Journal Guidelines

You will be responsible for a number of journal entries throughout the term (see schedule for a complete list of due dates).
There will be two basic types of journal entries:
Directed entries are journal assignments that I give you. I will provide you with a topic (a question to answer, an idea to consider, a problem to solve) and a general length. These will generally be due (for discussion) at the start of the next class. However, I will not collect these for grading until the next scheduled day.
Free entries. The topic of these entries is entirely up to you. They must be at least a half-page long (handwritten) but otherwise can be on any topic you wish. Typical topics include: concepts that we have discussed in class, questions about coursework (this class or another) that you are thinking about, ideas/rough work for writing assignments, personal (diary) material, and so forth. These free entries are in addition to any directed entries that we may have; they are due as listed in the course schedule.

Journal entries have a few guidelines to keep in mind:
Generally speaking, I am not concerned with format of journal entries. You can write in cursive or not, you can write on every other line, or only on one side of each page, or however you wish. I don’t care whether they are in pen or pencil, I don’t care about ink color, or anything like that. While I would appreciate your making an effort to proofread, all I really care about is that your handwriting is readable (at least with a little effort).
While you should keep directed entries generally on topic, the free entries are yours to do with as you wish—the important thing is that you are thinking and writing. They need not always make perfect sense to me, they can contain profanity and ‘non-politically correct’ material, and they can be highly personal. HOWEVER, I do ask that you keep one important thing in mind: I WILL BE READING THEM! Please do not put anything in a free entry that would cause either of us any legal complications (for the love of god, I don’t want to know that you knocked over a liquor store last night!).
If you are writing about material that you consider very personal or potentially embarrassing as part of an entry, please let me know by drawing a box around the relevant passage and clearly marking it as PRIVATE-DO NOT READ. I will respect your privacy (entire entries cannot be labeled private, however—I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I’m not that stupid!) Finally, please keep in mind that an outside party will be reading your journal, and may comment upon what he finds there (at my discretion). If you ask a question, I MAY ACTUALLY ANSWER IT!—especially if you actually ‘break the fourth wall” and ask me personally to respond to you.As always, see me if you have any questions or concerns regarding this assignment.

Welcome to the course!

Hello all! I am posting this so that you will all have the opportunity to see what a typical welcoming post will look like. By Thursday (the 30th) I want you all to have a welcome post of your own up on your blog. This welcome post should include the following information:
Your name (whatever you have told me to call you in class, preferably)
The most dangerous thing that you have ever done. This does not have to be something physically dangerous--emotionally, mentally, and spiritually dangerous things are a lot more common in most of our lives. For example, if you have ever been set up on a date with a friend, that can be extremely dangerous. If you have ever had to confront something that frightens you, that is quite dangerous to you, even if it wouldn't seem dangerous to someone else. If you have done something that risks life and limb, you can use that, but even if you aren't a risk-taker, you have still done dangerous things.
As an example, I'll post my own introduction:
My name is Josh Mattern, and I will be your instructor for this class. The most dangerous thing I have ever done, by far, is to become a father. I love my two-year-old son Christian; he is my heart and soul. However, he scares me on a daily basis. Like all little kids, he is fearless when it comes to his own safety--he bumps into things, falls down stairs, wants to touch (and eat) all kinds of horrible things, and basically keeps me on my toes all the time. In addition to having to protect him phisically, I worry about him--about things I shouldn't worry about yet. I worry if he'll be a good driver once he gets his license, I worry that he'll get picked on once he goes to school, I worry that he'll fall in with a bad crowd and end up in trouble. I shouldn't worry about this stuff--he's only two--but I still do. because of that, being a parent is extremely dangerous as far as I am concerned.

Paper #1: Definition Piece

Definition Paper

For your first assignment, we’ll start with the basics. We have discussed how the study of English is really a study of the ways that we communicate. If we improve our communication—with others, and in our own thought processes—we can be more successful in whatever we attempt.

The first step towards improving our communication skills is developing our ability to define terms, ideas, and concepts. We have all experienced the problems that can occur when we are dealing with words that we are either not familiar with, or have a tough time really nailing down as far as meaning. Have you ever been in a relationship where you both claim to ‘love’ each other, but it soon becomes clear that you define ‘love’ in very different ways? When you were a kid, did you and your parents have very different definitions of what a clean room was? If so, then you know what it is like to struggle with defining things clearly. The more specific an idea you have about how you define something (which is not always the same as how other people define things) the more likely you will be able to act on your ideas. For example, how do you define ‘success’? Is it the same way that your parents do? Do you even know what being successful means to you? If not, you may have trouble making decisions that will lead you to being successful on your own terms.

All of that being said, your first job is to choose a word and define it. There are some rules that you need to keep in mind:

Feelings/Emotions—Words like joy, pride, anger, jealousy, hate, fear, embarrassment, etc. The only exception to this is that YOU CANNOT CHOOSE THE WORD ‘LOVE’

Abstract Concepts—Success, happiness, prejudice, fairness, friendship, family, loss, failure, and so forth

Specialized/Technical terminology—Words from the realm of computers and high technology (what exactly is HD anyway? What is Bluetooth?) automobiles/mechanics, science and medicine, or practically anything else that the average person does not know. You need to be careful if you choose one of these words however, as it is not enough to simply provide a dictionary definition of the word (see the guidelines listed below).

Something else—if you have another word you would like to do, and aren’t sure if it fits into an acceptable category, come see me, and we’ll hash it out.

That means that whatever word you choose needs to have enough material surrounding it to reach the page length. You will need to follow all the formatting guidelines in the style handout as well.

< style=""> You can use

• Denotations—the dictionary definitions of the word. If you use an actual definition from a dictionary (to agree with or to refute) you must tell us where the definition came from. For example, “According to Webster’s New American Standard , the word “love’ means ‘a strong feeling of affection towards another person’”. You do not have to provide a full MLA citation.
• Connotations—all the other, non-dictionary meanings that a word has; slang, specialized meanings from a particular job or group of people (a mouse is a different thing to a computer user than to a cat, for example).
• Positive definitions—what something is, what qualities something has.
• Negative definitions—what something is not, what it lacks (especially useful for some of the feelings—it can be tough to describe what being loved is like, but we all know what it feels like when someone does NOT love us…).
• Descriptions and examples—list things that your reader will be familiar with that illustrate your point.
• Anecdotes—short stories (usually about things that happened to you) that help explain what you mean. For example, “I remember the first time I realized what love really is…”

You are free to disagree with what other people, or the dictionary, says the word means. However, even if you do agree with another person’s definition, you can’t just say “the dictionary defines love as ‘blah blah blah’ and I agree”. You MUST have a sentence that explains how YOU define the word somewhere in the paper. “I define ‘love’ as -------.” You can start the paper off with this, you can end with it, you can put it wherever you want, but it must be in there somewhere.

Really? I hadn’t figured that out, especially seeing as I’m the one who gave you this assignment…

< Remember that you will need to have a rough draft ready for the rough draft conference, so don’t put this off for too long. We will cover all of this material in class, so please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Course Style Guidelines

ASSIGNMENT STYLE GUIDE

These style guidelines apply to all major assignments (paragraphs and essays). They do NOT apply to daily work, in-class work, or homework (unless I specifically tell you otherwise). Occasionally, the specifics of an assignment will take priority over these guidelines; this will generally be indicated either in the prompt for the assignment, or by me in class. If you are ever not sure about any of these guidelines, or when they apply, please feel free to ask!

GENERAL GUIDELINES:

• All major assignments should be TYPED, DOUBLE-SPACED, and STAPLED TOGETHER (if the assignment is more than one page in length).

• Assignments of more than one page should be numbered in the lower-right hand corner of each page (this can be done by hand if necessary).

• I do NOT require a title page for major assignments; you can provide one if you wish, but I consider them a waste of trees. The ONLY information I require as part of your heading are the following two things:

YOUR NAME

And

THE TITLE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The title can be very simple (your narrative paragraph, for example, could be

titled “Narrative Paragraph”) though I encourage you to be more creative and

come up with a clever/descriptive title. I DO NOT WANT my name, the name of

the class/course number, date, or any other material of that sort as part of your

heading—ONLY the two things mentioned above. Your name should be put on

the very top line of the first page (you can skip a line or two if you would like,

depending on how high your top margin is set, but I do not want your first page to

begin further down than a few inches) and you should then skip one line (or just

hit return if you are already double-spacing) and give the title. You may then

skip one more line (or hit return again for double-spacing), indent your first line,

and begin writing.

• Please use normal margins (one to one and a half inches)—the default margins on your word processing program are probably fine.

• A “page” of an assignment (as in “a three-page paper”) means an ENTIRE page, from the top to the bottom. A three-page paper is NOT half a first page (with room for your extensive heading), a full second page, and one line (“the end”) on the third page. Papers that violate this will be considered incomplete and penalized accordingly.

• Use a 12-point typeface, in either Times New Roman, Courier, or Arial font. If you wish to use a different font, you may do so as long as you clear it with me first. Use black ink for your printouts if at all possible.

• PROOFREADING COUNTS. Every single major writing assignment we will have has as part of the point total some points that come from punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and grammar. I certainly understand that typos happen, and I will allow for a few mistakes in each paper. However, repeated or severe problems will lead to point deductions, and extreme cases may result in the assignment being returned to you ungraded for a rewrite. Take the time after you have completed your paper to run spellcheck, and also read the paper over carefully—in many cases, it can be helpful to read the paper out loud. I know this sounds strange, and it does feel uncomfortable at first, but it goes a long way to finding awkward or confusing passages.

• If you are ever typing a web address into a word document, you will find that the address becomes blue and underlined—it becomes a hyperlink that can be clicked on to travel to the relevant web page. Since hyperlinks cannot be used in printed pages, please remove all hyperlinks before you print out a paper (simply right-click on the link, and select “remove hyperlink” from the pull-down menu).

• As we will already be double-spacing, there is no need for additional space for comments. DO NOT SKIP LINES BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS!

• Follow all relevant MLA formatting guidelines, as necessary. We will go over these in class, so you will know what you need to do when the time comes.

• If there are any further style concerns for a given assignment, I will cover them at that time. MAKE SURE that you check with me about any additional style concerns for an assignment if you miss class the day we go over an assignment prompt.

As always, see me with any questions or concerns.

Course Syllabus

Syllabus

ENGLISH 070: Developmental Composition II

FALL SEMESTER 2006

INSTRUCTOR: Joshua Mattern

OFFICE HOURS: Monday 12:30-1:30, 2:45-3:45 (Writing Center)

Tuesday 10:30 – 11:00, 2:00 - 2:30,

Wednesday 12:30 – 1:30, 2:45-3:45 (Writing Center)

Thursday 10:30 – 11:00, 2:00 - 2:30

Friday 11:00 – 12:00

OFFICE LOCATION: Bodie 118

PHONE: (630) 466-7900 ext 2318

EMAIL: jmattern@waubonsee.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Developmental Composition II is the second in a two-course developmental composition sequence that precedes transfer-level composition courses. This course encourages students to continue to develop and refine their voice and writing skills by responding to more complex, developed rhetorical/writing situations and responding critically and articulately to one’s own writing as well as others’. Students will learn the art of essay writing and also be introduced to the research process. Additionally, students will develop a greater sense of audience and purpose in their writing by learning how to adeptly join a larger academic conversation of thinkers, readers, and writers through readings, class interaction, and written responses.

COURSE PREREQUISITES:

Completion of ENG 050 with a grade of C or better, or placement determined by assessment score. Recommended for the student who has studied English fundamentals but needs to review them or the student who is studying English as a second language.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1. See him/herself as a developing writer who possesses a more confident, refined voice while acknowledging the relationship between language, knowledge, and power;

2. Assertively employ basic writing skills with regard to mechanics, grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, vocabulary, and word choice;

3. Demonstrate an improved control over the fundamentals of Standard American English;

4. Respond to and appropriately employ the necessary conventions and technologies of various rhetorical situations as well as broader writing across the curriculum situations;

5. Articulately respond to primary sources while understanding how to find, analyze, and synthesize information from secondary sources, possess a familiarity with library resources, and utilize appropriate documentation techniques;

6. Evidence an understanding of various composition concerns including purpose, audience, development, organization, structure, and tone;

7. Cultivate an individualized, organic writing process, which includes methods of prewriting, writing, revising, and editing;

8. Develop a more sophisticated ability to critically evaluate one’s own work as well as others’ in order to further one’s own personal evolution as a writer;

9. Appreciate reading and writing as vehicles for critical inquiry, reading, thinking, and communicating;

10. Recognize Developmental Composition II not only as a precursor to sequential, college-level composition courses but also as an integral, dignified part of academic work.

REQUIRED TEXT: Arlov, Pamela. Wordsmith:A Guide to College Writing, 3^rd Ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007.

OTHER SUPPLIES:

• dictionary
• 2.5 Floppy disk/flash drive
• One-subject spiral notebook devoted solely to this class to be used for journal and in-class or homework assignments. Alternatively, these assignments may be typed on a computer, printed out and kept in a separate 2-pocket folder.

INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM:

The student will be responsible for completing a writing portfolio. The portfolio will be a chronological representation of all the formal writing assignments. Save all hard copies of each assignment as well as electronic copies!

• Writing: Each formal writing assignment will generally include one typed rough draft and one typed final draft. Since writing is a process, all drafts of each assignment are necessary in order to evaluate the work. Due dates are assigned, and late work is subject to the policy stipulated in this syllabus.
• Journals: You will also be responsible for a number of journal entries. These entries will cover a variety of topics. For complete details, please see the journal handout.
• Grammar Exercises/Tests: Grammar exercises will be completed in the workbook, grammar tests will be administered, and grammar will also be taught in the context of student’s writing. Additional grammar exercises may be assigned. There will be a final grammar exam, but there will not be a midterm. Midterm grades will not be issued, though you are welcome to contact me at any time to check on your current standing in the class.
• In-Class work/Homework: We will have a variety of in-class and homework activities. Some will be graded, some will not. It is up to you to make sure that you complete and turn in all relevant in-class exercises and homework.
• Portfolio: Compilation of a portfolio showcasing 3 drafted and revised writing projects including a self-evaluation of student’s writing, which will exhibit the extent of the student’s confidence in his/her own writing skills and acquisition of course objectives.

ATTENDANCE POLICY:

In order to get the most out of this class, regular attendance is required. As such, the following policy will be in place: Each student receives ONE FULL WEEK of free absences (two or three, depending on the number of times per week the class meets). These absences can be taken at any time and need not be cleared with me. I will accept all homework and other materials the next class without counting them as late. However, in-class and group work that has been missed can not be made up, and formal writing assignments (paragraphs and essays) are still subject to normal due dates and late policies. The only other drawback to free and excused absences is the loss of participation points (see below). If you are extremely tardy to a class (more than 10 minutes) you may be marked as absent at my discretion. After these free absences have been used, any missed class MUST be cleared with me in advance to be considered an excused absence. Excused absences operate exactly as the free absences do with regards to homework. Unexcused absences carry the following penalties: NO HOMEWORK due on the day of an unexcused absence will be accepted. You will lose participation points. Most importantly, each unexcused absence will cost you either ONE (for a class that meets three times a week) or TWO (for a course that meets only twice a week) percentage points off of your total final grade.

All major writing assignments have the following lateness policy: All major writing assignments (paragraphs and essays listed in the assignment list below) are due at the START of the class they are due on. This means that the assignment must be complete, follow all style guideline (see the style guideline handout) and be ready to turn in. Failure to have the assignment ready to go means the loss of ONE FULL LETTER GRADE. This penalty is in effect until the start of the next class; if the assignment is STILL not ready, then TWO full letter grade will be forfeit. A major assignment WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED after one full week of lateness; you will receive a ZERO for such an assignment. If you know in advance that you will be missing a class when a major paper is due, contact me and we will make arrangements. If unforeseen circumstances cause you to be unable to come to class on the day a paper is due, email me a copy THAT SAME DAY, and I will consider the paper to not be late. However, I DO NOT grade email papers, and you MUST bring a printed hard copy to me the NEXT CLASS YOU ATTEND, or the paper will be considered late, with the appropriate penalties.

PARTICIPATION:

Being an active learner means asking questions, answering questions, and generally staying motivated. You are allotted participation points for each class session. As long as you show up on time, have your work ready to go, do your best to respond when called on, make at least an occasional effort to respond to my questions, and generally behave like a mature person and student, you will receive full participation points for that class session. If you are absent or NOT actively participating—if you are reading the paper, staring off into space, chatting during lecture, text-messaging, or otherwise being disruptive, disrespectful or difficult—you will be docked some or all of that class’ participation points. I will NOT be providing you with a regular tally of participation, so it is up to YOU to keep track of your attendance and participation.

GRADING:

Grades are based on a straight percentage scale: 100% - 90% = A, 89% - 80% = B, and so on. The point values for assignments are as follows:

Assignment Point Value

Short Papers 50

Long Papers 100

Persuasive Paper 150

In-Class work/Homework 3-25

Journal Entries 10

Grammar Tests 25

Participation 100

ASSISTANCE and ACCESSIBILITY:

It is part of my job to make sure that you have every opportunity to be successful in this course. If you are ever unsure about an assignment, need extra assistance understanding a concept, or have other questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me about them. If a disability prevents you from getting the most out of the course, contact the Access Center for Students with Disabilities; they can help meet any special needs you might have concerning curriculum, instruction, or assessments in the class. I also strongly advise any student who may need assistance outside of normal class or office hours to go to the Writing Center in Collins Hall. The specialists there have been working with students on material from this class for years, and they are always happy to provide extra coaching, practice, and encouragement.

FINAL NOTE:

All of this information is subject to change at my discretion at any time. I will notify you of any changes, but it is up to you to make sure that you find out about any announcements that may have been made in your absence if you miss class. I hope that you have an enjoyable term!