Syllabus Eng 1101-D357 S 18 (Westengard)
English 1101-D357/C357: English Composition I (Spring 2018)
Tuesday/Thursday: 11:30-12:45 (V315) and Tuesday: 1:00-1:50 (V315)
Professor Laura Westengard (lwestengard@citytech.cuny.edu)
Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday 10:00-11:00 am and by appointment
Office/Mailbox Location: Namm 503
Phone Number: (718) 260-5761
Course Description and Learning Outcomes
English 1101 is a course in effective essay writing and basic research techniques, including the use of the library. The goal is to prepare students not only for success in academic writing but also for effective participation in and critical understanding of the public and professional discourses of the world beyond the classroom. Students exiting this course will:
- demonstrate a basic understanding of essay structure including introduction, body, and conclusion
- demonstrate an ability to write a clear thesis statement;
- demonstrate an ability to use textual evidence in support of a position, concept, or assertion;
- demonstrate an ability to paraphrase and/or summarize a text with accuracy and fidelity in support of a position, concept, or assertion;
- demonstrate an ability to employ logic in support for the thesis and in evaluating textual evidence for the essay;
- demonstrate an ability to improve grammar, syntax, and usage
Required Texts
- The texts for this course will be available on our OpenLab class site.
- An online writing guide such as the Online Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
- A dictionary (paper or electronic)
Other Required Materials
- A pocket folder dedicated to this class (you will be responsible for keeping all of your in-class and homework assignments to be submitted as a portfolio at the end of each unit)
- A notebook with lined paper dedicated to this class
Note: You should bring all of these materials and any assigned texts to each class meeting
Assignments
Essays/Research Assignments: 60% (3 essays worth 20% each)
Final Exam: 10% (students must pass the final exam in order to pass the course)
Portfolios: 15% (3 portfolios worth 5% each)
Active Participation/Attendance/Quizzes: 15%
Essays/Assignments
All essay assignments should follow MLA format. This means that all rough and final drafts must be typed, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins all around, in 12 point Times New Roman font. The first page must display student’s name, your teacher’s name (Professor Laura Westengard), the class you are in, and the date the paper is due. Every paper should have an original title.
- I do not accept late papers. All essays must be submitted by the deadline or you will get no credit for them. If you have a personal emergency or other circumstances that prohibit you from finishing your assignment on time or turning in an essay as scheduled, email or see me as soon as possible so we can discuss your situation.
- Because life can be unpredictable, each student will be allowed one “oops” paper during the semester. Your “oops” paper can be submitted up to 24 hours late with no penalty, but use this opportunity carefully because once you have used your “oops” paper all other essays must be submitted on time in order to receive credit.
- Since writing is a process, you will submit a portfolio containing all of the homework and in-class work completed in preparation for the essay on the date the essay is due. To receive full credit, the portfolio must demonstrate that you have worked through each step of the invention and peer review process assigned in class and as homework.
- You will be responsible for peer review during class, which means that you will listen to the work of other students and offer meaningful feedback to help them make their essays as effective as possible. Preparedness for and participation in these peer review sessions will account for the bulk of your Active Participation/Attendance grade. If you do not bring a complete draft of your essay to the peer review workshop, you will receive a “0” for the workshop.
- You are required to revise all of your essays after the peer review workshop and before you submit your final draft. While I will not review an entire essay draft via email, I’m happy to conference with you about your essay drafts and ideas during my office hours. I am also happy to respond to specific questions via email. Feel free to consult with me at any stage in your writing process.
- You may choose to perform an additional revision of one essay for a new grade. In order to do this, you must discuss your revision plan with me during my office hours and submit your revision on Thursday, May 10.
- All of your writing should be grammatically correct and free of spelling errors, and it should demonstrate increasingly complex critical thinking and analysis as the semester progresses. If this is a challenge for you, I encourage you to visit my office hours and the Learning Center for help throughout the semester.
OpenLab
This course will use OpenLab. You will be asked to post assignments and contribute to other course related activities on the course OpenLab site. You must sign up for an OpenLab account, participate in activities, and check the site daily because important instructions for completing assignments, class materials, and announcements, will appear there.
In order to set up your OpenLab account, you must activate your City Tech email. I will only send or reply to email from your City Tech email address, so make sure you set it up early and check it regularly.
In-Class Writing, Active Participation, and Attendance
Regular attendance and active participation are extremely important, so be sure to attend class regularly and arrive on time so you can get the best grade possible. Missing multiple class meetings or consistently arriving late to class will impact your grade in several ways: You will lose active participation and portfolio points because quizzes, peer review workshops, and in-class writing/activities cannot be made up, you will be less prepared for your essays and exams, and you will quickly fall behind on the course concepts covered in lectures and discussions. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to email me about your situation, to keep up with the reading/homework/lectures posted on OpenLab, and to contact your classmates to find out what you missed.
In order to demonstrate that you are fully present during class, I expect you to arrive prepared, to ask and answer questions, and to participate in a positive classroom environment (including turning all electronic devices to silent and treating your fellow students and myself with a positive and respectful attitude). Electronic devices should be used only for the purpose of course work (reading the assigned texts, looking up words in the dictionary) and nothing else. You may not text, browse the internet, or record or photograph anything in the classroom.
Since we will be covering topics such as race, gender, class, and sexuality in this class, it is imperative that our classroom is a safer space for mature, respectful, and engaged discussion. If you find any of the class material to be excessively uncomfortable, be sure to speak with me privately about your feelings and reactions. I also encourage you to take advantage of City Tech’s support resources by visiting the Counseling Services Center (http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/students/counseling/services.shtml). They can help you process difficult course materials, address personal topics, and offer support for college-related stress. Location: Namm 108 Phone: 718-260-5030
Center for Student Accessibility
The Center for Student Accessibility (CSA) is located in the Atrium Building (A-237) and provides accommodations for students with documented disabilities. For more information, please call (718) 260-5143 or email John Currie at jcurrie@citytech.cuny.edu. If you have an IEP or have received extra time on tests in the past, you need to coordinate with CSA early in the semester.
New York City College of Technology Policy on Academic Integrity
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 in The City University of New York and at New York City College of Technology and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion. The complete text of the College policy on Academic Integrity may be found in the catalog.
Tentative Course Schedule
(subject to change as dictated by the needs of the class)
Unit 1: Black Lives & Stories: Investigative Research and Storytelling |
|
| Week 1 | |
| Tuesday, 1/30 | Introductions/Syllabus |
| Tuesday, 1/30 (Lab Hour) | Writing Workshop |
| Thursday, 2/1 | Create OpenLab Account
Bring all textbooks/materials to class |
| Week 2 | |
| Tuesday, 2/6 | “Love and Black Lives, in Pictures Found on a Brooklyn Street,” p. 1-13 |
| Tuesday, 2/6 (Lab Hour) | Writing Workshop |
| Thursday, 2/8 | “Love and Black Lives, in Pictures Found on a Brooklyn Street,” p. 14-26 (finish) |
| Week 3 | |
| Tuesday, 2/13 | Jenee Desmond-Harris “Tupac and My Non-thug Life” |
| Tuesday, 2/13 (Lab Hour) | Writing Workshop |
| Thursday, 2/15 | Shaun King “Race, Love, Hate, and Me: A Distinctly American Story” |
| Week 4 | |
| Tuesday, 2/20 | No Class, Monday Schedule
|
| Tuesday, 2/20 (Lab Hour) | No Class, Monday Schedule |
| Thursday, 2/22 | Malcolm X, “Learning to Read” |
| Week 5 | |
| Tuesday, 2/27 | Essay #1 Peer Review Workshop |
| Tuesday, 2/27 (Lab Hour) | Writing Workshop |
| Thursday, 3/1 | Essay #1 Final Draft Due
Portfolio #1 Due |
Unit 2: Race and Place: Making an Argument |
|
| Week 6 | |
| Tuesday, 3/6 | Library Orientation Day
Mindy Thompson Fullilove, “Root Shock: The Consequences of African American Dispossession” |
| Tuesday, 3/6 (Lab Hour) | Writing Workshop |
| Thursday, 3/8 | Jalane Schmidt, “Excuse me, America, Your House is on Fire: Lessons from Charlottesville on the KKK and ‘Alt-Right’” |
| Week 7 | |
| Tuesday, 3/13 | Saki Knafo, “Is Gentrification a Human-Rights Violation?” (https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/gentrification-brooklyn-human-rights-violation/402460/) |
| Tuesday, 3/13 (Lab Hour) | Writing Workshop |
| Thursday, 3/15 | Brent Staples, “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” |
| Week 8 | |
| Tuesday, 3/20 | Roxane Gay, “Peculiar Benefits” |
| Tuesday, 3/20 (Lab Hour) | Writing Workshop
|
| Thursday, 3/22 | Jamaica Kincaid, “The Ugly Tourist” |
| Week 9 | |
| Tuesday, 3/27 | Essay #2 Peer Review Workshop |
| Tuesday, 3/27 (Lab Hour) | Writing Workshop
|
| Thursday, 3/29 | Essay #2 Due
Portfolio #2 Due |
| Week 10 | |
| Tuesday, 4/3 | No Class, Spring Recess
|
| Tuesday, 4/3 (Lab Hour) | No Class, Spring Recess |
| Thursday, 4/5 | No Class, Spring Recess
|
Unit 3: Prisons in the United States: Proposing a Solution to a Problem |
|
| Week 11 | |
| Tuesday, 4/10 | The New Jim Crow (excerpt) |
| Tuesday, 4/10 (Lab Hour) | Writing Workshop |
| Thursday, 4/12 | Amanda Coyne, “The Long-Goodbye: Mother’s Day in Federal Prison” |
| Week 12 | |
| Tuesday, 4/17 | Equal Justice Initiative, Lynching in America: Confronting The Legacy of Racial Terror p. 57-61 |
| Tuesday 4/17 (Lab Hour) | Writing Workshop |
| Thursday, 4/19 | Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration” |
| Week 13 | |
| Tuesday, 4/24 | James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time (excerpt) |
| Tuesday 4/24 (Lab Hour) | Writing Workshop |
| Thursday, 4/26 | Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric (excerpt) |
| Week 14 | |
| Tuesday, 5/1 | Rose Lenehan, “What ‘Stop-and-Frisk’ Really Means: Discrimination & Use of Force” (https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/stopandfrisk.html) |
| Tuesday, 5/1 (Lab Hour) | Writing Workshop |
| Thursday, 5/3 | Elliot Oberholtzer, “Police, Courts, Jails, and Prisons All Fail Disabled People” ( https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/08/23/disability/) |
| Week 15 | |
| Tuesday, 5/8 | Essay #3 Peer Review Workshop |
| Tuesday, 5/8 (Lab Hour) | Writing Workshop |
| Thursday, 5/10 | Essay #3 Due
Portfolio #3 Due Revision Due |
| Week 16/Finals | |
| Tuesday, 5/15 | Review for Final Exam |
| Tuesday, 5/15 (Lab Hour) | Reading Period (final exam passage distributed) |
| Thursday, 5/17 | Final Exam |
| Finals | |
| Tuesday, 5/22 | Conclusion |
