Page 1 Syllabus for English 085, College Reading, Fall 2009 Instructor: Martha Petry Office Hours: Office: Walker Hall, Room 241 Monday and Wednesday, 8-11 Phone: 517-796-8530 Tuesday and Thursday, 8:30-9:15 Email: [email protected] or by Appointment Textbooks and supplies: 1. On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life, by Skip Downing 2. the curious incident of the dog in the night-time a novel by mark haddon 3. Generation Debt: Take Control of Your Money—A How to Guide by Carmen Wong Ulrich 4. Journal notebook: spiral, single subject, college rule, size 8” x 10½” 5. Pens, highlighters and sticky notes 6. Folder for loose papers. * You may also want to purchase a portable dictionary—recommended but not required. Course Objectives: In this course you will . . . 1. Improve your reading comprehension. 2. Make connections between what you read and your own experiences. 3. Write clear summaries of what you read. 4. Combine information from several reading sources. 5. Read for pleasure and for information. Associate Degree Outcomes: The JCC Board of Trustees has developed a list of essential skills that all graduates should develop. The Board has said: JCC’s goal is to prepare students to live productive and meaningful lives. Implicit in this goal are efforts to prepare students to: (a) live and work in the 21st century, (b) be employed in situations which will require retraining several times during a productive life, and (c) function in a rapidly changing international society. In support of these guidelines, ENG 085 students will develop critical thinking skills, including the ability to . . . - Generate questions about a text before and while reading. - Identify the impact of emotion on thought. - Distinguish between fact, opinion and inference. - Recognize bias in a piece of writing. - Incorporate new knowledge with old. Eng 085 Grading - Journal Entries (Personal Connections and Reflections) 30% - Summaries, Notes, Thinking Records 20% - Reading/Research Project, including Oral Presentation 20% - Small Group Work/Participation/Attendance 15% - Comprehension Quizzes 15%Page 2 Keys to Reading Skill Development 1. The more you invest time and effort in reading, the more your reading skills will develop. 2. Skillful reading requires vigorous mental activity. Be alert and actively seek out what the author wants to say by asking questions, making guesses and predictions, reflecting on ideas, and drawing on your own knowledge and experience as you read. 3. Pay attention to how the author organizes ideas, noticing heading titles, bold or italicized words, central themes, patterns, etc. (Noticing how writers organize their ideas can also make you a better writer.) Journal entries (30%) Your journal is a place where you write your thoughts about, reactions to, interpretations of, and connections with a particular reading assignment. Rather than simply “free writing,” you will be given specific tasks and prompts to guide your journal writing. Read the prompts carefully and follow them step by step. The best journal entries are ones that show that you have thought deeply about a topic and shared something of yourself, including new understandings and realizations. Journal writing does not have to be polished, but it should be real and heartfelt. Follow these five guidelines from page 5 of On Course: - Copy the directions for each step into your journal (just the bold print). - Be spontaneous: let your thinking flow onto the page. - Be honest: tell your truth. - Be creative: feel free to use color, drawings, quotes, sayings, clip art, photos, etc. - Dive deep: when you think you have exhausted a topic, write more. Summaries, Notes, Records of thinking (20%) Summarizing is a valuable academic skill. Sometimes you will be asked summarize, in your own words, what the words on the pages are saying. Paraphrase the most important information. A good summary will not leave out leave out any key parts or important ideas. Taking Good Notes is an important college skill that many high school graduates have not mastered. To develop that skill, you will be taking extensive notes on most of the materials you read. Study pages 81-84 in On Course and try out the tips for effective note taking, including the outline method (#6), a concept map (#7), and the Cornell method (#8). Records of Thinking: skilled readers use highlighting, underlining, notes in the margins, and sticky notes to hold their thinking, to keep a record of thoughts that occur to them, not after they’ve finished reading, but while they are reading. Records of your thinking may look like this: “This reminds me of. . . .” “I can picture. . . .” “I predict that. . . .” A question I have is. . . .” “I’m confused about. . . .” “The big idea here is. . . .” “I’ll reread this.” “I think/believe/wonder. . . .”Page 3 Reading/Research Projects (20%) In addition to the assigned reading, you will be learning how to find and read materials on two particular areas. The first we will all work with as a class, and our focus will be on the topic of autism. The second reading/research topic will be chosen by you, based on your personal interests or areas that you have always wanted to explore but may never have had the time or opportunity. You will be locating resources to help you research those topics—books, magazines, newspaper articles, films, songs, people, and the internet. You will tell the class what topic you chose, what materials you found, what you learned, and how this learning was or will be valuable for you. Small Group Work/Participation/Attendance (15%) Comprehension Quizzes (15%) You will be quizzed on your comprehension of assigned readings from time to time. The quizzes will consist of an array of questions—multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, and short essay. Sometimes you will know about the quizzes in advance, and sometimes you will not know in advance. See more information about this area on the Learning Community Overarching Responsibilities