ANNOUNCEMENT: We've Moved!

Our class website has moved from this blog to a wiki, which gives us a lot more tools and versatility.  It allows students to participate in writing, editing, and designing the site -- and, in so doing, our course itself.  

http://www.english101oc.wetpaint.com

If you didn't receive an invitation to the wiki, email Lisa at lsibbett@oc.ctc.edu ASAP!

From now on, visit the wiki to check assignments and print out handouts.

EXTRA CREDIT: Wikipedia experiment

Wikipedia claims to be getting more and more reliable, and faster and faster at fixing errors.  They have an army of employees (or volunteers?) whose job it is to patrol all the entries and make sure people aren't going in and messing them up.  Someone recently tried an experiment in which he introduced errors to 43 separate Wikipedia entries, and waited to see how long it would take Wikipedia to fix them.  They were all fixed within 3 hours.

Wow, right?  Let's see for ourselves.  You can get extra credit in English 101 if you go into a Wikipedia entry and introduce a factual error, then monitor how long it takes them to fix it.  Write up what Wikipedia article you used, the error you added, and the results (how long it took them to fix it, if they ever did) in a paragraph or two, and turn it in (by hard copy or by email).  You'll get, say, half a homework assignment's worth of extra credit.  No due date, just whenever you want.  Limit 4 (or 2 HW's worth).

Results'll be posted on this website.

HOMEWORK: They Say / I Say chapter 7

For Tuesday, read chapter 7 of Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein's They Say / I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing (NY: Norton, 2006). The handout you received also includes chapter 6, but we won't be reading that as a class until later in the term. Please save the handout until then.

UPDATE: I'm having technical difficulties posting the They Say / I Say reading to the web.  I'll bring extra hard copies to class on Tuesday, and if you haven't had a chance to do this reading, you can do it during the Question of the Day writing period at the beginning of class.

ANNOUNCEMENT: EN workshop draft due date extended

In case you missed this announcement in class today, the Experience Narrative workshop draft is now due NEXT TUESDAY, 10/7.  We will have the workshop on that day.

HOMEWORK: EN paper proposal and reading

For Thursday, please type up a 2-3 paragraph proposal for your Experience Narrative paper.  Let me know what story you intend to tell, which scenes you intend to include, and what your exigence might be.  You may use your proposal to work on narrowing down what you want to do -- that is, you might have three or four scenes you're deciding between, or you have some different ideas for exigence (or no ideas for exigence) and want help with the thinking through.  

Submit your proposal by email to lsibbett@oc.ctc.edu.  It is due by classtime on Thursday.

Also for Thursday, please read Maya Angelou's essay "Champion of the World" and George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" (both in your textbook).

HANDOUT: sample EN papers for mock workshop

Click here to look at the sample Experience Narrative papers from the mock workshop.

HANDOUT: Workshop Guidelines

Click here for the workshop guidelines handout.

HANDOUT: How to Use the Rubric Form

Click here for the handout on how we will use rubric forms for this class.

PAPER ASSIGNMENT #1: Experience Narrative

Click here for the EN (Experience Narrative) paper assignment, and here for the EN self-assessment rubric form.  Bring the blank form to class on the day of the workshop (Th, 10/2).

HANDOUT: Rich, Thick Description

Click here for the RTD handout.

HOMEWORK: due Tues 9/30

For Tuesday, please do this copia assignment, which is a follow-up to our in-class copia activity today.  

Also, bring in a list of about 5 possible stories you might use for your Experience Narrative paper.  It is a good idea for you to get started on your paper this weekend, since the workshop draft is due this coming Thursday, 10/2.  Email me (lsibbett@oc.ctc.edu) if you want to discuss which story you might use.

Finally, read the short essays "Fish Cheeks" (by Amy Tan) and "The Chase" (by Annie Dillard) in your textbook.  Come to class prepared to discuss them -- especially their use of rich, thick description (or RTD).

We will have a mock workshop on Tuesday, in which we will practice workshopping techniques using sample papers I will provide.

HANDOUT: Choosing Words

Click here for the Choosing Words handout.

HOMEWORK: due Th 9/25

Click here for the diagnostic homework assignment due Thursday 9/25.

Course Syllabus

Click here for syllabus.

Welcome to English 101

In this course, we will approach academic writing as a skill that can be learned and developed, regardless of the writer’s beginning ability. We’ll think, talk, and write about writing as a means of persuasion, communication, and inquiry, focusing especially on writing for college classes. We will cover a range of topics important to writers: thoughtfully and capably analyzing texts we read, thinking of meaningful and interesting topics to write about, assessing the values and expectations of your audience, making an argument and supporting it with persuasive evidence, organizing that argument in a way that makes sense to readers and using strategies that will impact readers successfully, and using writing as a means for critical thinking; we will also develop such crucial practical skills as doing good research and using that research effectively in your own writing, undertaking significant revision and editing, and sharing your work with other writers and readers.

This class will require a lot of work from you: lots of discussion and in-class work, lots of reading, and most of all, lots of writing, in and out of class. Not all writing tasks (or quizzes!) will be announced ahead of time. Expect to have some homework due for nearly every class meeting, and to have major assignments due nearly every week.