Syllabus for English 085, College Reading, Fall 2007Instructor: Barbara Stockton Office hours in BW 123Office: BW 123 (Walker Hall) Tuesday and Thursday, 3:00-4:00Phone: 796-8415 Class time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1-3Email: [email protected] Meeting place : BW 201 Textbooks and supplies:1. Winning at Math: Your Guide to Learning Mathematics Through Successful Study Skills, 4th edition, by Paul Nolting2. One Child by Torey Hayden3. Two spiral notebooks: single–subject, college rule, size 8 inches x 10½ inches4. A folder for handouts for ENG 085. You need to be organized!5. Fifty 3x5 index cards for vocabulary study* 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.6. Assess and develop a range of study skills and strategiesAssociate Degree Outcomes: The JCC Board of Trustees has developed a list of essential skills which all of its associate degree graduates will enhance during their college experience.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 080 students will develop the following skills:1) Critical thinking.Assignments and Time managementPage 1You will receive a calendar of readings and assignments. You are expected to read the assigned materials and do journal writing and other work before class begins. I suggest you plan out your week, allotting enough time to complete the assigned work. Follow the 2-to 1 rule: spend 2 hours of study time for every 1 hour of class time (so 8 hours a week of outside work for this class!). If you have questions about an assignment, please call me, e-mail me, or visit my office. Please don’t wait until it is time to hand in the assignment to tell me you did not understand it or for some other reason could not complete it.READING JOURNAL (50% of your grade)You are expected to read the assigned works and also to write about them in your reading journal before class on the date listed on your reading schedule. In a spiral notebook, write about the works, concentrating on 1) noticing and describing your thoughts as you read, 2) listing key points in the text, and 3) telling your related stories.1) Metacognition: Pay attention to your reading process. Jot down some of the thoughts that occur as you preview and read. I suggest you annotate/highlight key points and make brief notations in the margin of your book as you do the first reading. For part 1, you may comment on:- how ideas are organized—are there sections?- visual or sensory images (describe the picture in your mind)- memories that occur as you read (personal experience, movies, things you’ve read)- predictions (whether they are right or not)- questions or problems, and what you did to resolve them2) Notes: Take notes to summarize and organize the content: What seems to be the main idea,focus, or purpose of the story, and why do you think so? Using your own words, present a summary of important information. If some key points are supported with details, examples, facts, etc., you could show this in outline form (Point 1 might have three supporting details, listed as a, b, and c. Try different methods of note taking: outline, Cornell method, mind maps, or drawings (we will discuss these in class).3) Application: Write about how some part of the text relates to you, or tell how you might use or apply this information. What stories from your own or someone else’s experiences come to mind as you read. Here you are finding connections between the text and your life.How the READING JOURNAL is graded: Start each day’s assignment on the top line of the right-hand page of your notebook. Clearly number the three sections, 1, 2, and 3, each starting on a new line. Write to the end of each line and do not skip any lines, even between sections. Do not copy long quotes from the book—write your words, not the author’s words, and definitely not the words of a classmate (that’s plagiarism). Generally, you will receive a 1.0 for writing ½ page 2.0 for 1 page3.0 for 1½ pages 3.25 for 2 pages3.5 for 1½ pages 4.0 for 3 pagesPage 2WINNING AT MATH: Your Guide to Learning Mathematics Through Successful Study Skills (20% of grade)This study skills textbook has written assignments for each chapter which you should do in your book. YES, WRITE IN YOUR BOOK! In addition, I expect you to annotate the boarders and other spaces in the text. I encourage you to keep this book as a reference in the future. Besides highlighting key ideas and doing the exercises, you will use one of your notebooks to take notes on the book and on your math textbook. Write brief summaries, putting valuable ideas of each section in your own words. Later, you can refer to this notebook for key study tips. The 3 components (highlights, exercises, notes) count as You will record your own grade using a rubric (the blue form). 10% of your grade.Toward the end of the semester, you will give a presentation that draws on two of the Winning at Math chapters. Imagine that the audience for your presentation is students getting ready for college. The purpose is to provide suggestions that will help them be successful. Go online to http://davede70.tripod.com for guidelines and links that will help you complete this project. This project will count as 10% of your grade. PERSONAL READING PROJECT (10% of grade)In addition to the assigned reading, you are to find and read materials on topics of interest to you personally. Locate at least one book, two magazine or newspaper articles, and three web sites. Create a “Personal Reading Project” section in the back section of your Winning at Math notebook. At the top of the page, cite the source (book, article, or web site), and on thatpage write down interesting things you learned from that source. Later in the semester, you will give an oral presentation. Tell us what you read, what you learned, and what