Faculty

ENGL-1301 English Composition I

Robert Crowl

Credit Fall 2024

Section(s)

ENGL-1301-136 (90131)
LEC TuTh 1:31pm - 3:00pm GHS GHS1 859

ENGL-1301-163 (90154)
LEC TuTh 11:44am - 1:13pm GHS GHS1 859

ENGL-1301-273 (90215)
LEC TuTh 9:37am - 11:06am GHS GHS1 859

ENGL-1301-317 (90231)
LEC MW 2:50pm - 4:20pm STP STP C101

Course Requirements

Throughout ENGL 1301: Tell Your Story: Researching Family History, Crafting Personal Narrative, and Writing the Personal Essay, students will be asked to consider the various types of nonfiction media and text they consume. After learning the various rhetorical elements of an argument, students will be asked to analyze various academic, personal, and cultural texts. After identifying these elements and patterns nonfiction media and text employ, students must complete multiple informal and formal writing prompts, group activities, writing exercises, and projects. Each assignment will ask students to deconstruct these media and texts down to their basic rhetorical components and to articulate each author and artist's unique structure, purpose, and effectiveness when evaluated through these lenses of well crafted nonfiction text. In order to pass this course, students must learn and be able to articulate these rhetorical elements in the works of others, and they must learn to employ them for their own argumentative and informative purposes as well. This course will also require students to make connections between the universal themes we read about the human experience with various aspects of their own identities.

Assignment	Assignment Weights	Grading Scale
Personal Narrative	20%	A - 90-100 B - 80-89 C - 70-79 D - 60-69 F - 0-59
Documentary Short Project	20%
Good Source/Bad Source Paper	20%
Argumentative Paper	20%
Daily Work/Attendance	20%
EOC Reflection	Daily grade—Must be completed to earn credit for course

Readings

Week	In Class	Homework/Due Dates
1	-Syllabus/Calendar/Blackboard -“Run Fast…” by Ray Bradbury -Conjuring the Nouns -Free writing from Nouns -Share out
1	-Read “The Money” by Junot Diaz -Discuss “The Money”/Plot Diagram -Introduce Paper 1 -Plot Diagram/Plot outline -Table Talk
2	-Sensory Exercise -Read/Discuss “Narrative” -Read/Discuss “Tattoos: Marked for Life,” by Deb Kelt -Kelt’s Strategies
2	-Read/Discuss: The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr -Liar’s Club Activity -Characterization & Setting the Scene
3	-Vladimir Nabokov Speak, Memory & an Exercise on Showing
3	-Continue Paper 1 - Creating tension & Balancing Tone -Paper 1 Final Reminders (formatting, rubric, etc.)
4	Read/Discuss “Critical Thinking/Writing” from Real Writing Essentials -Assumptions/Biases Lecture -Identity Reflection #2 - My Tensions -Small Group (My Tensions Share Out)	Paper 1 Due to Bb by Sept. 11 (Start of Class)
4	-Discuss Rhetorical Situation/Triangle -Discuss Patterns of Organization -Read/Discuss “The Truth About Running” -Complete Activity on “The Truth About Running” -Share out
5	-Read Prof.’s Bad Source -Discuss the CRAP test -Introduce Good Source/Bad Source (Paper 2) -Good Source/Bad Source Treasure Hunt (Databases & Online)
5	-Read/Discuss “The Time Bending Magic of Smell” -Patterns of Organization -Outline Paper 2 & Writing time
6	Paper 2 Citations Writing & Conferencing Day
6	Paper 2 Work Day -Discuss formatting -Discuss rubric -Discuss citations -Writing time
7	-Read/Discuss “Argument” -Superbowl Activity/Presentations	Paper 2 Due to Bb by Oct. 2 (Start of Class)
7	-Introduce Paper 3 -Discuss Paper 3 Research Question -Argumentative Essay Prewriting Exercise
8	-Read/Discuss “Digital-Era Brain” -Begin outlining Paper 3
8	-Read/Discuss “Should Batman Kill Joker?” by Arp and White -Article Response -Continue Paper 3
9	-Read/discuss “Why “Redskins” Is a Bad Word” by McWhorter -Paper 3, the Body Paragraphs
9	-Addressing the Counterarguments in Paper 3 with McGonigal
10	-Hook Gallery Walk -Finalizing Paper 3 - Formatting Sample -Writing Conclusions -Writing time
10	-Works Cited page/In-text citations -Citing Sources	Paper 3 Due to Bb by Oct. 25 (Start of Class)
11	-Watch Every Brilliant Thing by Macmillan -Discuss Film
11	-My Brilliant Things Inventory
12	-Introduce Documentary Short Film Project -Documentary Short Film Brainstorming Exercise (Micro to Macro)
12	-View/Discuss Prof.’s Film -Introduction to Film Resources
13	-View My Octopus Teacher - Part 1 -Filming Techniques/Strategies
13	-Finish My Octopus Teacher - Part 2 -Telling Your Story Through Film -Continue Filming
14	?
14	Student/Staff Holiday
15	-Documentary Short Film Peer Review Exercise -Discuss Documentary Citations -View Student Documentaries -Continue Filming -Filming Day (Prof.’s available in course room for conferencing
15	-Complete EOC Reflection -Student Evaluations -Finish Filming	Documentary Shorts are due to Bb by 12/2 (11:59pm) - *note: video files can often take an extensive amount of time to upload. Please, account for this as you submit. Also, if I don’t receive your film by the listed due date, I may not have time to view it beforehand which may result in your film not being shown on viewing day and a significant grade penalty may be assessed.
16	Documentary Viewing Day! (*all Students will showcase their documentary shorts on this day. Attendance is mandatory. Failure to show your film/attend may result in severe grade penalties.)
16	Documentary Viewing Day! (*all Students will showcase their documentary shorts on this day. Attendance is mandatory. Failure to show your film/attend may result in severe grade penalties.)	All work (late, missing, revisions, etc.) due by 12/8 (11:59pm)

Course Subjects

In addition to the rhetorical elements of various media and text, this course will explore the myriad ways writers, content creators, filmmakers, and journalists overcome the difficulty of getting started with a new project or task. Students will also learn the various fallacies commonly used in nonfiction text and media, and they will learn to discern credible and unbiased media from suspect or flawed text. Additionally, to illustrate the importance of identity to point of view, students will read personal narratives and excerpts from memoirs of various authors, each with their own unique traumas and experiences that color their rhetorical choices. Students will also read informational texts (chapters on rhetoric, news articles, political commentaries, pop-culture articles, database articles, etc.) that define tried and true techniques for crafting arguments that are engaging, objective, yet, often, no less compelling than the novels we read. In addition to various informational and expository texts, students will have the opportunity to explore the connection between nonfiction texts and documentary films. They will be asked to watch 2 documentaries, and they will learn to identify the same rhetorical elements in this visually informative modality as they will have been asked to do for the articles and stories earlier in the semester. Finally, the students will be asked to create a researched, documentary short film of their own, based on a universal tension or aspect of the human experience that also relates to them personally.

Student Learning Outcomes/Learning Objectives

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES, GENERAL EDUCATION COMPETENCIES, & SCANS

Upon completion of English 1301, students should be able to

identify rhetorical purposes and methods of organization appropriate to topic, thesis, and audience;
collect, read, analyze, and use information from a wide range of sources;
write a coherent essay observing appropriate grammatical, mechanical, and stylistic conventions;
write competently in the informative, analytical, and persuasive modes
evaluate, edit, and revise at all stages of the writing process.

DISCIPLINE/PROGRAM STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

The following outcomes are developed in all English Composition I students regardless of student age or course location:

expanded critical reading ability;
ability to write to the specifications of a writing assignment in terms of subject, rhetorical purpose, method(s) of organization and length;
ability to form a research question, develop a thesis, locate and select credible sources applicable to the thesis, and write an essay of the specified length that responds to the thesis;
ability to analyze a piece of writing to detail the elements identified in the writing assignment;
ability to evaluate a piece of writing using specified or developed criteria for evaluation;
expanded ability to develop content for an essay and organize writing to include an introduction, appropriate thesis, coherent paragraphs with transitions, and a conclusion;
expanded ability to use correct grammar and mechanics in every writing task.

GENERAL EDUCATION LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of the general education component of an associate’s degree, students will demonstrate competence in:

Civic Awareness--Analyzing and critiquing competing perspectives in a democratic society.
Critical Thinking--Gathering, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating and applying information.
Cultural Awareness--Comparing, contrasting, and interpreting differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices.
Ethical Reasoning--Identifying and applying ethical principles and practices.
Interpersonal Skills--Interacting collaboratively to achieve common goals.
Life/Personal Skills--Demonstrating effective learning, creative thinking, and personal responsibility.
Quantitative and Empirical Reasoning--Applying mathematical, logical and scientific principles and methods.
Technology Skills--Using appropriate technology to retrieve, manage, analyze, and present information.
Written, Oral and Visual Communication--Communicating effectively, adapting to purpose, structure, audience, and medium.

Office Hours

F 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM Zoom

NOTE Office Hours will be conducted via Zoom. The link to our online conference room can be found on the syllabus.