Class Assignments and Activities

Essays: ✏️

- Essay #1: Exploring Your Future (Personal/Reflection)
- Essay #2: Should We Cancel Cancel Culture? (Rhetorical Analysis)
- Essay #3: Researching Your Future (Argument)
  - Each project will go through all steps of the writing process. We will read and view sources to familiarize ourselves with the subject at hand, work on developing thesis statements and organizing/supporting our arguments, and edit and revise our writings as we look at grammatical and MLA requirements. What that means is that for each project, you will have a variety of reading and writing assignments. These assignments are meant to help you acquire the skills you need, and all I ask in them is that you do your best! The Prompts with more specific information will be found on Canvas. Every essay is worth 100 points each. Since these are clearly the most important assignments in our class, it is vital that you submit them, or you risk not passing the class.

Other Essay Requirements:

- - They must be double spaced, with a 12pt. font size (Times New Roman) and follow all MLA guidelines. We will spend time in class reviewing and discussing the proper use of MLA.
  - Submission Directions: As for the submission of essays, you must attach it as a document or Google URL. Please use Microsoft Word, PDF, and if you use a Google Doc., either convert it to a PDF or Word doc., or make sure that it is accessible (and permission is not required). If you are using Pages on a Mac (like me), make sure that you "export" it to a PDF or Word Doc. Do not submit it as a Pages document. By doing all of this, I will be able to give you annotated comments.
  - All formal assignments will go through a Plagiarism Checker and you will receive a plagiarism score when it is completed. Our policy on Chat GPT or other AI generators will be determined by our class in the first two weeks. For more information on plagiarism and Chat GPT, this is located in the "Policy" section of this syllabus.
  - Late Essay Policy: You may turn in the first two essays late, but no later than exactly three days after the due date. In other words, if an essay is due on Tuesday, it will no longer be accepted after Friday. Furthermore, late essays cannot receive higher than a "B" and you will not receive extensive feedback or comments from myself.
  - Last Point: You should expect your essays to be graded within one-two weeks. Keep in mind that my goal is to help you become a better writer, critical thinker, and college student, so my feedback ever seems harsh or overly critical, please let me know. I usually try to point you in the right direction. Furthermore, the grades for the essays are final, and due to the time constraints of our class, you will not be able to rewrite or redo them.

English 020 Connections:

Each week, you will have an additional assignment that will help you to better understand the materials for our class. This will all be located in same Canvas course, so you will not need to enter two separate Canvas courses. They will typically consist of short, informal writings throughout the semester related to our readings, videos, and other materials. These will be connected to the larger assignments that we are working on at that time. They will normally be worth 10-15 points and only be seen by me.

English 020 Check-ins

In addition to the Supplemental Writings, as a way to make sure you are understanding everything we're doing, you will write these Check-ins. Starting in Week 1 (and then in Week 4 and Week 8), you will have a chance to let me know how you are feeling about that week, what you are learning, and whether you need help or have questions about anything. The final Check-in will be a way to end of the semester. The first two are worth 10 pts. each and the final one is worth 20 pts.

Quizzes:

Several quizzes will be given throughout the semester, and they will cover the readings and other material that we go over in class. You may review the Class Calendar of this Syllabus for all planned quiz dates and the material that each quiz will cover. Quizzes will usually consist of a few questions. They will not be timed.
Once you complete the quiz, it will be evaluated; however, the scores will not be accurate until I look them over, so you don’t need to email me to let me know that the score is wrong. They are worth between 10-15 pts. each.

Critical Reading Responses:

You will write three Critical Reading Responses (CRR) due throughout the semester. They will be based on assigned readings. Though the CRRs may be less formal than the essay assignments, I still expect them to be thought provoking, interesting, and well organized. Also, you are expected to mention or quote specific passages from the readings. **More info. about CRRs can be found on Canvas in Week 2.
Other CRR Requirements: They should be at least 300 words but no more than 500 words and follow all MLA formatting guidelines. They are worth a possible 20 pts. The due dates are listed on the calendar.
√+ (20/20): Goes above and beyond expectations
√ (17/20): Fulfills the requirements but could be better
√- (14/20): Does not fulfill the requirements

Padlets:

This is a device/tool that we will use throughout the class for different types of exercises like brainstorming essay topics, or giving more informal thoughts on readings or other concepts. You will be expected to create short videos as well. You will also be required to comment on at least two other Padlets. They are worth 10 points each.

Discussions:

- - Discussions will be relevant to the topic of the writing project we are currently working on. In order to receive full credit for the Discussion, you will need to develop your original response of at least 300-500 words plus a minimum of two responses to your classmates, each at least 150-300 words long. Each Discussion is worth 20 points, and the primary post must be completed by 11:59 PM PST on the day it is due of its assigned week. The peer response portion of the assignment is due by two days later.

Late Policy for Quizzes, Padlets, 020 Supplemental Work, Discussions, and Check-ins:

While it is important to submit assignments on time, we all have multiple responsibilities. Whether it’s taking care of our families, working part time (or full time) jobs, or trying to balance it all, we’re busy! The policy is that all of the assignments listed above may be submitted late one time (with no penalty), but they must be done within two days of the original due date. If it is a Discussion or some other activity that requires peer interaction, the peer replies will still be due on the original date.
Nevertheless, please let me know if you need a little extra time to finish a Discussion or a Quiz, and I will try my best to accommodate your needs. I want everyone to succeed, and if this means giving you an extra day to complete a task, then let’s make it happen.

Peer Review Workshops:

One of the great aspects about this class is you are never writing in isolation. In other words, you will be getting help from your peers and myself throughout the entire writing process. Each essay will have one Workshop (a.k.a. peer-review) before its final draft is due. That way, you will help each other edit and revise your writing. All workshops will be conducted as Discussion activities; therefore, thorough instructions and a Workshop Evaluation Guide will be provided in the respective Discussion forum that is hosting it.

Each Workshop will be over a period of approximately three days. To determine when the workshops will be conducted throughout the term, please refer to the Class Calendar on Canvas. Just so you know, a week before each workshop, I post multiple reminder Announcements.

To prepare for the Workshops, here's how they will generally work:

Post the completed first draft of your writing assignment as an attachment or copied and pasted in the specific Discussion forum that is hosting the workshop activity. If you attach a document, please use Microsoft Word, PDF, and if you use a Google Doc., either convert it to a PDF or Word doc. or make sure that it is accessible (and permission is not required). If you are using Pages on a Mac (like me), make sure that you "export" it to a PDF or Word Doc. Do not submit it as a Pages document.

You must post your draft by 11:59 pm PST (or before I wake up the following morning) of that due date of its scheduled workshop week in order to be assigned partners.

The following morning, I will assign each person, who has met the deadline, workshop partners whose writing assignment must be evaluated. You will then have two days (specific details will be given that week) to post your evaluation report as a reply to your partner’s posting.

Thereafter, each participating student may use the evaluation provided by his/her partner to revise and strengthen his/her writing assignment before submitting the final draft.

Here is the general rubric for the Workshop:

25 pts.: you submit your rough draft on time and then respond with substantive feedback to and evaluate another student’s essay with sufficient feedback.
If your draft has less than the required pages, your document is inaccessible, or your feedback that you give to another student lacks detail or is incomplete, you may lose up ten points (at my discretion).
15 pts.: You don't submit a draft but still want to provide feedback to two of your peers
0 pts: you don’t submit a rough draft, or you submit a rough draft but you don’t provide feedback to your peers.

After you revise your drafts based on your peers’ feedback, you will turn them in for a grade. One more thing, please treat your group members with courtesy and respect. Finally, please do not email me your rough drafts and ask for feedback, but if you have any questions about your essay, please let me know by email, text, or on Zoom.

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