Steve Vinson

English 0309: College Preparatory Writing

CRN: 11790

Tu 7:00-9:40 p.m.

 

                                                                              

Instructor’s Course Requirements

 

I.       Texts and Materials

           

A.         Required Text books:

1. The Writer’s World. Gaetz, Lynne and Suneeti, Phadke. New Jersey: ISBN 10: 013615218X / 0-13-615218-X

2.      Hacker, Diana. The Writer’s Reference. Sixth edition. Prentice Hall ISBN-10: 0312470983

3.      Hacker, Diana. Exercises to Accompany “A Writer’s Reference.” ISBN-13: 9780312452353

 

B.         Materials:

1.                  A good English dictionary

2.                  A Spanish/English dictionary (or other appropriate language/English dictionary)

3.                  Pencils, pens, eraser, erasable ink pens, correction fluid, lined paper.

 

II.           Course Requirements

 

A.         Grading percentages and Late Work Policy

 

                            The writing of paragraphs and short essays will account for 50% of the student’s grade. Daily work—

                         writing sentences,  exercises, and homework—will account for 30% of the grade. The Final Grammar test is

                            worth 10% of the final grade, and the final Paragraph Exam will be worth 10% of the final grade. 

 

                             All grades are FINAL, unless you are granted a “Re-do” (see below). There will be no Re-do’s for the last

paragraphs/essays ( see item C1 in the Official Course Syllabus). No extra credit is given for this course.   

It is your responsibility to keep with all work for the course and to earn a grade based on the

                             quality of your assigned course work.

 

                               Late work will be accepted only by the instructor’s permission, and it will usually be due ONE class

                             day after the due date. Late work may be penalized with a loss of points earned.

 

                             Re-Do’s are permitted ONLY for paragraphs and essays that are scored with a “D” of “F”.  No daily work

                             may be re-done

 

                             The two final exams (Grammar and Paragraph) will count as 20% of the final grade.

 

1.                  Paragraphs and short essays

Paragraphs and short essays should be turned in at the beginning of class. I may not accept earlier assigned work that is finished in class on the due date. Do not skip class or come to class late in order to finish due work.

 

                           In class paragraphs and short essays serve as practice for the final exam. You may only take a

                           missed essay if you contact me within a reasonable time to prepare a new prompt and to arrange

                           a time.

 

                           For our first essays, you may be required to turn in other work, such as Prewriting or Revisions.

                           This work will be counted as part of the essay grade.

 

2.                  Classwork and homework

                       Homework is due at the beginning of class. I may not accept late work or work that does not

                       Meet required standards of appearance or form.

 

                       As part of the Writing Process, much work is necessary prior to finishing a writing assignment.

                       I may choose to grade some of this work as separate from the essay grade.

 

                       The Exercises to Accompany a ‘Writer’s Reference’ and online exercises at the Diana Hacker 

                        webpage are valuable tools for review and practice of principals of grammar or mechanics, and

                        as preparation for the final Grammar Exam.

 

                       Exercises may be counted as grades for daily work.

 

3.                  Final Exams

 

            

                         The final Paragraph Exam counts 10%. Students take this exam during the last day   

                         of classes for the semester. It is graded holistically and is assigned a grade based on a

                         scale of five points—for instance, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80. etc. If  a student does not take this

                         test, that student will receive 0%. The next level course , English 0310, has a pre-

                         requisite of passing English 0309 with a C or better average required to enroll in that

                         class.

   

                                      

III. Course Evaluation

               

              In order to earn a passing grade of “C” you must attend class regularly, participate in class activities,

              and complete assignments at a minimum level of proficiency.  Higher grades will require more effort as

              well as more skill.   Your grade will be the total number of points earned, after weighting the two

       categories, divided by the number of possible points. This assumes that you have also passed the

       required Paragraph exam. The grading scale is listed as part of the Syllabus Part Two.

 

 

IV.  Other Instructor’s Policies

 

1.Attendance: (10% of grade) Attendance is expected and essential in any classroom environment. 

 

·         More than two absences will adversely affect your grade. 

·         After three absences I may drop you from the course.  Ultimately it is your responsibility to drop the course if you are not going to be able to complete it. 

·         The only excused absences are those students who must miss class for military duty, emergency services (EMS, fire department, police department), or college sponsored activities.  In order to be excused you must provide written notification of the reason and duration of your absence two weeks in advance, except in cases of emergency. 

·         I will take attendance every day.  Anyone not present when roll is called will be considered tardy.  Each three sets of tardiness will count as one absence.

·         If you anticipate being absent from a scheduled class it is your responsibility to make up missed work, though group work, quizzes and other collaborative exercises cannot be recreated.  If you must miss class, arrive prepared at the next class meeting.

 

2. Do not bring children or headphones to class.

3. Turn cell phones off during class.  If you cell phone rings, I reserve the right to answer it.   Do not send or check text messages during class; again, I reserve the right to answer those.

4. Refrain from sleeping or engaging in side conversations during class.

5. Do not do homework or study for other classes during this class.

6. Be respectful of your peers and instructor at all times. Avoid making prejudicial remarks regarding anyone’s race, ethnicity, social class, gender, sexual orientation, physical appearance, age, disability or any other kinds of differences. Avoid activities that could be perceived as sexual harassment.

1. Come to class with a good attitude, a sense of humor, and a willingness to work and learn.

2. I will drop you for disorderly conduct or disruptive behavior as defined in the student code of conduct, or if your behavior disrupts the learning environment.  This includes but is not limited by items on the list above.

 

V.     Cheating, Plagiarism, and Collusion: Cheating, plagiarism, and collusion are both intellectual theft and academic dishonesty.  They will not be tolerated in this class. Consequences include the following:

1.                  Failing the assignment

2.                  Failing the course

3.                  Referral to school authorities

4.                  Probationary status

5.                  Expulsion

VI.   

 

VI. CALENDAR
Week	Info, Reading(s)& Demonstrations	Graded Assignment(s)
1	·         Syllabus & clarification/discussion ·         Memorize 8 Parts of Speech	Use 8 parts of speech in sentences
2	·         Lecture/response: The Grammatical Sentence ·         Lecture/response (cont.): Parts of a Sentence Lecture/response (cont.): Types of Sentences ·         Taking Cornell Notes	List  12 statements that summarize the lecture Writing Sentences Exercise: ·         Write a grammatical Simple Sentence ·         Identify phrases, clauses, and absolutes in the sentence; i.d. S-V-O_Mods ·         REPEAT for Compound Sentence and Complex Sentence
3	·         Read WW pp 3-18 ·         Powerpoint: Writing paragraphs ----------------------------------------- ·         Powerpoint: Grammatical Sentences ·         Read WW p 473-490 Powerpoint: Developing a paragraph ·         Powerpoint: Spelling ·         Fun: 303 Dumb Spelling Mistakes	Write a paragraph Pronouns exercise Write paragraph Sentence exercises Created list—commonly misspelled words and personal spelling “demons”   Revise first paragraph
4	·         Read WW pp 135-150 ·         Powerpoint: Write a Comparison/Contrast paragraph ·         Spelling part 2 ·         Fun: 303 Dumb Spelling Mistakes (cont.)	Quiz over misspelled words First Draft Paragraph 2
5	Read WW 266-271 Powerpoints: Revising and Editing ·         Lecture/response: Four sentence styles	Revise & edit Paragraph 2 Write Segregating & “Freight-Train” sentences
6	·         “Read WW 70-82 ·         Powerpoint: Writing a narration ·         Lecture/response: Four more sentence styles	Write a narrative paragraph (PW, R/E, Final Draft) Write Parallel Style & Balanced sentences
7	·         Read WW pp 271-277 ·         Powerpoint: Verbs Writing Exam # 1	Verbs exercise Writing Exam #1
8	·         Read WW pp 398-414 ·         Powerpoint: Nouns Individual Progress Reports	Nouns exercise
9	·         Read WW pp 340-354 ·         Powerpoint: Verb Tenses ·         Read WW pp 83-95 ·         Powerpoint: Description	Verb Tenses Exercise Descriptive paragraph
10	·         Read Ww pp 436-451 ·         Powerpoint: Adjectives and Adverbs ·         Powerpoint: Illustration paragraph	Adjectives & adverbs exercise Illustration paragraph
11	·         Writing Exam 2
12	·         Read WW pp 415-435 ·         Powerpoint: Pronouns Final Progress reports	Pronouns exercise
13	·         Read WW pp 377-391 ·         Powerpoint: Subject/Verb Agreement Grammar Test 1	S/V Agreement exercise Grammar Test 1 Self Grade & remediation
14	·         Read WW pp 505-517 ·         Punctuation ONE Powerpoints: Apostrophes, Question Marks, Titles	Punctuation exercises
15	·         Read WW pp 491-504 ·         Punctuation TWO Powerpoints: Commas & other punctuation ·         Powerpoint: Capitalization Final Grammar Exam	Punctuation exercises Capitalization Exercise Final Grammar Exam
16	English 0309 Final Writing Exam	December 6, 2011: Scheduled Exam
OMNIBUS WEEK	An extra week is reserved to be used, as needed, to cover holidays, “catch up” time etc.