English 1103-005 Accelerated College Writing and Rhetoric (Spring 2013)
Mondays and Wednesday 9:30-10:45 Friday
155
Instructor: Megan Keaton (You may
occasionally see Megan Firestone)
Office: Cameron 113
Office Hours: MW 11:00-12:00 and
by appointment
Email: mfiresto@uncc.edu
Philosophical
Precepts:
“Curiosity as restless
questioning, as movement toward the revelation of something hidden, as a
question verbalized or not, as search for clarity, as a moment of attention,
suggestion, and vigilance, constitutes an integral part of the phenomenon of
being alive.”
~Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy, and
Civic Courage
“Teacher, students, and
communities…deserve schools that are places where people want to be, where home
freedoms are protected and nourished, where what we say and think and feel
matters to other people who in turn matter to us, where we learn to work on and
work out the most important questions and challenges we face.”
~Kelly Gallagher, Reclaiming Assessments: A Better Alternative
to the Accountability Agenda
This semester will focus on
developing your abilities as a writer, reader, student, and inquirer. To this
end, we will read together on the class theme and questions: What is and should
be the purpose of schooling? How and why do we educate children? What is
“success” in school? What are the
possible identities for “student” and “writer”? You will then develop your own inquiry
questions and project related in some capacity to this theme. Your inquiry questions
will guide you in the development of your extended inquiry project, which will
include secondary research. In addition to documenting and reflecting on this
process in your blog, you will prepare a paper for an academic audience and
create a multimodal project that explores aspects of your inquiry.
Required Texts
and Materials:
All of your texts will be posted
to Moodle as PDFs. You will be expected to bring these texts to class on the
days they are due; you may either print them or bring them pre-loaded on an
electronic device.
You will also need to bring a daybook,
a gluestick and a writing utensil to class each day.
Grading: Numerical Grading Scale:
Blog: 650 points 990-1100
points = A
All Drafts for
Big Assignments 880-989
points = B
Reflections for
Big Assignments 770-879 points = C
Inquiry Process
Posts 660-769 points = D
Responses to
Readings and Prompts 0-590 points = F
Final Reflection
Inquiry group Reponses and
participation: 100 points
Workshop feedback and
participation: 100 points
Panel discussion and multimodal
project: 100 points
Participation in class: 50 points
Participation on blog: 50 points
Participation with elementary
school students: 50 points
Blog
Your
blog will be an integral part of your inquiry project and your learning in this
class. You will set up a blog on
www.blogger.com and are required to post to your blog at least twice a week.
You will respond to readings and prompts, explain the progress of your
inquiry and post drafts and reflections of the assignments to your blog. You are also welcome to post entries from
your daybook if you feel the entry helps explain or further your inquiry. You will also be assigned an inquiry
group. You will be required to respond
to at least two of your inquiry
group’s posts a week. See the assignment sequence section for a
detailed breakdown of the grading for this blog.
Final
Reflection
Your
final reflection will be a long post on your blog, which will explain your
learning and/or thinking through the semester and the process of your inquiry
project. See the assignment sequence section for detailed instructions on writing
your final reflection.
Workshop
participation and feedback:
Throughout
the semester, you will bring in drafts of your work for feedback from your
peers. In addition to receiving participation credit for bringing in complete
drafts, you will also receive grades for the feedback you give to your peers.
We will discuss this extensively in class, but feedback should be specific and
constructive.
Panel discussion
and multimodal project
After
research proposals have been approved, we will work together to form panels of
students who have similar or compatible research interests. Your panel group
will be responsible for running a 30-35 minute presentation and discussion with
the class on your inquiries. Panels are an integral part of most academic
conferences, so this will be a good introduction to this genre of academic
work. Part of the panel discussion will include the sharing of the multimodal
project or projects created by the panel. See details on the multimodal project
in the Assignment Sequence section of the syllabus.
Participation
You
will receive participation credit by coming to class on time, staying for the entire
time, asking and answering questions when appropriate, contributing to class
discussions and activities, and displaying a classroom-appropriate demeanor. Participation
credit is also dependent on maintaining your blog, responding to your inquiry
group’s blogs and responding to each assigned homework reading.
Participation
with elementary school students
This
semester, we will be working in conjunction with a class of elementary school
students in CMS. The purpose of our work
with these students will include examining the possible trajectories through
school and reflecting on student and writer identities. We will visit the elementary school one day
during the semester; those students will, then, visit on campus on another
day. This work should help you think
more critically into your inquiry and be included in your Joining the
Conversation piece.
How to get an A in this course:
- Come to
class. Miss no more than three sessions.
- Contribute
in the construction of a collaborative and supportive class community.
- Turn in all
assignments by the appropriate deadlines.
- Maintain
your blog throughout the semester. Respond to your inquiry group with
throughout and helpful feedback. Take care to post reflections with each
draft you add. Your reflections should be consistently thoughtful,
specific, and self-aware.
- Complete
all reading responses on your blog.
- Be a
thoughtful, engaged reader, writer, and inquirer, as evinced by your
written assignments and demeanor in class.
- Participate
with your workshop group by showing your own work and listening to others,
then providing thoughtful and constructive feedback.
- Maintain
your daybook by thoughtful responding to in-class assignments and writing
prompts.
- Attend all
three conferences.
- Listen to
and evaluate feedback you receive from classmates and me, then make
thoughtful choices about revision.
Course Policies:
- Per the
First-Year Writing departmental policy, you are allowed three unexcused absences
with no penalty. For each absence after these three, your final course grade
will drop by one letter grade. If you miss any more than six classes, you
will fail the course. Please note that I do not excuse absences; this is
handled by the Dean’s office, and their policies are quite rigorous. If
you miss class for any reason, you are responsible for any missed
announcements and assignments.
- If you miss
more than fifteen minutes of class (by either coming in late or leaving
early), you are counted as absent.
- If you miss
less than fifteen minutes of class, you are counted as tardy. Three
tardies will equal one absence. To avoid a tardy, your body – not just
your belongings – needs to be in the classroom and prepared for class as
soon as class begins.
- Your
syllabus (this very document!) will be an incredibly useful tool for you
in this class. I invite you to bring it with you to class each meeting.
- Conferences
are a required component of this course. If you do not schedule and attend
at least two of the three conferences, you will not be able to pass this
course.
- Homework
assignments, like drafts of papers and reading responses, are due at the
beginning of the class period they are due. Late work is not accepted. If
you need to turn a particular draft of a paper in late, you should discuss
the need for such an extension with me prior to the deadline. I reserve
the right to deduct points for late work.
- If a big
assignment is not turned in on time (and prior extensions have not been
discussed with and approved by me), that assignment will receive a
zero. This includes points for small
reflections, workshopping, conferencing, drafts and inclusion in the final
reflection. However, if the
reflections and all drafts for the assignment are turned into the blog and
discussed in the final reflection, you can still pass the class. If the assignment is not in your blog
and final reflection, you cannot pass the class.
- In this
class you will turn in and receive credit for assignments in a variety of
ways, including bringing the work with you to class, submitting work via
Moodle, and posting work to your blog. Please see the syllabus or ask me
if you are unsure how an assignment should be turned in.
- I have
included a page minimum with all assignments this semester. This is so you will push on your ideas
and your thinking. If you have
written and developed your thoughts effectively but have not met the page
minimum, email me or come talk to me with the paper in hand and we will
negotiate the requirement for your paper length.
- Back up all
of your work for this class. You will be frequently posting your work to
your blog, which will help, but it is a good idea to keep copies of your
work on Dropbox or a flash drive, as well as on your computer’s hard
drive.
- I will
sometimes make minor changes to the class schedule. I will announce these
changes in class and update the online copy of this syllabus. It is your
responsibility to make a note of any such changes.
- Discussion
of grades may only take place in person. I cannot discuss grades via
email.
- Professional
behavior in class is required. This includes language use, treatment of
fellow human beings, and class preparation. Behaviors like talking while
others are talking and sleeping in class are not acceptable. Patterns of
inappropriate behavior may affect your participation grade, and continued
behaviors that impact the class as a whole will be referred to the Dean’s
office.
- Be
thoughtful and judicious in your use of technology during class. You may
use laptops, tablets, and even phones as needed for classwork, but volume
should be set to silent and use of these technologies should not interfere
with your participation in discussions and activities. A pattern of
inappropriate technology use may affect your participation grade.
- By staying
in this class, you are agreeing to abide by the policies set forth in this
syllabus.
Email Procedures
When
you email me, please include the purpose of the email in the subject line, an
opening to your email (Dear Megan, Good morning, Hi, Megan, etc.) and a closing
(your name). This will be expected in
other academic and professional emails; as such, I want you to get into the
habit of this now. , I will respond to
your email within 24 hours if you email me on Monday-Thursday. If you email me on Friday-Sunday, I will
email you by Monday evening. I will not
be available by email after 4:00 PM on Mondays and Wednesday or after 6:00 PM
in Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please email
in a timely manner with questions about assignments.
Check
your email at least once every weekday.
I will occasionally send important announcements or documents through
email.
Writing Resources
Center
– 149 Cameron:
The UNCC Writing Resources Center is a
great place to continue developing your writing. Writing consultants can help you with all
stages of the writing process—from developing ideas to revision
strategies. You will be provided with
more information about the WRC in class, but you can check out this website for
more information: http://wrc.uncc.edu/
All students are
required to read and abide by the Code of Student Academic Integrity.
Violations of the Code of Student Academic Integrity, including plagiarism,
will result in disciplinary action as provided in the Code. Definitions and
examples of plagiarism are set forth in the Code. The Code is available from
the Dean of Students Office or online. Faculty may ask students to produce
identification at examinations and may require students to demonstrate that
graded assignments completed outside of class are their own work. Please see me
if you have any questions or concerns.
Students who
have a disability or condition which may impair their ability to complete
assignments or otherwise satisfy course criteria should meet with me to
identify, discuss and document any feasible instructional modifications or
accommodations. If you do need special considerations, inform me as soon
as possible after a disability or condition is diagnosed, whichever occurs
earliest. For information and auxiliary assistance, contact the Disabilities
Resource Center.
The UNC system
allows students a minimum of two excused absences each academic year for
religious observances required by the faith of a student. If you have days you
will miss this semester due to religious observances, please let me know those
dates early in the semester, in writing, so that those absences will not count
as part of regularly missed days. The form to submit can be found at: https://legal.uncc.edu/sites/legal.uncc.edu/files/media/policies/ps-134-AccommodationForm.pdf.
Charlotte English
Department Statement on Diversity:
The English Department strives to create
an academic climate that respects people of varied cultural backgrounds and
life experiences. As a community of scholars and teachers who study language,
literature, and writing, we are committed to nurturing intellectual and
aesthetic diversity. In all our activities, we invite participation by diverse
groups, including, but not limited to, those who define themselves in the
following terms: race and ethnicity; gender; political orientation; sexual
orientation; special health needs; age; religion; country of origin; and socio-economic
status. Finally, by fostering multiple perspectives in our coursework, we can
help our students prepare to participate in our increasingly
diverse society, as well as in the global community.
All of these assignments are
built around your own extended inquiry
project. The Writing
History Response will allow you to reflect on your experiences of
writing in and out of school and how those experiences influenced who you are
as a writer. The Exploratory Essay will help you generate
ideas and questions for your project, which must have some relationship to our
class theme of schooling and education.
Of course, within our class theme there is plenty of room for you to find your
own area of interest. After writing the exploratory essay, you will develop
your Research Proposal,
which we will negotiate during your first conference. You will then begin your
own research and produce an Annotated
Bibliography with your secondary and primary research. At this time,
you will analyze your field research and make connections between that and your
secondary research. Your next paper will be the Joining the Conversation piece, of which you will
prepare at least two different versions. Finally, you will create, either
individually or with classmates, your Multimodal
Piece and present this piece and your whole inquiry project during
your panel discussion. All
of this work will be framed within your blog,
which will give you the opportunity to constantly track and reflect on your
work.
In
your writing history response, you will be creating a narrative that explains
how you became the writer you are today.
In it, you will detail the writing you have done in and out of school,
your writing influences and reflect on how your experiences have shaped what
you believe, how you feel and how you approach writing (i.e. your writing
process). After reading your response,
your reader should have a clear understanding of your writing history and
how/what you think about writing today.
Grading:
- Thorough detailing of writing
history
- Developed reflection about how your
writing history has shaped you as a writer
- Strong sense of your voice
throughout your narrative
- Adherence to Standard Academic
English conventions (except the use of first person)
- Minimum length: 2 pages
Exploratory essay
By
identifying and stressing the intertextual nature of discourse, however, we
shift our attention away from the writer as individual and focus more on the
sources and social contexts from which the writer’s discourse arises.
~ James Porter, “Intertextuality
and the Discourse Community”
For this piece, you will consider
the ideas, questions, and themes raised by the readings we have been doing as a
class. In terms of content, the goal for this essay
is to identify some questions or themes that might develop into your own
inquiry project. You should discuss at least three of the pieces we have read or
viewed as class (and you may certainly discuss more than three).
Although you should quote or paraphrase
closely, you should also focus on explaining the ideas of the readings in your
own words. You should also analyze and connect to the readings. What is missing
in the articles? What additional questions are raised for you? What do you want
to know more about? You should focus on a certain aspect of the readings, a
particular theme or question, and not simply attempt to summarize the articles.
In terms of form, you may write
an essay or a letter to me; choose whichever form helps you most.
Grading:
- Structure
and development. Do not simply write about each reading separately. Your
job is to find connections. Make your own meaning.
- Use
quotations and/or paraphrasing with correct MLA, APA or Chicago
documentation. Use both in line citations and a Works Cited Page.
- Interpret
the readings. Show an understanding of what the writers are communicating.
- Find your
own understandings, questions, and connections. Look ahead to future
inquiry possibilities.
- Take risks in
your writing.
- Adherence
to Standard Academic English conventions (except the use of first person)
- Minimum
length: three pages.
Research Proposal
For the proposal, you will write me a
letter explaining what you want to inquire into, why you are interested in this
inquiry and how you plan on beginning your inquiry. You will post your proposal to Moodle and
your blog prior to our first conference.
At the conference, we will discuss your proposal and negotiate the
direction of your inquiry.
Grading:
1.
Thorough
explanation of your inquiry direction
2.
Description
of interest in inquiry
3.
Well
planned direction for the beginning of inquiry
4.
Adherence
to Standard Academic English conventions (except the use of first person)
5.
Minimum
length: 1 page
Annotated Bibliography
For this assignment, you will be
doing some research and reading around your inquiry topic. As you begin using
the library resources to find both print
and electronic sources, use your blog to help you organize your thoughts
and prepare for your next assignments.
You will prepare an annotated
bibliography, which will detail at least five secondary sources. This page
should look like an MLA, APA or Chicago-formatted works cited page. You will
add to each citation three paragraphs; in these paragraphs, (1) you will
summarize the main point(s) of the source, (2) analyze the author’s argument
and (3) think about how you will use this source in your own work. Does it
raise important ideas for you? Do you disagree with the writer? Are there
questions left unanswered? Is it a foundational text that provides you
definitions and ways of thinking about your own inquiry? In (3), you will also include at least 3
quotes from the source that might be useful for your paper.
Your first draft (for peer
workshopping) must include at least three sources. Use MLA, APA or Chicago
formatting.
Your second draft (for conference
with Megan) must include at least five sources. Use MLA , APA or Chicago formatting.
Grading:
- Formatting
and use of MLA, APA or Chicago.
- Completeness
and appropriateness of sources. They should all be relevant to your
questions and be academic or appropriately useful popular resources.
- Concise
summaries of readings.
- Analysis
and interpretation of the sources.
- Inclusion
of at least 3 quotes from each source.
- Thorough
explanation of application of the sources to your inquiry project.
- Adherence
to Standard Academic English conventions (except the use of first person)
- Page
minimum: 1 page per source
Imagine
that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long
preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too
heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact the
discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one
present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You
listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the
argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers, you answer him; another
comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the
embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending on the quality of
your ally’s assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows
late, you must depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress.
~ Kenneth Burke, The Philosophy of Literary Form
Dialogue or Play (Step #1): This work
should be written in the form of dialogue or a play. Include a cast of
characters (to include your sources and yourself as well) and an
introduction/setting description. In this work, your cast will demonstrate how
the sources are working with or against each other and they are helping or
working into your inquiry. You will
workshop Step #1 with your classmates. Minimum length: three pages.
Academic Work (Step #2): This work
should be written in the form of an academic essay. Keep in mind that personal
stories and experience are still strongly encouraged. Playing with the academic
form is okay, even welcome. You may include your primary research in this draft
if you are ready to do so. Make sure to use MLA, APA or Chicago citation. You
will workshop Step #2 with your classmates. Minimum length: three pages.
Inquiry Project Paper (Step #3): You may
pick either Step #1 or #2 to revise more closely, or you may combine elements
of each into a new draft. You should include your primary research in this
draft. As a conclusion, you will fully
explain what you learned throughout your inquiry project. Use MLA, APA or Chicago citation and include
a title. You will conference with me
about Step #3. Minimum length: five pages.
Grading:
- Synthesis
of research
- Sophisticated
and detailed portrayal of learning through inquiry.
- Playfulness.
- Thoughtful
revision.
- Use of MLA,
APA or Chicago documentation.
- Structure
that is built around themes and ideas, not sources.
- Explanation
of learning in inquiry project
Imagine,
for example, that this book now before you were bound in leather or in large
fish-like scales. Imagine that you were reading this online. Imagine that this
ink were violet instead of black, or that this was a video of me speaking (or
signing) these words. Imagine that this book were 2’ on each side and printed
with letters 1’ high, facing you on a lectern in a dark wood-panelled room.
Imagine that this chapter were appearing paragraph by paragraph in an Instant
Messenger window. Each of these changes in the material instantiation of my
words would change your attitude toward this text, certainly, but would also (I
think) do more than that…
Precisely
because the texts we give each other are produced within the articulated
cultural webs I’ve been describing, they re-present values that shape and are
shaped by those webs…
It
is when we see but do not notice, over and over, what our texts—as parts of the
material structures in which we live and work—embody and how they articulate to
other practices that we are most likely to learn, without noticing, what to
value and how to behave…
~ Anne Frances Wysocki, “Opening
New Media to Writing: Openings & Justifications”
For this assignment, you may
either work individually or with your panel group. You may even sub-divide
within your panel group, if you wish. Your task is to create a piece that
relates to your inquiry project(s) and that is more than a print text. You
should also consider the constraints and allowances of the text you create;
consider Wysocki’s examples about how our interpretations of texts change when
the materiality of the texts changes.
Some examples of such pieces
include (but are not limited to): documentaries, films, podcasts, music videos,
radio programs, etc.
You will present your piece
during your panel discussion.
Grading:
- Synthesis
from inquiry project.
- Use of
technology.
- Risk-taking,
creativity, personal engagement.
- Structure/editing/stylistic
choices.
- 30-35
minute discussion
Final Reflection
Students
will believe that they possess intellectual authority in proportion as they see
their teacher’s readiness to take them seriously, to look for serious,
enlightening discourse from them, and to join with them in probing issues
through talk and writing.
~ C.H. Knoblauch and Lil Brannon,
Rhetorical Traditions and the Teaching of
Writing
Your final reflection is just
that, the record of your serious, intellectual endeavors in this course. As such,
you are responsible for its content and style. You will create and maintain through
your blog. This final reflection will organize and store all of your drafts and
work throughout the semester, but it will also provide you an opportunity to
reflect on your work and your process as a inquirer. Each time you write a
draft for class, whether you bring it to class for your writing group to
critique or post it to Moodle for my critique, you will also post that draft to
your blog to document your process. When you post a draft, you should also
write a reflection discussing the choices you have made and your next steps for
that piece. After workshopping and
conference, you will also post an explanation of the critique you received and
how you will use that critique to revise.
Your final reflection will be
written as a single post on your blog. However, through the reflection, you
should hyperlink the posts to which you are referring in your reflection. You will also use entries from your daybook
as evidence of your inquiry, thought and/or learning process. Effective
reflections will show connections between the assignments, readings, in-class
activities and secondary research and how those connections became your process
of inquiry; in other words, your final reflection should not be an explanation
of distinct and individual parts. In
this final reflection you should refer and use as evidence: Exploratory Essay,
Annotated Bibliography, Joining the Conversation Paper, Daybook Entries,
Reading Responses, Posts that Demonstrate the Process of Your Inquiry, and a
variety of small reflections. Your final reflection should be a minimum of
three pages if it were written in Word.
Here is a breakdown of everything
you will refer to and/or include in your final reflection:
|
Final
Reflection Letter
|
|
Connectivity among parts
|
25 points
|
|
Thorough and thoughtful reflection
|
75 points
|
|
|
|
|
Writing History Response
|
50 points
|
|
|
|
|
Critique Reflections
|
|
Reflections
on workshop and conference for Exploratory Essay and Proposal
|
20 points
|
|
Reflection
on workshop and conference for Annotated Bibliography
|
20 points
|
|
Reflections
on workshops and conference for Joining the Conversation piece
|
20 points
|
|
|
|
Exploratory Essay
|
|
1st
draft and reflection
|
30 points
|
|
2nd
draft and reflection
|
30 points
|
|
Final draft
and reflection
|
40 points
|
|
|
|
|
Research Proposal
|
50 points
|
|
|
|
Annotated Bibliography
|
|
1st
draft and reflection
|
30 points
|
|
2nd
draft and reflection
|
30 points
|
|
Final draft
and reflection
|
40 points
|
|
|
|
Joining the Conversation Piece
|
|
1st
step and reflection
|
20 points
|
|
2nd
step and reflection
|
20 points
|
|
3rd
step and reflection
|
20 points
|
|
Final draft
and reflection
|
40 points
|
|
|
|
Panel and Multimodal Piece
|
|
Reflection
|
20 points
|
|
|
|
Activities Outside Big Assignments
|
|
Daybook
Entries and Prompt Responses
|
25 points
|
|
Reading
Responses
|
30 points
|
|
Inquiry
Process
|
35 points
|
|
|
|
Grand Total
|
650 points
|
List of Possible Inquiry
Topics – You DO NOT have to stick to this list.
Standardized testing
Extracurricular activities
Global competition
Teacher evaluations
College readiness
Job preparation in college
State universities
Ivy league universities
Community colleges
Technical/vocational schools
Tracking in schools
Perceptions/identities/stereotypes
of writers in academic situations
Perceptions/identities/stereotypes
of students
Gender/sex/race/socioeconomic
class in schools
Language education in schools
Bi lingual education
Sex education in schools
Physical education/health in
school
Graduation requirements
Tuition
Private school
Public school
Charter school
Technology in schools
School building design
Competition for college admission
Requirements/expectations for
college admission
Hiring of staff in schools
State/national standards for
education
Legislation for education
Student loans
Student health insurance
Teaching practices
Teaching tenure expectations
School rules/policies
Scholarships
21st century skills
Expectations in academic writing
Education expectations for
different occupations
Community involvement in school
Parent involvement in school
College ratings
Finances in/for schools
Special education
Core subjects in school
Electives in school
Assessment outside of testing
Common Core
SAT/ACT/GRE
Back to the Basics Movement
Standard Academic English
Grammar teaching
Liberal Education
Freshmen English/Compositions
General education requirements
GPA
Internships encouraged/required
by schools
Study Abroad
Campus/academic resources
Writing Across the
Curriculum/Disciplines
Remedial teaching/classes
Test preparation classes
Preschool
Extrinsic/intrinsic motivation to
learn
Learning styles/ preferences
Developing/teaching school skills
– note taking, studying, test taking, etc.
Homework
Teacher/Administrator/School
Staff salaries
Effort/Hard work/Independence in
school
Responsibly of
student/teacher/parent/administration for learning
Definitions of “success” in
school
Definitions of “progress” in
school
Teaching vocabulary
Pop culture representations of
school
