English
5-12: Ideas in Conflict
Announcements
11/19/03
Welcome to English 5. Please browse this
web site carefully, giving particular attention to the
assessment rubric (the Subject A Scoring Guide), the
community of writers statement,
and my thoughts on civility in the classroom. I recommend saving
this web page among your "bookmarks" or "favorites"
on your internet software. Visit often for updates on the course
calendar, required "study notes," and updated supplemental
resources such as web links, sample papers, and other goodies.
10/19/03 9 PM
Please download and print out the REVISED
COURSE CALENDAR: word file /
rtf file / pdf file
Interactive
Course Calendar
Week 1 |
Week 2 |
Week 3 |
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Week 5 |
Week 6 |
Week 7 |
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For each class meeting, this calendar identifies the
required reading, study, and writing assignments. To access the
"Study Notes" for a particular class meeting, click on
the date. To review or download assignment instructions and other
materials relevant to a class meeting, click on the linked text
for that assignment.
A word about "Study Notes": You must read
any study notes that I post to the calendar. I strongly suggest
you read these notes BEFORE you begin any of the assignments for
a particular date on the calendar. I frequently suggest ideas for
how to approach readings and prepare for class activities that will
help you maximize your learning and study efficiency. Because I
like to keep these notes as directly responsive to what is going
on in class as I possibly can, I usually do not post "Study
Notes" for more than a class or two in advance of where we
are in the course. This means you should regularly check the calendar
and this homepage (ideally, after each class meeting).
Week
4: Conference #1 / Mandatory Revision Week
Top- - Next
Monday October 20
- Lemuel Gulliver. Travels into Several Remote
Nations of the World, Part III (129-185)
- Surf the course web site and familiarize yourself
with its many splendors
- Download and review revised course calendar:
word file /
rtf file / pdf
file
- If you have not already done so, visit Blackboard
to sign up for a "discussion starter" date.
Wednesday October 22
- Lemuel Gulliver. Travels into Several
Remote Nations of the World, Part IV (187-252)
- Complete "Error Record" before Thursday
or Friday appointment: (form not yet posted)
- Complete "Conference Prep Sheet" before
Thursday or Friday appointment (distributed in class on Wednesday)
Friday, October 24
- Mckeon, “Virtue and Truth in Gulliver’s
Travels” (328-334)
- Rogers: “Gulliver’s Glasses”
(320-328)
- Review “Responding to Swift” essay
instructions (not yet posted)
- Complete “Correction Log” for Grant
Wood Essay / email to instructor
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Week
8: Responding to Mark Twain / Conference #2
Top- - Previous - -
Next
Monday, November 17
- Read and Study: WCA Chapter 5, "Reasoning
Methods and Fallacies" (98-123)
Wednesday November 19
- Read and Study: Frederick Douglass, "I
Hear the Mournful Cry of Millions" (WCA 722)
Friday, November 21
- Draft summary paragraph and schematic outline
(for 3 example paragraphs and conclusion) for "Responding
to Twain Essay. Bring a copy to
class / email backup to instructor
- Read and study: Rachel Carson,"The Obligation
to Endure" (727-731)
- Attend scheduled
conference #2
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Week
9: Classic Arguments
Top- - Previous - - Next
Monday, November 24
- Complete full-length draft (1200 word minimum)
of "Responding to Twain Essay"
- Read and Study: Plato's Allegory of the Cave (689-697)
Wednesday, November 26
- Class only for students who did not attend
lunch at my house
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Week
10: Finale
Top- - Previous
Monday December 1
Wednesday December 3
- In Class Essay
- Final Draft "Responding to Twain" Due
Friday, December 5
- Optional Revision: Responding to Swift due
- Final exam workshop part 2
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Assessment Rubric
Paper Evaluation: Although each assignment
will have specific instructions and evaluation criteria, I will
always apply the Subject A Scoring Guide criteria. Take some time
to review these carefully before you submit each assignment.
A 6 paper commands attention because
of its insightful development and mature style.
It presents a cogent response to the text, elaborating
that response with well-chosen examples and
persuasive reasoning. The 6 paper shows that its writer
can usually choose words aptly, use sophisticated
sentences effectively, and observe the conventions of
written English.
A 5 paper is clearly competent.
It presents a thoughtful response to the text,
elaborating that response with appropriate examples
and sensible reasoning. A 5 paper typically has
a less fluent and complex style than a 6, but does show that its
writer can usually choose words accurately, vary
sentences effectively, and observe the conventions of
written English.
A 4 paper is satisfactory, sometimes
marginally so. It presents an adequate response to the
text, elaborating that response with sufficient
examples and acceptable reasoning. Just
as these examples and this reading will ordinarily be less developed
than those in 5 paper, so will the 5 paper’s style be less
effective. Nevertheless, a 4 paper shows that its writer can usually
choose words of sufficient precision, control
sentences of reasonable variety, and observe the conventions
of written English.
A 3 paper is unsatisfactory in one or more of the
following ways. It may respond to the text illogically;
it may lack coherent structure or elaboration with examples;
it may reflect and incomplete understanding of the text
or the topic. Its prose is usually characterized by at
least one of the following: frequently imprecise word
choice; little sentence variety; occasional
major errors in grammar and usage, or frequent minor errors.
A 2 paper shows serious weaknesses, ordinarily of
several kinds. It frequently presents a simplistic, inappropriate,
or incoherent response to the text, one that may suggest some
significant misunderstanding of the text or the topic. Its prose
is usually characterized by at least one of the following: simplistic
or inaccurate word choice; monotonous or fragmented sentence structure;
many repeated errors in grammar and usage.
A 1 paper suggests severe difficulties in reading
and writing conventional English. It may disregard the topic’s
demands, or it may lack appropriate pattern of structure or development.
It may be inappropriately brief. It often has a pervasive pattern
of errors in word choice, sentence structure, grammar, and usage.
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Community of Writers
For each of us (including the instructor) to achieve
our goals in this class, we must commit to a set of principles
and practices from which we can establish a community of writers
who respect, stimulate, and empower each other. I offer the following
ideas as a working draft of those principles. We can build on
these as the quarter advances.
We each understand that we write in this course
for a public audience (each other)
We each recognize that this course provides each
of us (including the instructor) an extraordinary opportunity
to develop our ability to communicate with others through writing.
Each of us has ideas and experiences to share
with others through our prose and class discussion.
Each of us will arrive to class on time, having
completed all reading and writing assignments according to the
class schedule.
Each of us will treat the other members of the
class with respect, listening attentively while others speak.
In the context of this mutual respect, we will not hesitate
to disagree with each other and offer constructive critical
responses to each other’s compositions.
Each of us understands that racist, sexist, or
otherwise inflammatory language contradicts our commitment to
respect each other and develop our community of writers. It
also violates the standards of the broader UC Riverside community
of which we are a part.
Each of us commits to submitting our own original
work for each assignment in this class (ideas, language, and
assignments taken from others without proper documentation constitute
plagiarism).
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Civility
in the Classroom
I would like to welcome all students into an environment
that creates a sense of community, courtesy, and respect; we come
to this classroom to work cooperatively and learn together.
To help us make the most of the limited time we
have together, please make every effort to come to class on time
and to stay until the end of the class meeting unless you have
informed me that you must leave early. I ask that any student
who arrives late to class or misses class come see me during my
office hours before the next class meeting. If you miss
class, you are responsible for all material covered or distributed
in class.
Because we meet in such short sessions--only fifty
minutes--and need to make the most of that limited time, I ask
that you not leave the classroom once you arrive unless you have
an emergency. The same need for focus requires that only one person
at a time is speaking in the class (when we are all working together)
or within a smaller working group. Side conversations distract
surrounding students and me.
Please also turn off all cell phones, pagers, beepers,
and other instruments of communication torment. Think of this
50 minutes as your escape from the outside world. And remember
that the piercing cry of the cell phone has an astonishingly chilling
impact on class discussion and activities. So many times I have
seen myself and other students paralyzed as we all hear that chipper
blast and wonder anxiously whether we forgot to turn off our phones.
Any teacher can tell you that the sight of twenty-three college
students flinching involuntarily can derail even the most insightful
and inspiring of class discussions or activities.
If, after reading this, you feel a little bit offended
that I would have to state such obvious principles of courtesy
here ("after all, we are in college aren't we?"), I
don't particularly blame you. In my defense, I can only say that
it is exactly because we are in a college environment that we
need some reminders about these issues. College liberates us in
so many ways (from parents and other authority figures, from other
people controlling our schedules, and from the normal rules of
human civilization--have you been to a college party lately?)
that we forget to reorient ourselves when we enter a classroom.
Please help all of us enjoy a focused, productive,
and welcoming environment by following the principles of courtesy
and respect that I have outlined here.
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Grant Wood Links
Grant
Wood's Iowa : Offers great background on Wood placing
him in a personal, social, national, and even international context.
The best place to start learning more about Wood.
Scary
Looking Americans: A web version of "American
Gothic."
An essay by John Seery, Pomona College Professor
and nationally recognized scholar of irony in American culture
and Politics.
Jonathan
Swift Links
http://www.jaffebros.com/lee/gulliver/
The definitive starting point for Swift studies on the web.
Mark Twain Links
The best of all Twain web pages—includes
searchable texts of all Twain works and lots of background goodies
(Connecticut Yankee resources are especially good):
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/index2.html
The official web site for the recent
Ken Burns PBS special has a chronology, some useful photos, and
other goodies (warning: site is pretty commercial): http://www.pbs.org/marktwain
Site operated by the folks who maintain
the Mark Twain house in Connecticut. I do not think you can understand
Twain until you look at and think about this house and what it
tells us about him: http://www.marktwainhouse.org/
An excellent collection of Twain quotes
on all manner and range of topics: http://www.twainquotes.com/quotesatoz.html
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Page last updated:
11 March, 2004
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