Greetings...yay! if you are reading this, it means you found the blog! :-)
Below is a copy of the course outline that you received in class today.
You will also find a copy of the grade worksheet as well.
See you Wednesday!
Prof. Fraga
SPRING 2011, CSU SACRAMENTO
COURSE: English 1A: College Composition I
Section 11 MW, 130-245 pm, Douglass Hall 111
INSTRUCTOR: Catherine Fraga
E-mail: sacto1954@gmail.com
Office Hours: CLV 149, MWF noon-1:15 PM or by appointment
CLASS BLOG: www.English1ASpring11.blogspot.com
Prerequisites: Placement by examination OR successful completion of English 1 or its equivalent.
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REQUIRED TEXTS & MATERIALS
• Arranged Marriage: Stories
By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Publisher: Anchor
• The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood
by Kien Nguyen
Publisher: Bay Back Books
• Rules of Thumb: A Guide for Writers—8th Edition
by Jay Silverman, Elaine Hughes, Diana Roberts Wienbroer
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• 8 1/2” x 11” lined notebook paper (paper that is torn out of a notebook without a straight edge will not be accepted).
• Stapler
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
English 1A is a freshman writing course that offers students the opportunity to learn and develop the reading and writing skills that will be most useful to them during a four-year college program. The course is designed to help students improve their ability to understand and critically judge reading material and to write an essay which has a single controlling idea and which is coherently developed using idiomatically and grammatically correct English.
The heart of the course is readings that require a range of narrative, analytical, reflective and research writing skills.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1. Attendance and punctuality are required. I have designed this course so that it depends on your presence and participation. If you’re absent, you are still responsible for finding out what you’ve missed (including lecture notes, handouts, changes in due dates, etc.) Refer to your class phone list.
2. Having more than three absences will seriously alter your final grade. This is not because I do not consider you mature enough to make a commitment to a class; it is because if you do miss more than 3 classes, you miss group work, or in class writing, or a journal assignment, or a quiz, or an in class essay assignment, and/or a bevy of other possible events, all of which affect the grade you earn (see #8 below). Please communicate with me. I am very understanding and reasonable.
3. If you must miss a class on a day an assignment is due, you are still responsible for getting the assignment to me on time. Again, use the phone list, call your mother, or??? This is merely a fairness issue; we all have life situations that are often difficult and unexpected, and if others manage to still get their work in on time, I cannot give special exceptions to just a few. If you miss class and would like to e-mail me your work, you must first contact me for permission. Again, this is a fairness issue.
4. There will be numerous reading and writing assignments in this course. Weekly reading assignments will be given, and I expect you to complete them on time and come prepared to class. We may not get an opportunity to discuss everything we read in class, but that is inevitable in any college course.
5. You will complete a question and comment assignment for several of the reading assignments. The question is optional, but the commentary is not. Your commentary must be a minimum of six sentences in length. (I know ALL the shortcuts students may try. Be assured that if you write six very short, simple sentences you will not receive credit for the assignment. A thorough explanation of what is required for these question and comment assignments and a sample will be provided.) No late homework will be accepted.
6. An out of class essay may be handed in late, but there is a stiff penalty. For every day your essay is late, the grade for that essay will drop a full ten points. This includes weekends. Points subtracted for lateness cannot be made up during the revision process. (see note at end of this course outline regarding revision policy).
7. Journal writing assignments are assigned and completed in class and are not allowed to be made up.
8. English 1A is graded A, B, C, D, or F. Do not assume that because you have not submitted a particular essay assignment, you will still be able to pass the course. Even though you have missed the due date, and have an automatic “F” for that assignment, YOU STILL MUST WRITE AND SUBMIT THAT ESSAY TO PASS THE COURSE.
A note on classroom etiquette:
If you feel you cannot survive each class session without the use of your cell phone, iPod, or laptop computer, please do not enroll in this class. (I own all three of these devices, and value each of them, but I do not plan on using them during my classroom time with you. Simply, it is the highest degree of rudeness and disrespect.) If I see you busy texting, etc. I will not hesitate to ask you to leave until you finish your crucial business. I plan to give you my full attention and I expect the same from all my students.
About being tardy for class:
It seems that over the last few years, tardiness has REALLY escalated and become problematic in my classes. I am not sure why, but I do know that most of my colleagues deduct a percentage of the earned grade for tardiness. It is really annoying and disruptive, both to me and the rest of the class, when students enter the class late—we only meet for 75 minutes twice a week, and I begin class immediately. In the “real world”, there is even less tolerance for lateness. Plan ahead. I realize things can happen beyond your control, but looking for parking is not a good excuse. If I see that tardiness is becoming excessive, I may have to ask you to drop the class.
Theme: The Significance of Home
• We will consider home as our course-long theme. The significance of home – as a place of beginnings, as a starting point, as a place of comfort, regret, anguish, joy, personal growth, and loss – fuels a meaningful, intriguing collection of themes. Home is a base from which all of us emerge.
• Most of us have pre-conceived notions of home as a place of love, comfort, security. For millions of children, however, these definitions do not fit their reality of home as a place to escape: escape from cycles of poverty, mistrust, abuse.
• The course will explore not only home as a safety net, but also the illusions we have of home perpetuated by Madison Avenue advertising agencies.
• What are our expectations of home? Again, does our “real” home live up to the expectations society has created? How do different cultural values and priorities play a role in determining what home should and should not be? Attempting to answer these questions is the task I have set for us during this semester.
• What does it mean to leave home for the first time? What does it mean to be rootless, without a home?
• Finally, how can we reconnect to the earth as home, knowing full well that the lives we have created for ourselves impact the finite planet all of us call home?
• We view at least two films which explore the theme of home. These films will allow us to observe and witness concepts we have read about and discussed.
COURSE OUTLINE
(Please note: Bring this outline to class each session; changes could occur at a moment’s notice. Also, most reading and writing assignments are noted -- other class exercises and lectures may not be noted specifically)
ALL OUT OF CLASS ASSIGNMENTS (HOMEWORK, ESSAYS, ETC) MUST BE TYPED AND DOUBLE SPACED UNLESS INSTRUCTED OTHERWISE. PLEASE USE TIMES NEW ROMAN, 12 POINT FONT.
Week One (1/24-1/28)
• Introduction to the Course (course theme explained)
• Course Outline Distributed (handout)
• Question/Comment Homework Explained
• Unacceptable Errors (handout)
• Discussion: Reading and Evaluating Poetry
Week Two (1/31-2/4)
• Stapler Check (worth 25 points) (Monday)
• Read Poetry Packet 1 (Monday)
• In class Journal #1 (Monday)
• Read Poetry Packet 2 (Wednesday) Q & C #1 due today
Week Three (2/7-2/11)
• Quiz based on pgs. 2-60 in Rules of Thumb (Monday)
• Discussion: Reading and Evaluating the Short Story (Monday)
• Read: “The Bats”(1-16) & “Clothes” (17-33) in Arranged Marriage (Wednesday)
• Out of Class Essay #1 assigned today (Wednesday)
Week Four (2/14-2/18)
• Read: “Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs” (35-56) and “The Word Love” (58-71) in Arranged Marriage (Monday) Q & C #2 due today
• Group Exercise #1 (Monday)
• Discussion: How to Evaluate a Documentary Film (Wednesday)
• Read: “A Perfect Life” (73-108) in Arranged Marriage (Wednesday)
Week Five (2/21-2/25)
• View 1st half of film in class (Monday)
• View 2nd half of film in class (Wednesday)
• Preparation for in-class writing next week (Wednesday)
Week Six (2/28-March 4)
• In class essay #1 (please bring a blue book to class, 8 ½” x 11”) (Monday)
• Read: “The Maid Servant’s Story” (109-168 in Arranged Marriage (Wednesday)
• Out of Class Essay 1 due today (Wed.)
• Group Exercise #2 (Wed.)
Week Seven (Mar. 7-11)
• Out of class #2 assigned today (Monday)
• Read pgs. 112-134 in Rules of Thumb (Monday)
• Quiz on pgs. 112-134 (see above) (Monday)
• Discuss MLA Documentation in class (Mon. & Wed.)
• Read pages 136-149 in Rules of Thumb (Wed.)
• Quiz on pages 136-149 (see above) (Wed.)
Week Eight (Mar. 14-18)
• Read: “The Disappearance” (169-181) & “Doors” (183-202) in Arranged Marriage (Monday)
• In class Journal #2 (Monday)
• Read: “The Ultrasound” (203-230) and “Affair” (231-272) in Arranged Marriage--Q & C #3 due (Wednesday)
• Group Exercise #3 (Wednesday)
Week Nine (Mar. 21-25)
SPRING BREAK—no classes—enjoy and be safe.
Week Ten: (March 28-April 1 )
• Read “Meeting Mrinal” (273-300) in Arranged Marriage (Monday)
• Discussion: How to Read and Evaluate Essays (Monday)
• Read Essay Packets #1 & 2 (Wednesday)
• In class Journal #3 (Wed.)
Week Eleven: (April 4-8)
• If you have not already, begin reading The Unwanted. Please have pages 5-136 read by Wed. of this week.
• Out of class essay #2 due today (Monday)
• Out of class essay #3 assigned (Monday)
• Discuss The Unwanted, pages 5-136 (Wed.)
• Read Essay Packets # 3 & 4 (Wed.)
Week Twelve: (April 11-15)
• View film in class (Monday)
• Complete viewing of film in class & class discussion (Wednesday)
• In class essay #2 on film viewed this week (Friday)
Week Thirteen: (April 18-22)
• In class essay #2 on film viewed last week (Monday)—remember blue book, please
• Read Essay Packets # 5 & 6 (Wed.) Q & C #4 due today.
Week Fourteen: (April 25-29)
• By today you will have read the entire memoir, The Unwanted (Monday)
• Out of class essay #3 due today (Wed.)
• Discuss The Unwanted in class (Mon. & Wed.)
• Journal #4 in class (Wed.)
Week Fifteen (May 2-6)
• Take home test on The Unwanted distributed today (Monday)
• Take home test on The Unwanted due today (Wednesday)
Week Sixteen (May 9-13)
• Grade Sheet Check (Mon.)
• Oral presentations (Wed.)
• Last class day (Wed.)
Week Seventeen (May 16-20) FINALS WEEK
THERE IS NO FINAL EXAM IN THIS CLASS.
***A NOTE ABOUT REVISIONS***
Since this is a composition course, where the goal is to become a better writer and a more sophisticated thinker, you are invited to revise one of your three out of class essays. If you choose to revise an essay, the revision along with the original, is due no later than one week after you receive the graded essay back.
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Name_____________________________________________________________
English 1A, Spring 2011, Prof. Fraga
GRADE WORKSHEET-----1975 POINTS POSSIBLE
Stapler Check (25 pts.)
Monday, Jan 31—stapler in your possession!______
Oral Presentation=(100 pts.)
Oral Pres._____(100)
Out of Class Essays (400 points)
Out of Class Essay 1_____(100 pts.)
Out of Class Essay 2_____(200 pts.)
Out of Class Essay 3_____(100 pts.)
Rules of Thumb Quizzes (300 points)
Pgs. 1-60 (100)_____
Pgs. 112-134 (100)_____
Pgs 136-147 (100)_____
Unannounced Quizzes (250) (50 points each)
Quiz 1_____
Quiz 2_____
Quiz 3_____
Quiz 4_____
Quiz 5_____
Journals=(100 pts.)
Journal 1 (25) _____
Journal 2 (25)_____
Journal 3 (25)_____
Journal 4 (25)_____
Homework=(200 pts.)
Q and C #1 (50)_____
Q and C #2 (50)_____
Q and C #3 (50)_____
Q and C #4 (50)_____
In Class Group Exercises (200 pts.)
Group Work 1 (50 pts)_____
Group Work 2 (50 pts)_____
Group Work 3 (50 pts)_____
Group Work 4 (50 pts)_____
In class essay #1 (100)_____
In class essay #2 (100) _____
Take home essay on The Unwanted (200)_____
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How to assess your grade earned: Divide the points you earn by 1975 to find the percentage. Then see chart below.
100-94=A Example: 1725 pts. earned=87%=B+
93-90=A- Example: 1444 pts. earned=73%=C+
89-84=B+ Example: 1901 pts. earned=96%=A
83-80=B Example: 1808 pts. earned=91%=A-
79-74=B-
73-70=C+
69-64=C
63-60=C-
59-54=D
53-0=F
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