Skyline
College http://skylinecollege.net
English 846 ASTEP: Reading and Writing Connections – Fall 2005
Instructor: Rachel Bell
Voice Mail: (650) 738-4349 and
Office: 5108
Webpage: http://www.skylinecollege.edu/bellr
English office & mailboxes: Room 5130, 738-4202 Course Meetings: T Th 11:10-1:45pm
Computers and Tutoring in TLC: Bldg 5, Room 5100 Room PH 413, Course Dates: 8/18 – 12/13
Engl 853: Get help writing papers—enroll now
CRN #87409 Schedule #90073 – Engl 846AQ, 5.0 units
Co-enroll in ASTEP Seminar with Tim Dupre: CRER 650 T Th 10:10-11am, PH 413, CRN #83165, 2.0 units
“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 ENGL 826 or ESOL 840 or 841/842 with a
grade C or higher or appropriate scores on approved college placement tests. Reading Prereq:
READ 826 with
credit or a grade of C or higher, or eligibility for READ 836 on approved
Reading placement test.
Course
Classification:
Credit
course applicable to the Associate Degree.
This course integrates ENGL 836 and READ 836 satisfying requirements for
both.
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
objective of this course is to integrate the teaching of reading and writing
skills. This course will guide students toward becoming more 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. The course will also guide students toward becoming more active, purposeful,
and confident readers. To achieve this goal, we will work on strengthening and
developing study skills as well as reading strategies. By the end of this
course, students will be able to read and write more effectively, distinguish
the main ideas from supporting details, apply strategies to increase retention,
evaluate a writer's argument or reasoning, and draw from a larger vocabulary.
Required
Materials:
Hour by Arrangement folder & Course Reader (both are in Skyline's
bookstore)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas by Frederick Douglas
The Third Life of Grange Copeland by Alice Walker
Makes Me Wanna Holler by Nathan McCall
The Debt by Randall Robinson
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)
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.
Assignments: In this course we will be keeping reading journals, taking in-class quizzes, working on vocabulary building exercises, completing reading strategy assignments, and writing the following essays.
Papers: Five major papers will be
written for this class. The
requirements are as follows:
(1) Due Dates-- Paper #1 (2-3 pages, 500-750 words) Draft
due 9/20, Revised 9/27
Paper #2
(3-5 pages, 750-1250 words) Draft due
10/18, Revised 10/25
Paper
#3 In class Midterm essay exam on
Thursday, November 3th 11:10-1:45pm
Paper
#4 (4-6 pages, 1000-1500 words) Draft
due 12/6, Revised 12/13
Paper
#5 In class 2 ½ hour written final exam
on 12/13, Tuesday 11:10-1:40pm
(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 small
student workshop groups. Workshop days
are very important, and therefore a missed workshop day will count as two (2)
absences and a late paper will not be accepted. Students without a completed paper (meeting page and format
requirements) will not be allowed to participate in the workshop. Below are the workshop dates--students must
bring a copy of their paper for themselves as well as for the other members of
their group:
Paper #1:
Tues, Sept 20th Paper
#2: Tues, Oct 18th Paper #4: Tues, Dec 6th
(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 10% Score for Paper 3 ______ x .10 = _____
Paper
4 15% Score for Paper 4 ______ x .15 = _____
Paper
5—Final Exam on 12/13 15% Score for Paper 5 ______ x .15 = _____
Reading
Journals 15% Average Journal score______ x
.15 =
_____
Quizzes 5% Average
Quiz ______ x .05 =
_____
Homework 5% %
of HM completed ______ x .5
= _____
HBA
Folder 5% %
of HBAs completed ____ x .5
= _____
*
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