Through assigned vocabulary work, you will increase

Through assigned writing, you will learn

Overview of Course: (Subject to variation)

In this course you will learn to READ, REACT to what you read and then write about your reactions. The course material will be learned through the following components:

Housekeeping Details: Participation and Attendance

1. Participation and good attendance are essential to any composition class.  Meeting deadlines and attendance at the class meetings are mandatory.
2. Late Work and Withdrawals -- To receive credit for a essays, TJEs or exercises, please turn it in at the time and date specified on the calendar. Always keep a back-up copy. 
3. This writing course will largely be a workshop. You are expected to play an active role as a member of a community of writers. Throughout the course you will be writing to a variety of audiences.
4. Please familiarize yourself with what constitutes plagiarism and the consequences of it.
5. The key requirements are to be prepared, to participate, and to do all of the assigned work--readings and writings--on time. You are responsible for all information presented in the class, whether you were in class the day the material was discussed or whether you log-on to retrieve it.
6. After the 2nd week of class, I will not be bringing in handouts.  You need to get them from the web yourself during class on Monday, our computer workday--this helps you learn one of the college's outcomes: responsibility. 
7. If you have anything that might hinder your progress in this class, you need to let me know, so that I can help you if possible. If you have special accommodations that need to be made to ensure your success in class, I need to be notified during the first week of the class.  
8. Since attendance is so vital to our class, periodic "spot checks" worth five points will be given.  These will happen in the first ten minutes of class, and they cannot be made up; in other words, if you come into class at 12:45, please do not ask what the attendance question is, as you will not receive credit for it.
9. Essays will not be accepted late; however, to allow for the unexpected, you may turn in one paper and one TJE late without an excuse or penalty if you submit it within one week of its due date. To do this, you must attach your late paper certificate to the front cover. If you submit all papers on time (in other words, if you do not use your late-paper option), ten points will be added to your overall grade points at the end of the quarter.

Materials:

Textbooks:

Grading Policies:

To encourage you to take ownership of your progress in class, we will use web grading. You can access your grades at anytime:

https://secure.scc.spokane.edu/vgb/

If you have questions or concerns about a particular grade, please use the comment feature in the gradebook to notify me of the concern.  Also, please notify me within one week of the publication of the grade, so that we can stay current. I will not back track further than one week, so do yourself a favor and stay on task.

Click here to find out point percentages

English 100 Composition Preparation Spring 2002 Instructor: Dr. Jan Strever  Office Hours: T-F: 1:30 - 2:30 Office: 239 A Old Main    Phone : 533-8035    jstrever@scc.spokane.edu Class Syllaweb: http://ol.scc.spokane.edu/jstrever/spring100/ The purposes of this course are to help you improve your reading and writing skills and to prepare you for the large amount of reading and writing required in your other courses and in your career. We will spend some time with specific problems of reading comprehension and writing concerns, but the majority of this course will be devoted to exercises and assignments designed to teach you how to become a more confident and effective reader and writer. Objectives: To promote Responsibility, Oral and Written Communication, Global Awareness, and Problem Solving Through assigned reading and writing, you will learn	to appreciate and analyze selected readings
to understand how words, sentences, paragraphs relate to the whole of an article
to critically review the content and style of a written work.
your comprehension
your ability to decode a variety of reading material
your confidence in understanding complex texts.
to explore your understanding of rhetorical strategies
to develop sense of the reader/audience relationship
to edit and revise in order to communicate your thoughts and ideas.
Lectures: Will be offered on rhetorical terms, strategies, styles, writing formats and the documentation process, but the majority of the course depends upon your input.
Active class discussions: Participation through discussion is a vital and mandatory part of class; thus, all students will be expected to engage in discussion.	Electronic discussions:  Each week a question will be posted on the class Discussion Board.   Your response to the question is worth 10 points; however, you will recieve points only if you respond within the allotted time frame.  You will have exactly one week to respond, from Sunday to the following Sunday.
Journal sequence: Writing in your reading journal four days a week will encourage active participation in the reading experience.
Peer Feedback:  Giving and receiving feedback is a vital part of the class and of learning.
Weekly writing assignments from journal: At the end of each week, you will be expected to read through your journal, find one entry that interests you and re-write that entry. This re-write will be typed, then turned in at the beginning of the second day of the class week. Typed journal entries (TJEs) are given points rather than grades. A check ( ) is worth 10 points, a plus (+)=12 points, a plus-plus (++)=14 points, and a minus (-) will earn zero points.
Essays: We will be writing in-class and out-of-class essays.  These are comprised of 600 to 800 words in standard essay format, introduction, body and conclusion.  Out-of-class essays are to be typed, using a 12 point, Times Roman (or something similar) font.
Portfolio: While we will have many assignments in English 100, the majority of your grade will come from the portfolios you submit at midterm and the end of the quarter. Portfolios will be compiled by you and will include work that you are proud of. You are allowed to include work from other classes as well as what you produce in this class. The midterm portfolio will include: (at least) * 1 TJE * 1 summary * 1 essay * 1 reaction to a reading * 1 exercise The final portfolio will include:  * 1 summary  *1 TJE  * 1 exercise  * 1 book review  * 1 essay  * 1 reflection paper
Book review project: Each student will choose one novel to read and review. Presentations will be given on the novel to the class.
Assessment Activities: In addition to writing assignments and class discussion, there will be quizzes, both announced and unannounced, class activities, and self-evaluation opportunities. Each assignment will be worth a certain number of points, and the total points for the quarter will be the basis for your final grade. This portfolio will be the basis for at least one self-assessment assignment.
Be aware of the policies and abide by them.
Participating in class discussions in an informed and professional manner.
Asking questions when a concept is not clear.
Setting and balancing priorities.
Understanding and accepting consequences.
Demonstrating respect for others.
Arriving on time to class, prepared to work.
a computer disk--to save all of your computer written work
one 3 clasp folder--for your journal
six manila folders--for your essays and your book review
McWhorter, Kathleen. The Writer's Selections: Shaping Our Lives
A novel of your choice.
A handbook of your choice.  The English Department suggests, Quick Access by Troyka, which will be used both in English 101 and 201, but if you have a different one that will be fine.