ENGL 100 ONLINE with curry mitchell

Meet the Professor

Tour the Class

Hello! My name is curry mitchell. You can call me Mr. mitchell or Professor mitchell, but I prefer just ‘curry.’ My pronouns are he, him, his, and I choose to not capitalize my name: the lowercase letters seem to fit better. I don’t mind if you capitalize my name though.

I was once a MCC student too. I married young when I was 19 and worked in construction for several years before I decided to go to school. My wife and I had all three of our children by the time I graduated with a masters degree. A few years later, my wife graduated with her bachelors and teaching credential.

I don’t know your story yet, but I know the challenges presented by coursework taken on in addition to family and professional responsibilities. I know you will have to work hard, not only in my class but in all your classes here, in order to be successful. This is why I will work hard also, to plan, organize, and rethink this ENGL 100 course so its focus is on your success in the goals you've set this semester.

My ultimate goal is to empower you with a clear sense of belonging within a community of writers where your agency as a maker of meaning takes center stage. I can’t wait.

Read the Syllabus

ENGL 100 is all about the choices we make as content creators and as content consumers, and what happens when we pay attention to those choices. Assignments will be due on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. Expect the time required to complete assignments to total 6 – 8 hours per week. Read more...

A Typical Week in ENGL 100

You should expect to dedicate up to 8 hours per week to complete ENGL 100 tasks. A Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday due date schedule will remain the same throughout the semester to give you a predictable routine. Here's what a typical week might look like:

Weekend - Monday: explore new concepts

complete the Announcement Quiz, plan out your week, and write 2 Journal Notes in response to the lecture and reading materials for Monday

Monday - Wednesday: dig-deeper

write 2 more Journal Notes, and engage the first weekly Word Puzzle along with your classmates

Wednesday - Saturday: solidify your understanding of concepts

engage the second weekly Word Puzzle or write Reviews in the Writers' Workshop (if it is a workshop week), and share a snapshot of your current essay project process in the Stay on Track assignment

Sunday - Monday: review and move forward

see what your classmates are saying in the Word Puzzle or Workshop, review feedback from curry on assignments, and revise, polish, and submit a draft of an essay (if one is due). Then, complete the next Announcement Quiz and plan out your week...

Each week's content is designed to be consumed at a steady pace over time; if you wait until, say, Wednesday to start your Journal Notes and engage the Puzzle, you may feel overwhelmed. Establishing a routine that works for you is critical to your success. I will rarely make changes to the normal schedule, but if I do need to make a change, I will do so to benefit your workload.

Preview What You'll be Writing

A general description of the sort of papers curry expects

Explore the Textbook

We will use a free book with tips for writing at the college level

Customize Canvas and Log into our Course

If you are enrolled and would like to explore our Canvas course, you will be able to find our course in your Canvas Dashboard. Please take a moment to customize your Canvas settings, including setting up text messaging and adjusting notifications. Remember, there is nothing to complete before the official start date of the semester, except to explore these "orientation" tasks.

If you are on the waitlist, you will not have access to our Canvas course. I will email you soon if a seat opens. I will also let you know when enrollment has closed. If you would like to look for other, open ENGL 100 courses, please use the Class Search tool in SURF.

Choose you Writing Tools

This is a writing class, so what writing tools are you most comfortable with? A keyboard? What about starting with paper and pen? Do you use voice to text dictation? Do you mostly write using your thumbs? :-)

Given your preference, what hardware do you need to acquire:

an external keyboard and mouse?
a microphone?
a web-camera?

Using AI

Most of our digital writing tools feature assistive technologies like spell check, autocorrect, sentence completer, and even chat bots. Sometimes these tools can be incredibly helpful. Sometimes they can become distracting. Sometimes they take-over, muting our ideas and voices. Here are three steps to follow anytime you use assistive writing tools:

Prompt: type in your initial thoughts, questions, ideas, and see what comes back; this is a good drafting habit
Review: read over the suggestions an AI assistive technology offers you: never simply accept advice, especially from a robot :-)
Revise: consider your intent and the audience you are trying to reach; add, delete, rearrange, and adjust so your voice delivers your message to your reader

Using Sources

Everything we will write in this class--from Journal Notes to Discussion Posts to Essay Drafts--will start with something we are reading together. So when you use sources,

Copy ideas or wording AND cite the source of those words and ideas (we'll study how to later)
When you add a quote from a source to your writing, choose to also explain that quote in your own words so it's ideas mesh with your ideas
When you respond to a reading that is unclear, choose to ask questions and consider working with the Writing Center or emailing curry directly
In discussions about readings, collaborate with your classmates to deepen your ideas about a source rather than copy their ideas or complete the assignment for them

Our Commitment to Voice and Integrity

As we incorporate other texts and use technology to draft and develop claims, we will rely on a process of sharing drafts and feedback, so we might credit the ideas and language we find in research and revise for structure and style to shape A.I. generated text into our own voice. The bottom line: In this class, I expect us to use writing to further our own inquiry, expressions, and growth; all plagiarized and A.I. generated portions of drafts must be rewritten.

So how do you commit to inquiry, expression, and growth? Here's some advice as you prepare to be a writer in this class:

Trust the value of your own intellect
Consider what tools and routines help you to think and which cause you to feel stuck
Experiment with, reflect on, and hone your process for thinking, drafting, and shaping your writing
Ask for help from me, or for more time if you need it!

Check out more resources

There are several Student Support Services available at MiraCosta as well as a few cool resources built into our Canvas website designed to support you in a variety of ways throughout the semester.

Google Sites

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