Catalog Description - English 251

This course emphasizes analytical reading and writing as processes that result in compositions appropriate for entry into transfer-level academic study. Students enrolled in ENGL 251 may access supplemental learning assistance by enrolling in ENGL 400, an open entry/open exit non-credit course.

Catalog Description - English 261

English 261 is an intensive and challenging course designed to accelerate basic skills students’ progress toward transfer-level English. This course emphasizes analytical reading and writing as processes that result in compositions appropriate for entry into transfer-level academic study, supporting students with basic reading and writing strategies as necessary. Students enrolled in ENGL 261 may access supplemental learning assistance by enrolling in ENGL 400, an open entry/open exit non-credit course. Students enrolled in English 261 MUST also enroll in the corresponding English 405: Augmented Instruction in English.

Course Overview

English 251 and 261 serve as your point of entry into college-level writing. They are designed to help you prepare both for English 1, which is a transfer requirement, and for other classes throughout the college that take 2X1 as a prerequisite. In short, our goal here is to get you ready to do a lot of different kinds of writing as a college student.

The Course Outcomes below will help communicate the skills we’ll be learning in this class. From my point of view, though, our basic goal is to start seeing reading and writing not as chores, obstacles, or things to fear, but as tools that we can use to solve problems both inside the classroom and beyond.

In terms of what we’ll be reading and writing about in this class, the short answer is “justice.” We’ll look at what that word means, how it affects us in lots of different ways, and how what is just—what is right—is often not as simple as we might like.

Part I - Passing the Class

We think about grades as being between teacher and student—how I feel about the work you did. But in a class like English 2X1, there’s a more important question: whether you are ready for English 1. The College expects students who pass English 2X1 to be able to do certain things. So, in English 2X1, it’s not about how I feel about your work. Your grade is a question of whether you’re ready to move on, according to the College.

Fortunately, the College tells us exactly what you’ll be expected to do at the end of the class. For each class, the College has certain “Course Outcomes,” or COs, that tell us what you need to learn by the end of the semester. Here are the Course Outcomes for English 2X1. By the end of the semester, you need to be able to do the following:

Throughout the semester, we’ll talk about what each of these things mean, and how to show them in your writing. I will evaluate your writing according to these standards throughout the semester, leading up to the Final Portfolio. The Portfolio is Pass/No Pass—all or nothing. Because the Final Portfolio represents the learning the college requires from this class, you must pass the Final Portfolio in order to pass English 2X1.

Requirements

Writing Projects

The Writing Projects are our major formal essays for the class. We will write four Writing Projects this semester, building up to a 5-page paper. While we’ll go into much more detail about each of these Writing Projects this semester, I’ll give you a brief (and tentative) preview.

Project 1:

This project will ask us to explore the philosophy of justice. We’ll consider several different arguments about the purpose of the justice system, and then make our own argument about what the criminal justice system is for.

Project 2:

For this project, we’ll read Mistrial, by Mark Geragos and Pat Harris. In Mistrial, the authors make a series of arguments about the problems and complications that they have encountered in their years of experience as criminal defense attorneys. Project 2 will ask you to summarize and respond to one of the arguments they present in the book.

Project 3:

Geragos and Harris approach the justice system from a very specific perspective: that of a criminal defense attorney. In Project 3, we’ll choose a chapter of Mistrial to focus on, and we’ll expand out to incorporate other points of view on the issue.

Project 4:

In addition to Mistrial, we’ll also be reading a second book for this class—but not all together. Project 4 will be our Book Club assignment. Later on, we’ll choose from a list of 4-5 possible books. We’ll read and discuss our Book Club books with those of our classmates who are reading the same book. There will likely be two parts to this project: a group presentation, where each group shares what they’ve learned from their book, and an individual writing project focused on your book.

Reading Projects

Reading and writing work together, and this class will push us to develop our skills with both. Here are some of the major Reading Projects we’ll be working on throughout the semester.

• Reading Journals. For almost every assigned reading, I’ll ask you to complete a short guided journal entry on Canvas. Sometimes these assignments will be before our in-class discussion; other times, they’ll come after.

• Reading Quizzes. Several times during the semester, I’ll use reading quizzes to assess your reading comprehension. These quizzes will consist of short-answer questions, and will cover everything we’ve read since the last quiz. They are open book and open note, so make sure to keep good notes!

• Reading Roundtable. Most days when we’re discussing readings, we’ll have a Reading Roundtable. Those Roundtable will take many forms, but they’ll center around small-group discussions to help us work through the readings together. Sometimes these Reading Roundtables will be collaborative; sometimes they’ll be competitive. Completing these will mean more than just showing up—you’ll need to come in having done the reading, and each Roundtable will have different requirements.

Writing Center Visits

The Writing Center is an amazing resource for any writer, no matter how experienced or talented. What the Writing Center offers is the opportunity to sit down with an experienced reader and talk about how your paper works. Writing Center tutors can help you at any stage of the writing process, whether you’re looking to brainstorm, or to polish up your final draft.

For English 251, research has shown that students who go to the Writing Center are more than 10% more likely to pass than students who do not—and also more likely to earn an A or B. If you want to succeed in English 2X1, the Writing Center is one of the best things you can do.

With that in mind, I’ll ask you to visit the Writing Center on two separate occasions this semester.

The Writing Center is located downstairs in the Library on the main campus, and has services available in Hanford and Tulare as well. For more info, visit http://cos.edu/library/writingcenter.

Classroom Behavior

Here are some of my expectations as far as your behavior in class is concerned.

Assignments and Responsibility

This class is about reading and writing, so you should expect to do a lot of reading and writing. We will read, and we will write. We’ll also do a lot of stuff to make reading and writing easier, less stressful, and more fun.

You should know that for each hour in class, students are expected to do two hours of homework. So for a 4-unit class like English 2X1, CoS expects you to be doing eight hours of homework outside of class each week.

Comments Policy

A big part of the goal of English 2X1 is to help you learn to write and revise on your own. For this reason, I will limit my written comments on your essays. We may turn in multiple drafts of each Writing Project, but I won’t comment on all of them. Plan on in-depth written comments from me in preparation for the Midterm and Final Portfolios, as well as a detailed assessment of your Midterm Portfolio.

While that written feedback is important, remember this, too: you can always come talk to me about your writing, either in my office hours or during my time at the Writing Center. A lot of the time, a quick conversation can clear things up, or provide direction, or help you feel more confident about where you’re going. What I’ve learned as a writing teacher is that often, waiting for my in-depth comments on a paper means that by the time they show up, you’ve lost touch with what you were struggling with, and sometimes that just makes those comments feel overwhelming. So come talk to me!

Notes About Writing

The assumption of this class—and of all your writing classes at CoS—is that we’re working toward being prepared for college writing, and toward the expectations your teachers will have of you in the future. Here are some habits that will help prepare you for the expectations of those classes. some things to bear in mind this semester.

Canvas

This semester, we’ll be using Canvas as our course management system. Mostly, what this will mean is that we’ll use it to turn in our assignments, and sometimes to access readings or links that don’t fit on the Course Website.

Canvas can be accessed through our single sign-on system at mygiant.cos.edu.

If you do have a problem with Canvas, please email me about it immediately, especially if that problem affects your ability to turn in an assignment. If you can’t turn something in on Canvas, please attach the assignment to your email, so that I’ll be able to give you credit for getting it in on time.

Note: while Canvas is a temperamental butthead from time to time, it will still serve as the official gradebook for our class. If an assignment is due on Canvas, it needs to be turned in on Canvas. If you email it to me because you’re having Canvas problems, that’s great—but you still need to get it turned in on Canvas ASAP.

Email Policy

Your College of the Sequoias Email Address (@giant.cos.edu) will be the official means of communication for this course. Because Canvas and Banner both use your CoS email for communication, I will not send e-mail to non-CoS accounts, nor will I respond to email sent to me from non-CoS accounts. I will respond to email promptly during my office hours, and when I can outside of them.

For information on how to set up your free CoS email account, see CoS’s student email support site. Support is available from the Student Help Desk at 559.730.3780 or student.helpdesk@cos.edu.

Drop Policy

As mentioned above, attendance is a crucial part of any college class, and especially a writing class. There are two drop deadlines in the semester—one early on, and one about halfway through. If, by either drop date, I have determined that you are no longer attending my class, I will have you dropped from the class.

Plagiarism Policies

When we think about “plagiarism,” we often think about it in terms of cheating. Certainly, copying a paper from a website or paying a neighbor to write it for you is plagiarism. But often, plagiarism also includes stuff that doesn’t feel like cheating. In short, plagiarism is when we take credit for work we didn’t do, one way or another, intentionally or otherwise.

Part of being in a writing class is learning how to avoid plagiarism. Most often, the plagiarism I see is unintentional. If I encounter that kind of plagiarism in your writing, I’ll treat it as a learning opportunity. You won’t receive credit for the assignment, but I’ll talk to you about why, and you’ll have the chance to rework the assignment.

Sometimes, though—much more rarely—I’ll encounter a case where I can’t give the benefit of the doubt. If I think you’ve knowingly, intentionally plagiarized—either because it’s obviously cheating (e.g. buying a paper online) or because we’ve already talked about it, and you keep doing the same thing—you’ll lose credit for the assignment, and you’ll run the risk of failing the class.

TL;DR: Learning is fine. Cheating isn’t.

Disability Policy

College of the Sequoias is a campus committed to making education accessible to everyone. One of the things that means is that I will do everything in my power to make sure that the materials we use in class will be accessible to those with disabilities.

If you think you have a disability that affects your learning in any class, please contact the Access and Ability Center (AAC) in room 10 of the Sequoia Building (559.730.3805 or 559.302.9976 Video), and please let me know within the first two weeks of class. The DRC may be able to give you access to assets which will help you succeed in your classes.

You are, of course, not required to disclose any disability to me, or to the school. Doing so allows us to arrange for accommodations such that you can meet the requirements of the class. If you elect not to tell us about the situation, then we won’t be able to arrange accommodations, and you will be expected to meet the requirements of the class regardless. Which is to say, if you don’t tell us about it, we can’t work with you about it.

Everything in this Syllabus (and, let’s face it, in life) is subject to change.