Syllabus

ENG 2100: Writing I

Section 29281 | Fall 2020 | Online

Professor: Phoebe Glick, Department of English

Office Hours: Thursdays 12-4 by appointment

Email: [email protected]

Texts: All course reading is available online. Optional textbook for writing support: Join the Conversation, 3rd edition.

About This Course

This course takes a close look at language, race, and identity. Language is powerful. The ability to wield language to communicate ideas and build discourse is something that has long been used by those in power against marginalized people. This course will celebrate the infinite possibilities in language and writing, while working on our ability to depict our own histories, struggles, identities, and experiences. Through our writing, we will challenge dominant social narratives and project a better world.

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to improve your critical thinking and writing skills, and to be a gateway of exploration for further writing and research you will do at Baruch. One of the most important abilities you’ll develop over the course of your studies (and hopefully throughout your life) is the ability to discern how the way we think is shaped by language and other semiotic codes such as sound and image. This course will ask that you think critically about the arguments of others and in turn develop and communicate your own ideas and arguments.

This course is taking on a mostly asynchronous model (as in, meeting live only sometimes; students choose their own times to work towards class deadlines). It will include some synchronous moments, including class-wide and one-on-one Zoom meetings to discuss coursework. Class-wide Zoom meetings will be recorded and posted on the course website. If you have any concerns about Zoom recordings and your consenting to them, please contact me ASAP and we can discuss your options.

If you miss a Zoom session, you will need to view the session recording and type up a Missed Meeting form. Attending Zoom meetings will mean that you don’t have to worry about typing up a session review response. That’s an ideal situation for us all, so please try to make it. You will never be penalized if you are unable to be physically present at a live session.

What you can expect from me:

You can call me Phoebe or Professor Glick. I am an adjunct instructor who teaches classes at both Baruch College and Hunter College, two campuses of CUNY. I care deeply about protecting the most vulnerable populations of this world, and I believe that writing can project positive social change. I hope that you will use me as a resource to help you with writing, communicating about meaningful social issues, and researching, and as someone someone who wants to engage with and build upon the community here at CUNY.

I consider myself a somewhat unconventional college professor, as I put less emphasis on lecturing, memorization, recitation, and numerical grades, and more emphasis on conversation, process, peer and self-analysis. I pledge to be extremely clear with you what my expectations and requirements are for each assignment as it comes up. I also pledge to never delude you or attempt to outsmart you, as conventional testing often does. I will treat you with respect and will spend a good deal of time this semester giving you feedback on your writing for your major projects, commensurate to the amount of time you spend on your writing. I will read your weekly blog posts, and while I may not respond to each one of them, I will assign each of them a participation/completion grade and will give you feedback on your posts at midterm and at the end of the semester.

What I can expect from you:

You should expect to spend a minimum of 6 hours a week on this course, even though it is online and asynchronous. I invite all of you to take an active role in your learning this semester, and to collaborate with your peers and with myself in articulating important social issues through clear writing, and in designing a “classroom” environment in which you yourself would most like to participate.

Very important: our meeting times and week-to-week schedule will be constantly updated throughout the semester. It is very important to check email, Blackboard, and Slack messages to see when and for how long we will be meeting that week. I will always give you ample notice of any change, and I will never ask you to meet outside our pre-agreed upon time slots.

Course Goals

After completing ENG 2100 you should be able to:

• • Compose as a process: Experience writing as a creative way of thinking and generating knowledge and as a process involving multiple drafts, review of your work by members of your discourse community (e.g. instructor and peers), revision, and editing, reinforced by reflecting on your writing process in metacognitive ways.
  • Compose with an awareness of how intersectional identity, social conventions, and rhetorical situations shape writing: Demonstrate in your writing an awareness of how personal experience, our discourse communities, social conventions, and rhetorical considerations of audience, purpose, genre, and medium shape how and what we write.
  • Read and analyze texts critically: Analyze and interpret key ideas in various discursive genres (e.g. essays, news articles, speeches, documentaries, plays, poems, short stories), with careful attention to the role of rhetorical conventions such as style, trope, genre, audience, and purpose.
  • Identify and engage with credible sources and multiple perspectives in your writing: Identify sources of information and evidence credible to your audience; incorporate multiple perspectives in your writing by summarizing, interpreting, critiquing, and synthesizing the arguments of others; and avoid plagiarism by ethically acknowledging the work of others when used in your writing, using a citation style appropriate to your audience and purpose.
  • Use conventions appropriate to audience, genre, and purpose: Adapt writing and composing conventions (including your style, content, organization, document design, word choice, syntax, citation style, sentence structure, and grammar) to your rhetorical context.

Course Organization

Schedule and Weekly Rhythm

This course is broken into Weekly Modules. There are 16 modules in this course, one for every week of the semester. Every Monday morning I will release the module for the upcoming week. A module introduces the theme of the week, the Blog prompt, notes and general updates. In your module you can find all your assignments for that week.

Zoom check-ins are Monday morning from 8:30-9:30AM. In these check-ins we will go over the module and make space for questions. We will discuss the reading from the previous week and introduces the upcoming week’s reading.

Blog posts are due Wednesday at noon. After this, you will read peer blog posts and comment on 2 by Thursday at 5PM.

Each module ends Sunday at 5PM. At that time, you’ll either have an assignment for the module or a component of a Core Assignment due, dependent on the week.

Breakdown:

Monday 8:30-9:30: Live Zoom check-in and Weekly Module released
Wednesday noon: Blog post due
Thursday, 5PM: Comments due
Sunday, 5PM: Core assignments due, module assignment due (if any).

Conferences

You will meet with me multiple times over the course of the semester. Sometimes these meetings will happen one-on-one, and sometimes they will be with a small group. We will schedule these conferences as need arises, most will be on Wednesday or Thursday. Conferences are very important moments of connection one-on-one about your work and count for 5% of your course grade.

Assignments

Core Assignments

Core Assignment 1: Literacy Narrative (2-3 pages, 10% of course grade)

Core Assignment 2: Rhetorical Analysis of a Cultural Artifact (4-5 pages, 15% of course grade)

Core Assignment 3: Ref. Annotated Bibliography for Research Paper (5% of course grade)

Core Assignment 4: Research Paper (7-8 pages, 15% of course grade)

Each core assignment includes multiple drafts. All core assignment deadlines, including both drafts and final versions, are due Sunday at 5PM.

Total course grade percentage for assignments: 45%

Blogs and Comments

Each week you will receive a Blog prompt in your Module. Blog entries of >250 words are due every Wednesday at noon. Post them by clicking the “Blog” tab in the Main Menu of this website, and find the corresponding Module number. 

Then each week by the next day, you’ll need to leave Comments on at least 5 peers’ blogs. Comments are due by Thursday at 5PM.

Comments must be:

• • On topic
  • At least three coherent sentences long.

Please write your comments in complete sentences. Comments should offer meaningful participation – an attempt to engage with what’s being asked and/ or what’s been said so far in the comments. Feel free to respond to another peer’s comment. Comments that offer no meaningful participation will negatively impact your grade. 

Total course grade percentage for blogs and comments: 30%

Participation

It is necessary to meaningfully participate in this online class community beyond just turning in your assignments. You can earn your participation grade by:

• • Participate in live check-in sessions and group meetings on Zoom, OR
  • View the recording of the meeting and complete a Missed Meeting form when you cannot attend a live session (within 48 hours)

Total course grade percentage for participation: 15%.

Grading Breakdown

Core Assignments: 45%

• • Literacy Narrative: 10%
  • Rhetorical Analysis: 15%
  • Annotated Bibliography: 5%
  • Research Paper: 15%

Blogs and Comments: 30%

Participation: 15%

Final: 10%

Web Platforms

Blogs at Baruch

Email

Google Docs/ Drive

Slack

Reading

Reading is a huge part of this course. Most of our Blogs will be responses to that week’s reading assignment. Some weeks, your reading will be the writing of your peers. All reading will be linked and able to be read online (you can print it if you have a printer, but it’s not necessary).

FAQ

Where can I go for more individualized help with my writing?

Answer: The Baruch Writing Center!

As a writer you’ll want to seek feedback from many different readers. Writers at all levels of experience get feedback on their writing. Asking for and receiving feedback is not a sign of weakness and it does not equal weak writing; it’s actually a sign of wisdom and makes your writing much stronger. You’ll give feedback to and get feedback from your fellow writers in your writing groups in this class throughout the semester and at all stages of your projects. I also encourage you to get feedback on your writing from professional writing consultants (some of whom also teach first-year writing courses) at the Writing Center.

The Writing Center offers free, one-to-one (online) and small-group workshop writing support to all Baruch students. The Center’s consultants work collaboratively with you to deepen your writing and English language skills. At any step in the process, they’ll help you become a more confident and versatile writer. I encourage you to schedule your appointment well in advance of when your writing is due. You can schedule an appointment and view more info on the Baruch Writing Center website.

What about accessible participation?

In an asynchronous environment different challenges arise that we might not have encountered previously in our learning experiences. If new challenges or new learning needs arise for you over the course of the 5-week term, I am here to work with you to figure out new avenues and methods for completing our coursework.

A note on platforms and accessibility: our Blogs @ Baruch website will include an accessibility toolbar, and accessibility features are available across the platforms we’ll be using. Let me know if I can help locate accessibility tools. Additionally, I will do my best to find, use, and make prominent captions on videos.

Additionally, here’s the whole college’s official policy on accessible participation: Baruch College is committed to making individuals with disabilities full participants in the programs, services, and activities of the college community through compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. It is the policy of Baruch College that no otherwise qualified individual with a disability will be denied access to any program, service, or activity offered by the university. Individuals with disabilities have a right to request accommodations. If you require any special assistance or accommodations, please contact the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities at (646) 312-4590, and inform me (as appropriate) as soon as you can, ideally during the few days of this summer semester.

For additional information see:

http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/facultyhandbook/DisabilitiesInformation.html

Could you tell me a bit about academic integrity?

Plagiarism is a serious offense that, if done knowingly and depending on the severity and other factors, can result in a failing grade (or worse) and a mark on your permanent academic record. All students enrolled at Baruch are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty, as defined in the Baruch Student Handbook. Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses.

If you ever have any questions or concerns about plagiarism, please ask me. You can also check out the online plagiarism tutorial prepared by members of the Newman Library faculty at http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/help/plagiarism/default.htm and Baruch College’s academic integrity policy at http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.htm

Can I turn work in late? What if I have technology issues?

No. All work is due at the time specified within the assignment details. If you’re not already in the habit of turning your work in on time, I encourage you to develop the practice and will try to help you in that endeavor in this course. That said, if you are struggling with a work/life balance in the schedule, please reach out to me and be honest. That’s the best way we can have a discussion about your work.

Please note that technology issues, including files you turn in that I cannot open, do not constitute an excuse for late work. Double check your files before and after you submit them to make sure your peers and I who will be reviewing them can open them. As you may have learned the hard way in the past, it’s a good habit to save important files such as course work to a location aside from your laptop or whatever device you may use for your classes—for example, Google Drive. Hard drives crash, thumb drives get lost, and laptops, tablets, and phones can get stolen. While I’ll be sad along with you if this happens, it’s your responsibility to make sure you back up your work so that life—and your effective participation in this course—can go on.