Composition: English l0l Fall, 2002
Hephzibah Roskelly
Office: 200 Foust; 334-3280
Office hours: l0-l2, MW; ll-1, T; by appt.
This course helps you devise strategies you can use in all the writing you will do in college. You will learn skills of composing--how to come up with ideas, get them on paper, revise them and make them interesting and acceptable to readers. Writing well involves more than following a set of rules or formulas. It means under-standing and using the relationship between who writers are and who their readers might be. This class aims to help you understand that relationship by practicing it.
During the semester, you'll do a lot of writing both in and out of class. You'll write for yourself and for others, analyze each others' texts as well as your own, reflect and respond and argue and do research. We'll talk about how you develop your own style, how you develop ideas and how you change them, and how you under-stand audience. Our discussions will often happen in small groups, and your work in your group is important to your success. Writing in this class will make you more confident of your ability to write for a variety of purposes and help you discover how writing matters to your thinking.
Learning goals for l0l include:
Writing and evaluating arguments
Communicating clearly and effectively
Evaluating and using relevant information
Understanding aims and methods of intellectual discourse
Evaluating different viewpoints
Texts and requirements: The Seagull Reader
Writing Matters
The College Writer's Reference
Ernest Gaines, A Lesson Before Dying
4-5 essays (about 20 pages of revised, edited writing)
journal of reflections, responses
in-class writing
group presentations and activities
2 conferences with me
portfolio
Policies and grades: Most of this class involves you directly in writing, responding and reporting in small and large groups. It's not possible to make up that kind of work. Therefore, regular attendance and participation is crucial to your success in this class. More than two absences (a week's worth of class) can compromise your grade. Talk with me in advance if you're worried about meeting a deadline or missing a class.
I will not give you a grade on individual papers of journals. I will give you a grade-so-far before the midterm, which will describe your progress in the class. My comments to you on journals and papers should give you a sense of my evaluation of your work. I encourage you to talk with me any time about your grade. Success in the class depends on:
l. meeting all the requirements
2. the quality of your written and oral work
3. your willingness to try new perspectives, to revise and rethink, to take chances.
Your final grade will be based on the quality of your work in your journal, your participation and involvement in class activities, and your final portfolio.
The Writing Center: I encourage you to use the Writing Center to get new and different perspecties on your writing. The Center is an extension of our classroom community and will give you useful feedback. It's in McIver 101 and is open every day and some nights. Schedule to come.
Our weekly schedule Up through midterm
Week 1: Introduction to the course. Why write?
In class writing
Writing Matters, first section; handbook journal 20-26
Essay: Didion
Week 2: How writing happens
Assignment #1: Response/reflection
Writing Matters; intro Seagull; Handbook 3-19
Essay: Angelou
Week 3: Sharing Writing
Revision workshop
Handbook, writing processes and revision 64-69
Essay: Welty
Week 4: The Curious Triangle
Introduction, Seagull
Essay #1 Due
Essay: Zinnzer
Week 5: The good person speaking well: how to persuade
Assignment #2: Having your say
Handbook, argument, concepts, 43-63
Essay: King
Week 6: Hearing voice
Revision workshop
Essay (group presentations) Syfer, Ehrenreich, Buckley, Chief Seattle
Week 7: The uses of language
Essay #2 DUE
Grammar lessons; find a problem
Essay: Orwell
Week 7: Midterm letters
Week 8: Conferences groups and individuals
Assignment #3: Lessons from A Lesson Before Dying