Writing+1310+Syllabus


 * Introduction to College Writing Dr. Stephanie Vanderslice**
 * 1310: 11062 Thompson 103 12:15-1:30**
 * Office Hours: Tuesdays: 10:20-10:50, 2:30-5, Thursdays 10:30-10:50, 2:30-3, Fridays 1:15-3:15 and by Appointment**
 * Office: Thompson 336 Office Phone: 501-450-3340 Email:** **stephv@uca.edu**
 * Best way to reach me: e-mail!!! Personal Blog: wordamour.wordpress.com**


 * CLASS WIKI: writing1310.wikispaces.com**

Welcome to UCA and welcome to Introduction to College Writing. I’m glad you’re here and I’m glad to be teaching you. Because this is a general education course, it is meant to be valuable throughout the next four years and after you graduate, preparing you to communicate in the world. I teach a range of courses but I take my role as a general education teacher pretty seriously. For the most part I see this course serving two roles, to help you learn about yourself as a writer, how you can develop and improve and how you can use what you learn to adapt to writing situations in college and beyond, and to help you start thinking about the world around you and your place in it, about what it means to be a communicator in the twenty-first century.

To help you learn about yourself as a writer as well as learn how to use that knowledge to become a better writer, you’re going to be doing a lot of thinking and writing about writing. This fits in pretty well with the general education goals this course is designed to meet:

By the end of Writing 1310, students should be able to:
 * Rhetorical Knowledge **
 * 1) Understand writing as a purposeful activity
 * 2) Understand and use personal experience appropriate to the rhetorical situation
 * 3) Recognize and respond  to the needs of academic, professional, and other educated audiences
 * 4) Recognize and respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations
 * 5) Understand and use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation
 * 6) Acknowledge and adopt  appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality
 * 7) Understand how occasion, purpose, and audience shape reading and writing
 * 8) Demonstrate a knowledge of the various strategies for engaging in academic conversations, drawing on personal experiences and other sources
 * 9) Understand writing as a knowledge-creating activity

By the end of Writing 1310, students should be able to
 * Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing **
 * 1) Use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating
 * 2) Engage in an ongoing conversation with the ideas of others
 * 3) Use language to accomplish goals
 * 4) Find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize appropriate sources

By the end of Writing 1310, students should be able to
 * Processes **
 * 1) Compose multiple drafts to create and complete a successful text
 * 2) <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proof-reading
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Engage in writing as an open process that permits writers to use later invention and re-thinking to revise their work
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Employ the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Critique their own and others' works
 * 6) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Write a well-organized essay that offers a clear thesis and effectively supports and develops that thesis
 * 7) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Compose in a variety of types of discourse, from narrative to analytical to persuasive

By the end of Writing 1310, students should be able to
 * Conventions**
 * 1) <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Demonstrate <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">a knowledge of common patterns of organization appropriate to different occasions, purposes, and audiences, such as chronological and climactic order
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Demonstrate a knowledge of discourse conventions ranging from structure and paragraphing to tone and mechanics
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Demonstrate control of such surface features as grammar, punctuation, and spelling
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Demonstrate an understanding of basic principles for integrating source materials into their writing, including a) the ability to use quotations and paraphrases without violating principles of fair usage and b) the ability to provide in-text documentation and MLA or APA bibliographic entries
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Demonstrate a knowledge of common strategies of development, such as exemplification and elaboration


 * Texts and Supplies:**

Pink, Daniel. //A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future//. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Wardle, Elizabeth and Downs, Douglas. //Writing About Writing// (WAW). Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2010.

Weinsten, Lawrence and Finn, Thomas. //Grammar Moves: Shaping Who You Are//. New York, Longman 2011.

A Commonplace book. A notebook, journal or composition book to be used //only// for this class. A commonplace book is small notebook to record thoughts or fragments of thoughts, quotes, phrases, song lyrics, etc. as well as in class writing. As you add to your own commonplace book, you will be drawing a map of your life as a reader and thinker, creating a valuable portrait of your memory and time.

** MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS EXPLAINED **

** Essays ** We’ll be working on 3 essays over the course of the semester (due dates and draft due dates are below) developed from in-class writing and through writing prompted by what we read in the book. The final project will be digital, however. You’ll take one of your three essays and translate and/or revise it to fit a digital form of your choice (i.e. a digital story, a Prezi, a website, just to name a few).

Important requirements for the essays: ** Essay Process Cover Letters ** After years of research and teaching experience, I believe that the best ways to become a better writer is to think and write about the process. This is ability is known as //metacognition//: the knowledge of your own thoughts and the factors that influence your own thinking (Encarta dictionary). Congratulations, you now know the meaning of a word I didn’t learn until I was a senior in college. Seriously, thinking about writing and the writing process and writing about it will be crucial to your development as a writer and as a learner. That is why I assign Essay Process Cover Letters with each project and why they are worth 100 points total. In them, you will describe to me, either in letter or memo form, the process of writing your essay, such as: how you got started, what was the most difficult part of completing the essay and what was the easiest, what are you most pleased with about the essay and what would you improve if you had more time. In other words, tell me about how you wrote it. **//These letters must be handed in with each essay/project or the essay will not be graded//**.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Must be be at least 2 ½ pages of (700 words) typewritten text. This is the //bare minimum// and probably will result in a low grade.
 * //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Drafts //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> must be turned in on //draft due date// (specified in assignment schedule) or the writing project will be downgraded a full letter grade for **each day late**.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Must come from new, original ideas you developed through the drafting process in class or in your commonplace book. In other words, **no papers you wrote in high school** or are writing for other college courses.

** Commonplace Book ** To receive full credit your commonplace book should contain all in class writing exercises, labeled, 25 pages of additional writing, thoughts, or phrases (see the definition of commonplace book above).

** Talking Points ** From the Ultralingua English Dictionary: //Something that helps to support an argument or a discussion//. On the dates specified, you will turn in talking points about the readings due that day. These talking points can be: specific quotes or statements you find provocative, questions you have about the reading, other issues the readings raise. We will use these talking points during the discussions.


 * Class Wiki:** We have a class Wiki: writing1310.wikispaces.com. After the first day of class, I will invite you to the wiki and ask you to create a page there. You will post all drafts and final drafts of your essays on the wiki. I’ll post the syllabus there and a great deal of additional information that will be useful to you as the class progresses.

** Peer Review Workshop ** The day a major writing project draft is due, I will make my way around the room, spending a few minutes with each of you conferencing about your draft (this will take 2 days). While I am doing this, you will be exchanging drafts and responding to each other about them, in writing, on handouts I’ll give, and in person. These response handouts will be turned in with the final essay drafts; I’ll read them and give you a grade, to ensure that you are taking this process of responding to your peers work seriously. Note: finishing your peer review early means more time to conference, quietly, about your writing, with other students, to work on your project or to write in your commonplace book. It does not mean you can leave early or talk about last weekend’s football game.

** Grammar Moves ** Your Grammar Moves book contains twenty-two exercises for helping you use grammar to better express what you want to express, how you want to express it. As the semester goes on, you’ll have a better sense of what you need to work on in your own writing. Based on this knowledge, you’ll choose ten “Try this” exercise sets from Grammar Moves to complete in your commonplace book. You’ll label these exercises clearly and start each one with a sentence or two on why you chose that particular exercise set to help improve an aspect of your own writing. (You might want to do these in the back of the commonplace book, to keep them separate).

** Major Assignments Points **


 * Essay Cover Letters (25 x4) || 100 ||
 * Essays (100 x4) || 400 ||
 * Commonplace Book || 100 ||
 * Talking Points-Readings || 200 ||
 * Peer Review-Workshopping || 100 ||
 * Grammar Moves Ten Try This” exercises of your choice, done in your commonplace book with a sentence or two explaining why you chose that exercise. || 100 ||
 * Total || 1000 ||

900-1000 points || 800-890 points || 700-790 points || 600-690 points ||
 * A || 90-100,
 * B || 80-89
 * C || 70-79
 * D || 60-69
 * F || 59.9 ||

DIGITAL COMPETENCIES Because digital literacy is cross-curricular, digital competencies are the same for each of my classes. They are based on preparing you to live and work in the 21st century and taken from an article in Inside Higher Education ([|www.insidehighered.com]) on skills every college graduate needs to master. While the //content// of your assignments will be centered on reaching the objectives of the individual class, the //forms// these assignments will take will be based on these digital competencies.

10 Digital Competencies for Every Graduate

Graduates should be able to. ..

1.Start a Blog 2. Buy an Audio Recorder and Learn to Use It 3. Start Editing Audio 4. Post an Interview (or Podcast) on Your Blog 5. Learn How to Shoot, Crop, Tone, and Optimize Photos (And Add Them to Your Blog) 6. Learn to Create Effective Voice-Over Presentations with Rapid Authoring Software 7. Tell a Good Story with Images and Sound 8. Learn to Shoot Video 9. Edit Your Video with iMovie, Windows Movie Maker or Windows Storyteller 10. Publish Your Video on Your Blog. In this class, we’ll only focus on #7 but I include the whole list to give you an idea of goals you might want to set for yourself in the coming years. Class Rules (or, staying on Dr. Vanderslice’s good side).
 * Stay focused, even if you have your laptop or netbook. Give your teachers and your colleagues attention and your respect.
 * Conversely, we will use the phrase “screens down” when we want to emphasize that we want everyone’s full attention. I and your fellow class members expect you to respect this.
 * Refrain from reading any outside material or doing any outside work from other courses during class.
 * Except in cases of emergency (clear it with me before class, I understand these do arise) turn your cell phone or beeper off during class.
 * If you text in class, I will ask you to turn your phone into me during said class.
 * Be respectful of other class members. We all bring a range of knowledge, experience and interest to class. Let’s appreciate that.
 * Refrain from derogatory language or hate commentary. This class has the potential to produce provocative discussions that will make us all better teachers and writers but only if we approach it with an attitude of tolerance.
 * You may bring drink and/or food, especially if you think it will help you stay awake and alert, particularly if you tend to get drowsy due to the length of the class or the time it meets (but not, of course, the subject matter or delivery J ).

WAW Chapter 2 Intro, Framing the Reading/Getting Ready to Read “Toward a Composing Model of Reading” “Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer” 10 talking points total Sign up for the Wiki and create a page || September 1 WAW Chapter 2 Framing the Reading/Getting Ready to Read “Response of a Laboratory Rat or, Being Protocoled” “Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Analysis of Writers Block” 10 talking points total || WAW Chapter 2 Interlude What Writer’s Say All Essays 10 talking points total || September 8 Read: “Letter to West Port High School’s English Department,” “The Average Writer: A Self-Analysis,” “How do I Write?” In Class Writing: Gearing Up for Essay 1 || Draft of Essay 1 Due In Class Workshop || September 15 Draft of Essay 1 Due In Class workshop || Essay 1 Due **Don’t forget your cover letter!** WAW Chapter 3 Intro, Framing the Reading/Getting Ready to Read “Learning to Read, “ “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” 10 talking points total || September 22 WAW Chapter 3 Framing the Reading, Getting Ready to Read “The Future of Literacy,” “From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies” 10 talking points total || // A Whole New Mind // Due. 15 talking points || September 29Continue Whole New Mind discussion || WAW Chapter 3 “Motivation in Literacy Development” Don’t forget to sign up for a conference next week || October 6 Don’t forget to sign up for a conference next week In Class Writing: Gearing Up for Essay 2 || Conferences on Essay 2 in Dr. V’s office No Class || October 13 Conferences in Dr. V’s office No Class || Essay 2 Draft Due In Class Workshop Mid Term Grades due 19th || October 20 Fall Break-No Class Drive Safe! || WAW Chapter 4 Intro, Framing the Reading, Getting Ready to Read The Concept of Discourse Community Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict and Diversity 10 Talking Points Total || October 27 WAW Chapter 4 Framing the Reading, Getting Ready to Read “Identity, Authority and Learning to Write in New Workplaces” “Coaches Can Read Too: An Ethnographic Study of a Football Coaching Discourse Community” 10 talking points total || WAW Chapter 5 Intro, Framing the Reading, Getting Ready to Read “Studies Explore Whether the Internet Makes Students Better Writers” (continues next pg) “The Beginnings of Change: Learning and Teaching Undergraduate Academic Literacy Games” 10 talking points total || November 3 WAW Chapter 5 A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum || In Class Writing: Gearing up for Essay 3 || November 10 In Class Writing: Gearing up for Essay 3 || Essay 3 Draft Due In Class Workshop || November 17 Essay 3 Draft Due In Class Workshop || Essay 3 Due Introduction of Assignment 4: Going Digital with your Work || November 24 Thanksgiving Holiday Drive Safe!!! || Assignment 4: Going Digital With Your Essay Workshop || December 1 Assignment 4 Going Digital with your Essay Workshop || Assignment 4 Work Time || December 8 Assignment 4 Work Time ||
 * Tuesday ** **Thursday**
 * August 30
 * August 30
 * September 6
 * September 13
 * September 20
 * September 27
 * October 4
 * October 11
 * October 18
 * October 25Essay 2 Due
 * November 1
 * November 8
 * November 15
 * November 22
 * November 29
 * December 6
 * December 13 || December 15Present Assignment Four: Digital Essay During Final Exam (this room from 2-4 ||


 * EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES: ** Attached to this syllabus is a list of artist in residency events at UCA. Every time you attend one of these events and write a single page typed, double spaced summary of the event, you will receive ten points.

UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT AND COURSE POLICIES


 * Disability Policy:**The University of Central Arkansas adheres to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you need an accommodation under this act due to a disability, contact Disability Support Services at 450-3613. They are located in room 212 of the Student Health Center. Please feel free to discuss this issue with your instructor, in private, if you need more information.


 * Sexual Harassment Policy:** Harassment by any faculty member, staff member, or student is a violation of both law and University policy and will not be tolerated. Please read the appropriate pages of your Student Handbook for the policies, definition, and procedures concerning harassment. If you have questions or concerns, please contact your instructor or the chair. Individuals who believe they have been subjected to harassment should report the incident promptly to their academic dean or to a departmental chair or directly to the university’s Affirmative Action officer, legal counsel or assistant vice president for human resources.


 * Other Policies:** You should familiarize yourself with all academic policies in your //Student Handbook//.


 * Special Problems**//:// If, during any point of the semester, you find that personal problems are keeping you from completing your course work, you may find it beneficial to visit the counseling center. All students are entitled to free, confidential, professional counseling. Please contact the University Counseling Center at 450-3138. They are located in the Student Health Center, suite 327.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Attendance **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">: If a student in the Department of Writing misses two weeks’ worth of classes—i.e., six classes of a MWF course, four classes of a TTH or MW course, or two classes of a one night a week course—and/or a student in a MWF or TTH class misses a week’s worth of classes consecutively without contacting the instructor, the instructor may drop the student from the course. When dropping a student for non-attendance, the instructor will assign a WF, WP, or W, as appropriate.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Plagiarism **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">: If a student in a Writing Department course turns in a paper that includes an extended passage that has been a.) written for him or her by someone else for pay or as a favor, or b.) copied from a print or electronic source written by another author, even if some of the words have been changed, that student will immediately be dropped from the course, receiving a WF grade. In addition, notification will be sent from the Writing Department office to the Office of the Provost documenting the student’s academic misconduct. This documentation will be retained permanently at the Office of the Provost.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">If a student in a Writing Department course turns in a paper that has borrowed from other sources without giving complete and unambiguous credit to every source (e.g., quotation marks are not included around all direct quotations, in-text citations are missing, the bibliography is missing or incomplete), that paper will receive a grade of 0 (zero). If the instructor deems the plagiarism to be accidental, the instructor may allow the student to revise the paper for a higher grade.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Incompletes **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">: It is the policy of the Department of Writing that an incomplete (X grade) may be assigned only under extraordinary circumstances, such as a documented medical emergency, a death in the student’s immediate family, an unavoidable legal responsibility (e.g., jury duty, military service), a natural disaster that has affected the student’s own home or immediate family, or extended university closure. An incomplete grade may also be assigned for courses that extend beyond the regular end of term. However, an incomplete may be assigned only if the student remained in good standing for the first ¾ of the semester.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">When assigning an incomplete grade, the instructor should establish a written contract with the student specifying exactly when the missing work must be turned in. However, the student may not turn in the missing work any later than the end of the first month of the following semester—excluding summer. Specifically, any student assigned an X grade for a fall semester class or a winter intercession class may not turn in the missing work any later than the end of the first month of the spring semester. Any student assigned an X grade for a spring semester class, a May intercession class, or a summer term class may not turn in the missing work any later than the end of the first month of the fall semester.

When dropping a student for disruptive behavior, the instructor will assign a WF grade, specifying on the Drop for Non-Attendance form that the grade is assigned for “disciplinary action.” A record of this disciplinary action will remain permanently on file with the university and the instructor will keep permanent record of dropping the student for disruptive behavior. Additionally, when dropping a student for disruptive behavior, the instructor is encouraged to submit to the Dean of Students a list of the problematic behaviors.
 * Disruptive Students**: Any student in a Writing Department class whose behavior regularly interferes with the instructor’s ability to conduct the class and foster student learning, or who exhibits a behavior so outrageous as to severely impede the conduct of a class, may be dropped by the instructor after the instructor consults with the department chair. Prior warning will be provided to the student when possible, but under extraordinary circumstances such warning may not always be possible.


 * Late papers**: Assignments, including drafts, are down graded one full grade for each day late (each day not posted on your blog), so an assignment deadline missed on Tuesday would result in a D by Friday.


 * Inclement weather**: If Conway schools are closed for inclement weather, we will not meet but will have an alternative assignment posted to the Wiki. If classes are cancelled you should immediately go to the wiki for instructions.


 * Academic Integrity**

The University of Central Arkansas affirms its commitment to academic integrity and expects all members of the university community to accept shared responsibility for maintaining academic integrity. Students in this course are subject to the provisions of the university's Academic Integrity Policy, approved by the Board of Trustees as Board Policy No. 709 on February 10, 2010, and published in the Student Handbook. Penalties for academic misconduct in this course may include a failing grade on an assignment, a failing grade in the course, or any other course-related sanction the instructor determinesto be appropriate. Continued enrollment in this course affirms a student's acceptance of this university policy.