Syllabus – ENGL 101: Composition I - Hybrid

Course Information

ENGL 101 – Composition I

5 Credits

Instructor

Carl Waluconis                  Carl.waluconis@seattlecolleges.edu

206-934-2927 (office - 24 hour voice mail – sorry, not equipped for texting)

• This course is offered on Canvas, https://canvas.seattlecentral.edu . Log in with your SID and your PIN (your 6 digit birthdate). Please change your password so something more secure right away.”

You may also visit the “Learning-with-Waluconis” website at: https://sites.google.com/a/seattlecentral.edu/learning-with-waluconis/

There are many classes I have taught, but the course list on the left provides a first step. There is no listing for hybrid, but clicking ENGL 101 there will get you started.

Communication

Assignments, announcements, and other information will in nearly all cases be posted on the class’s website. However, some of these will occur in our classroom meetings only. On snow days or unexpected emergencies, there will be online announcements. When you write me an e-mail, be sure to include your name as it appears on the class roster as well as the name of the class and days/times it meets. Thank you.

In this regard, keep your student contact information, especially your e-mail address, updated on Canvas and with the college. If you fail to keep your information updated and you miss out on important information as a result, you will have no one to blame but yourself. Missed information because of inaccurate records is not an excuse for late or incorrectly done work.

• To update contact information in Canvas, click on Settings from the top of any page. Your “Ways to Contact” are on the right. Choose “Edit Settings” to make changes.
  • To update contact information with the College student information system, click on the “Is Your Campus Profile Email Address Correct” link in red at the bottom of every page in Canvas.

Course Description

English 101 includes writing with a variety of approaches, beginning with personal experience and continuing through specific forms of analytical writing. The writing assignments will ask students to focus on major strategies of nonfiction prose, with subject matter drawn from firsthand experiences, observation, and other published sources. Students will become writers engaged in editing, reading, researching, and understanding.

As a focus for the development of our writing's content, this course will explore the idea of a multi-cultural America – differences and similarities between cultures, between people, between literature and culture, between experience and writing about experience. This includes explorations of language (oral and written), literature, and the experience of living in a culturally diverse nation. What does it mean to live "the American experience"? How does this effect the construction of identity and community?

Writing is a skill that is most personal and public at the same time. Acquiring a good relationship with writing is in some ways the most important part of this course. It is of course an opportunity to strengthen your writing skills and use them as a tool for perception and gaining knowledge of yourself and others.

Prerequisites – Placement in Composition I.

Hybrid & Schedule

The course will combine online activities with in-class activities, as well of course with homework. Each element is equally important. Work progresses from one kind of activity to another, meaning that progress and learning depend upon participating in all activities. In addition to the required class meetings, students should expect to complete at least eight hours per week of online activities and other homework to meet class requirements. 

Course Outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Distinguish between claim and evidence.
• Identify explicit and implicit main points.
• Make inferences about a text.
• Make the connection between purpose and audience.
• Demonstrate rhetorical awareness in writing.
• Paraphrase and Summarize.
• Understand difference between summary and analysis.
• Incorporate, control and use sources.
• Recognize and avoid plagiarism.
• Evaluate and synthesize multiple texts.
• Demonstrate effective use of writing process.
• Provide specific, informed and constructive feedback that has the power/potential to elicit revision.
• Make effective use of feedback in revision.
• Produce, support, and develop an arguable claim.
• Identify, evaluate, and articulate own learning.
• Recognize and use academic writing conventions.
• Produce clear, logical, and effective essay structure.
• Demonstrate clear, confident use of paragraphing.
• Demonstrate clear and controlled organization with logical connections between paragraphs and ideas.
• Write a variety of sentence structures–a blend of simple, compound, and complex sentences used to enhance meaning.
• Recognize and participate in academic discourse.
• Produce coherent and cohesive writing under time constraints.

Textbooks & Other Required Materials        

Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing, 9th edition, Columbo, Cullen and Isle (Editors), Bedford-St. Martin’s, 2013 ISBN 978-1-4576-0671-7.

A Writer's Reference, 8th edition, Hacker and Sommers, Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 2014. ISBN-10: 1457666766

If you want to explore online, you may consult Purdue University’s online Writing Lab at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

A good English dictionary, your choice.

Access to the Internet & basic computer knowledge.

Writing Expectations & Evaluation

Students will complete four formal essays of about 750-1300 words. These essays will progress from initial steps through multiple drafts. Even though a large portion of the class is online, final paper copies of essays will be turned in during class time, accompanied by the appropriate rubric, which students can use as a last checklist before they turn in their essays.   Revising is an important part of the writing process. Each essay will gain comments from the instructor and be evaluated using a rubric that students will know before the final draft. Each essay will count about 22% of the final grade. Each rubric has 100 possible points and will be used as in this chart to translate to a decimal grade:

Essay points	Decimal grade	Letter grade
99-100	4.0	A
98	3.9	A
97	3.85	A
96	3.8	A
95	3.75	A
94	3.7	A/A-
93	3.65	A-
92	3.6	A-
91	3.55	A-
90	3.5	A-
89	3.4	B+
88	3.3	B+/B
87	3.2	B/B+
86	3.1	B
85	3.0	B
84	2.9	B
83	2.8	B/B-
82	2.7	B-/B
81	2.6	B-
80	2.5	B-
79	2.4	C+
78	2.3	C+/C
77	2.2	C/C+
76	2.1	C
75	2.0	C
74	1.9	C
73	1.8	C-/C
72	1.7	C-/C
71	1.6	C-
70	1.5	C-
69	1.4	D+
68	1.3	D+/D
67	1.2	D/D+
66	1.1	D
65	1.0	D
64	0.9	D
63	0.8	D/D-
62	0.7	D-/D
61	0.6	D-
1-59	0.0	F

 

                 

In addition, because the class’s expectations are to prepare you for writing in the world, there will be a Timed Writing worth 10% of the final grade. It is a “exam” type of situation and will be during class meeting during the third week of the quarter. It will not be a “knowledge” test, but will have you writing in one hour on your own ideas and experiences. We will prepare, reviewing helpful skills for the activity. It will be an “open book” situation where you can use dictionaries, etc. However, the one-hour time limit will be strictly enforced. The writing will be evaluated holistically, not with a rubric. If you score lower than a 3.0 on this activity, you will take another such Timed Writing, but will need to make arrangements with the instructor to schedule a time for doing so. If you need to re-take this “exam”, the higher score will count toward your final grade.

The various Discussions, drafts, and class participation will all influence your final grade.  They can add points to your lowest scoring essay.

 

Important Expectations

Because we are talking about important idea and your writing, students are expected to respect others and retain a sense of courtesy. This is both online and in the classroom. Again, the course is an opportunity to strengthen your writing skills and use them as a tool for perception while gaining knowledge of yourself and others.

 

Accommodations

If you need course accommodations based on a documented disability, or have any emergency medical information about yourself, or need special arrangements in case the building has to be evacuated, please inform the instructor as soon as possible in writing.

 

Below is a listing of the various assignments and meetings for the class.