Course Schedule for Fields of Reading – Shared by Carrie O’Dell
Notes to Faculty: Carrie has included notes on her schedule in red that offer you options for reading assignments.
Also note that the second unit has been left blank intentionally except for Carrie’s original skill lessons. This is the
Montclair Book unit and will entail material from the book and whatever else you would like to bring in from the
text or other sources. There will be sample Montclair Book assignments and suggestions on the website as we get
closer to the beginning of the semester for you to incorporate, but you are, of course, free to create your own unit.
Remove all red notes if you adopt this syllabus. Note that you will have 28 classes plus a class meeting during the
examination period. Make sure to take into account any closures for Thanksgiving and the switch on Dec. 9,
designated as a “Wednesday as a Monday.” Course Schedule
Date
Activities in Class
Unit 1: Education in America
Class 1
Introduction to the
Course
Class 2
Discussion of
Assigned Reading and
Listening and work
with placement draft.
Read/ Watch/Listen
Due on Canvas
Syllabus
MSU FYW website links
available on Canvas section
of syllabus.
Hacker, Diana and Nancy
Sommers. “MLA Papers:
Supporting a thesis,
Avoiding plagiarism,
Integrating sources,
Integrating literary
quotations.” A Pocket Style
Manual, 106-124.
“How I Got Into College.”
This American Life. mp3 on
Canvas. This episode is
available on the This
American Life website,
episode 504,
http://www.thisamericanlife.
org/radioarchives/episode/504/how-igot-into-college.
Alternately, you could use
Christina Boufis’s
“Teaching Literature in the
County Jail” or one of the
readings from the “What is
the Value of a College
Education” Casebook.
Readings from that
casebook that are not
currently in this unit: David
Leonhardt’s “Even for
Cashiers, College Pays
Off”, Cathy N. Davidson’s
“Project Classroom
Makeover”, James Traub’s
“The Next Drive-Thru U”,
and George Felton’s “How
to Write a Great College
Slogan.”
Notes
Bring a copy of
your placement
draft to next class.
Citation Quiz
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
Class 3
Discussion of Reading
and First Assignment
Claim Workshop
Class 4
Discussion of
Assigned Reading
Edmondson, Mark. “On the
Uses of a Liberal
Education.” Fields of
Reading, 630-645.
Gutting, Gary. “What is
College For?” Fields of
Reading, 627-629.
Post of no fewer than 250
words on the discussion
board and one comment
on a peer’s post.
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
the night before class
Exploratory Draft Essay 1
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
Hacker Moment
Class 5
Discussion of
Assigned Reading
Hacker, Diana and Nancy
Sommers. “Clarity.” A
Pocket Style Manual, 3-20.
Lee, Linda. “The Case
Against College.” Fields of
Reading, 670-673.
Reading Workshop
Post of no fewer than 250
words on the discussion
board and one comment
on a peer’s post.
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
the night before class
Please bring a
copy of your
paper to class for
peer review.
Hacker, Diana and Nancy
Sommers. “Grammar.” A
Pocket Style Manual, 21-55.
Discussion of
“From Reading to Writing”
Essay 1 Peer Review
Assigned Reading
and “The Modes
Revised Draft Essay 1
Explained.” Fields of
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
Reading, 2-31.
Unit 2: Race in America: Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock Note: The author, David Margolik, will
be speaking on campus Thursday, Sept. 24. More details will follow regarding specifics.
Class 7
Discussion of
Listening Assignment
Class 8
Class 9
Discussion of
Assigned Reading
Quoting and
Paraphrasing
Workshop
Discussion of
Assigned Reading
Class 10
Discussion of
Assigned Reading
Class 11
Discussion of
Assigned Reading
Hacker, Diana and Nancy
Sommers. “Punctuation.” A
Pocket Style Manual, 56-77.
Final Draft Essay 1
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
Hacker, Diana and Nancy
Sommers. “Mechanics.” A
Pocket Style Manual, 78-89.
Essay 2 Peer Review
Exploratory Draft Essay 2
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
Introduction and
Conclusion Workshop
Class 12
Discussion of
Assigned Reading
Unit 3: Bias in the Media
Revised Draft Essay 2
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
Class 13
Discussion of
Assigned Reading
Gladstone, Brooke. “The
Great Refusal.” Fields of
Reading, 325-340.
Class 14
Discussion of
Assigned Reading
Sontag, Susan. “Regarding
the Pain of Others.” Fields
of Reading, 366-373.
Class 15
Discussion of
Assigned Reading
Plato. “The Cave.” Fields of
Reading, 104-109.
Class 16
Discussion of
Listening Assignment
Class 17
Discussion of
Assigned Reading
Class 18
Discussion of
Assigned Reading
“Taking Names.” This
American Life. mp3 on
Canvas. This episode is
available on the This
American Life website,
episode 499,
http://www.thisamericanlife.
org/radioarchives/episode/499/taking
-names.
Alternately, you might use
Jan Harold
Brunvand’s, “Urban
Legends: ‘The Boyfriend’s
Death’", George
Orwell’s, “Politics and the
English Language”, David
Friedman’s, “From 1890:
The First Text Messages”,
Nicholas Carr, “Is Google
Making Us Stupid?”
Johnson, Steven. “Watching
TV Makes You Smarter.”
Fields of Reading, 120-130.
Various Authors, “Soldiers’
Stories: Dispatches from
Iraq.” Fields of Reading,
374-385.
Class 19
Revision Workshop,
Paper 3
Hacker, Diana and Nancy
Sommers. “Research.” A
Pocket Style Manual, 90105.
Unit 4: The Documented Essay and Portfolio
Class 20
Organization and
“Researching to Write.”
Transition Workshop
Fields of Reading, 32-54.
Post of no fewer than 250
words on the discussion
board and one comment
on a peer’s post.
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
the night before class
Final Draft Essay 2
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
Post of no fewer than 250
words on the discussion
board and one comment
on a peer’s post.
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
the night before class
Post of no fewer than 250
words on the discussion
board and one comment
on a peer’s post.
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
the night before class
Exploratory Draft Essay 3
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
Post of no fewer than 250
words on the discussion
board and one comment
on a peer’s post.
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
the night before class
Essay 3 Peer Review
Revised Draft Essay 3
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
Selection of book source
for class on Monday,
April 9; if you do not
choose something, I will
assign a reading to you.
Submit your choice on the
Discussion Board on
Canvas.
Class 21
Library Scavenger
Hunt
Class 22
Presentation and
discussion of sources
from Fields of
Reading
Class 23
Documented Essay
Peer Review (not
online)
Class 24
Individual Meetings- In lieu of a regular class
meeting, I will meet with students individually to
discuss the Documented Essay and the final portfolio.
Missing a meeting is equivalent to missing a class.
Meetings will take place in my office.
Individual Meetings- In lieu of a regular class
meeting, I will meet with students individually to
discuss the Documented Essay and the final portfolio.
Missing a meeting is equivalent to missing a class.
Meetings will take place in my office.
Second Documented
Essay Peer Review
(not online)
Class 25
Class 26
Class 27
Discussion of
Portfolio
Portfolio Planning
Class 28
Portfolio Planning
Hacker, Diana and Nancy
Sommers. “MLA Papers:
MLA documentation style,
MLA manuscript format.” A
Pocket Style Manual, 124173.
A source of your choosing
from the textbook. This
must be a source we did not
read in class and you will
select it no less than a week
in advance.
Final Draft Essay 3
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
Class meets in the
Sprague Library
Exploratory Draft
(Annotated Bibliography)
Documented Essay
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
Revised Draft
Documented Essay
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
Final Draft Documented
Essay
DUE BY MIDNIGHT
Please bring a
copy of your
paper to class for
peer review.
Please bring a
copy of your first
portfolio paper to
class for a revision
workshop.
Please bring a
copy of your
second portfolio
paper to class for
a revision
workshop.
Final Exam meeting:
Class 29
While we do not have a final exam in this class, per directives by the Provost’s office we are required to meet for a
minimum of one hour during the final exam period. The exam period will focus on the personal reflection essay for
the portfolio. You must attend the final exam period meeting to get the instructions for the essay; I will not put the
instructions on Canvas. We will complete a draft of the essay during the exam period and you will then have until
midnight to submit a revised version on Canvas. I recommend that you complete all other portfolio requirements
before the exam period meeting. I will be available to discuss the portfolio further after the exam meeting. You’re
also welcome to hang out in the classroom until the end of the exam period if you want a quiet place to work; the
essay workshop will not take more than an hour.
Faculty: Link to Registrar's calendar to find exam schedule, last days to add/drop and other important information.
For the exam period class, most classes will meet in their regular classrooms but some will be assigned a specific
time (either the first hour or the second hour of the exam time) and a classroom.