ENGLISH 1101 COURSE SYLLABUS

 

Professor Name: Andrew Stone

Office Phone: (718) 260-5392

Office: Namm 529

Office Hours: Wednesday 1:15-2:15

Email: astone@citytech.cuny.edu

Meeting Time: MW 10:00-11:15 a.m.

Classroom Location: Namm 1005

Conference Hour: 9:00-9:50 a.m.

Location: Namm 1018

Online Location: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/comp2019morning/

 

 

Course Description:

 

This, English 1101, the first half of First Year Writing at City Tech, aims to equip you with the critical thinking, reading, and writing skills necessary for this class, all of your other classes, and beyond, in the professionalized working world. The point, and my role, is not to tell you what exactly to write, not even necessarily how to write, but to offer a structured forum in which you can learn the underlying, practical procedures used to approach any writing or reading situation. We will call these differing textual situations “rhetorical situations” and we will call this process of teaching methods (rather than information) “teaching for transfer”. Through engaging different rhetorical situations, we will consider who is speaking, who they are speaking to/for, and why they’re even speaking at all! The course will involve personal exploration/reflection, rhetorical analysis, and research, through which we will look at the varying social contexts in which some kind of specific meaning is exchanged. As such, we will engage a wide range of media and investigate how these media express the world we inhabit. While the goals of this course are communal, one’s journey through writing is intensely personal, and with that in mind, we will foster an environment in which our unique voices, styles, and dispositions can be heard and critiqued as we confront important social, cultural, and existential realities. And finally, we are here, myself included, to grow as thinkers and writers.

 

Prerequisite: CUNY proficiency in reading and writing

 

Learning Outcomes:

 

After completing ENG 1101 you should be able to:

 

1. Read and listen critically and analytically in a variety of genres and rhetorical situations: Identify and evaluate exigencies, purposes, claims, supporting evidence and underlying assumptions in a variety of texts, genres and media.

 

2. Adapt and compose in a variety of genres: adapt writing conventions in ways that are suitable to different exigencies and purposes in a variety of contexts including academic and workplace audiences. When appropriate, repurpose prior work to new genre, audiences and media by adjusting delivery, design, tone, organization and language.

 

3. Use research as a process of inquiry and engagement with multiple perspectives. Learn to focus on a topic and develop research questions that lead to propositions and claims that can be supported with well-reasoned arguments. Demonstrate research skills through attribution and citation gathering, evaluating and synthesizing both primary and secondary sources.

 

4. Use reflection and other metacognitive processes to revise prior assumptions about reading and writing and transfer acquired knowledge into new writing situations.

 

 

Readings / Text:

 

All readings are available on the course website, or else will be made available by handout.

 

University Policies

 

Accessibility Statement

City Tech is committed to supporting the educational goals of enrolled students with disabilities in the areas of enrollment, academic advisement, tutoring, assistive technologies and testing accommodations. If you have or think you may have a disability, you may be eligible for reasonable accommodations or academic adjustments as provided under applicable federal, state and city laws. You may also request services for temporary conditions or medical issues under certain circumstances. If you have questions about your eligibility or would like to seek accommodation services or academic adjustments, please contact the Center for Student Accessibility at 300 Jay Street room L-237, 718 260 5143 or http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/accessibility/.

 

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism Statement

Students and all others who work with information, ideas, texts, images, music, inventions, and other intellectual property owe their audience and sources accuracy and honesty in using, crediting, and citing sources. As a community of intellectual and professional workers, the College recognizes its responsibility for providing instruction in information literacy and academic integrity, offering models of good practice, and responding vigilantly and appropriately to infractions of academic integrity. Accordingly, academic dishonesty is prohibited at New York City College of Technology and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion.

Sanctions for Academic Integrity Violations

In accordance with the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity, NYCCT empowers its Academic Integrity Committee and Academic Integrity Officer to process violations of the CUNY Academic Integrity Policy. As stated in the student handbook, all instructors must report all instances of academic dishonesty to the Academic Integrity Officer.

 

Course Policies

 

Attendance: Students who fail to attend class regularly will fall behind on the daily writing assignments. The daily assignments build upon previous work and lead towards success in the major projects. In order to succeed in the class, students will need to attend regularly. Students who fall behind will likely have a difficult time catching up.

 

Missed Work and Late Papers: I do not accept late homework. For larger assignments, every day the assignment is late, you will lose half a letter grade on your final portfolio. That said, if you talk to me before the paper is due, I’ll likely grant an extension. This means you can’t ask for an extension the night before the paper is due. This is an exception reserved for difficult circumstances – you don’t have to tell me more than you’re comfortable with, but please don’t lie.

 

OpenLab Statement:

You will need to register with the City Tech Open Lab and join our course immediately. We will do this on the first day. It will be your responsibility to learn the navigation of the class website during the first week. After the first week, we will be using the Open Lab. Any work that you fail to post after the 3rd class meeting cannot be made up. If you need help with this, see me immediately, and make sure to come to the first and second class meetings.

 

Course Load Expectations: Come to this class, and this semester, prepared to read and write. It is why we are here. It is part of being in college. There will be, at times, a large amount of work. I have done my best to spread out this work, and I will revise the syllabus as much as is reasonable to ensure a schedule most conducive to our learning objectives. I understand that attention spans are diminishing – this is out of my control, and as such, I intend for this class to be one through which you can develop a more responsible relationship to time. You and your classmates are here to learn and I am here to help facilitate that learning. We are in this together, so let’s do the work we need to do to get through this together.

 

Major Projects and Assignments

 

Project 1: Literacy Narrative

 

The overarching goal of the Literacy Narrative assignment is to lay a metacognitive foundation

for the rest of the semester. In this assignment you will:

 

• describe your own reading processes, writing processes, and the relationship between the two
• gain a greater sense of your own past literacy experiences and how those experiences have shaped how they envision themselves as writers in the current moment
• reflect on your own schooling and educational influences and examine the social cultural, and political issues involved in accessing language fluency
• explore your understandings of the ethnic and cultural diversity of written English as well as the influence of other registers, dialects, and languages.

 

 

Project 2: Genre Research Report

Unit 2 will be an investigation into and report on a specific question about a topic that interests you. You will conduct research into various genres (4 sources), gather and evaluate the information in those sources, and present a report on your findings.

For this assignment, you will not need a thesis statement; rather, I am asking you think investigate, analyze, and report what you have learned from your investigation. You may arrive at an answer to you initial question, or you may find you’re asking the wrong questions and will need to rethink your approach.

In this unit, you will:

• Ask and develop specific question. This should be something you care about, something you’ve always wondered about – something that will keep you engaged, as you’ll be continuing this line of inquiry in Unit 3 as well.
• Research, gather information on, and analyze 4 sources consisting of at least 3 different genres.

 

Project 3: Writing in a New Genre

 

In this unit, you will be using your research from Unit 2 to compose a document/artefact in a new genre. This is to say, a genre you have not used before. You might want to write a declaration, a manifesto, a rulebook, a magazine article (from a particular publication), a comic book, a children’s book, short story, a video essay etc. The possibilities are virtually endless. The caviats are:

 

1. You must have a rhetorical understanding of the genre you choose
2. Your genre must suit the site-based-topic you’ve researched

 

I would recommend choosing a genre we have studied, unless you are confident in your understanding of the chosen genre.

 

You cannot simply write an “article”. You must choose a mentor text. This means that you have a specific publication you are looking to. An article on VICE is different than an article in SALON. You’ll need to be specific, and the genre must contain words. The final word count for this will be 1500 words at least. If you are choosing to do something say in video or song, you must transcribe the words.

 

 

Other graded projects:

 

Journals:

 

You will be required to keep a writing “Journal”. This will be two-fold.

 

First, there are journal prompts as listed in the syllabus/semester outline. These will be posted to open lab, and must be posted before class on the day they are due.

 

Second, you will be required to keep a writing notebook. This will contain any and all in-class writing assignments. As mentioned before, this will be a notebook you must always bring to class, and must have pages you can easily remove to be handed in.

 

 

 

 

Final Portfolio:

 

The final portfolio will be the bulk of your grade in this class. We will discuss this in-depth as the semester progresses, but the idea is that it will consist of all finished work, along with a handful of journal prompts, reflections, and in-class writing assignments, which will be revised and formatted for the portfolio.

         This will also include a final reflection, in which you reflect on your writing practices throughout your semester.

 

 

Grading Policy:

Grade Calculation
Homework/Participation   Journals	50 %   20%
In-class Writing	15%
Participation	15%
Final Portfolio	50 %

 

Homework/Participation

 

Yes, Homework and Participation is worth 50%. This means you must come to class (almost) all of the time in order to do well.

In this class, you’re learning both about your writing process AND how to be a part of an academic/writing community. You’re learning the methods to tackle any future writing project. And more specifically, you’re learning YOUR way of doing this. So, it is essential you are present in every sense of the word.

 

A Few Important Details:

 

Attendance: If you miss six classes, you fail the attendance portion of your grade. This means you can technically miss five classes. However, you will still take a penalty for the class work you missed on those days! Lateness over 15 min is half an absence. Lateness of over 35 min is an entire absence (after all, the class is only an hour and 15 minutes). The conference hour counts as an entirely separate class, and an entirely separate absence.

 

Homework:

As noted earlier, homework is due BEFORE class starts, usually on the OpenLab, unless otherwise noted. I don’t accept late homework, because the homework directly relates to the class topic of the day it is due.

On the other hand, homework is graded on completion. You just have to do it to receive the grade. But if it’s clear you totally winged it or barely tried, you’ll get a 0.

 

Rough drafts: These are worth a portion of the overall grade on your paper and your attendance for the day it is due. A late rough draft means a lower grade on your paper. It also means if you show up to class on the day that it is due without it, you’ll be counted as absent.

 

 

Final Portfolio

 

The final portfolio consists of your three major papers, as well as an author’s statement introducing your work, and a reflection essay.

We’ll be working towards this portfolio all semester. For each unit, you will submit final drafts of your paper, on which you will receive a provisional grade, meaning you can always improve them for the final portfolio.

 

Tentative Semester Outline

 

• All Readings and Assignments are DUE on the day they are
• Any changes made to the following schedule will be announced in class or on the class website. It is your responsibility to keep up with all announced

 

DATE	CLASS TOPICS	READINGS / WRITINGS / VIEWINGS
WEEK 1 W  08/28	Syllabus, Open Lab     In-class diagnostic essay   Annotation	Navigate Course Website.   Write: Reflection – What are your expectations for the semester? How do you feel about writing classes? About writing? Read Sandra Cisneros’ “Only Daughter” Write:(1) a reflection (200 words) and (2) an episode in your life of literacy (~250 words)
WEEK 2 M    09/02	Labor Day—College Closed
W 09/04	Introduction to Unit 1: Literacy Narrative   Annotation   Descriptive Writing	HW: Tan, “Mother Tongue” & Anzaldúa, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” Journal Entry 1.1 CW: Discuss Tan and Anzaldua essay in groups Writing a concrete, significant scene Class discussion / Reflection Writing CW1.1
Th 09/05 (Monday Sched.)	Reading across/about different Literacies Descriptive Writing Code-Meshing / Code Switching   Introduce Literary Narrative Assignment	HW Due: Excerpt from Young, “Nah We Straight” and Bring Questions/Comments about Reading CW: Conference Hour: Continue Discussion of Tan and Anzaldúa Reflection Writing CW1.1 Read excerpt from Philip’s “The Absence of Writing…” & Young, “Should Writers …” Reading Reflection (Young and Philip) Group work/Discussion Writing: Personal Literacy CW1.2
WEEK 3   M       09/09	Reading/Writing “with” other texts   Introducing Rhetorical Terms   Argument/Thesis	HW Due: Rose, “Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language” Journal 1.2: Difficulty Response – What did you find difficult in this reading? Identify 3 places, throughout the text, that tripped you up. Did you find this reading helpful? If not, why? (300 words) CW: Conference Hour: Discussion of Rose Watch Adichie, “The Danger of a Single Story” Writing: Personal Literacy CW1.3 Discuss Thesis, Purpose, Argument
W 09/11	The Writing Process   Outlining Best Practices   Discourse Communities	Pre-Writing/Conceptual Outline of Literacy Narrative Due (250 words) HW Due: Browse Orwell and Canagarajah Annotate and Outline Adichie Transcript (with a particular eye on structure/rhetorical devices) CW: Read Saunders Outline Best Practices
WEEK 4   M       09/16	Annotated Peer Review + Revision   Discuss Peer Review Letters	Rough Draft of Literacy Narrative Due   HW due: Straub, “Responding…” CW: Read/Discuss Straub, Paired Peer Review Notes for Reflection on Peer Review
W 09/18	Discuss Revision/ Reflection Portion   Reflect as a Class Set Goals for Discourse Community	HW: Murray, “The Maker’s Eye” Journal Entry 1.3 – Writing Process Reflection   CW: Discuss Revision
WEEK 5	Unit 1 should be completed no later than Monday, 09/23, but may be completed earlier.
M    09/23	Introduction to Unit 2: Rhetoric, Genre, Discourse	Literacy Narrative Final Draft Due   General Discussion of Rhetoric, Genre Close Reading exercise: The Red Wheelbarrow
W 09/25	Rhetorical Analysis   SOAPSTONE	HW: Carroll, “Backpacks vs. Briefcases” CW: Discuss Carroll in Groups, then open up Read Abdurraqib, “On Breakups”, Watch HAIM video
WEEK 6   M    09/30	No Classes Schedule
W 10/02	Engaging Context: Speaker, Audience, Purpose   Introduce Unit 2 Assignment	HW: Dirk, “Navigating Genre” SOAPSTONE for reading Journal 2.1 CW: Practice Rhetorical Analysis
WEEK 7   M    10/07	Engaging Genre   Constructing a Research Question	HW: Lorde, “The Master’s Tools…” Lab: Reflection: How do you feel about research? Do you have an idea of what you might research? Free-write: Write about something that is meaningful to you, something you encounter every day or think about a lot. Ask three questions about this thing.   CW: Discuss Genre Read Lerner, 10:04 Excerpt; Octopus, Wikipedia Entry; Google Search, “Octopus as food”
W 10/09	No Classes Scheduled
WEEK 8   M    10/14	No Classes Scheduled
W 10/16 (M schedule)	Sites of Inquiry: Institution – Audience/Purpose   Site/Genre Analysis	Lab: KLW + HW: Rough Draft of Question and Proposal Due Genre Research Practice (Handout) Journal Entry 2.2: Rhetorical/Genre Analysis CW: Go over Genre Research Practice
WEEK 9   M       10/21	Specifying, Narrowing Research   Specifying Purpose   Genre Analysis Practice	Final Draft of Research Question and Proposal Due w/ KWL+ research report   HW: Journal 2.3 – Reflection: How did you go about choosing your topic? How did you go about researching it? What did you find difficult about this process? What did you learn about your topic and about your writing/research process? CW: Group work/Peer review– share reflections and research proposals Discuss
W 10/23	Library Day   SOAPSTONE for first two genres	Continue Research into Genres and work on SOAPSTONE sheets
WEEK 10	Midterm Grades Due this Week
M    10/28	Questions/Concerns Regarding Research   Individual Conferences	HW: Janet Emig, “Writing as a Mode of Learning” Journal 2.4 – Reflect on your research so far. How do you plan for writing/research? Have you used writing as a means for discovery? If so, how? CW: Reflect on Research/Writing Process so far Practice Genre Analysis
W 10/30	Applying Rhetorical Strategies – Thinking about Audience and Purpose	Rough Draft Due   Peer Review   Discussion/Questions about Reflection portion of Final Draft
WEEK 11	Unit 2 should be completed no later than Monday, 11/04, but may be completed earlier.
M    11/04	Re-introduce Unit 3: Writing in a New Genre   Sub-Unit: Rhetorical Analysis revisited	Unit 2 Assignment Final Draft Due   CW: Reflection, Looking Backwards and Forwards Talk about appropriate genres Brainstorm/Reflection on potential genres
W 11/06	A Deeper Investigation into Sources	HW: Graff, “Teaching Rhetorical Analysis…” CW: Continue Discussion of Genre Difficulty Paper Part 1
WEEK 12   M    11/11	Rhetorical Triangle/Argument   Sub-unit 2: Investigating a single genre   The Speech	HW: Difficulty Paper Part 2 (Combine with Part 1) – Journal 3.1 CW: Discuss Graff Read Wallace, “This is Water” Discuss Rhetorical Elements of Speeches SOAPSTONE
W 11/13	Genre/Assignment Proposal   The Creative Essay	HW: Kunin, “Love Three” Sebald, excerpt from “Rings of Saturn” Nelson, excerpt from “Bluets” SOAPSTONE for each CW: Break into Groups, Rhetorical Analysis, Mini-presentations
WEEK 13 M 11/18	Choosing a Mentor Text/Research   Interview, Exposé, Profile	Assignment Proposal Draft Due   HW: Harvey, “Kara Walker” Morris, “The Murders of Gonzago” CW: Journal 3.2 – Rhetorical Analysis and Comparison Discuss characteristics of Interview/Profile vs. Exposé
W 11/20	Image, Text, Sound	HW: Choose a non-verbal medium to research (podcast, concert, music video, painting, etc.) and write a reflection on the content and rhetorical elements of that piece/genre – Journal 3.3 CW: KLW+ Analyzing Non-verbal media
WEEK 14 M    11/25	Video Essay   Works Cited	Assignment Proposal Due (Rhetorical Analysis of Mentor “Text” + Tentative argument + Rationalization)   HW: Blank, “Garlic” (Kanopy) Journal 3.3 Rhetorical Analysis of Blank CW: Discuss Blank Varda, “Black Panthers”, Group work
W 11/27	Questions/Concerns re: Drafting Unit 3 Assignment   In-text Citation	HW: Journal 3.4 – Outline of Unit 3 Assignment and Reflection CW: Review Examples of Multimodal Assignments
WEEK 15 M    12/02	Revision Round-table discussion	HW: Murray, “Internal Revision” Revised Annotated Bibliography of Unit 3 Assignment CW: Discuss Revision Round-table discussion of writing process, group peer-review
W 12/04	Reflection/Final Peer Review/ Individual Conferences	Rough Draft of Unit 3 Assignment Due
WEEK 16	Unit 3 should be completed no later than Monday, 12/09, but may be completed earlier.
M    12/09	Unit 4: Final Porfolio	Final Draft of Unit 3 Assignment Due
W 12/11	Format/Design	CW: In-class time to work on final portfolio Mini-conferences
WEEK 17 M    12/16	Reflection and Transfer	Working Draft of Portfolio Due Draft of Reflection Paper Due CW: How has an investigation into genre offered insight about the writing process? What worked for you? What didn’t?
W 12/18	Looking Back, Looking Ahead	Final Draft of Reflection paper Due
F 12/20	End of Term. Final Portfolio should be submitted by today, but may be submitted earlier.
F 12/27	Final Grades Due