Instructor: Scott Bessho
E-mail:
scott.bessho@bellevuecollege.edu
Phone: 425-564-2425
Office location: R230-Y
Office Hours: 8:00-11:20, 12:30-2:20
daily. These are times when you can drop by to ask a question about class or an
assignment or anything else. I am happy to answer questions and help clarify
the material for you.
“It is by imitation, far more than
by precept, that we learn everything.”
--Edmund
Burke, author
Books and Materials
Morenberg:
Doing Grammar
A
book of your choosing (novels have the most sentence variety)
Recommended: Any good learner's dictionary (e.g. Longman)
Course Outcomes
Learning Outcomes: (At the end of this courses, students
will be able to…)
1. Identify the basic parts of speech (nouns,
determiners, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, conjunctions, and
prepositional phrases) in their own writing and the writing of others
2. Identify basic sentence core patterns in their own
writing and the writing of others with improved accuracy (for example, Subject
– verb; Subject – verb – noun completer (direct object); subject – linking verb
– adjective or noun completer (subject complements); Subject – linking verb –
adverb completer)
3. Identify basic verb tenses (simple past and
present, past and present progressive and perfective aspects) in their own
writing and the writing of others
4. Describe and use an editing process that suits
their individual needs
5. Collaborate effectively with classmates to edit
each other’s writing for mistakes in basic grammar, sentence structure, and
punctuation (singular and plural word endings, subject-verb and noun-pronoun
agreement, verb tense and form, noun and adjective lists, introductory phrases)
6. Edit their own writing to correct mistakes in basic
grammar and sentence structure (singular and plural word endings, subject-verb
and noun-pronoun agreement, verb tense and form)
8. Look up information about grammar and punctuation
in a standard college-level writing handbook and apply it to their own editing
9. Articulate in writing what they have learned and
how they have learned it.
Meeting Outcomes
Class activities are based on the use and
identification of a variety of sentence types, focusing on their purpose and
form in real-life writing. Weekly exercises will contribute material to a final
paper demonstrating mastery of the sentence grammar.
Grading
The grading for class work in
this course is based primarily on completion; that is, you have to do the work,
and completed work with acceptable accuracy will earn a higher grade than
incomplete work with superior accuracy.
Generally, this class is intended for your improvement, so scores
reflect improvement and practical use of the material more than simply learning
and repeating grammatical forms and rules on quizzes. It is possible to be in
class most of the time and to do most of the assignments and still not get
credit if the instructor sees no improvement in a student’s writing. For ENGL
091, the grade is credit or no credit, not a letter grade. For ENGL 105, the
exams are the primary determiner of the grade, along with the Real English
assignments.
Some of your work will be
done in groups, so your participation is essential to others in the class,
whose participation grade depends on your preparation. You can ensure a good
participation grade if you ask questions and try answering questions in class.
Unsatisfactory participation will affect your grade. Attendance counts! Your
grade will not be affected by a couple of absences, but more than two will affect your overall evaluation. A grade of NC
or F will result if you miss more than nine classes. Lateness will count as an
absence if I take roll before you arrive.
Instructor’s
Expectation
Since there is no letter grade to provide motivation
for 091, students need to have a goal of improving their written work over the
course of the quarter. Just doing enough to pass the class is not satisfactory
when applied to this goal. Students are expected to work at least ten hours a
week on classwork and to contribute to the learning atmosphere in class by
asking questions and trying to answer questions, both in the general class and
in pairs or small groups.
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
Division Statements
Please refer to the document
on Arts and Humanities Policieshttp://bellevuecollege.edu/artshum/policy.html,
all of which apply in my classes. Pay special attention to the section on
academic dishonesty. Plagiarism, which we will discuss in class, will not be
tolerated.
A good resource for Plagiarism is the Writing Lab: http://bellevuecollege.edu/writinglab/Plagiarism.html
Student Code
“Cheating, stealing and
plagiarizing (using the ideas or words of another as one’s own without
crediting the source) and inappropriate/disruptive classroom behavior are
violations of the Student Code of Conduct at Bellevue College. Examples of unacceptable behavior include,
but are not limited to: talking out of turn, 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
“Read, read,
read. Read everything, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works
as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write.”
--William
Faulkner, novelist
Bellevue College
E-mail and access to MyBC
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.
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 the DRC as soon as possible.
If you are a person who
requires assistance in case of an emergency situation, such as a fire,
earthquake, etc, 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 the reception desk at 425.564.2498. Deaf students can reach the DRC by video
phone at 425-440-2025 or by TTY at 425-564-4110. Please visit the DRC website
for application information into the program and other helpful links at www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc
Public Safety
The Bellevue College (BC)
Public Safety Department’s well trained and courteous non-commissioned staff
provides 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
The final exam for this
class is on Monday, March 18, from 11:30 to 1:20. The final is based on the
sentence patterns and grammar studied during the quarter and will significantly
affect the final grade for 105.
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.
“Imitation precedes creation.” --Stephen King, novelist
English 091/105 Class Schedule (subject to change)
We have only two short papers in 091 and 105, but many
small journal and sentence assignments. In order to learn the material
sufficiently, everyone should do ALL of the exercises in each chapter even
though not all of them will be turned in. The answers to the first 25 exercises
in each chapter are in the back of the book.
Much of what we write will be
written in class, but there will be homework assignments as well. The exercises
in the workbook will make up the largest part of the classwork. Always read the coming chapter before we
begin work on that chapter. Some of the assignments will be turned in and
some won’t, but all of the material will be tested at the end of the quarter,
and all of it will go into your paper. The paper will be a demonstration of
your sentence mastery.
NOTE: All of the assignments
will be clarified and explained in class in greater detail as they are
assigned.
Week 1 The
first three days is devoted to in-class team-building and introduction of the
course. Read the introduction and Chapter 1 for the next week.
Week 2 Homework
assignments: Chapter One “Identifying Verbs and Core Sentences.” Exercises 29,
30, 35, 36, 39, 40, 43, 44, 47, 50. “Real English” practice.
Week 3 Chapter
Two, “Relating words, Phrases and Slots”; “Real English” reports; Sentence
exercises.
Week 4 Chapter
Three “Expanding Verb Phrases”; Sentence exercises; Real English; Conferences
Week 5 Chapter
Four “Exploring Noun Phrases”; Article practice; First paper due.
Week
6 Chapter Five “Rearranging and
Compounding.”
Week
7 Chapter Six “Constructing
Relative Clauses”;
Week
8 Chapter Seven “Reducing
Relative Clauses to Phrases”;
Week
9 Chapter Eight “Making Noun
Clauses, Gerunds, and Infinitives”;
Week
10 Chapter Nine “Adding Modifiers
to Sentences”;
Week
11 More Quiz Review; March 18: Final
Quiz; Final Paper due
Further Remarks
Good Luck in 091/105 this quarter! Let’s make it fun and productive.
Always remember that I want you to
succeed but that you are responsible for your own success.
“Grammar is a
piano I play by ear: all I know about grammar is its power.”
--Joan
Didion, novelist, essayist