Houston Community College Central
English Department
English 0310: Fundamentals Of Grammar & Composition II CRN 53048
Alan Ainsworth, Ph.D.
[email protected]
718-8709
FAC 206 Central Campus;
Office hours: MW before and after class and by appointment
http://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/alan.ainsworth
713-
Required Texts:
Buscemi and Smith, 75 Readings Plus, 9th ed.
http://highered.mcgrawhill.com/sites/0073383856/information_center_vie
w0/
Optional Texts:
Purdue Online Writing Lab:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ Maimon, Peritz, and Blake, The McGrawHill Handbook
College-level dictionary
Other materials: blue or black pens for in-class work;
A manila folder to hold work for the entire semester.
Course Description: A course designed to prepare students for ENGL 1301.
ENGL 0310 provides a basic review of the principles of grammar, usage,
and mechanics and utilizes the writing process to teach students to write
short essays (350-500 words; 500 words ~ two 12-point type-written doublespaced pages).
Student Learning Outcomes English 0310:
1. Use a variety of sentence patterns in writing.
2. Comprehend and respond to assigned readings.
3. Employ the writing process (planning, drafting, editing, revising, and
developing thesis and topic sentences) in assigned writings.
4. Write a variety of essays using appropriate rhetorical modes.
5. Incorporate the ideas and words of other writers in their own essays
using established strategies.
Attendance: “Students are expected to attend classes regularly. Students
are responsible for materials covered during their absences, and it is the
student‟s responsibility to consult with instructors for make-up assignments
[NOTE: not all assignments may be made up after the day they were due;
missed in-class assignments may not be made up.] Class attendance is
checked daily by instructors. Although it is the responsibility of the student
to drop a course for non-attendance, the instructor has the authority to
Fall 2011 English 0310 Ainsworth 1
drop a student for excessive absences. A student may be dropped from a
course for excessive absences after the student has accumulated in
excess of 12.5% of instruction,” six hours (not classes) of absence in a 48
contact hour class.
Lab Hour: A lab hour component has been added to all Developmental English
classes. One hour of the four hours per week will be reserved for lab hour
activities. These will be listed on your syllabus each week and a weekly grade will
be assessed for competent completion of these activities.
Course Requirements
4 essays, in class
3 papers, out of class
Instructor‟s choice: journals, reading responses
Collaborative/oral assignments, Lab hour
Final in-class essay
40%
30%
20%
10%
Grading: Your grade will be determined by your performance on the
required papers as well as on weekly work comprised of reading quizzes,
grammar review, and class discussion (and see above, Course
Requirements). Discussions are based not exclusively on personal opinions
but on facts and opinions derived from the essays we read from our book
and from handouts. You are required to write a minimum of seven essays,
four of them in class. You must be able to write satisfactory in-class essays
in order to pass this class. Essays will be graded according to the following
departmental standards.
Grading Scale: A 90-100% B 80-89% C 70-79%
IP 0-69% FX
W
If you have taken this course before and received an IP, the grading scale
is:
Grading Scale: A 90-100% B 80-89% C 70-79%
F 0-69%
FX
W
W (Withdrawn) may be given if a student misses more than 12.5% of
instruction (6 class hours). IP (In Progress grade) is given to students who do
not meet the minimum grading standards but who are otherwise in good
standing (have completed all assignments on a timely basis, have
attended class regularly, have participated, etc.). An IP is not the same as
an Incomplete and does not affect a student‟s GPA but does require the
student to re-take the course. IP may only be given once per course per
student. A student who wishes to drop the course must formally withdraw
through the Registrar before the last drop date to receive a W. Those who
stop attending after that date will receive a FX, which will have Financial
Aid repercussions.
Fall 2011 English 0310 Ainsworth 2
Scholastic Dishonesty: “Students are responsible for conducting
themselves with honor and integrity in fulfilling course requirements.
Penalties and/or disciplinary proceedings may be initiated by College
System officials against a student accused of scholastic dishonesty.
„Scholastic dishonesty‟ includes, but is not limited to, cheating on a test,
plagiarism, and collusion. . . .” See Student Handbook on HCCS website.
Reasonable Accommodation: Any student with a documented disability
(e.g., physical, learning, psychiatric, vision, hearing, etc.) who needs to
arrange reasonable accommodation must contact the Disability Services
Office in SJAC 106 of the Central Campus or at 713-718-5164 at the
beginning of each semester. Faculty are authorized to provide only the
accommodations requested by the Disability Support Services Office.
Support Services
Tutoring: Free tutoring is available in FAC 321b of the Central Campus.
Tutors are usually available 8a-2p M-F and 4-7 M-W. Call 713 718 6671 to
verify that tutors are available before driving to the Central Campus.
Tutors will tutor students as they sign in.
Other tutoring across HCC is available.
See http://www.hccs.edu/hccs/tutoring-opportunities-available-at-hcc
Askonline is an online tutoring service. http://hccs.askonline.net/
Library: The library for the Central Campus is located on the third floor of
the LHSB Building. The librarians are dedicated to helping you find
whatever you need and may direct you to our online sources or to other
libraries in the HCCS system or in Houston.
Open Computer Lab: There are several open computer labs across the
campus. Computers are available for word processing, email, and
research. Check for open hours.
EGLS3 -- Evaluation for Greater Learning Student Survey System: At
Houston Community College, professors believe that thoughtful student
feedback is necessary to improve teaching and learning. During a
designated time, you will be asked to answer a short online survey of
research-based questions related to instruction. The anonymous results of
the survey will be made available to your professors and division chairs for
continual improvement of instruction. Look for the survey as part of the
Houston Community College Student System online near the end of the
term.
Classroom decorum: No cell phones or electronic communications
devices may be used without permission. No disruption (behavioral,
Fall 2011 English 0310 Ainsworth 3
electronic, or otherwise) of fellow students or the professor is acceptable.
Be courteous and respectful of others.
Reading Assignments Before Class:
Please have the assignment read before coming to class, and bring your
dictionary to class. That way you‟ll be prepared for reading quizzes. It‟s
also a good idea to read the coming week‟s assignments in 75 Readings
Plus over the weekend, so that when we go over the material in class
you‟ll have the advantage of a second reading. Out of class essays are
due at the start of class. Assignments in Purdue OWL will be made
throughout the semester.
CALENDAR
WEEK ONE
August 29
Monday
Diagnostic Essay. Michel de Montaigne: On Liars
Introduction to course, textbooks, instructor, and classmates; syllabus
Wednesday
Michel de Montaigne: On Liars
WEEK TWO
Monday
September 5
Wednesday
Lab:
Labor Day Holiday
George Orwell: Shooting an Elephant
Langston Hughes: Salvation
Lab:
WEEK THREE
September 12
Monday
Maya Angelou: Grandmother's Victory
Malcolm X: Coming to an Awareness of Language
Martin Gansberg: Thirty-eight Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police
Barbara Tuchman: The Plague
Wednesday
N. Scott Momaday: Revisiting Sacred Ground
E.B. White: Once More to the Lake
Joan Didion: Marrying Absurd
Amy Tan: Mother Tongue
WEEK FOUR
Monday
Lab:
September 19
In Class Essay 1
Fall 2011 English 0310 Ainsworth 4
Wednesday James Baldwin: Fifth Avenue, Uptown
Michael Byers: Monuments to Our Better Nature
Judith Ortiz Cofer: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood
Diane Ackerman: Why Leaves Turn Color in the Fall
Lab:
WEEK FIVE
September 26
Monday Richard Marius: Writing Drafts
John (Fire) Lame Deer and Richard Erdoes: Alone on the Hilltop
Edward Abbey: The Serpents of Paradise
Gretel Ehrlich: Chronicles of Ice
Wednesday
Out of Class Paper A
Lab:
WEEK SIX
October 3
Monday Susan Sontag: Women's Beauty: Put Down of Power Source?
Jo Goodwin Parker: What is Poverty?
Joe Epstein: The Green-Eyed Monster
Dagoberto Gilb: Pride
Wednesday Gloria Naylor: Meanings of a Word
Ellen Goodman: The Company Man
Gail Sheehy: Predictable Crises of Adulthood
Kesaya E. Noda: Growing Up Asian in America
Lab:
WEEK SEVEN
October 10
Monday
Judity Viorst: The Truth about Lying
William Lutz: Doublespeak
Luc Sante: What Secrets Tell
Ian Frazier: Coyote vs. Acme
Wednesday
Jonathan Lethem: 9 Failures of the Imagination
Stephen J. Gould: Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs
May Sarton: The Rewards of Living a Solitary Life
Lab:
WEEK EIGHT
Monday
October 17
In Class Essay 2
Wednesday
Bruce Catton: Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts
Deborah Tannen: Talk in the Intimate Relationship: His and Hers
Mark Twain: Two Views of the Mississippi
Scott Russell Sanders: The Men We Carry in Our Minds
Lab:
Fall 2011 English 0310 Ainsworth 5
WEEK NINE
October 24
Monday
Related Reading: Staples, Black Men and Public Space
Goodman, The Company Man
Suzanne Britt: Neat People vs. Sloppy People
Bharati Mukherjee: Two Ways to Belong in America
Henry Blodget: China's Biggest Gamble: Can It Have Capatilism Without
Democracy? A Prediction
Lab:
Wednesday
Out of Class Paper B
WEEK TEN
October 31
Monday Robertson Davies: A Few Kind Words for Superstition
Edward T. Hall: The Anthropology of Manners
William Zinsser: Clutter
Bailey White: Forbidden Things
John McPhee: Silk Parachute
Richard Wiseman: The Search for the World’s Funniest Joke
Wednesday Brent Staples: Black men and Public Space
Sandra Cisneros: Only Daughter
Shelby Steele: White Guilt
Paul Salopek: Shattered Sudan
David Ewing Duncan: DNA as Destiny
Susan Casey: Our Oceans Are Turning into Plastic . . .Are We? Lab:
Last Day to Drop November 3
WEEK ELEVEN
Monday
November 7
In Class Essay 3
Wednesday Barbara Dafoe Whitehead: Where Have All the Parents
Gone?
Philip Meyer: If Hitler Asked You to Electrocute a Strange, Would You?
Probably
K.C. Cole: The Arrow of Time
Calvin Trillin: It's Just Too Late
Lab:
WEEK TWELVE
November 14
Monday Plato: The Myth of the Cave
Albert Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus
Alice Walker: Am I Blue?
Fall 2011 English 0310 Ainsworth 6
Horace Miner: Body Ritual Among the Nacirema
Loren Eiseley: The Cosmic Prison
Wednesday Annie Dillard: Living Like Weasels
Harace Miner: Body Ritual Among the Nacirema
Loren Eiseley: The Cosmic Prison
Jonathan Kozol: The Details of Life
WEEK THIRTEEN
Monday
Lab:
November 21
In Class Essay 4
Wednesday
Thanksgiving Holiday
WEEK FOURTEEN
November 28
Monday Barbara Ehrenreich: A Step Back to the Workhouse?
Garrett Hardin: Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping the Poor
Lars Eighner: On Dumpster Diving
Wednesday Nat Hentoff: Should This Student Have Been Expelled?
Alan M. Dershowiz: Shouting "Fire!"
Andrew C Revkin: Global Warming Is Eroding Glacial Ice
Philip Stott: Global Warming Is Not a Threat to Polar Ice
Lab:
WEEK FIFTEEN
December 5
Monday Jonathan Swift: A Modest Proposal
Martin Luther King, Jr.: I Have a Dream
Debra Dickerson: Who Shot Johnny?
Richard Rodriguez: Bilingual Education: Outdated and Unrealistic
Wednesday
Judy Brady: Why I Want a Wife
Naomi Shahib Nye: To Any Would-Be Terrorists
Medicine Grizzlybear Lake: An Indian Father’s Plea
Andrew Sullivan: This Is a Religious War
Frank Bures: Test Day
Lab:
Out of Class Paper C
WEEK SIXTEEN
Monday
December 12
Final exam
Fall 2011 English 0310 Ainsworth 7