Friday, August 24, 2012

Friday, August 24th, 7 pm

Hello, greetings, and welcome to fall semester!
Below you will find a copy of the course outline that was distributed in class today, Monday, August 27th.


English 10/11—STRETCH COURSE:  FALL 2012—SPRING 2013

Academic Literacies I and II: Critical Thinking, Reading and Writing

Instructor: Catherine Fraga
Office: Calaveras 149
Office Hours: MWF 10:00-10:50 am, or by appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Because reading, writing and speaking are all part of the language network, they are best developed when integrated and explored together.  Therefore, students will use reading, writing, discussion, and research for discovery, intellectual curiosity, and personal academic growth.  Moreover, students will work in collaborative groups to share, critique, and revise/rethink their reading and writing with one another. At the end of this course, students will compose meaningful expository essays which utilize appropriate structure, development and usage. This year-long course fulfills the GE Area A2 requirement.

Academic Literacies is an intensive one-year, six-unit course designed to help students:
·      Engage in reading and writing as communal and diverse processes.
·      Read and write clearly and effectively in and beyond the university.
·      Develop a meta-cognitive understanding of the reading, writing, and thinking  processes—understand that they develop over time by diligently generating and questioning one’s own ideas; reading questioning and integrating the ideas of others; and revising ideas to more clearly and meaningfully convey meaning to an intended audience.
·      Understand that everyone develops and uses multiple discourses and explore how they can connect or conflict with one another based on different settings, expectations, audiences, and the like.

REQUIRED TEXTS AND SUPPLIES
·      One Amazing Thing BY Chitra Divakaruni

·      Between Worlds, 7th Edition BY Susan Bachmann and Melinda Barth

·      Three large blue (or green) books for in class writing assignments

·      Stapler

·      Lined notebook paper with a CLEAN edge.

·      A three ring binder for class materials and later, our portfolio.

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
During our first semester, we will focus heavily on writing summaries and short critical responses as well as writing focused narratives. We will perfect our ability to plan and write well-articulated and well-supported paragraphs that are free from distracting sentence level errors. During the second semester (spring 2013) our essay assignments will be reading and researched based. Each essay will be revised (at least 2-3 drafts) for your portfolio. Each time you turn in a draft of an essay you MUST also give me all previous drafts. I will not accept essays electronically unless we have discussed it prior to your turning in the draft. You are expected to arrive in class with a hard copy of your STAPLED essay when it is due.

***ALL ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE SUBMITTED TYPED, DOUBLE SPACED, TIMES NEW ROMAN FONT—unless otherwise instructed.***

NOVEL
One Amazing Thing is required for this course. As you may already know, this novel is the 2012-2013 selection for the CSUS One Book Program.  Familiarize yourself with the One Book website (http://www.csus.edu/onebook/), and I encourage you to take part in a variety of on-campus events throughout the year.  You will begin by reading the novel and will refer to it in one or more of your first semester writing assignments for this class.

GRAMMAR QUIZZES
In class, we will review various grammar and sentence structure points and will have many quizzes on these points. There will be at least 10 Grammar Quizzes. See course outline for exact quiz dates and topics.

If you miss a quiz, you will earn a 0 for that quiz. More than two missed quizzes can jeopardize your standing and grade in the course.

FINAL PORTFOLIO
You will create a final portfolio which will comprise the majority of your grade for the class. The portfolio will be submitted at the end of spring semester. We will discuss this in great detail throughout the year, but the contents are as follows:
--Evaluative Essay: you will compose a 4-5 page formal essay which discusses your work and progress in terms of course goals.
--You will select a minimum of two short response papers from the first semester to include within the portfolio which illustrate your strongest, polished writing.
--You will select a minimum of two essays from the second semester that illustrate your strongest, polished writing.
--Additional course work:  you will select any additional class materials that illustrate your meeting the course goals.
DO NOT DISCARD ANY RETURNED WORK.



GRADING
While this is a year-long course, you will receive course grades at the end of each semester. For fall semester, you will receive either Credit (CR) or No Credit (NC).
Your work in the fall semester will be graded with a check (   ), a check plus (   ), or a check minus (   ). Any work that receives a check minus (   ) MUST be  re-done and submitted in order to earn a CREDIT for the semester’s earned grade.
Letter grades will be assigned at the completion of English 11 in the spring and will be based on a scale and point system to be distributed and explained at the beginning of spring 2013 semester.

ABOUT PLAGIARISM
Familiarize yourself with this website—everything you need to know about what constitutes plagiarism and the repercussions.

STUDENT ACCOMODATIONS AVAILABLE: Become informed about accommodations for test taking and other learning disabilities on this campus.  The following excerpt is from

GET TO KNOW YOUR UNIVERSITY LIBRARY! Sacramento State has a VERY impressive library full of very current, applicable resources for all of your research needs. Do not wait until you have research to conduct to learn the ins and outs of the library. As soon as you enter the library, right near the escalators at the beginning of fall semester, you will see a schedule of free one-hour tours available. Grab a friend and take a tour. Learn how to access the libraries resources from your home or dorm room.
COURSE OUTLINE
(Changes and additions to this schedule may occur throughout the semester.)

Week One (Aug 27-31)
Introduction to the course (Mon.)
In class Writing Assessment (Wed.)
Read pages 1-6 in Between Worlds (Wed.)

Week Two (Sept. 3-7)
MONDAY, SEPT. 3RD-LABOR DAY HOLIDAY—NO CLASSES HELD
Read One Amazing Thing, pages 1-65 (Wed.)
Grammar Quiz #1—(Chapter 14:  Fragments) (Wed.)

Week Three (Sept. 10-14)
Grammar Quiz #2—(Chapter 14: Run-on or Fused Sentences) (Mon.)
Read One Amazing Thing, pages 66-108 (Wed.)

Week Four (Sept. 17-21)
View documentary, Daughter from Danang (Mon.)
Prepare for in class writing #1 on Monday on film Daughter from Danang (Wed.)

Week Five (Sept. 24-28)
In class essay on documentary viewed last week. Remember to bring a blue/green book to class (Mon.)
Read One Amazing Thing, pages 109-160 (Wed.)
Grammar Quiz #3—(Chapter 14: Pronoun Reference Agreement) (Wed.)

Week Six (Oct. 1-5)
Read “The Good Daughter” pages 8-10 and “A Cabdriver’s Daughter” pages 11-13 (Mon.)
Grammar Quiz #4—(Chapter 14:  Pronoun Case) (Wed)

Week Seven (Oct. 8-12)
Read One Amazing Thing, pages 161 to the end of the book. (Mon.)
Grammar Quiz #5—(Chapter 14: Subject/Verb Agreement) (Wed.)

Week Eight (Oct. 15-19)
Read “On Teenagers and Tattoos” pages 28-31 & “The Only Child” pages 33-35 (Mon)
Grammar Quiz #6—(Chapter 14: Shifts) (Wed.)
In Class Writing #2 (Wed.)

Week Nine:  (Oct. 22-26)
Read “Johnny Depp: A Pirate’s Life” pgs. 36-42 & “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination” pgs. 154-160 (Mon)
Grammar Quiz #7—(Chapter 14: Mixed Sentences) (Wed.)

Week Ten: (Oct. 29-Nov. 2)
Read “Who’s Cheap?” pgs. 45-47 (Mon.)
Grammar Quiz #8—(Chapter 14: Faulty Verb Choice) (Wed.)

Week Eleven:  (Nov. 5-9)
Read “Watching my Back” pgs. 57-59
Grammar Quiz #9—(Chapter 14: Misplaced & Dangling Modifiers)

Week Twelve:  (Nov. 12-16)
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH—VETERAN’S DAY HOLIDAY—NO CLASSES
Read “When a Woman says No” pgs. 67-69 & “Where are you Going, Where have you Been?” pgs. 70-84 (Wed.)

Week Thirteen:  (Nov. 19-23)
View film and 3rd in-class writing (Mon. and Wed.)
THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22 & 23—
THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY—NO CLASSES

Week Fourteen (Nov. 26-30)
Critical Thinking Exercise (Mon.)
Grammar Quiz #10—(Chapter 14: Faulty Parallelism) (Wed.)

Week Fifteen (Dec. 3-7) LAST WEEK OF CLASSES
Semester Review of all 10 Grammar Quizzes (Mon.)
Looking Back, Looking Forward Discussion (Wed.)

Week Sixteen (Dec. 10--14) FINALS WEEK
THERE IS NO FINAL EXAM SCHEDULED FOR THIS CLASS.

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