Skyline College
|
Professor:
Rachel Bell |
Class Meetings:
Tues/Thurs 12:35-1:50pm, room 8224 |
|
Office
Location: 7306 and Office Phone: 738-4349 |
Course Number
41595, 3.0 units |
|
Web Address: http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/bellr/
|
Office
hours: Tues/Thurs 10-11am and
2:30-4:30pm |
|
E-mail: bellr@smccd.edu
and bellrachel@hotmail.com |
Course dates: 1/14/14 to 5/20/14 |
|
English office &
mailboxes: Room 8112-8114, 738-4202 |
Take
advantage of campus support services: |
“If music be the
food of love, play on.” ― William Shakespeare
“Without music, life would be a mistake.” ― Friedrich
Nietzsche
“Music doesn't lie. If there is something to be changed in this world,
then it can only
happen through music.” ― Jimi Hendrix
Course
Prerequisites:
Writing Prereq: Completion of ENG 836 or ESOL 400 or ENGL 846 with a
grade C or higher or appropriate scores on approved
college placement tests. Reading Prereq: READ 836 or
ENGL 846 with a grade of C or higher, or eligibility for 400-level Reading
courses
on approved Reading placement test.
Course Description:
Course
designed to help the student recognize and critically evaluate important ideas
in short and book length texts, and express facts and
thought logically and gracefully in clear and correct
prose. Students will write critical expository essays dealing with a variety of
ideas at a skill
level appropriate to a college transfer level class. Transfer credit: UC; CSU
(A2, 3).
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.
Student Learning Outcomes: By the end of the semester, students will be able to do
the following:
1. ESSAYS: Write
focused, organized, well-developed, and text-based essays appropriate to the
college
transfer level using
effective paragraphs, which support a clear thesis statement, and
demonstrate
competence in standard English grammar and usage.
2. CRITICAL ANALYSIS: Demonstrate critical reading, writing, and thinking
skills through analysis, synthesis,
and evaluation of important ideas.
3. SOURCES: Effectively evaluate and fluidly integrate relevant sources, using
appropriate research strategies
and tools, and
documenting them according to according to MLA guidelines.
“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. ― Ludwig van Beethoven
“Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that
people own it.
― John Lennon
Required Textbooks and Materials: "We read to
know we're not alone" -- C.S. Lewis
(1) Analysing Popular Music: image, sound, text by David Machin
(2)
All Shook Up: How Rock ‘N’ Rock Changed America by Glenn C. Altschuler
(3) The Death & Life
of the Music Industry in the Digital Age by Jim
Rogers
(4) This is Your Brain
on Music: The Science of Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin
(5) Course Reader (at Skyline's
Bookstore). You can use the electronic version in class if
you bring a laptop or iPad: http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/bellr/Reader.htm
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 over the course of the semester.
Exceeding these absences will adversely affect your participation 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. You cannot use late tickets on
in-class exams.
(3) Class
participation—Remember that
participation counts--both for your grade and in your life. It is essential that you become consciously
involved in class by participating in discussions and contributing thoughtful
comments, questions, and answers.
(4) Disabled
Students—
In coordination with the Disability Resource Center office, reasonable
accommodation will be provided for eligible
students with disabilities. For more
assistance, please contact the DRC Bldg 5, Room 5132 or call 650-738-4228.
(5) Plagiarism-- Paraphrasing or directly copying any text and using it as your own
without proper attribution, whether you’ve done it
intentionally or not, is plagiarism and is unacceptable and will result in
failure. We will carefully look at
how to integrate and properly
document outside sources.
(6) Technology
Policy—These policies are made with this idea in mind…
You’re in college to gain knowledge from
the classes you have signed up for. This
information is going to help you be successful in many areas.
Ideally you will excel in these classes, achieve your goals, and earn a degree
that you will have for life. To
accomplish this you need to not just be
physically present but also mentally present which means don’t text, surf the
net, take calls in the hallway or in any other way use
technology to be
“elsewhere” during class time.
Laptops and iPads: Can be used in the classroom and can be a very
effective learning tool. However, if you
are suspected of misusing the laptop and
using it for non-class related activities (checking email, posting on Facebook,
instantly messaging, completing homework for another class), you will be
required to email your class notes to the instructor 10 minutes after the
conclusion every class session. If you
are not able to produce the requested notes,
you will lose in-class laptop/iPad privileges.
Cell phones: You do not need cell phones for any reason
during class time. Before you enter the
classroom, turn your cell phones off.
This does not
mean put them on vibrate; it means to turn them off. Nothing is more distracting than phones
ringing during class. There is also no
need to ever be texting
during class, and yes the instructor can see you when you are texting under the
desk. Going out in the hallway to answer
a call or make a call is also
unacceptable during class time. Students
guilty of any of these activities will be marked absent for the day.
IPods or other listening devices: These are inappropriate in the
classroom. Before you enter the
classroom, turn off and put away any such device.
“The more you have
thought and written on a given theme, the more you can still write.
Thought
breeds thought. It grows under your
hands” -- Henry
David Thoreau
Papers: Five major papers will be written for this class:
(1) Due Dates-- Paper
#1 (2-4 pages, 500-1000 words) Draft
due 2/11, Revised 2/18
Research
Paper #2 (3-5 pages, 750-1250 words) Draft
due 3/18, Revised 3/25
Paper #3
Midterm 75-minute essay exam on Thursday, April 10th
Collaborative Research Paper #4 (4-6
pages, 1000-1500 words) Draft 5/13,
Revised 5/19
Paper #5
Final essay exam—2 ½ hours on Tuesday, May 20th 11:40-1:40pm
(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 in class workshop groups of three;
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 and will not receive a grade.
(3) Workshopping--Each paper will be read, discussed, and commented upon by student
workshop groups. Students without a
completed paper on the day of the
workshop will not be allowed to participate in the workshop. Students not participating in workshops will
lose their peer participation points for that activity, they will
not receive the benefit of commentary on their writing, and if they do not turn
a paper in on the workshop date, they cannot turn in a revised paper a week
later for a
grade. You cannot pass the course if you
fail to turn in one of the five (5) major papers for the course. Below are the workshop dates--students must
bring a copy
of their paper for their group members and comment on the writing of their
group members on the day specified:
Paper #1
Workshop: 2/11 Paper #2 Workshop: 3/18 Paper #4 Workshop: 5/13
(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. If you email me any
assignments as attachments, they must be in .DOC or .RTF format or else I will
not be able to open your document and your
work will not be counted as on time.
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—Midterm 10% Score for Paper 3 ______ x .10 =
_____
Paper 4 20% Score
for Paper 4 ______ x .20 = _____
Paper 5—Final 20% Score
for Paper 5 ______ x .20 = _____
Presentation 10% Presentation
score ______ x .10 =
_____
Quizzes 5% Average
Quiz score ______ x .05 = _____
Homework 5% Average
of homework ______ x .05 =
_____
* Participation 10% Participation ______ x .10 =
_____
TOTAL:
(convert total to %) ________
*
Participation includes being prepared each day,
adding to daily discussion, and giving your classmates Scoring
as follows: 100-90=A, 89-80=B
thoughtful responses to their writing
in workshops. 79-70=C, 69-60=D, 59-0=F
For an online grade calculator, go to: http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/bellr/ReaderGradingMenu.htm