Writing Experience: English 131, Section 1Instructor: Josh Webster (you may call me Josh)Class Location and Times: Mondays and Wednesdays, 8:00 a.m. to 9:27 a.m., BertWalker Hall Room 107Office: Adjunct Faculty Office, Bert Walker Hall Room 231English Department: (517) 796-8582Email: [email protected] Hours: Monday and Wednesday 10:00 to 12:00, Tuesday 4:00 to 5:50 and byappointmentRequired Materials: The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing by Axelrod and Cooper, which is available at the campus bookstore A 3.5’’ HD disk, zip disk or jump drive disk for file transfers (while files can be moved by e-mail, it is not the most reliable method) A computer (with word processing software) you can use outside of class Writing implements and a notebook of some sort Five loose-leaf pocket folders (one for each paper and the portfolio) and a two-pocket folder for your GPAW AssignmentsCourse Purpose: Why We Write“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what itmeans. What I want and what I fear.”Joan DidionAs a form of communication, the media that fall under the heading of writing serve various public, private, practical and creative purposes. Writing, which includes any sort of communicative medium that uses printed language, is:- Public in the sense that written documents are employed by public institutions such as corporations, non-profit organizations and governmental agencies to communicate policies, influence individual opinions and conduct day to day affairs. Legal documents, corporate and scientific reports, newspapers and press releases are all forms of public writing.- Private in the sense that individuals use writing in their daily lives to express theirideas, explore their emotions and communicate with one another. Personal journals, blogs, e-mails and letters are all examples of private writing.- Practical in the sense that writing is a privileged form of communication that individuals use to advance themselves in workplace, social and academic settings.Letters of application (for jobs or admission to educational institutions), reports and papers written for academic institutions, corporations and other organizations are all examples of writing’s practical applications.- Creative in the sense that writing allows us to explore our individual minds, emotions and ideas as well as the potential inherent in the world around us. Writing even allows us to create new worlds woven from nothing but the fabric of-1-our own imaginations. The producers of autobiographies, novels, short stories, poetry, screenplays, comic books and video games all rely on the creative potential of writing.The boundaries between these applications of writing are often blurred and, in many cases, a single piece of writing can be applied in a variety of circumstances and ways. Thomas Paine’s essay “Common Sense”, a creative vision of a democratic society in which personal freedom and human rights reign supreme, became the practical inspiration for The U.S. Constitution. Martin Luther King’s private dream of a world in which all people are considered equal became a public mission embodied by the Civil Rights Movement. All types of writing, to some extent, possess the power to alter the society and world in which they are created.Writing is also a cognitive process, a way that we, as individuals, explore ourselves; our thoughts, our ideas, our beliefs, our emotions, our dreams. When we write we define and refine our thinking as the process of writing calls upon us to put our ideas into words we can reflect on and share with the rest of the world. It is when we reflect on the things we and others have written, the things we and they have thought, that we learn to question our own beliefs and, by extension, how to examine and question the ideas and beliefs that drive our world. Ultimately, however, this process must start with you.In this class we will focus just as much (if not more) on the cognitive process of writing as we will on writing’s applications, or, to phrase it another way, the purpose of this class is to explore how you write as well as what you write. To this end, you will be required to produce papers that effectively communicate your ideas but you will also be required to reflect on the thinking that produced those papers and ideas that they embody.By reflecting on your own writing process you will grow as a writer, learn how to approach a number of different types of writing and prepare yourself for future writing endeavors. Writing effectively, like performing a magic trick, is a matter of understanding how it’s done and practice.In addition to the purpose stated above, this course is designed to fulfill specific Associate Degree Outcomes established by Jackson Community College for its students.These goals are set to ensure students meet the standards of their chosen profession and/or the requirements for future endeavors in higher education. The ADO’s addressed in this course include: the ability to communicate clearly, concisely and intelligibly using writing skills, work with genre study and the practice of a variety of writing strategies; the ability to implement standard written English in academic writing; demonstrated awareness of the influence of different audiences and purposes on writing; demonstrated familiarity with writing process; the ability to read and comprehend subject material; theability to ask constructive questions; demonstrated use of critical thinking skills; demonstrated success with research skills; demonstrated success with documentation andcitation of research materials; the ability to collaborate with others; demonstrated exploration of at least one transcendent theme.-2-Class Structure: A Community of WritersWhile the main purpose of this class is developing your writing and reflecting on how you write, you can also learn a great deal from reading other people’s writing and byunderstanding how they write. For this reason, we will be creating, over the course of thesemester, a community of writers in which all members of the class produce work, respond to others’ work (as well as their own) and explore the writing process through discussion in both small and large groups. Not only will you be a student in this class butyou will also be, at times, an instructor, a presenter and a critical reader.You will be expected to engage yourself in class
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