Skyline College      http://skylinecollege.net

        English 100 ASTEP:  College Composition  --  Spring 2005   

 

 

                                                                          

      

 

         Instructor:  Rachel Bell         

                                          Voice Mail:  (650) 738-4349 and Office: 5108                  

                                           Webpage: http://www.skylinecollege.edu/bellr

                                                                       

English office & mailboxes:  Room 8110-12, 738-4202     Course Meetings:  T Th  11:10-12:25pm

Computers and Tutoring in TLC: Bldg 5, Room 5100    Room 1201, Course Dates: 1/18 – 5/26

Engl 853: Get help writing papers—enroll now CRN #37247           Schedule #33325  – Engl 100AQ, Units 3.0

 

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                               “Most students are potential revolutionaries…

when you have an illegal, immoral, and unjust situation, it should be changed. "  --Malcolm X

 

­­­                  “Collectively, black people and our allies in the struggle are empowered when we practice self-love

          as a revolutionary intervention that undermines practices of domination.  Loving blackness as political 

                resistance transforms our ways of looking and being, and thus creates the conditions necessary

                         for us to move against the forces of domination and death and reclaim black life"  --bell hooks

 

 

Course Prerequisites:  Writing Prereq: Completion of ENG 836 or 400 or ENGL/READ 846 with a grade C or higher or appropriate scores on approved college placement tests. Reading Prereq: READ 836 or 400 or READ/ENGL 846 with a grade of C or higher, or eligibility for 400-level Reading courses on approved Reading placement test, or other means measures as necessary.

 

 

ASTEP: African-American Success Through Excellent and Persistence: 

The ASTEP Program is a learning community of courses that offers an Afrocentric curriculum.  The ASTEP English course is directly linked with the ASTEP Counseling course, so the ASTEP students have the advantage of having a dedicated counselor, Tim Dupre, to provide them with support in creating focused educational plans and in devising successful academic strategies with the goals of transferring to four-year colleges and universities, earning degrees, and returning to the community as leaders and mentors to future generations. 

 

 

Course Objectives:  The purpose of this course is to help students develop their ability to write thoughtfully and effectively.  The premise of this course is that writing is an integral part of the thinking process and that successful essay writing depends on a mixture of creative thinking and an awareness of writing styles and forms.  The objective of this course is to guide students toward becoming critical readers, writers, and thinkers through recognizing the effective writing strategies of other writers, through becoming aware of their own processes of writing, and through learning to discern logical relationships between words, ideas, and arguments.

 

 

Required Materials: 

The Rap on Gangsta Rap: Who Run It? Gangsta Rap and Visions of Violence by Bakari Kitwana

What is Cool?: Understanding Black Manhood in America by Marlene Kim Connor

The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks by Randall Robinson

Flat-Footed Truths: Telling Black Women's Lives by Patricia Bell-Scott

Course Reader and Hour by Arrangement folder (available at Skyline’s Bookstore)     

 

 

Course Policies:  

(1) Attendance-- Your active participation is necessary for you and your classmates to realize the objectives of this course.  Therefore your attendance is crucial.  A maximum of 4 (four) absences is permitted; each absence after the fourth will significantly lower your grade. 

(2) Late Assignments—No late work will be accepted.  All due dates are given well in advance;  therefore I feel that it is unfair to the students who complete their work on time to accept the work from those who do not.  However, because “life happens,” each student will be allowed two “late tickets” during the semester; twice students may choose to turn an assignment in the following class period after the due date.  Late assignments beyond this will not be accepted.

(3) Plagiarism-- Paraphrasing or directly copying any text and using it as your own without proper attribution, done intentionally or not, is plagiarism and can result in failure.

(4) Class participation---It is essential that you become consciously involved in class by participating in discussions and contributing thoughtful comments, questions, and answers. 

 

 

Papers:  Six major papers will be written for this class.  The requirements are as follows:

(1)  Due Dates--          Paper #1 (2-4 pages, 500-1000 words)    Draft due 2/15, Revised 2/22

                                      Paper #2 (3-5 pages, 750-1250 words)  Draft due 3/8, Revised 3/15

                                    Paper #3  Midterm essay exam on Thursday March 31st 11:10-12:25pm

                                      Paper #4 (4-6 pages, 1000-1500 words)  Draft due 4/26, Revised 5/3

                                      Paper #5 (5-7 pages, 1250-1750 words)  Draft due 5/17, Revised 5/26

                                       Paper #6 Final essay exam—2 ½ hours on Thursday, May 26th 11:10am-1:40pm

                                 

 

(2) Revision--  E.B. White said, “The best writing is rewriting.”  Because revising or “re-seeing” a piece of writing is such an important aspect of the writing process, each of the papers has two due dates.  Each student will receive feedback and suggestions on each of his/her papers through class workshop/discussion groups; then each student will be asked to revise each paper based on peer feedback.  Please note:  if the first due date for a paper is missed, the paper cannot be turned in at all.

 

 

(3) Workshopping--Each paper will be read, discussed, and commented upon by student workshop groups.  A missed workshop day will count as two (2) absences and a late paper will not be accepted.  Students without a completed paper will not be allowed to participate in the workshop.  Below are the workshop dates--students must bring a copy of their paper for themselves and for the other members of their group:

 

                    Workshops for Paper #1: Tues 2/15            Workshops for Paper #4: Tues 4/26

                    Workshops for Paper #2: Tues 3/8              Workshops for Paper #5: Tues 5/17

 

 

(4)  Format—Papers must meet the required minimum length or run the risk of not being accepted.  All papers must be typed, double-spaced, have 1” margins, and have a font of 12. 

 

 

Course Grade:                                                       Record Your Own Grades:

Paper 1                                                            10%                 Score for Paper 1      ______ x .10  =  _____ 

Paper 2                                                            10%                 Score for Paper 2      ______ x .10  =  _____

Paper 3—In Class 3/31                                    10%                 Score for Paper 3      ______ x .10  =  _____

Paper 4                                                            15%                 Score for Paper 4      ______ x .15  =  _____ 

Paper 5                                                            20%                 Score for Paper 5      ______ x .20  =  _____ 

Paper 6—In Class 5/26                                    15%                 Score for Paper 6      ______ x .15  =  _____

Quizzes & Homework                          10%                 Avg. Quiz/HM score ______ x .10  =  _____

* Participation                                                   10%                 Participation              ______ x .10  =  _____

 

* Participation includes being prepared each day, meeting       *TOTAL:      (convert total to %)   ________

with me at least once during the course of the semester,              * Deduct 1% for each absence over allowed 4.

adding to daily discussion, and giving your classmates               Scoring as follows:  A=100-90, B=89-80,

thoughtful responses to their writing in workshops.                             C=79-70, D=69-60, F=59-0