English 100
Fall 2005
Dr.
Shannon Carter Office
Hours:
115
Hall of Languages Thursday,
12:30-2 + additional hours TBA
903-886-5492 Appointments
are especially welcome.
Shannon_Carter@tamuc.edu
|
[Texts]
have many meanings because they touch us at points at which each of us is
himself many-minded. Understanding them is very much more than picking a
possible reasonable interpretation, clarifying that, and sticking to it.
Understanding them is seeing how the varied possible meanings hang together,
which of them depends on what else, how and why the meanings which matter
most to us form part of our world—seeing thereby more clearly what our world
is and what we are who are building it to live in. IA RICHARDS, How to Read a Page Rhetorical
spaces . . . are fictive, but not fanciful or fixed locations, whose (tacit,
rarely spoken) territorial imperatives structure and limit the kinds of
utternances that can be voiced within them with a reasonable expectation of
uptake and “choral support”; an expectation of being heard, understood, taken
seriously. |
Required Materials:
ü
Rose,
Mike. The Mind at Work: Valuing the
Intelligence of the American Worker
ü
Lamott,
Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on
Writing and Life
ü
a
three-ring binder that will later serve as your Final Portfolio.
ü
A
notebook (your choice) that will serve as your Dialogue Journal.
Course Description:
Welcome
writers! This is a theme-based composition course. That means we will be
learning about and practicing strategies in academic literacy by working
through an intellectual project together; this particular academic project
considers the role literacy may play in our lives by looking at the ways in
which people put literacy to use. In
truth, the academic project itself is secondary. I do not expect we will all be
experts in literacy education by the end of the semester. Expertise like that
is hardly necessary. What I do expect,
however, is to help you hone your skills as users of the particular kinds of
literacies most common in the academy. Why? When you tackle academic projects
in the future, I want you to be able to draw on strategies you have found
successful in other contexts so you can be “heard, understood, and taken
seriously” in new, even unfamiliar contexts.
A
course like this demands some deep thinking about some rather controversial
topics. I'm certain you are up to the challenge, and I am also certain that the
more you put into the class, the more you will get out of the class. You should
expect some heated discussions, but you should also expect your opinions to be
heard and treated with fairness and dignity just as you will be expected to
treat the opinions of others with respect and dignity--even those opinions that
are radically different from your own. Discussions in this class should not
mimic Jerry Springer--we will listen
to each other carefully, thoughtfully, and openly. We should even be willing to
change our minds (if only slightly) about this rather complex topic, something
that happens quite often when we join in on a conversation as complicated and
complex as the role literacy plays in our lives and the lives of others. Even
more importantly, in fact, these conversations—online, in writing,
face-to-face—should offer those who work for it a greater awareness of (and,
therefore, control over) the various literacies already at their disposal,
especially as they consider the variety
of ways they already put literacy to use and recognize the (re)usability of the
multiple literacies with which they are already quite competent.
Objectives:
English 100 Course Objectives: The student will
(1) understand that literacy is context-dependent, (2) investigate one or more
familiar communities of practice, (3) articulate the unwritten rules
participants must obey in that community of practice if they want to
remain/become accepted as members, (4) investigate new literacies in order to
articulate the unwritten rules participants must likewise obey (or at least
acknowledge), (5) locate and articulate the points of contact between familiar
literacies and school-based ones, (6) examine and—where possible--articulate
the points of dissonance between different communities of practice, and (7) put
rhetorical dexterity to use in a variety of contexts for a variety of purposes.
We
(your instructor, your English 100 ‘Writing Group” tutor, the other members of
your writing group, and the members of this class) are here to help you through
all this. In class, we will discuss our readings, explore our writing
assignments within the context of our readings, and develop strategies for
revision and active reading.
Additional assistance will come from your English 100 Writing Group tutor. For
100 minutes a week, you will meet with your tutor and about five to ten other
English 100 students. The purpose of this Writing Group is to provide you with further
guidance and feedback regarding your reading and writing assignments. Your
classmates will review each major writing assignment you prepare for this class
at least once, and they will also offer feedback and guidance via class and
group discussions.
My promise to you:
I
promise to (1) provide you with challenging work that honors your experiences
and ideas, (2) teach strategies for close reading and critical analysis of
texts, (3) teach strategies for improving your writing processes, and (4)
provide you with tutor support for one-on-one and small group interaction.
Final Course Grade
Your
final course grade will be determined by three, deeply-inter-related projects
and activities.
15%--Reflections (official “Writing Group”
and class—the majority of this score will come from your Dialogue Journal)
15%--Final Reflections (The culminating essay in
this class, describing your “growth” as a writer this term)
15%--Writing Workshops. The majority of this
score will come from your official Writing Group and the class. official
“Writing Group” and class. If you fail to come to class with a draft ready on
the day you are scheduled to have a draft reviewed—either by your partner in
class or the rest of your official Writing Group—you will lose points (five
points for each and every time). If you fail to provide thoughtful,
constructive, and rigorous feedback on your peer’s drafts, you will lose points
here too.
15%--Presentations. You will be offering two
presentations this semester, one with a group of your peers (on Mike Rose’s The Mind at Work) and one by yourself or
with a partner (a comparison of the points of contact found between school
literacies and those beyond the school—much more on this below).
40%--Final Portfolio (more on this below and
much more throughout the term)
Writing Workshops are feedback sessions in
which you share a draft with another reader and they offer their responses to
it as readers. We will engage in many peer review sessions, and you will be
expected to engage deeply with each and every one of those as both a writer and
a reader. You should also expect to contribute as enthusiastically,
knowledgeably, diplomatically, and productively as possible to any and all
class, pair, and writing group discussions. In order to do so, you must also be
prepared for each and every meeting of both class and your official writing
group. In short, all interactive activities assigned and carried out in class
and in your writing group will be considered “participation.” Please do not be
fooled into thinking that this is a “gimme” grade. It is possible for a student
to be here every day and still do very poorly in this category. Keep up with
your readings, your writing assignments, and everything else necessary to be a
trusted and reliable member of each writing community of which you are a part
this term (certainly those related to English 100).
Reflections emphasize thinking about
thinking and writing about writing. We will discuss much more about this requirement
later, but for now let me just say
that you will be expected to document regular, engaged, and productive habits
of reflection in (a) your “Dialogue Journal” and (b) the companion pieces you
develop to set the context for each reader who will be responding to a given
draft and responding to that response as well flections-in-Action”).
Final Reflections. You will be developing this
culminating project in your Writing Group that will set the context for your
Final Portfolio.
Final Portfolio. The ultimate goal of
English 100 is twofold: to develop (1) an understanding of the importance of
using multiple drafts to manage the complexities of writing and (2) strategies
for effective revision. Because of this, I will respond extensively to each
writing assignment you hand in with an eye to what you may do to strengthen it,
but you will not receive a final grade on any writing assignment until I see it
in your Final Portfolio. At Midterm, you will receive your first grades for
these major writing assignments, but you will have some time to revise these
essays to earn a higher grade. Your Final Portfolio should include everything
you produced this semester, and I will expect to see evidence of deep,
effective revision on all major writing assignments.
Your Final Portfolio will
be reviewed by a panel of experienced English 100 instructors. This
panel will be looking for things like this: How evident is your growth as a
writer in this portfolio? Is there evidence here that you understand the
importance of deep revision? Is there evidence of your ability to effectively
rework these writing assignments to meet (or exceed) specified criteria? Are
you ready for the demands of English 101?
Please
see Talking Back for much more
specific information (and suggestions) on how the portfolio and portfolios work
and how students can best make it work from them (“Revising Literacy”).
Rhetorical Constraints
for Formal Essays and Other Assignments
When
you hand in your major writing assignments, I need you to (1) underline one
statement that you think is your best and really seems to get at the heart of
what you want to say, (2) highlight any changes you have made since the
previous draft (in most cases, revisions you have made since your peer or I reviewed
it last), and (3) include ALL drafts, notes, revisions (EVERYTHING) you used to
prepare this major writing assignment, leaving the most recent draft of this
writing assignment on top. You will be required to turn in the reflections
required to set the context for the reader. We will discuss this in much more
detail soon.
Also,
make sure you type and double-space all major writing assignments. We will
discuss MLA guidelines for heading, citations, and other formatting concerns
soon.
Deadlines
The
syllabus you hold in your hand supplies due dates for each assignment, so I
don't expect these due dates to come as a surprise. If you have to miss a class
when something is due, get it to me beforehand. If you know you will not be
able to meet a particular due date before it comes up, let me know before it
comes up. We may be able to negotiate something--once. After that one reworked
deadline, I can't help you.
But
if you don't turn in something when it is due and you haven't discussed it with
me beforehand, you may receive a zero for that writing assignment and place
your ability to pass this class in serious jeopardy. Do the math: it is better
to hand in SOMETHING and receive some
feedback so you can rework it than it is to hand in nothing and receive a zero.
Give me something when it is due, you get a chance to revise it. Give me
nothing when it is due, you may get a zero and no chance to make it up.
Inform
your computer and printer about this policy. Often during the semester,
students come to me saying that they do not have the assignment because there
was a glitch in the computer and/or printer or the cartridge broke or wore out
or the computer ate the file and/or disk or a virus destroyed the entire system
or their roommate/former boyfriend/former girlfriend locked the dorm room door
which housed the computer on which the paper was being written . . . For
goodness sake, avoid this! Work in the
“Rules” for Establishing
and Maintaining a Productive Writing Community
- BE HERE. If you miss class more than once or
twice in a given term, you make it difficult for the class to establish
the trusting relationships necessary to maintain a productive writing
community. We must be able to depend on you to do what you say you will do
and to be here to do it on a regular basis. This is not a lecture course.
This is a course that demands
intense participation. If you are not here, you cannot participate. If you
cannot participate, you cannot do well. If you cannot do well, the class
suffers as a community. So BE HERE. If you absolutely must miss, let me
know asap by sending an email before class begins. Get the phone number
and/or other contact information from someone else in class so you do not
fall too far behind. Do not ask me if you “missed anything” while you were
out. Of course you did. We work hard and we work every day. Look at your
calendar to find out what you “missed,” call a friend to hear more about
the context of the assignments and activities you missed, and contact me
with specific questions about the missed assignments and activities if you
have them (after you have consulted the syllabus and discussed it with a
classmate).
- BE ON TIME. If you come in late
more than once or twice in a given term, you make it difficult for the
class to establish productive relationships for the reasons stated above. When
you walk in late, you disrupt the class. Don’t do this. I consider it a
sign of disrespect—to everyone who understands our meetings to be
important enough to arrive on time. Be here on time. I will consider you
late if you walk in even one minute after our class begins. If you are more than ten minutes late,
you will be marked absent. If you are tardy twice, I will treat this as an
absence. I know sometimes things come up that are simply unavoidable, but
I want you to understand how important your punctuality is to the group as
a whole. If you come in late more than once or twice, our learning
community suffers—the reason for your late arrival can’t really reduce the
negative impact your disruption may have on the group. All of this goes
double for your attendance: when you are absent, it doesn’t really matter
why you aren’t here; the reason for your absence can’t reduce the
difficulties it causes your group.
- BE PREPARED. Assignments are
always due at the beginning of class. You will have one or two assignments
due each week, and the work is cumulative—that is, the work on one
assignment builds from the work on the previous assignments. For this
reason, once a student falls behind in this course it’s difficult to catch
up; therefore, if you get too far behind we won’t hesitate to drop you
from the roster. Since we all depend on one another to contribute to class
discussions and engage with one other in meaningful ways about the subject
at hand, it is imperative that all of us always come to class prepared.
That means keep up with your dialogue journal, keep up with your readings,
mark in your book so you can refer to passages and evidence quickly and
readily. In short, be prepared so you can pull your weight in this class. We
will talk more about this quite regularly throughout the term.
- BE HERE, BE ON TIME, AND BE PREPARED for each meeting
with your writing group and your group tutor in these same ways and for
these same reasons.
If you need a more
tangible breakdown of the ways failure to be here, be on time, and be prepared
can affect your overall grade, here it is:
Regarding excessive
absences:
If a student misses class or her regularly scheduled Writing Group meeting (or lab”)
more than two times, her grade will be affected indirectly in a number of ways,
not the least of which is the fact that she will fall behind. However, excessive
absences will affect a students final grade more directly, as well, in that a
third absence will cost a student 2 points on her final course grade (with the
fourth absence, a student’s final grade
will drop 4 points, fifth absence the score will drop 6 points, and so forth).
Exactly
the same policies and penalties apply in your Writing Group meetings.
Regarding excessive
tardiness: A student will be
considered late if she arrives even one minute after class or her Writing Group
begins. If she is more than ten minutes late, she may be marked absent. If she
is late twice, this will be treated as an absence. The same rules for
calculating the cost of excessive absences then apply when calculating the
direct cost of excessive tardiness. If you have any questions bout this at all,
let me know.
Other important info on
Attendance Policy: A couple times during the semester, we may cancel classes
and/or Writing Group meetings so we can hold individual conferences with you. If you miss a conference, you will be
counted absent for the same number of classes that were canceled in order to
hold conferences. For instance,
if we cancel class for two days to hold conferences and you miss your
conference, that "counts" as
TWO ABSENCES.
Exactly
the same policies and penalties apply when a regularly-scheduled meeting of
your Writing Group is cancelled so your group tutor can meet with his or her
students individually.
On University-Sanctioned
Activities: To accommodate students
who participate in university-sanctioned activities, the Basic Writing Program
offers sections of this course at various times of the day and week. If you
think that this course may conflict with a university-sanctioned activity in
which you are involved--athletics, etc.--please see me after class today.
Avoiding Plagiarism
In
Transition to College Writing (2001), Keith Hjortshoj explains plagiarism
this way: “Derived from the Latin word for kidnapping, plagiarism is the theft of someone else’s ‘brainchild’—that
person’s language, ideas, or research—and the origin of the word conveys the
seriousness of such offenses in the view of college teachers and
administrators. The reason is that words, ideas, and research are the main
forms of currency in academic life. Because they represent the ‘intellectual
property’ with which scholars have built their careers, using that property
without permission or credit is a form of larceny. Teachers also assume that
the writing and other work students turn in is the product of their own effort,
and because grades (another form of academic currency) are based on that work,
‘borrowing’ language and ideas from someone else constitutes cheating” (172).
Pretty
harsh stuff, I know. Even worse, sometimes plagiarism is unintentional because
students are not completely sure what actually constitutes plagiarism. Most know that they can’t submit papers they
have purchased from a commercial service or another student; many know that
writing a paper for someone else is unacceptable behavior, as well. Others know
that they can’t turn in work written for another class without the direct
permission of both instructors involved. In fact, plagiarism includes all these
things, but students may also be charged with plagiarism in less clear-cut
circumstances. Sometimes you may not mean to plagiarize, but you use misuse
sources in ways that some may consider plagiarism anyway. In their official
statement “Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism,” the Council of Writing Program
Administrators makes a distinction between
1.
“submitting
someone else’s text as one’s own or attempting to blur the line between one’s
own ideas or words and those borrowed from another source, and
2.
carelessly or inadequately citing words
borrowed from another source.”
Thus,
the WPA defines plagiarism as “occur[ing] in an instructional setting when a
writer deliberately uses someone
else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material
without acknowledging its source.” It is very hard to tell what may be
considered common-knowledge and what may not, though. So the “deliberate” use
may be difficult for teachers and administrators to discern. It is for this
reason that even when plagiarism is unintentional, you may still be held
accountable. If you have any questions at all about how to handle a source to
avoid crossing that line (“kidnapping” or stealing “someone else’s
‘brainchild’”), even if you or only working with portions of sources written by
others, talk to me about it. Better yet, ask questions in class. I feel that
one of our jobs in English 100 is to help you determine the best ways to avoid
any suspicious acts that may be read as “plagiarism.” One of my dad’s many life
lessons applies here, I think: “It is not enough to be innocent. You must also look
innocent.” I never really thought that was fair, but I have always found
that lesson to profoundly accurate.
The
official departmental policy: “Instructors in the Department of Literature
and Languages do not tolerate plagiarism and other forms of academic
dishonestly. Instructors uphold and support the highest academic standards, and
students are expected to do likewise. Penalties for students guilty of academic
dishonesty include disciplinary probation, suspension, and expulsion. (Texas
A&M University-Commerce Code of Student Conduct 5.b [1,2,3])
If
you ever have any questions about a particular use of a source, always ask your
instructor. They want you to avoid plagiarism, too, so they will help you do so
whenever and wherever they can. Do what you can to take advantage of this
support—to look innocent in addition
to being innocent when it comes to
charges of plagiarism.
Additional Official
Statements
Student
Conduct: All students enrolled at
the University shall follow the tenets of common decency and acceptable behavior
conducive to a positive learning environment. In addition, you are requested to
turn off your cell phones before entering the classroom. Common courtesy says
you do not receive or answer calls during class. If there is an emergency that
requires you to leave your phone on, talk to me about it beforehand and switch
the phone to vibrate so you don't surprise me when you leave class to take a
call and you don't interrupt class when the call comes in. Also, Instant/Text
Messaging is off limits.
Americans with
Disabilities Act Statement: Students requesting
accommodations for disabilities must go through the Academic Support Committee.
For more information, please contact the Director of Disability Resources and
Services,
The Writing Assignments
Writing Assignment 1: Literacy Narrative. What does literacy mean
to you? What makes the current contexts in which you are most literate relevant
to you? How can you help someone else understand the significance that literacy
has to your own life? This first essay
asks you to reconstruct key moments in your literacy history in order to help
your reader understand what literacy means to you (and for you) in your life
thus far.
Writing Assignment 2: Literacies at School.
What are
the “rules” and/or expectations writers should follow when writing for school?
How do we learn these rules? Who made the rules and who determines whether nor
not writers are following them? How do you feel about these rules and/or
expectations? How have they shaped you and your approach as a writer and/or
reader? This essay asks you to
reconstruct key moments in your literacy history by identifying “rules” that
have shaped your experiences with literacy at school. This is your chance to deeply revise WA1 by
“re-seeing” it through the productive lens of “rules.” You should also use the
interview as fodder for this project.
Writing
Assignment 3: Literacies Beyond the School. What are the “rules” and expectations
governing “literate” practices in a discourse community other than those
involved with school? How did you learn those rules? Who made the rules and who
determines whether or not members are following them? This essay asks you to examine the expectations governing what may be
considered literate practice in a discourse community with which you have quite
a bit of familiarity but actually extends beyond the “school” literacies you
examined in WA2. Again, use your
interviews and previous writing assignments as fodder for this project.
Writing
Assignment 4: Literacies at Work.
What are the
“rules” and expectations governing “literate” practice in specific occupations
with which you have some familiarity? How did you learn these rules? Who made
them and who determines whether or not employees are following them? This essay asks you to examine the
expectations governing what may be considered literate practice in a discourse
community associated with the workplace. Here again, use your interviews
and previous writing assignments as fodder for this project.
Writing
Assignment 5: Literacies at Play. What are the “rules” and expectations governing
“literate” practice in one or more discourse communities associated with
leisure activities with which you have some familiarity? How did you learn
these rules? Who made them and who determines whether or not participants are
following them? This essay asks you to
examine the expectations governing what may be considered literate practice in
a discourse community associated with play. Just as with WA2-4, use your interviews and
previous writing assignments as fodder for this project.
Writing
Assignment 6: Literacies at School (revision). This essay
is your chance to revisit the idea of “rules” in school literacies (see WA2). Now that you’ve had a
chance to explore the rules and expectations shaping literate practice in areas
beyond the school (and you’ve been writing for college for some time), can you
list new rules? Why or why not?
Writing
Assignment 7: Literacies Beyond the School (revision). This essay is your chance to revisit WA3, WA4, WA5, or all of
the above in order to reconsider what it means to be considered “literate” in a
discourse community beyond the school. Now that you’ve written about literacies at work
and at play, what do those less familiar with a discourse community beyond the
school need to know in order to be considered “literate”?
Writing
Assignment 8: What Alternative Literacies Have to Teach Us about Academic Ones.
What are
some of the similarities between what it takes to be considered literate at
school and what it takes to be considered literate in the discourse community
you illustrated in WA7? What are some of the differences? This essay asks you to compare and contrast WA7 and WA8 in order to
reveal what literacies beyond the school may have to teach us about writing for
school.
Final
Reflections. This
last assignment asks you to look back over the reading, writing, and thinking
you’ve done this term so you can tell your reader (specifically) how your Final
Portfolio should be read. You want your reviewer to understand exactly how this
portfolio works as evidence of your growth as a reader, writer, and critic this
term. What have been the key moments in your work this term? How are you
writing differently now than you were at the beginning of the term? What new
things have you learned about yourself as a writer and reader? I also want you
to examine each of the pieces you have written: think about the story each assignment tells, from your
earliest invention, to your peer, tutor, and instructor responses, to your
final choices for revision. How did your writing change within and across these
different assignments? What did you learn about writing? Play a “movie of your
mind” for us so we may learn what you were thinking and feeling when you pulled
your portfolio together and/or developed these final revisions. What is your
reaction to the collection of work that your portfolio represents? If you see
this process as important to your development or growth as a thinker (or
something else), why do you see it this way, and what have you gained from the
process? This is your chance to wow us! To complete this assignment
successfully, you must reflect on and quote from selected writing you’ve done
this term, as well as from the readings. You choose what you want to quote and
use, determine how to best use it, and make sure your reader understands how
everything you quote works as evidence in support of your growth as a writer.
Think of this as your final exam. Show us what you learned.
As you do so,
consider these objectives: WA6: The student will (1) understand that literacy
is context-dependent, (2) validate and investigate one or more familiar
discourse communities, (3) articulate the unwritten rules participants must
obey in that discourse community if they want to remain/become accepted as
members, (4) investigate new literacies in order to articulate the unwritten
rules participants must likewise obey, (5) locate and articulate points of contact[i]
between familiar literacies and new ones, (6) examine points of dissonance[ii]
between different literacies, (7) determine how to make productive use of these
points of dissonance, and (8) put the rhetorical dexterity[iii]
to use in a variety of contexts for a variety of purposes.
NOTE: You will
be completing the majority of this project in your official Writing Group (your
“lab”). Thus I only offer the description of this important writing assignment
here. Later in the term, your tutors and I will be offering the actual strategies
you may use to develop this.