Syllabus Addendum on the Writing and Reading Center

Syllabus Addendum on the Writing and Reading Center

English with Professor Douglass – Fall 2017

The Writing and Reading Center at Riverside City College

is located in the basement of the Martin Luther King Building (MLK 119)

The Fall 2017 hours of operation are M-Th: 8am-7pm & F: 8am–3pm

Writing and Reading Center Use: The Writing and Reading Center (WRC) is a vital component of this class. Students are required to complete a scheduled 50-minute weekly time slot of specific instructional activities, which may include Directed Learning Activities (DLAs), grammar tutorials/worksheets, and/or instructor conferences that augment and complement the weekly learning activities occurring in the lecture part of the course. The WRC is located in MLK 119-- the basement. Your weekly WRC attendance will be recorded along with class attendance – absences in the lab will affect your grade, and failure to attend before census will be treated like a “no show” and non-attending students will be dropped. **Your attendance in your selected lab section of this course is mandatory.** This resource provides opportunities to seek individualized help from an instructor or peer tutor and the use of vital writing/reading resources. STUDENTS MUST ATTEND THE WRC DURING THEIR SCHEDULED LAB TIME, AND YOU MUST ATTEND EVERY SINGLE WEEK.

TWO KEY ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS THAT AFFECT COURSE ENROLLMENT:

·  All enrolled students MUST begin their weekly attendance in the lab THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL; NO SHOW STUDENTS FOR THE FIRST WEEK WILL LIKELY BE DROPPED. By the middle of week two, all students (except later adds) should have logged in and spent at least one hour (50 minutes minimum) at the lab or you are very likely to be dropped and definitely will be contacted by me to figure out the situation. Lab attendance is the same as classroom attendance – you have to be in both from the moment the semester begins. Any student – including late adds -- who hasn’t attended the lab before census will be dropped.

·  All students absolutely must have at least one full hour of attendance (.84 in WebAdvisor) recorded by the end of week 2 for census; students who don’t will likely be dropped – this is a state attendance funding issue.

Each weekly hour in the lab contributes to your “Resource Use” grade. While you are in the lab you will be making use of its resources, whether that be attending a workshop, consulting with an instructor, working on a paper, completing a DLA, or any other activity. You will earn a “good faith” participation grade of 100% for each weekly hour completed. You will also earn grades for the activities that you will turn in every five weeks in a “Track-It Packet” as evidence of at least part of what you did for each weekly hour during that five-week period. Missed lab hours get a no participation grade of 0% and cannot be made up. You will turn in a “Track-It Packet” three times throughout the semester; each one will be worth 5x an hour in the writing center so that your track-it packet and WRC use hours have equal weight in the “Resource Use” portion of your grade.

When you are using the writing center to compose papers or otherwise need to use Microsoft word, you must log in to access Microsoft Word (and the other MS programs) that are available via cloud computing using the WRC’s internet connection (these programs are not available on the hard drive of the computer). To do this, you must be enrolled in a class and have your section number available, which is on the first page of this syllabus.

The WRC directions for accessing MS Word:

How to log in:

1.  Double click on the Virtual Access Direct Gateway icon on the desktop of the WRC computers

2.  Click “connect”

3.  Type in your username and password:

a.  Username: litwareinc\student ID number-course section number

b.  Password: six digit birthdate (mmddyy)

To type a document:

1.  Go to the Windows icon at the bottom of the screen

2.  Go to All Programs

3.  Open MS Word and then type your document

To save a document:

1.  Choose “desktop” from the menu on the left

2.  Name file as needed

3.  Save as type: choose Word 97-2003 document

4.  Click “save”

5.  Close your word document. Your file will appear on the desktop of the virtual environment.

6.  Right-click on the document

7.  Click “copy”

8.  Minimize the virtual environment screen and paste your document to the desktop.

9.  From here, you can either save your document to your flash drive or copy it into your e-mail and send it to yourself.

Finally, remember that the WRC, though required, should be an invaluable resource: free advice on your papers from actual English Professors! Make use of it wisely; if you have any concerns about how you are spending your time there and have thoughts about something else or additional you’d like to do, see me in office hours to discuss it – I’m open to anything that conforms with state law and helps you learn more efficiently!

A few tips:

·  When you work with an instructor on any assignment, know why you are there: have a specific question about your paper, or explain what you need help with on a DLA or worksheet, etc.

·  Be patient. Sometimes the WRC can be busier or louder than other times. Instructors and lab aides are there to help – and we will – but try and be patient so we can help everyone without conflict.

·  If you get a bad apple – a faculty or staff member who is unhelpful or frustrating – avoid conflict, and let me know about it. Remember that how the WRC affects a student’s grade differs from faculty member to faculty member. The only part that is true across the board relates to attendance (and even then sometimes there might be confusion or slight differences in the gray areas as we transition from an old system to a new system) – if you have any questions about WRC assignments, attendance, hours, or grades, ask ME. The lab staff can help you with questions on your work, the computers, or problems with logging in or the hour counts – that’s it.

·  The WRC has conduct rules:

o  No food or drink (though closeable water that you keep in your bag is fine).

o  No cell phone conversations (you can step into the WRC foyer if you have an emergency call)

o  No loud conversations

o  Only work for your English class is permitted: no work for other classes or goofing off on computers.

You can avoid an un-fun conversation with a faculty or staff member if you abide by those rules and log out at the end of your session when asked. And always, come to me if you have a concern – preferably in office hours so we don’t take up too much class time with WRC concerns.