English 101
HYE--- Syllabus
(Item #0980,
Spring 2011)
Instructor:
Martha Silano
E-mail:
msilano@bellevuecollege.edu (if Vista email is
disabled)
Phone:
(425) 564-2509
Preferred Method of Communication: Vista email
Office
location: R230-K
Office
Hour: Tu, 9:30-10:20 AM (Please contact me prior to
visiting me during my office hour to make an appointment).
Mandatory Class Meeting Times: 10:30 am-11:20 am TTh
Classroom: C140
CLASSROOM ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY. I take attendance at the start of each class. If you miss four (4)
class meetings (20% of the course), it is likely that you will not receive a
passing grade for the course. Arriving late to class will not be
tolerated—two late arrivals to class equal one absence. It is your
responsibility to find out what you missed from a fellow student and check the
Vista Blackboard website for new assignments or instructions you may have
missed. Please let me know at the beginning of class if you need to leave
early. In general it is very important to stay in touch with me, especially
if you fall ill or a personal or family emergency becomes unmanageable.
Course Outcomes:
After completing this course, students will be able to...
Think and read critically: carefully read, analyze,
interpret and evaluate claims, beliefs, texts and/or issues.
·
frame questions, define
problems, and position arguments.
·
consider multiple points
of view and differentiate between assumptions, beliefs, facts, opinions, and
biases.
·
read and respond to
various texts critically for purposes of interpretation, analysis, synthesis,
evaluation, and/or judgment.
·
demonstrate an understanding
of the main point of a text; that is, its thesis and its relevant supporting
details.
Compose
and revise in context: shape written responses for different audiences and purposes.
·
consider flexible
strategies for prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing.
·
develop and support
thesis statements that are appropriately complex and significant.
·
construct unified
paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting details that advance the thesis.
·
apply various methods of
development such as illustration, comparison and contrast, and/or analysis.
·
balance
their individual voices with those from other texts.
·
employ style, tone, and mechanical conventions appropriate to the demands of a
particular audience or purpose.
Reflect and evaluate: recognize
and incorporate newly acquired skills.
·
develop
the ability to critique their own and the work of others.
·
gain a
clearer perspective of habits that may detract from the effectiveness of their
own writing.
·
respond
to comments from their instructor and peers.
Food Sustainability Theme: global citizenship,
social responsibility, ethics, and culture.
Additionally,
you will have prepared yourself to be a responsible citizen in a globally
interconnected and diverse society and have increased understanding regarding:
·
the link between food and culture;
·
the negative consequences of industrialized,
processed, and profit-motivated food production;
·
the relationship between food and health;
·
the possible benefits of local and alternative
food systems, including those implemented by multinational corporations such as
Walmart;
·
the issue of local and world hunger;
·
increased understanding of contemporary food
movements such as locavorism and the slow food
movement;
·
ethical arguments for making conscious choices
about what to eat.
How Outcomes Will Be Met / Grading:
This
is a hybrid course. That means that most of the work for this class will be
conducted online through our Blackboard Vista course site. There (and in our
grounded classroom) the instructor will employ and/or facilitate the following
methods and practices to assist students in achieving the stated English 101
course outcomes: short lectures, field research and data collection/analysis,
critical analysis of assigned readings, small and large group online
discussions, homework and essay assignments, peer review of draft essays,
quizzes, grammar and writing assignments, and other relevant activities.
Major Assignments:
Diagnostic
Essay
50 points |
Three (3) out-of-class essays
300 points |
Group Poetry
Presentation
100 points |
Skit Assignment 50 points |
Four (4) Peer Review Workshops
100 points |
Five (5) quizzes
50 points |
Weekly Journal Entries
50 points |
Weekly Online Discussions (10 x
10)
100 points |
In-class exercises and group activities
100 points |
Final Essay
Exam
100 points |
Total:
1,000 points
FINAL GRADING
SCALE (BASED ON 1,000 POINTS):
Letter
Grade |
Number
Grade |
# of
Points |
A |
4.0-3.8 |
1000-930 |
A- |
3.7-3.4 |
929-890 |
B+ |
3.3-3,1 |
889-860 |
B |
3.0-2.8 |
859-820 |
B- |
2.7-2.4 |
819-790 |
C+ |
2.3-2.1 |
789-760 |
C |
2.0-1.8 |
759-730 |
C- |
1.7-1.4 |
729-690 |
D+ |
1.3-1.1 |
689-660 |
D |
1.0 |
659-650 |
F |
|
649
& below |
Late Assignments and Revision Options
Paper format/late assignments: I will provide detailed guidelines for all major essay and
presentation assignments. Late
papers will lose half a grade for each day they are late (a paper is considered
late if I do not receive it by 11:59 PM on the date it is due). Unless we have
made other arrangements, papers over 3 days/72 hours late will not be
accepted (for instance, an essay due Monday, 11:59 PM must be turned in by
Thursday, 11:59 PM). Late
assignments may not be revised.
Note: To avoid lateness due to lost/corrupted
files, please be sure to back up all of your writing for this class by
emailing it as an attachment to yourself, or by placing it on a zip drive, CD,
or memory stick.
Option to Revise: You will have the option of revising essays 1 or 2 after I have graded
them. Revisions are due on a specific date during the 8th week of
the quarter. I will grade the revised essay and then average it with the grade you initially received on the paper. This
averaged grade will be your final grade for the essay. Late assignments may not be revised.
The BC College Grading Policy is located on
page 10 of the Course Catalog and also on the web at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/policies/3/3000_grading.asp.
Books and Materials:
Required Textbooks:
Textbooks
are available at the BC Bookstore and online at http://bcc.collegestoreonline.com.
The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food
Choices Matter. Rodale Books. Peter Singer and Jim Mason. 2007. ISBN-10: 1594866872.
How to Write Anything. Bedford/St. Martins. Spiral. 1st Edition. John J. Ruszkiewicz. January 2009. ISBN-10: 0312452261; ISBN-13:
978-0312452268.
Classroom
Learning Atmosphere
Instructor Expectations:
I
expect you to arrive in class on time (and ideally rested and fed!), prepared,
and ready to actively participate in classroom activities. Chronically being
late/unprepared and/or posting late to online weekly discussions will lead to a
lowered participation grade.
I do not allow make-up work. That means that if you do not turn in your prewriting questions,
rough drafts, quizzes, on the day they are due, you forever lose the
opportunity to receive points for that work. Additionally, to receive full
credit for peer review sessions, you must participate actively and fully,
posting detailed peer review responses on or before the due date. If
you have a doctor’s note confirming illness or injury, please present it to the
instructor (either hard copy or scanned and sent via email), along with your submitted
missed work, at the start of the first day you are back in class.
This
course focuses on the theme of food
sustainability. Sustainable food practices are ones that could conceivably
continue in perpetuity without damage to culture, the environment, or to those
people who live in proximity to or who work to grow, harvest, and distribute
the food being produced. Sustainability, having its root in sustain, also relates to the eating of
food that sustains rather than causing illness or disease. When we label a
practice sustainable, we are also
considering the degree to which this practice preserves biodiversity, achieves
its affects by taking small actions that lead to large impacts, and fosters
healthy and just economies, along with taking into consideration the impact the
practice will make on the local ecosystem. Sustainability skills include
intellectual openness, a sensitivity to cross-cultural perspectives, an ability
to work collaboratively in groups, an ability to think laterally (connect the
dots), an ability to reflect on how one’s personal choices affect
sustainability, thinking critically and relying heavily on observation and
empiricism, practicing civic responsibility, and reflecting on one’s knowledge,
values, and commitment through a variety of media, including literary and
artistic expression.
As a
student in a sustainability-themed course, you will be expected to consider the
local as well as global impact of your personal choices when it comes to food
purchasing and consumption, including how far your food has traveled to get to
your plate, along with how the food you eat is grown, produced, processed,
packaged, and disposed of. You will also be expected to make connections
between small changes in behavior and potentially huge global impacts.
Throughout
the quarter we will be reading, viewing films and videoclips,
and discussing and writing about FOOD: what it means to us, our peers, and
professional writers, where it comes from and how it is altered along the way
to the supermarket—how it is grown, who grows it, how it is processed, who
decides what is safe to eat, etc. You are not expected to know much about this
subject when the quarter begins, but plan on being challenged to examine your
own food purchasing and eating habits and, in general, the way you think about
food and how it is produced. I ask that you keep an open mind as we explore
heated topics such as global warming, the fast food industry, and
industrialized meat production.
Affirmation of Inclusion:
Bellevue
College is committed to maintaining an environment in which every member of the
campus community feels welcome to participate in the life of the college, free
from harassment and discrimination.
We
value our different backgrounds at Bellevue College, and students, faculty,
staff members, and administrators are to treat one another with dignity and
respect. http://bellevuecollege.edu/about/goals/inclusion.asp
Plagiarism:
All assignments
you complete for this course must present your own ideas in your own words. If
you copy from a text word for word, you must put them in quotation marks. Even
if you summarize or paraphrase the ideas or facts of someone else, you are
obligated to cite the source of those facts and ideas, that is, tell us where
you found your ideas/facts. You will receive instruction regarding the basic
conventions for citing your sources using MLA (Modern Language Association)
citation guidelines. I will not accept an essay you have downloaded from the
Internet or copied from someone else, an essay you wrote for an earlier class,
or an essay in which you present words or ideas as your own when they are not.
Essays that do not present your own ideas in your own words or essays in which
you do not cite your sources are considered plagiarized. If you plagiarize, you
will receive a zero for the assignment or assignment sequence. If you
plagiarize a second time, you will fail the course. Please note that once it is
determined that your work is not your own, I will not negotiate a plan for
relieving yourself of the consequences of your actions. For a more detailed
explanation of plagiarism, read the official policy of the Division of Arts and
Humanities: "Student Procedures and Expectations" http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/artshum/studentinfo.html. Unintentional plagiarism is still considered plagiarism and is
punishable; saying you did not know you were plagiarizing is not an acceptable
defense. Just in case a question of ownership arises, print out drafts of your
work often and keep them in a folder or binder. Information about Bellevue
College's copyright guidelines can be found at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/lmc/links/copyright.html
A good resource for Plagiarism is the Library Media Center:
http://bellevuecollege.edu/lmc/links/plagiarism.html.
Student Code / Classroom Atmosphere:
Since this is
a college course, I expect students to conduct themselves in a way that does
not interfere with the learning of others. You can help to create a positive
learning environment by respecting all voices and views; completing assignments
promptly and conscientiously; coming to class with a good attitude and an open
mind; and accepting and giving feedback graciously.
Cheating,
stealing and plagiarizing (using the ideas or words of another as oneŐs own without crediting the source) and
inappropriate/disruptive classroom behavior are violations of the Student Code
of Conduct at Bellevue College. BC instructors have the right to excuse from
class a student who interferes with instructor effectiveness and/or student
learning.
Examples
of unacceptable behavior include, but are not limited to: talking out of turn, text-messaging or having laptops open during
class, arriving late or leaving early without a valid reason, allowing cell
phones/pagers to ring, and inappropriate behavior toward the instructor or
classmates. The instructor can refer any violation of the Student
Code of Conduct to the Vice President of Student Services for possible
probation or suspension from Bellevue College. Specific student rights,
responsibilities and appeal procedures are listed in the Student Code of Conduct,
available in the office of the Vice President of Student Services. The Student Code, Policy 2050, in its entirety
is located at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/policies/2/2050_Student_Code.asp
Values Conflicts:
Essential
to a liberal arts education is an open-minded tolerance for ideas and modes of
expression that might conflict with one’s personal values. By being
exposed to such ideas or expressions, students are not expected to endorse or
adopt them but rather to understand that they are part of the free flow of
information upon which higher education depends.
To
this end, you may find that class requirements may include engaging certain
materials, such as books, films, and art work, which may, in whole or in part,
offend you. These materials are equivalent to required texts and are
essential to the course content. If you decline to engage the required
material by not reading, viewing, or performing material you consider offensive,
you will still be required to meet class requirements in order to earn
credit. This may require responding to the content of the material, and
you may not be able to fully participate in required class discussions, exams,
or assignments.
Important Links
Bellevue College E-mail and access to
Blackboard Vista:
All
students registered for classes at Bellevue College are entitled to a network
and e-mail account. Your student network account can be used to access
your student e-mail, log in to computers in labs and classrooms, connect to the
BC wireless network and log in to MyBC. To create your account, go to: https://bellevuecollege.edu/sam.
BC
offers a wide variety of computer and learning labs to enhance learning and
student success. Find current campus locations for all student labs by visiting
the Computing Services website.
GETTING YOUR COMPUTER SKILLS UP TO SPEED AND
GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH VISTA/BLACKBOARD:
Click
on these sites for information about Equipment and Skills Requirements, taking
a student tutorial, and for deadlines re: withdrawing from a course, receiving
a tuition refund, etc.:
Preparing
your computer for Blackboard Vista: http://bellevuecollege.edu/distance/studentguide/
Logging
onto Blackboard Vista: http://bellevuecollege.edu/distance/studentguide/
Navigating
your course: http://bellevuecollege.edu/distance/studentguide/
Disability Resource Center (DRC)
The Disability
Resource Center serves students with a wide array of learning challenges and
disabilities. If you are a student who has a disability or learning challenge
for which you have documentation or have seen someone for treatment and if you
feel you may need accommodations in order to be successful in college, please
contact us as soon as possible. If you are a person who requires assistance in
case of an emergency situation, such as a fire or earthquake, please meet with
your individual instructors to develop a safety plan within the first week of
the quarter.
The
DRC office is located in B 132 or you can call our reception desk at
425.564.2498. Deaf students can reach us by video phone at 425-440-2025
or by TTY at 425-564-4110. Please visit our website for application information
into our program and other helpful links at www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc
Public Safety
The Bellevue
College (BC) Public Safety Department has a well-trained and courteous non-commissioned
staff providing personal safety, security, crime prevention, preliminary
investigations, and other services to the campus community, 24 hours per day, 7
days per week. Their phone number is 425.564.2400. The Public
Safety website is your one-stop resource for campus emergency preparedness
information, campus closure announcements and critical information in the event
of an emergency. Public Safety is located in K100 and on the web at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/publicsafety/
Final Exam Schedule
There
is no final exam in this class; instead, you will submit your final examination
essay by 11:59 PM on the day of our scheduled final exam (June 16, 2011).
http://bellevuecollege.edu/classes/exams
Academic Calendar
The
Bellevue College Academic Calendar is separated into two calendars. They
provide information about holidays, closures and important enrollment dates
such as the finals schedule.
·
Enrollment Calendar - http://bellevuecollege.edu/enrollment/calendar/deadlines/. On this calendar you will find admissions and registration dates and
important dates for withdrawing and receiving tuition refunds.
·
College Calendar - http://bellevuecollege.edu/enrollment/calendar/holidays/0910.asp. This calendar gives you the year at a glance and includes college
holidays, scheduled closures, quarter end and start dates, and final exam
dates.