This course continues the study and practice of college writing begun in English 1A. This class will fulfill the university's critical thinking requirement through an emphasis upon understanding the self as it exists in a social context.
To understand that social context, students will be asked at the beginning of this class to focus upon two themes: "education," defined here as the passage of students through educational systems, and "advancement," defined here as the induction of individuals into careers through the various and sundry "sorting systems" that define who is to be "made available" for particular types of employment, so as to achieve what the business world calls "success." So I want to give you this class as an opportunity to reflect upon your past and your future. We will look at ways in which writing can be used to reflect on and evaluate arguments about these processes, and ways in which writing can be used to assert oneself and one's identity as a student and as a citizen of the world. In so doing we'll move as writers to try to make sense of the world as it attempts to define us as students, as members of communities, and as economic beings.
The rest of the class time will be devoted to topics such as gender and race, in order to explore ways in which we construct each other. The point of illustrating such sensitive topics is not to alter the opinions of the student body or to persuade any of you of any of my beliefs, but rather to help each of you to articulate beliefs which you already have, using discourse appropriate to a collegiate setting.
By fulfilling the course requirement, you should come away with writing abilities that will apply not just to argumentative papers or research papers but to situations that will occur throughout your lifetimes as writers. Welcome to the course.
TEXTS:
Rereading America, 5th edition, Colombo, Cullen, Lisle (RA)
handouts per professor's request
Essays: Four essays will be assigned, three short (4-6 pages) essays and one longer (6-8 pages) research paper. All papers will be put through a drafting process
Rough Drafts: Part of the classroom activity will consist of the production of rough drafts; writings that indicate progress in the production of papers. Papers that have not started out with rough drafts, and have not been subjected to peer review at the assigned peer review workshops will be docked one grade.
Attendance and participation: Regular attendance and active participation in all class workshops and discussions is required.
Reading journals: Must be submitted with commentary on all readings. You should be able to summarize the reading briefly, in a sentence or two, and also to respond to it with understandings that integrate your personal background with the reading itself. Journals will be collected each Wednesday of each week. No late or rewritten journal entries will be accepted.
Writing journal entries is supposed to be part of a process of academic growth. We write, as I will explain, because we want to solve problems that we encounter when we read. Journal entries are to be kept short, personal, and unconstrained by the concerns that accompany "graded" writing -- if they meet minimum standards, they pass. All journals are "pass-fail" exercises.
In-Class Activities: Part of the course description of English 1B includes graded in-class activities. Much of the in-class activity we pursue over the quarter will be nongraded activity, activity which will nevertheless affect the final grade. You will have to attend class to perform these activities.
Portfolio: This will consist of your best work of the quarter, and in it I will give you a chance to discard your least favorite essay and to improve your other essays. It will be due at the end of the quarter. Submit your best journal entries in it.
Policy on late papers: No late papers will be accepted without valid excuse. Revisions will not receive credit unless the original paper was submitted on time. If you suffer equipment difficulties with a computer or printer, submit your papers in handwritten form, either journals or essays; I will accept them as such.
Paper presentation I will require one paper presentation this semester -- students will be chosen at random to present a paper. Audience reaction will be dignified, critical.
Final grade will be computed as follows:
Essays: 50%
Reading journals/ portfolio: 35%
Attendance and participation: 15%
Week of January 10th: Introduction. discuss course objectives, policies, etc. Topic: What does it mean to "think critically"?
January 17th: Excerpt of chapter 1 of Berman's The Twilight of American Culture; discussion of the role of critical thinking in modern society. Gatto's "The Seven-Lesson Schoolteacher" (152-161).
24th: Rose's "I Just Wanna Be Average" (162-174). Excerpt from Rawlins' The Writer's Way. Discussion about reading techniques, and the history of reading.
31st: Anyon's "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work" (174-190). Malcolm X's "Learning To Read" (223-232), Tannen's "The Roots of Debate" (233-252). Discussion of connection between social class and educational quality. Will be essential to your papers.
February 7: Cheney's "Politics in the Schoolroom" (265-278). Portion of Alfie Kohn's What To Look For In A Classroom. Discussion of the politics of classroom teaching. In-class work on draft of first paper. (This week will have a "lab session" that will count importantly toward the participation grade.)
14th: First paper due. Sociohistorical discussion of social class -- In-class jigsaw reading of the chapter on "Class" from William G. Roy's Making Societies.
21th: Naden's "Colin Powell" (305-311), Dalton's "Horatio Alger" (311-317). History and limitations of the Horatio Alger myth discussed at length, esp. w/ regards to Alger's "Ragged Dick" (298-304) -- will be part of 2nd paper.
28th: Mantsios' "Class in America" (318-334). Last chapter of Ehrenreich's Nickel & Dimed. The American class structure will be explained in this class.
March 7th: Chapters 3 and 4 of Schleuning's Idle Hands and Empty Hearts. "Is work any fun and if it isn't, why isn't it"? Here we'll connect our understandings of work to Alfie Kohn's discussion of reinforcement.
14th: Chapter 7 of Schmidt's Disciplined Minds, Garland's "Cora Tucker" (340-351). Here we will discuss the difficulties confronting us as we try to "make it" in the world, both here and globally. In-class work on draft of first paper. (This week will have a "lab session" that will count importantly toward the participation grade.)
21st: Spring break
28th: First draft of second paper due. In-class jigsaw reading of a portion of Seabrook's Victims of Development and of Chapter 8 of Kahane's Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric.
April 4th: A section of Cogswell's Chomsky For Beginners; Price's "Looking for Nature at the Mall" (836-851).
11th: Devor's "Becoming Members of Society" (414-422). Article on masculinity and sports.
18th: Takaki's "Race at the End of History" (383-394)
25th: Third essay due: In-class reading of Annette Rottenberg's The Structure of Arguments.
May 2nd: research prospectus due.
9th: Building the research essay: no reading.
16th: Research essay due, portfolios due, all draft revisions due
2. Reading journals: The reading journals serve a variety of important purposes. They allow you to develop a dialogue with me about the topics discussed in the readings: in this regard, I do not intend to judge you or your opinion about such topics but am instead interested in enhancing your writing as a mode of self-assertion from within the social forces that we will discuss in this class. For that reason, I will regard journal-writing as a species of confidential writing, and will never discuss it (without permission) with others. Our dialogue about reading journals will allow you to identify issues and evidence in the texts we will be reading for this class, and in the journals themselves, and (possibly) in what of your life you share in the journals themselves. Completing the reading journals will therefore give you a foundation for creating constructive, engaging class papers. To be included in the portfolio, the journals are the "running record" of your progress as a critical thinker. For all those reasons, no late journals will be accepted. Huge quantities of late journal material, submitted all at once, would overtax my abilities as a professor and would not give me any indication of "how the class is doing" with any particular reading assignment.
Please do the following for each of your journals:
4. Typed Assignments. All assignments must be typed. No exceptions. My comments make no sense if they are made on handwriting; and I cannot make allowances for handwriting I cannot read.