English 1A –University Reading and Composition

Instructor: Leila Easa                               

E-Mail:  leasa@ccsf.edu

Phone/Voicemail:  415-452-7205                  

(email is the best way to reach me)

Office:  370 Batmale Hall                    

Campus Mailbox: L220

Office Hours:  Thursdays during scheduled class times

Description of Course: English 1A at City College is our university-parallel reading, writing, and critical thinking class with a major research component. Most sections of 1A are themed with a “driving question,” as our class is. This semester, our class will be exploring technology from a variety of lenses. We’ll look at tech in terms of gender, marketing, attention, activism, design, work, and the future.

Key Inquiry Question: Technology: Are We Making It, or Is It Making Us?

Ours is an inquiry-based course with driving question that will inform all the work we do together this semester. We will build a bank of shared knowledge around the topic area while also developing and following our own individual interests within this question.

English 1A + 1AS is a six-unit course that gets you through all the writing of transfer-level English in one semester. Successful completion of this course requires a serious commitment of your time and attention. Besides spending four hours a week in class, you can expect about eight hours of homework per week (note: I didn’t make this up! This is mandated by California Title V Section 55002 and is based on the Carnegie Unit model that requires one in-class hour and two out-of-class hours per week for each unit of college credit received). Some weeks will be much lighter than others. I highly recommend that you read ahead, especially during weekends and breaks.

Your success in this course depends primarily on your ability to actively engage with the activities of each day and to feel safe and supported in doing so. Our class will be similar to a “lab” class—we will be brainstorming, discussing, and creating each and every class, individually, in pairs, in small groups, and as a class community. My hope is to follow the “never let the teacher do work the students can do for themselves” philosophy of student empowerment. This will not be my class but our class. If you are actively engaged, I am much less worried about your ability to develop the skills the class focuses on: active, critical reading of university-level textual material (we will be following the “reading apprenticeship” model in which we “make the invisible visible” by sharing our reading processes in community), brilliant, purposeful, organized, and grammatically strategic writing of university quality (we will work on this daily, together, and build on our skills—in other words, we will write frequently), engaged, inquiry-driven research (we will develop our personal interests within the themes of the class), clear verbal communication (discussions, presentations, and public speaking will be emphasized), and teamwork (few humans can thrive professionally without this skill). All of this work will lead to the ultimate project of this class: a traditional research paper that represents your attempt to wrestle with our driving question in a culminating way.

A Note on Content

We will discuss some topics that may be difficult for everyone. Feeling some tension is natural, but treat the conversation as a learning experience and an opportunity to practice how to talk about controversial issues with people who might have differing perspectives.

On Respect

I understand that students represent a rich diversity of backgrounds and perspectives. City College of San Francisco is committed to providing an atmosphere for learning that respects diversity. While working together to build this community I request all student members to:

1) Share their unique experiences, values and beliefs

2) Value each other’s opinions and communicate in a respectful manner

3) Be open to the views of others 

4) Honor the uniqueness of peers

5) Appreciate the opportunity that we have to learn from each other in this community

ENGL 1A University-Parallel Reading and Composition (4)

PREREQ.: ENGL 96 or ENGL 88 or ENGL 88B or placement in ENGL 1A

University-parallel reading, writing, and critical thinking with a major research component. Reading, writing, and research assignments are based predominately on non-fiction texts.

After successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Outcome 1: Analyze university-level texts. 

• Outcome 2: Compose research-based, organized essays that are driven by an arguable thesis and that employ critical thinking.

• Outcome 3: Apply the major conventions of standard written English. 

• Outcome 4: Choose and integrate credible sources for support, using appropriate citation format.

Required Texts:

• Anders, Charlie Jane. All the Birds in the Sky.

  • ISBN-10: 0765379953

  • ISBN-13: 978-0765379955

• Atler, Adam. Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

  • ISBN-10: 1594206643

  • ISBN-13: 978-1594206641

• Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say / I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing.

  • ISBN-13: 978-0393631678

  • ISBN-10: 0393631672

• Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual: 2016 MLA Update 7th edition or later

  • ISBN-13: 978-1319083526

  • ISBN-10: 1319083528

We will also have reading material, videos, and handouts posted on Canvas.

Grading:

At CCSF we use the standard letter-grade system with no pluses or minuses for midterm or final grades; however, this class will receive points for all assignments so I have simply included the percentage weight of each class component. Your cumulative final grade is based upon the improvement of your reading and writing skills, class participation, completion of reading and written work, and the midterm and final exams. For everything you do in this class, you will earn points. The sum of your points will determine your grade (the one exception to this is if none of your essays are at passing level even by the end of the semester, in which case you will not receive higher than a “D” in this class).

To pass the course, you must turn in all essays, attend the midterm and the final, and achieve “passing” level in your formal writing by the end of the term. If you do those things, your grade will be computed based on points you have earned for assignments all semester.

Your final grade will be calculated roughly as follows (note that the course is broken down into approximately 12,000 points overall so that each 100 points represents just under 1% of your course grade, but also please note that this point total may fluctuate depending on how things go at the start of term):

• Attendance/Participation: 20%

• Homework and Classwork: 20%

• Essays: 60%:

  • Project 1: 8%

  • Midterm: 8%

  • Project 2: 12%

• Final Exam: 12%

• Project 3: 20% (Traditional research paper)

Standard CCSF Grading Criteria for Projects:

(Please note that I will be including a grading rubric with each project.)

A: In addition to the requirements for B papers, A papers are well-written and interesting; thoughtful; supported by evidence. They move well from one topic to another, are responsive to audience, employ precise language and more complex syntax and grammar, and display the author’s voice.

B: B papers are strong and carefully attentive to requirements. They show accurate and informative use of the readings, have a solid thesis that organizes topics, use correct grammar with appropriate choice of language, show evidence of audience-awareness, and demonstrate careful attention to editing, revising, and proofreading.

C: C papers follow the requirements of the assignment. They demonstrate competent but not exceptional control of language, syntax, grammar and mechanics, and an attempt at editing, revising, and proofreading.

D and F: D and F papers are deficient in several ways. They may not follow the requirements of the assignment, or may be so carelessly written that errors interfere with the reading.

A Note About Grammar:

1A-level writing should generally be free of major grammar and syntactical errors. While we will be doing some grammar lessons together in this course, it is not the main focus of our class. I strongly urge those who need additional practice with grammar to concurrently enroll in English 26 or ESL 85. 

Homework Points

Regular homework assignments will be given full points if they are submitted on time and according to the guidelines, so keeping on top of homework assignments can really help your final class grade.

Lab Assistance

I encourage all of you to take advantage of help available at campus labs, even during distance learning. Please visit the English Lab at https://www.ccsf.edu/academics/schools/english-world-languages-and-cultures-and-communication-studies/english-department/english-lab.

Attendance & Punctuality

The official CCSF policy is that four absences are allowed for classes meeting two times a week (i.e. two weeks of missed classes are permitted). This policy will be strictly enforced. If you have exceeded your absences, you will be dropped (if it’s early enough in the semester to drop you). If it’s not, you will receive an F. At the same time, please don’t count on me to drop you—take the initiative and withdraw to avoid charges. Please don’t use all of your absences up as you may have an emergency later in the semester. Also, if you miss class during the first two weeks of school (especially the first day) you may be dropped. Please arrive on time as lateness is distracting. Arriving late or leaving early will count as 1/3rd of an absence.

When you are absent, please contact a class buddy to be filled in on what you missed. It is impossible for teachers to fill in each individual student on each class session that was missed. Homework can be submitted on Canvas so that it won’t be counted as late.

Contacting Me

You may leave me a voicemail or email me at leasa@ccsf.edu should you need to reach me. Please include your full name and the class you are taking. Think of this email as a chance to practice professional communication and use complete sentences. I also greatly appreciate a polite approach to email writing! If it is a weekday, you will usually receive a reply within 24 hours. I try to take the weekends off when possible. Please remember that while I love hearing from you about a wide variety of issues, I can’t “reteach” classes you have missed (check with a classmate instead) and I very much appreciate you checking to make sure your question can’t be answered by a more careful review of the class materials before you contact me.

 Late Work

Generally speaking, I do not accept late homework. Full credit homework must be turned in by the deadline. In some situations, I may give extensions if you have asked in advance of the deadline unless the work is community-based (i.e. peer reviews, group work, drafts, and other similar work cannot be accepted late). Aside from that, late work that does not involve others may be submitted on Canvas for 50% credit for up to three days following the due date. After three days, you will receive zero points for any homework assignment that you have missed. Please take this very seriously. You will quickly arrive at a failing grade if you miss many homework assignments; on the other hand, regularly turning in homework on time can often allow students to receive a grade one grade higher than they are receiving on their essays alone.

Late essays will not be accepted. The one exception is a single late essay coupon allowing you to turn one essay in within one week of the due date (attached); however, in my experience, this only hurts students as they fall more behind. I recommend not using your coupon for maximum success in this course. Additionally, the coupon cannot be used for the midterm exam, the final exam, or the final research paper, so it is only valid for Projects 1 and 2.

Class Participation

Class participation is a required and necessary part of the work we will do together. This doesn’t mean that you are required to speak constantly—active listening is also appreciated. Depending on level of class participation, I may use equity sticks to ensure all students are called on.

Canvas

Class work will be submitted via Canvas. The CCSF Help Desk is available to provide help:

On Campus dial 611 or 3711

Off Campus (415) 239-3711

Toll Free (844) 693-HELP (4357)

Email: helpdesk@ccsf.edu

Guided Learning Activities and Library Research Workshops

This semester as homework, our class will complete many “GLAs” (guided learning activities) created by the English department faculty as well as library research workshops created by the library staff. Unfortunately, each of these sets of workshops requires a separate enrollment in Canvas (luckily it’s a quick and easy one). Here are the starting links:

• GLAs: https://ccsf.instructure.com/courses/30500

• Research Workshops: https://library.ccsf.edu/research/workshops

•  (click “start workshops” to enroll)

Plagiarism/Cheating

Plagiarism is not tolerated at City College. Plagiarism includes using words and ideas that are not your own without crediting the source properly, getting someone else to write your paper, or having someone rewrite your work. Students engaging in plagiarism will receive an “F” on the assignment and may be dropped from the course. If you are confused about how to cite a source properly, always ask me, a writing tutor, or a librarian for help. Please read this handout on plagiarism: http://www.ccsf.edu/Library/instruct/plagiarism.html

Special Accommodations

Students with special needs can be assisted at the Disabled Student Programs and Services [Room R323, (415) 452-5481]. Be sure to speak with me at the beginning of the semester about your needs.

Late Essay Coupon

(You do not need to submit an actual coupon—I keep track of them on Canvas. This is just a reminder that you do have one automatic one-week extension for Project 1 or 2 should you choose to use it, though I recommend that you don’t.)