JACKSON COMMUNITY COLLEGE WRITING EXPERIENCE English Composition 131 81 Tues Thurs 8 00 9 56 and English Composition 131 83 Tuesday 6 00 9 52 Instructor Mrs Agy Office BW 245 and faculty lounge Hillsdale campus Office Hrs Tues Thurs 10 11 00 am and Tues Thurs 5 30 and by appointment Email agydianam jccmi edu COURSE TEXTS Writing A Guide for College and Beyond COURSE MATERIALS A flash jump thumb drive to back up and transport your digital files and two pocket folders one for your daily assignments and graded work and one for your portfolio Click the Online Classes link on the JCC homepage for online class site Students should regularly check both student email accounts access from the JCC homepage Educator for messages ONLINE CLASS and EMAIL INFO WELCOME TO ENGLISH 131 I m excited to be here and I am excited about our working together this term In this class you will be examining two purposes of our course First you will focus on using writing as a place to explore serious inquiry secondly you will broaden your experiences with writing reading and critical thinking As the title of this course suggests we will look at the different ways in which we engage the writing process and how this process helps us interact with each other Even if we are not aware of it we are writers in our everyday experiences All of us participate in our communities and our workplace through writing Whether these experiences are letters memos emails directions resumes or the standard academic essay we can agree that writing is an important part of our everyday lives Some of us are comfortable communicating through writing and some of us are not I think some of this discomfort stems from a mystique that surrounds writing we might think that some people are born writers much like others are born singers or artists This is not necessarily true and this course will try to debunk some of these myths My goal is to help you find your starting point and work with you so that you become more comfortable with and in the writing process Since you will need to write for a variety of courses at JCC I want you to gain confidence in your own ability to communicate through written texts THIS CLASS IS A WORKSHOP What I mean by workshop is that it is a cooperative venture that I will help guide but you and your work will drive the course This will require your full mental and physical participation every day We will work on activities collect evidence from a variety of sources discuss topics analyze readings or films and practice various writing strategies You will be expected to work in groups both inside and outside of the classroom and you will learn how to give constructive feedback to your peers It is a standard expectation that college students study two hours outside of class for every hour they are in class This will be more than enough time to complete your work I will facilitate discussions conference with you offer feedback help you with prewriting peer review and editing skills and prepare you for the portfolio assessment at the end of the semester I will come to class prepared supportive and energetic I ll expect you to do the same Most importantly I want you to better understand the reasons why you make the choices you do when you write This will require active reflection or places where you consider what you wrote how you wrote why you made the changes you did and how these changes influence your purpose or your audience Understanding the whys will help you organize your thoughts and think more critically These are great skills to develop The primary business of this class is to improve your writing process and skills and to find and develop your writing voice Writing is thought on paper or screen a complex intellectual exercise requiring you to stretch your thinking to think critically and make valid and accurate choices distinctions and decisions Like all skills effective writing requires practice and effort In this class we will practice and write narrative descriptive informative analytical and persuasive styles to help develop various writing skills Although writing is more than grammar and punctuation mastering these conventions is crucial to clear communication and we will work on them as needed COURSE GOALS and OBJECTIVES ASSOCIATE DEGREE OUTCOMES ADOs and COURSE OBJECTIVES ENG 131 course goals and objectives incorporate specific Associate Degree Outcomes ADOs established by the JCC Board of Trustees administration and faculty These goals are in concert with four year colleges and universities and reflect input from the professional communities we serve ADOs guarantee students achieve goals necessary for graduation credit transferability and professional skills needed in many certification programs The ADOs addressed in this course are Writing clearly concisely and intelligibly ADO 1 developing level Class discussions activities and practice will focus on Developing a writing process Writing with attention to purpose and audience Organizing and developing ideas Writing with meaning making connections Integrating sources with proper documentation Employing proper grammar and mechanics Working in small groups ADO 9 developing level Class discussions activities and practice will focus on Understanding and performing tasks roles and decision making in group work and responding to peer writing Creating a supportive classroom environment Managing conflict Evaluating performance COURSE WRITING Our work together will all relate to the broad theme of community We might want to say that a community is a group of people who live in the same neighborhood or a community is a group of people with the same ideas beliefs and language While these generalizations might be true they are still generalizations We will be considering the idea of community more closely in this course hence for the next twelve or so weeks you will carefully consider parts of a community that you are involved in Each assignment will enlighten others about your community and it might help you better understand the people language and purpose of this particular community this is thinking through writing There s much room here for you to shape the projects units in ways that are important for you and we ll work together on this Four Units 400 points We ll focus our work on four units this term each of which will take approx three weeks Unit I Unit one asks you to explore an event in your community that is relevant to you Take us there help us
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