ENGL&101ENGLISH COMPOSITION

INSTRUCTOR: Pat Andrus
E-MAIL: pandrus@bcc.ctc.edu
PHONE: (425) 564-2359


COURSE DESCRIPTION:


Welcome to English #101 online. In this class you will have opportunity to be exposed to and chew on a number of essays in our anthology Essays from Contemporary Culture, further explore ideas through developing and completing your own essays using the writing processes all writers employ, and provide constructive and supportive feedback to essays our other class members compose. Since good reading and good writing are intimately linked, be prepared to READ at least two to four essays a week and participate in discussion with the whole class.  In addition to our main text, you will be reading and taking  weekly quizzes from our second text A Writer’s Companion, where you can find a refreshing approach to writing essays, and invaluable support for the writing you do in this class and in your future life.

What will you then typically do from week to week? Here's a listing of most
English 101 activities you'll do during the course:

0. Really read three or four assigned essays each week (Nandrea's essay as part of week 2 is a demanding/exciting essay "Having No Hand in the Matter", so put extra time to that essay...like read the essay at least three times and take notes (whatever method of remembering works for you)

0. Read and complete 10 questions each week in a chapter from A Writer’s Companion.  (You will take a quiz each week on this.)

0. Join other students in a large group discussion for shared responses to readings where you will be graded on your posted responses and comments

0. Begin, revise, and then post with your writing groups  three major essays during the course of the quarter.

0. Provide constructive comments for other members' essays in your writing group for which you will be graded

0. Submit your revised/final copy of each essay to your instructor

GRADING:

Introductory Narrative Paper and posting of bio = 5%
Essay #1 = 10%
Essay #2 = 15 %
Essay #3 = 20%

Participation (quality and level) on text reading responses = 15%
Meeting deadlines for posting your essay for workshop review = 10%
Workshop feedback (including deadline) for other group essays 10% Assignments from A Writer’s Companion = 10%

Self Evaluation for the course = 5%

*GRADES FOR ANY WORK COMPLETED AFTER ITS DEADLINE WILL BE LOWERED CONSIDERABLY, PARTICULARLY INVOLVING DEADLINES OF ESSAYS POSTED WITH YOUR GROUP MEMBERS OR FINAL DRAFT ESSAYS DUE TO ME.  NO MAKE-UP FOR INDIVIDUAL QUIZZES ARE GENERALLY ALLOWED, BUT NOTICE TOO THAT QUIZZES ARE NOT A LARGE PART OF YOUR GRADING.

*IN ORDER TO GET CREDIT FOR THE COURSE, ALL WORK MUST BE COMPLETED BY THE LAST DAY OF OUR CLASS ONLINE.

TEXT BOOKS:

ESSAYS FROM CONTEMPORARY CULTURE by Katherine Ackley (5^th ed!)
A WRITER’S COMPANION by Richard Marius (4^th ed!)

COMPUTER SKILLS AND THIS CLASS:

Are you expected to be on the competitive edge with Bill Gates? Of course not, but....you do need to know how to navigate around the web, be able to use both Explorer and Navigator browsers (or Mae equivalent), mail your work with attachments (and open up others), be comfortable with a word processing system, AND HAVE ACCESS TO AND USE WORD, NOT WORD PAD, upload (and down load) programs and files with ease, have all the hardware and software necessary, and so forth. What's important in all this is that you know when YOU or your computer is lacking in something, or your provider, or when the server Blackboard is at fault.  Finally, you must always have a back-up plan for completing your work, in case your server is down, your computer broke, etc. And for distance education questions, contact the folks in Distance Education (via landerso@bcc.ctc.edu or Phone:  425-564-2438 or 1-877-6412712 toll free).  DO keep this address and these telephone numbers handy for easy access!!!  If you contact me, for example, with a problem (via our class mail), I may advise you to contact these folks but I won't use precious "class time" to  type the e-mail and/or telephone numbers.

ETHICS WITH ONLINE WORK:

Do you think this is a subject everyone thinks about but no one talks about? Well here is the scoop for this course. Do your own work. If you use ideas from one of our essays, be sure you let the reader know. If you "borrow" an essay from another, either a relative, a friend, or someone online and submit it as your own, you will receive an F for that assignment. If it happens again, you will receive an F for your final grade. You should find the work YOU DO in this course to be enriching and rewarding. You may even discover a beginning of a novel or collection of essays in your writings by the end of the quarter.

ONLINE ETIQUETTE:

1.       Be honest but courteous in your postings, responses, comments. Remember that unlike a traditional classroom, we don't have the other ways of communicating including the whole world of body language, of speaking and seeing and listening IN PERSON.  We just have our screen and our words.

2.       Rude or disrespectful comments directed either to other members of the class or to the instructor are not acceptable.

3.       If you feel a student has attacked you or treated you without respect, do not respond.  Instead, contact your instructor and she will handle the matter.

4.      Consider this class like a community where we learn from each other in a supportive and academic environment.

5.      Please refer to the Arts & Humanities Policies for all subject policies.  Web address is http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/artshum When you get to this point, click on student information.  Under that, click on Student Procedures and Expectations.