English 102: English Composition—Spring 2001

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8:40 (section 06) & 9:40 (section 10)

Liberal Arts Building, Room 105

Sarah A. Bosarge

/ Office: English Annex (downstairs, left)
Phone: 426-4212 (message box 2) / Office hours: by appt.
e-mail: / web page: courseinfo.boisestate.edu

Required texts:

The Curious Researcher—Bruce Ballenger

Writing for Change: A Community Reader—Watters and Ford

A Guide for Change—Watters and Ford

Readings on reserve at the Albertson’s Library

Recommended:

A style manual that covers MLA documentation

A good dictionary

Other Materials:

Computer disks

3 ring binder, loose-leaf paper, and divider tabs

Purpose of the course:

curious (adj.)—eager to learn; inquisitive.

research (verb)—to systematically investigate and study materials, sources, etc., in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.

Welcome to English 102! This course is meant to build on what you learned in English 101 and will focus primarily on reading and research-based writing. We will inquire into topics of importance in our community and will conduct research through many sources of information including our academic library, community leaders and agencies, ourselves and our own experience, interviews with others, and fieldwork. By the end of the course you should be able to do the following:

  • Use information purposefully
  • Take charge of your own investigations including formulating questions that will drive your research, finding the information you need to explore those questions, and coming to your own conclusions about what you discover.
  • Read critically, including the ability to discern what an author is asking the reader to believe and to evaluate the evidence and means of persuasion used.
  • Have an understanding of the purposes and uses of documentation and competency in using MLA or APA citations.
  • Have competency in using an academic library and library reference sources to find information.

Grading—here is a general breakdown of how your course grade will be figured.

Participation: 25% (group work, presentations, service experience)

Informal writing: 25% (daily work, drafts, peer responses, reflective writing, etc.)

Portfolio: 50% (25+ pages)

Disclaimers—I will not give credit for late work. I reserve the right to lower your final course grade after 4 absences. Missing a group or private conference constitutes an absence. Simply doing all the work and showing up for class will not guarantee a passing grade.

Participation (25% of grade)

I reserve the right to subtract points at my discretion if you fail to come to class prepared. KEEP YOUR COURSE CALENDAR HANDY, check your e-mail, and refer to the class web page for announcements.

Service learning—you will take part in a service experience with a community agency arranged by the BSU Service Learning Coordinator’s office. The agencies will make presentations in class to explain their particular needs, after which you will pick a project and complete a service contract (due January 29). You will work with the agency on a weekly or as needed basis throughout the semester and can plan to spend approximately 20 hours. Please note that several class meetings have been cancelled to accommodate this out of class work. This experience will inform everything else we do in this class.

Class Web page—we will make extensive use of our class web page (courseinfo.boisestate.edu). You can check for announcements, print out handouts, submit assignments electronically, check your grade, participate in class discussions, and more. Everyone must have an e-mail address (if you don’t already have one, you can get one through BSU for free) so that I can communicate with you efficiently. Plan on being able to access the course web page at least twice a week. If you do not have your own computer with Internet access, you can use any of several computer labs located on campus. See handout for more information.

Readings on reserve—some of the essays that I have on the course calendar are not in the books you purchased for class. These are listed as ON RESERVE and are available in a binder at the reserve desk in the library. You can check out the binder for 2 hours (it can leave the library during that time). You must have your BSU ID card with you to check out reserve materials. In addition, I have put the following books on reserve for your reference:

  • Bishop, Wendy. The Subject is Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2000.
  • Murray, Donald. The Craft of Revision. 2nd ed. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1995.

This is a gem of a book with chapters on revising for focus, shape, order,

development, voice, etc. I highly recommend that you browse through it and

try out some of the suggestions.

  • -----. Write to Learn. 3rd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1990.

This is a textbook about the writing process in case you would like a refresher

on how to collect information, focus, draft, clarify, etc.

  • Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. 6th ed. New York: Harper Perennial, 1998.

We will be reading a couple of chapters, but there is lots of other great

information in this book. See especially part 1 with chapters on simplicity,

clutter, style, audience, words, and usage.

Group work—you will be working in groups throughout the semester according to the service experience you choose. Part of your success in this course will be determined by your ability to negotiate your position within this group. Groups will meet to discuss readings, read each others writing, and to complete two projects: the negotiation project and a final presentation in April. If I find that someone’s attitude or behavior is interfering with the ability for other students to learn I reserve the right to remove that someone from the course. It is your responsibility to see me about group problems as soon as they occur.

Informal Writing (25%)

Daily assignments—there are several small assignments listed on the course calendar. These assignments are “graded” for conscientious completion (this means that if you give it some thought, type it, and turn it in on time, you will get full credit—it does not have to be “correct”). One recurring assignment asks you to bring questions to class based on the assigned reading. As you read, you should annotate the essay by writing in the margins ideas, questions, and responses as they occur to you. Afterwards you will formulate two or three thoughtful questions for the group to discuss (for each essay assigned), type them up, and bring them with you to the discussion. NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED. Occasionally I have asked you to respond to questions out of A Guide for Change (Watters and Ford). You will need to answer these questions on a separate piece of paper (typed please) to turn in. We will discuss all of this in more detail in class.

Journals—you will need to keep a DAILY journal of your service experience. That is, every time you do a service activity you need to sit down for about 30 minutes afterward and write. We will discuss what to write in class. This journal is due April 23 and will be graded for conscientious completion. Sloppy, illegible, and unreasonably short journals will not receive full credit. (This journal can be handwritten in blue or black ink if I can read your writing.) You will also complete a research journal. More on this in class; ditto for the grading guidelines.

Materials—it is imperative to success in this class that you stay organized. You will be writing both in and outside of class on almost a daily basis. I recommend keeping everything for class (readings, handouts, journal writing, reading responses, and so forth) in a 3-ring binder. Please use tabs to separate handouts from your research journal from your service journal, etc. If you find that you have misplaced a handout, most can be downloaded and printed out from the course web site. If you have to miss class it is your responsibility to find out what you missed. SAVE EVERYTHING. Back up all of your drafts to more than one disk.

Portfolio (50%)

Papers—all drafts must be typed. You will complete the following writing assignments:

  • Reading responses—you will respond to assigned readings in short papers of 3-4 pages. Due January 31, February 21, March 19
  • Negotiation project—this is a group assignment that will require individual and collaborative writing. Details handed out in class. Due February 26.
  • Service experience essay—this is a narrative reflection of about 5 pages. Due April 23.
  • Take home essays—you will respond to a prompt or reading of my choice in a short, personal paper of 3-4 pages. Due March 16 and April 16.
  • Research essay—a significant essay incorporating library research and personal insight gained from your service experience. 8-10 pages due April 9 (draft due March 23). This paper must be included in your portfolio due May 4.

A portfolio of your best, polished work (25+ pages) is due Friday, May 4 by 5 p.m

COURSE SL PLANNING DOCUMENT

* What are the learning objectives of your course that you want to relate to the SL experience?

These are three of the competencies established by the writing program for E102:

Students can do more than simply report information they gather from outside

sources, but use that information purposefully.

They can take charge of their own investigations, formulating the question(s) that

will drive the research, finding information they need to explore those questions,

and coming to their own conclusions about what they discover.

They can read critically, including an ability to discern what the author is asking the

reader to believe, and to evaluate the evidence and means of persuasion.

Service-learning facilitates these habits of inquiry by providing a "real" context for ideas that students often cannot ignore. I think that inquiry requires a dialog between the abstract and the concrete that students can only accomplish when their own experiences come into contact with outside information and ideas. Service learning provides a way to have personal experiences that relate to course content.

More specifically, the subject of the course is research writing and the topic of the course is community. Students will write a major research paper about a community issue of their choice (within the general categories of education, economics, health, or environment) using their s-l experience as a source of information (along with library research, interviews, observation, field research, etc.) They will also keep a research journal which will include their reflection of the s-l experience.

* Do you want students exposed to certain issues, populations, tasks?

We will use the writing for change reader and I would like to offer them a choice between education, economic, health, and environmental issues. If there is at least one agency relating to each of those categories that would be ideal. I don't have any specifc populations or tasks in mind. Most of the students are young though (18-21) and may not have advanced specific skills required for some tasks; since the subject matter of the course is both introductory and general, there are no assumed skills that all of the students have.

* Do you already have service site ideas or leads you want us to pursue? (If not, no problem).

Unfortunately no. Education doesn't necessarily have to be a schooling context, maybe literacy is a more general idea of that issue, so it doesn't matter if they work with kids, adults, peers, whatever. Economics--I guess I was thinking specifically about poverty issues. Health--mental, physical--whatever is appropriate. Environment--foothills, water, preservation/development--these are just issue ideas but I don't know anything about agencies. I can tell you what readings they'll be exposed to if that would help.

* How many total hours are you requiring of the students (10? 20? 30?)

I'm thinking an average of 2 hours a week for 12 weeks (about 24 hours)--but I am really nervous about having a revolt on my hands and having no one sign on for the service option. I need to talk to Kara more about this.

* How many students are you expecting to place? (Appx)

The potential course cout would be 50 students (two sections) but I think 30 is a more realistic (I hope not optimistic) number considering that some will drop and some will choose not to pursue the s-l option.

* Do you have a preference for students to work in pairs, groups, or solo?

No preference. In my experience, students this age like to go in pairs or groups, but the culture of this university always surprises me. They will be working in groups within the classroom depending on the issue they choose.

* Do you have a date/time for community partners to present in your class for five minutes to introduce their agency, the service, and relate it your learning objective?

I would love to have them come in sometime in the second week of classes. I will have to get you a room number, but we meet in the LA building M/W/F 8:40 and 9:40.

* Do you have special concerns or class parameters we should know about?

I am concerned about "selling" this to the students. I believe in it so strongly myself that I'm almost thinking of going against my previous position of offering it as an "option" and instead requiring it, simply because I'm worried about student resistance.

Response to Nine Criteria for Designation of Service-Learning Classes

ENGL 102: English Composition / Sarah Bosarge (graduate instructor)
Spring 2001 sections 06/10 / English Annex 426-4212

1. Students in the class provide a needed service to individuals, organizations, schools, or other entities in the community.

Students in English 102 will use their service experience as a source of information for writing about issues in our community. Agency partners who address educational, environmental, health, and economic issues in the community will define their own needs based on the experience and abilities of student volunteers. The particular type of service is not limited by the goals of the course.

2. The service experience relates to the subject matter of the course.

English 102 is a required course meant to teach students to think critically about and respond in writing to information from various sources within and without the university. The course is designed with the philosophy that purposeful academic inquiry is best accomplished when students have a personal investment in the inquiry. The course utilizes “problem-posing” and “experiential” methods to facilitate inquiry, with the service experience being the primary example of those methods. Service learning facilitates academic inquiry by providing a concrete context for abstract ideas.

Specifically, E102 focuses on research based writing. This course will incorporate the “writing about” service model, where the service provided is not the writing itself, but rather the service informs the thinking and writing done in the class.

3. Activities in the class provide a method or methods for students to think about what they learned through the service experience and how these learnings related to the subject of the class.

Students will be required to keep a reflective journal of their service experience. Students will be expected to make connections between the service experience and class readings and demonstrate those connections in small group discussions and written responses. The service experience will serve as a source of information for the main course requirement, an exploratory research essay of 8-10 pages. The service experience represents one “voice” that students are expected to place into dialogue with other voices including class readings, academic research, and personal experience.

4.The course offers a method to assess the learning derived from the service. Credit is given for the learning and its relation to the course, not for the service alone.

Students will be awarded credit for their reflective journal, their written responses to assigned readings, and the assigned research papers. It is expected that the service experience will inform much of their writing for the course. Writing will be evaluated on the students’ demonstration of the minimum competencies for English 102 as defined by the university including:

  • Students can do more than simply report information they gather from outside

sources, but can also use that information purposefully.

  • They can take charge of their own investigations, formulating the question(s) that will drive the research, finding information they need to explore those questions, and coming to their own conclusions about what they discover.
  • They can read critically, including an ability to discern what the author is asking the reader to believe, and to evaluate the evidence and means of persuasion.

It is expected that the service experience will facilitate the mastery of these competencies as explained in the answer to question two.

5.Service interactions in the community recognize the needs of service recipients, and offer an opportunity for recipients to be involved in the evaluation of the service.

As an instructor, I believe strongly in monitoring the relationships between my students and service recipients. I will contact agency representatives personally to ensure that lines of communication are established between them and myself. I will meet with students individually throughout the semester to ensure that the service experience is positive and successful. I will ask for agency feedback on the success of the course from their perspectives. I will require that students use acceptable, ethical processes (such as those defined by the university’s human subject research board) for representing agencies and service recipients in their papers including attributing sources, asking for permissions to use information, and offering a means for agencies to respond to student writing.