to change or modification, though hopefully we will stay close to this outline. Readings should be done prior to class. When we are reading a section of any of our textbooks, please bring your book to that class. Outside readings will be given as copies in class, or as web links. Notice that I haven’t included the grammar chapters on the schedule. We will address grammar, depending on general class needs.
Week 1 (January 13-17)
Course introduction
Assign Where I Stand // Freewriting // How to Write, Chapter 3
Continue working on first essay // Plagiarism exercise due // How to Write, Chapter 1
Week 2 (January 22-24)
Monday, MLK Day, no classes
Peer review of Where I Stand
How to Write, Chapter 4
Week 3 (January 27-31)
Where I Stand due
Film: Before the Flood
Continue Before the Flood
Finish Before the Flood
Week 4 (February 3-7)
Zodiac, Chapters 1-2
Set up Blog groups// using Wordpress // How to Write, Chapter 40
Zodiac, Chapters 3-4
Week 5 (February 10-14)
How to Write, Chapter 8 / Zodiac, Chapters 5-6
Discuss of blogs
Zodiac, Chapters 7-8
Week 6 (February 17-24)
Zodiac, Chapters 9-10
Discuss of blogs
Zodiac, Chapters 11-13
Week 7 (February 24-28)
Response paper 1 due
Discussion of blogs / Assign Film projects
Zodiac, Chapters 14-20
Week 8 (March 2-6)
How to Write, Chapter 20
Zodiac, Chapters 21-24
Intermediate report/presentation due
Week 9 (March 9-13)
Continue presentations
Zodiac, Chapters 25-29
Response paper 2 due
Week 10 (March 16-20)
Zodiac, Chapters 30-31 / Check in on Portfolio
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Spring Break, March 21-29
Week 11 (March 30-April 3)
Film project presentations
Film project presentations
Film project presentations
Week 12 (April 6-10)
April 6 and 8, I’ll be out of town at the AAG convention. No classes.
Good Friday
Week 13 (April 13-17)
Zodiac, Chapters 32-34 // Assign Reflection essay
Film: Chasing Ice
Chasing Ice
Week 14 (April 20-24)
Chasing Ice
Zodiac, Chapter 35-end
Response paper 3 due / Brainstorming on Reflection essay
Week 15 (April 27-May 1)
Reflection essay peer review
Tba
Thursday, April 30, last day for Writing Studio points!
Reflection essay and Portfolio due