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English 072 Developmental English (The STEPS Course)

Fall 2014 Item #1023 Section BR106B

Instructor: Nancy Eichner

Office: R 230 Phone (message only): (425) 564-2090 Email:

Office Hours: By appointment (usually available after class on Tuesday and Thursday)

Writing Lab: D 204 Reading Lab: D 204 (Free tutors and computers are available at the

Writing Lab. Personal free tutors are available through the Academic Success Center.)

Weekly Writing Lab Reservation: ***Bring a flash drive on which to save your work.

Introduction

Your goal as a student in “STEPS” (English 071, 072, 073, 074) is to learn as much English as you can to prepare yourself for 092/093-level English classes and, ultimately, college-level classes. Don’t be frustrated if this takes more than one quarter, or even several quarters.

You will not receive a letter grade for STEPS—you only need a “Cr” (credit) to receive credit. That means you don’t have to worry about grades. You can concentrate on learning only. You may work as hard as you want, and I will work with you as hard as you want me to.

There will be very little stress in this class; the only pressure will come from within you to learn as quickly as possible for your own improvement.

Books and Materials

(Do not buy your books until I tell you which ones to buy.)

  • All students: The Impossible Will Take A Little While, edited by Paul Rogat Loeb ISBN: 9780465031733
  • All students: I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, by Malala Yousafzai ISBN: 9780316322409
  • Non-native speakers: Understanding and Using English Grammar:Chartbook, 4th ed., by Betty Azar ISBN: 9780132052108
  • Non-native speakers: Understanding and Using English Grammar:Workbook, 4th ed., by Betty Azar (Be sure the answers are at the back of the Workbook.) ISBN: 9780132415439
  • Native speakers: Sentence Skills: A Workbook for Writers, Form A, 9th ed., by John LanganISBN: 9780073371696
  • All students: Collegiate dictionary (English/English)
  • Non-native speakers: Good collegiate dictionary in your own language/English (computer dictionaries are sometimes not complete enough, but sometimes they are excellent).
  • 1 soft folder with three metal brads (for your portfolio)
  • Binder with 3 metal rings (to keep your notes and work in)

Learning Goals

to learn to write and read more quickly and easily

to learn to read at 089 level (just before college level)

to learn enough grammar and vocabulary to understand the explanations in college material

to learn to edit your own writing to make your sentences more pleasing, correct and effective

to improve your composition skills

Kind of Assignments

Please remember: Nothing we do in class will be for a letter grade! Everything we do will be simply to help you learn. However, in order to learn the skills you need, and in order to receive credit for the class, you must do all your assignments and do them well.

We will read essays, stories, and reports, and, possibly, also poetry and songs. We might also attend lectures and watch movies. We will discuss the readings, lectures, and movies. We will respond in writing to the readings, lectures, and movies.

We will do a lot of grammar exercises in class and at home. We will write essays and stories, as well as other kinds of assignments. We will practice organizing, revising, and editing our writing.

  • To help you test your progress, we will have writing and editing exercises almost every week, hopefully at the Writing Lab. You will retype the part I correct and hand in that corrected draft the following week at the Lab.
  • You should complete at least one chapter in the grammar workbook each week. Depending on the needs of the class, I might ask you to hand in the grammar chapter at the Writing Lab. People working in the Langan book are encouraged to work through their entire self-generated program, which will probably be more than one chapter a week.

You will check your answers at home by looking them up at the back of your book. Put a question mark next to any unclear exercises to ask me questions in class. Asking me to explain what you did not understand at home is a very important part of grammar learning in this class.

If you are working in the Langan book, you will check your Review Test answers with a group in class. Ask me about whatever is not clear. Then, take at least one Mastery Test (in the Reinforcement of Skills part of the book). Check the answers. For a chapter to be considered complete, you must complete all of the above steps.

  • You will write three formal papers. Each paper will have three drafts (first draft, revised draft and edited draft). You will work in small workshop groups to help improve your composition and editing (grammar) skills. You will also have individual conferences with me for Essay 1 and Essay 2. Essay 3 is the “test” essay and, therefore, you will have to rely solely on the feedback of your workshop group.
  • You will make 10 vocabulary cards each week (using the format I give you) and hand them in to me at the Writing Lab. Flag the words with a post-it note about whose definitions you are unsure even after looking the words up in the dictionary. I will answer your questions during lab time.
  • You will complete all other assignments I give you.

Grades

You will not receive a letter grade for this course. If your work is satisfactory, you will receive a Cr (Credit). If it is not satisfactory, you will receive an NC (No Credit).

An NC will probably prevent you from receiving financial aid next quarter. If you are an international student, an NC will cause problems with your immigration status.

To receive a passing grade in the course, you must

  1. Turn in all required work (on time)
  2. Receive an checkor check plus on all required work
  3. Attend class.

If you are absent ten 50-minute hours or more, you will not pass the course. If you arrive late or leave early, you will lose attendance credit for that day.

Your credit grade will be based on successful completion of in-class writing and editing, work in the grammar workbook, miscellaneous homework assignments, and formal essays presented in a portfolio.

Your placement into English 092 or 093 should be based on two skills: writing and reading. You will take a writing test at the end of the quarter; you will demonstrate your reading level by your Reading Lab work, Writing Lab answers to reading questions, as well as by reading assignments and your in-class discussion of readings.

If a special problem causes you to miss class or be late for class, please feel free to explain the situation to me.

Format for Written Work

  1. Type: Please word-process (use a computer to type) all papers. If you don’t know how to word process, don’t worry. Go to the Writing Lab (D204) and teachers there will show you how. If you don’t have access to a personal computer at home, you may use the computers in the Writing Lab and Computer Lab (N Building) outside of class time.
  2. Label: Please put a label in the upper left-hand corner of an assignment (called the MLA label). Write the following information on the first page (5 lines):

Your First and Last Name

STEPs

Instructor: Nancy Eichner

Kind of Assignment (for example, ESSAY 1, First Draft; or, Response to

Ackerman's "A Slender Thread" in Impossible, p. 22)

Date

  • On the second page and all ensuing pages, put the following label in the upper right-

hand corner:

Last Name Page Number [Example: Tran 2]

3. Staple: Staple all your papers together BEFORE you get to class. I will not accept unstapled

work.

4. Title: Give each essay or story a title. Center the title. Capitalize the first letter of the first

word and all important words. Do not use any punctuation. Leave two spaces between the

title and the first line of the essay.

  1. Margins: Leave margins of about 1 ½ inches on the sides and at the top and bottom. Most computer word processors do this automatically when they print, even if the margins don’t show on the screen.
  2. Font and Size: Use a clear font (Arial, for example) and size12 print.
  3. Spell Checker: Use the spell-checker to help check your spelling. However, don’t rely on the spell-checker to find all your mistakes. Proofread out loud all your writing.
  4. Grammar Checker: Do not use the grammar checker on a computer. It is often wrong.
  5. Paragraphs: Indent (use the TAB key) all of your paragraphs.
  6. Last-Minute Corrections: If you need to make minor changes after you have printed your work, make them neatly by hand. Use dark ink, not pencil.

Office Hours

Because I have a part-time contract at Bellevue College and must also work elsewhere, please make an appointment with me if you need to ask questions or need some extra help outside of class time. Although my schedule is very full, I will try hard to accommodate your needs. We might both have to be creative in order to find an appointment time that will work for both of us. If you need to reach me quickly by phone, please call the English Department secretary (425-564-2341) and ask her to leave a message for me in my mailbox (in R230). If your message is not urgent, you may leave a message on my machine at (425) 564-2090 or e-mail me at .

Content Focus

The content of our essay collection, The Impossible Will Take A Little While, by Paul Rogat Loeb, is the topic of hope in hard times. This author lives in Seattle.

ABOUT WORK INTHE GRAMMAR BOOKS

SENTENCE SKILLS, by John Langan (Native Speakers)

You learn the concepts by reading the information in a chapter. Do one exercise. Immediately check the answers at the back of the book. Put a question mark next to whatever you get wrong. Ask me or your study group for an explanation.

Take the Review Tests at the end of the chapter. Check your answers with your study group. Ask me for the correct answers.

Take at least one Mastery Test for the chapter. Check your answers by asking me for the answer sheet. Put an X next to whatever you get wrong. Ask me to explain the correct answer.

UNDERSTANDING AND USING ENGLISH GRAMMAR, by Betty Azar (Non-Native Speakers)

You need two books by Betty Azar:

  1. the CHARTBOOK
  2. the WORKBOOK

These two books go together. The CHARTBOOK contains all of the rules, examples and

explanations of the grammar which you practice in the WORKBOOK.

Read the rules in the CHARTBOOK. Then, do the corresponding exercises in the WORKBOOK. Next, check the answers at the back of the book immediately after each exercise. Put an X next to whatever you get wrong. Ask me or your study group to explain.

A chapter is complete only after you have followed all these steps: read the rules, do the exercises, check the answers, ask me for explanations.

ABOUT THEESSAYS

At the end of the quarter, you will submit three essays in your Portfolio.

You should be working all quarter on improving your essays. You will have the opportunity to receive feedback and help from your writing workshop group during class. Also during class, I will work with you in individual conferences.

Please use the tutors at the Writing Lab (D204) for additional assistance:

Making an appointment is a good idea (although not a requirement).

The Writing Process

PREWRITING is the first step in the writing process. You gather as many ideas as possible using whatever method of brainstorming works best for you. Also, when writing a research paper (for example, in English 201), research is also part of the prewriting phase.

ORGANIZING is the next step in the writing process. Put your ideas in logical order and make connections between all ideas clear. Your writing should flow easily and make sense to your readers because you present your ideas logically. You may use any organizational method that works well for you. Many people make an outline to organize their essays.

The FIRST DRAFT of an essay is to be written as well as you can, but without worrying about grammar corrections. You will read your first draft out loud two times to your writing workshop group. Your classmates will give you feedback on the content (NOT the grammar) of your writing. What was interesting, touching, pleasing, important? What was NOT clear? Where would you need some more examples or information? What was confusing? What was effective, and why? What was not effective, and why?

The REVISED DRAFT of an essay is an improved version of its contents. Consider the feedback your workshop group and I have given you; use your own imagination and rethinking of your ideas to help you improve the writing. This is also the stage of the writing process in which you work on correct word usage and enrichment of your written expression.

The EDITED DRAFT is written when you are satisfied with the content of the essay and want to correct the mechanical language problems, such as sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling. Try to find your mistakes yourself on your final revised draft. Then, bring it to your workshop group and ask for editing feedback. Work together to find and correct mistakes. Ask me for help in class when necessary. The edited draft should, then, be the draft you present for grading in your Portfolio. It is the final draft of an essay.

Note: Bring 3 copies of a draft on WRITING WORKSHOP days. The members of your writing group need to be able to read along as you read your essay out loud.

If members of your group are not working seriously enough to satisfy your needs, change groups! It is your responsibility to get as much as possible from the feedback opportunities offered you in this class. If you need help in joining a new group, come see me.

Essay Format

Each draft of your essay MUST have a label in the upper left hand corner:

First and Last Name

STEPS

Instructor: N. Eichner

Essay #____:FIRST DRAFT

(or—Revised Draft

or—Edited Draft)

Date

Each essay draft must be typed, preferably on a computer (word processor), and double-spaced. The margins should be about 1 ½ inches all around. (Usually the default margins on a computer are about this size.) Use size 12 print. Please use a clear print style, such as Arial.

Also, an essay or a story always has a title, which is centered above the first line. There is no extra space between the title and the first line--it is double-spaced like the rest of the essay. Only the first letter of the first word and all the first letters of all important words of a title are capitalized. A title is NOT written in all capital letters. There is no underline or other punctuation marking a title.
ABOUT THEPORTFOLIO

You will give me a portfolio of your writing at the end of the quarter. A portfolio is a collection of your work presented in a formal way.

Here are the requirements for your portfolio presentation:

  1. Use a soft folder with three fasteners.

Please, do not put your writing in plastic envelopes.

Also, do not use a binder with metal rings, or a folder with a compression strip (they fall apart too easily).

  1. On the cover, print

Writing Portfolio

Student: First and Last Name

STEPS

Quarter and Year

Instructor: Nancy Eichner

College Name

  1. Make the portfolio easy for me to read through and make it look professional.
  • Put a divider with a tab in front of each essay.
  • Make the first page a Table of Contents, giving the titles of your essays in the order you present them.
  1. Put into the portfolio thegraded drafts of Essay 1 and Essay 2. Essay 3—put in the edited draft (the final draft).

DUE DATESFORESSAY DRAFTS, EXAM, and PLACEMENT

NOTE: Writing Lab (D204)—free tutors and computers

Essay 1

First Draft Mon., Oct. 13 Give Nancy a copy.

Oct. 13 - 17Workshops and Conferences. Bring 3 copies for your workshop group. (Come prepared!)

Revised DraftMon., Oct. 20Give Nancy a copy.

Thur., Oct. 23Error Analysis

Fri., Oct. 24Editing Workshop

Edited DraftMon., Oct. 27DUE for placement feedback

Essay 2

First DraftMon., Nov. 3 Give Nancy a copy.

Nov. 3 – 7Workshops and Conferences. Bring 3 copies for your workshop group. (Come prepared!)

Revised DraftMon., Nov. 10Give Nancy a copy.

Wed., Nov. 12Error Analysis

Thur., Nov. 13Editing Workshop

Edited DraftFri., Nov. 14DUE for placement feedback

Essay 3

First DraftWed., Nov. 26Workshops. Bring 3 copies. No feedback from Nancy. (This is the test essay.)