The Composition Course at Ravenscroft
2006-2007
General Overview
The required, single-semester Composition course at Ravenscroft is intended for Honors English II students and juniors and seniors of all levels. It prepares students for the writing requirements of the senior year and beyond through immersion in daily writing practice, completion of a wide range of assignments, coaching through the editing and revision processes, frequent and substantive feedback about their work, and opportunities to share their work with peers. The course emphasizes writing as a multi-stage process wherein the best results are achieved not so much through brilliant vision as through thoughtful, disciplined revision.
In Composition, readings assignments are relatively short and generally read aloud in class. Structured class discussions about the readings teach students to analyze how the writer achieves the effect he/she achieves. Students learn to see the choices involved in a writer’s presentation of his/her subject. A subtext of the course is an on-going discussion about the autobiographical nature of all writing, a growing realization for students that who they are shines through what they write no matter the subject. This parallel curriculum helps students to understand, claim and manage their own writing voice.
Throughout the course, students are required to keep an organized portfolio of their work (on which they will formally reflect at the end of the semester).
Types of Assignments
Students begin the semester with short autobiographical readings, a slide show and discussion of student self-portraits, and journal assignments that require reflection about “the self.” From the outset, students are expected to think critically and creatively and to take some risks.
The first formal papers involve narrative writing about personal experiences: a self-portrait, a remembered event and a remembered person.
The profile assignment requires students to do their own research and to utilize their findings to tell a story. This assignment is a bridge between narrative writing and research-based writing.
The bulk of the second quarter of the course is spent on the research paper, through which students practice and perform all the basic skills they will be called on to use in the junior and senior years and beyond. Students must master the Modern Language Association in-text citation style and act responsibly to avoid plagiarism.
The St. Martin’s Curriculum
The textbook for the course is The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing (Seventh Edition). It provides models for each writing assignment and, through writing software available to each student, step-by-step help with brainstorming, composing, revising and editing. Peer review forms in the software package guide students toward meaningful reflection about one another’s work. The software is loaded on each classroom computer. In addition, at the beginning of the course, students will be given the CD to load the software on their home computer. Students are required to return the CD promptly and in good condition.
Grades for the Course
Quarter 1
Essays: 80%
Journals: 10%
Portfolio check: 10%
Quarter 2
Profile essay: 15%
Portfolio and conference: 10%
Oral presentation (from research paper): 5%
Interim deadlines for research paper: 10%
Research paper: 50%
Citations/MLA for research paper: 10%