Course Expectations

Download and print a copy of the course description. Read it carefully and note any questions you have.

Print and complete the course worksheet.

How to write a summary

Annotation

Discussion of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Reading for Understanding Diagnostic Test

1. Answer the questions on the questionaire page in an email to amills@ccsf.edu. Important: I will be using your new CCSF gmail account address to contact you, and the college will use this address for correspondence. If you haven't already, set up your gmail account to forward to the account you check frequently or commit to checking your CCSF gmail frequently.

2. Read the sections on annotation, "From Reading as a Writer to Writing as a Reader," pages 25-29 and 33-35 in From Inquiry to Academic Writing, and section 46a on annotation in Rules for Writers.

3. Read and annotate for homework credit the first chapter of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (pages 1-22). You should write comments on each page for full credit.

4. Read the summary assignment. This will be the first essay of the semester. Then read pages 350-352 on summaries in Rules for Writers and pages 125-137 on summarizing in From Inquiry to Academic Writing.

Discussion of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Class Introductions

Reading skills

How to structure an essay

1.. Watch the “Summaries and paraphrasing” video on CompClass. Optional: Humor: how NOT to do a summary: watch this summary of the Star Wars plot by a woman who hasn't seen the films.

2. Make a list of the main ideas of the first chapter. Express each main idea in a full sentence.

3. First blog post: What do you find perplexing, confusing, or intriguing in the first chapter of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle? Are there places where you aren't sure about Kingsolver's intentions or meaning? If a term or reference is unfamiliar to you, look it up online and then explain how the new information helps you understand the chapter. If nothing puzzles you, what questions do you have about the rest of the book based on this first chapter? Quote from the chapter at least twice in the course of your blog entry. Your blog entry should be at least 200 words in length.

From the course description: "Blogs will be graded on their thoughtfulness, adherence to the assignment, skillful citing of the readings, demonstrated understanding of the readings, cohesiveness, grammar, and style. I encourage you to use them as an opportunity to develop a critical voice that is both academic and authentic to you. "

Here's how to get on the blog: See the course description on how to purchase CompClass access and then use your access code to log on to CompClass. Your blog has been automatically created.  Click on the assignment link above and then click on your name to access it.  I encourage you to upload a picture to help us create community as a class.  To add a photo, click on the "profile" link.

Discussion of the sample summary

Signal phrases in summaries

1. Summary outline: Write an outline with topic sentences and supporting details in full sentences. You may want to download this outline worksheet and type directly into it. Look at the summary outline in section 46b of Rules for Writers for an example.

2. Download, print, and read the sample summary. Bring to class!

3. Comment on at least three of your classmates' blog posts on CompClass.

1.Change your CompClass preferences so that you can get email from classmates. Log in and click on the Preferences button on the far left between the question mark and the house buttons. Click "System Settings." Under "Forwarding Mode," select "Forward my mail and keep as new." Save.

2. Summary rough draft: 3 copies. At least one and one half pages. Double space.

3. Complete the survey assigned on CompClass to let me know whether or not you can attend the Alemany Farm work day on Saturday, 9/11. This is a fun extra credit opportunity; we'll get a tour of the farm, do farm work together, and then take home some produce.

Grammar workshop

Discussion of the reading

Introduction to ethos and pathos

2 copies of your Summary final draft

Read and annotate Chapter Two, "Waiting for Asparagus" and the short section "The Truth about Asparagus" (23-42) in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

If you missed class, download and read the summary grade sheet.

Ethos and pathos

1. Summary grammar version

2. Read and annotate Chapter Three, "Springing Forward" (43-62) of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

3. Read 173-178 on ethos and pathos in From Inquiry to Academic Writing

Optional: Alemany Farm Workday 12-5. Join class members and your teacher, see the farm, do some real farm work, and then take home some fruits and/or vegetables! Log in to CompClass and complete the survey by Thursday, 9/2 to let me know whether you plan to attend so I can inform the farm.

Quiz on Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Propaganda

1. Read chapters 4, 5, and 6, pages 63-99. Be ready for a brief, multiple choice reading quiz on the book up to this point.

2. Purchase the course reader at CopyEdge, 1508 Ocean Avenue at Miramar, 3 blocks west of campus.  Read and annotate "How to Detect Propaganda" in the course reader.

3. Blog post: discuss ethos and pathos in Kingsolver's style. How does she establish her own credibility and get us to trust her? How does she appeal to our emotions? Quote at least twice from chapters 4, 5, and/or 6.

1. Comment on at least three of your classmates' blog posts for homework credit. You may want to incorporate new ideas from the propaganda article.

2. Download, print, and read the Ethos and Pathos Essay Assignment.

3. Read the "World of PIE" section in your reader (10-11) and the MLA in-text citation pages (4-5) and bring the reader to class.

4. Read and annotate for homework credit chapters 7 and 8 (100-123) and "Is Whole Foods Wholesome?" (78-80) in the course reader.

Read the sample argument analysis essay on pages 16-18 of the course reader.

Read chapters 9 and 10 (124-153) in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Annotation not required.

Blog post: Write a PIE paragraph in which you describe one way in which Kingsolver affects the reader's emotions (pathos and/or propaganda) or establish her own credibility (ethos) in chapter 9 or 10. It should give at least two MLA in-text citations (quotations or paraphrases) to support the topic sentence.

Discussion

In-Class Essays

Error logs instructions

Annotate chapters 11 and 12 (154-195)

Choose the chapter you plan to write about for the Ethos and Pathos Essay Assignment. Review the assignment and reread the chapter. If you haven't already, annotate the chapter and mark the ethos and pathos and propaganda strategies you find.

Then do at least one full page of prewriting for the essay. This could be a list of ethos, pathos, and propaganda strategies with specific page numbers, or it could be a brainstorm or freewrite where you jot down all your ideas about Kingsolver's strategies in this chapter.

In-Class Blog entry.

Meet in the Batmale 301 computer lab in the classroom on the left after you walk in.

This will be worth two regular blog entries. Come prepared to write two PIE paragraphs of your upcoming essay using only your outline.

Outline: Write an outline with topic sentences and supporting details in full sentences. You may want to download this outline worksheet and type directly into it. Since you will be using the outline to write your in-class blog entry, make sure it is not a draft. You should have no more than two sentences in a row on the outline that appear in your paragraphs on the blog.

Read chapters 13 and 14 (196-241)

Prepare for the in-class blog entry (see left)

Class will be in Batmale 301 on Tuesday!

3 copies of your rough draft for peer review

Read chapters 15 and 16 (242-276)

Grammar workshop

Error logs question and answer

2 copies of your final draft

Read chapters 17 and 18 (277-314)

Start working on your error logs

If you missed class, download and print the Ethos and Pathos Essay Grade Sheet

Error logs

Discussion of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

1 copy of your grammar version

Bring Rules for Writers and your old grammar version with the codes on it. Identify at least three coded errors you are having trouble with so we can work on the error logs in class.

Read chapters 19 and 20 (315-352)

Read and annotate "Food That Travels Well," (33-34) and "Big Foot" (35-44) in the course reader

Error logs due. Read the error logs instructions carefully! These must be emailed to me as attachments in a particular format. You will need to turn in your grammar version with the error codes in class as well.

Midterm Reading Quiz on all of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

The research paper assignment

Discussion of "The Story of Stuff"

Print and read the research paper assignment.

Watch "The Story of Stuff" online with Annie Leonard (about 20 minutes)

Read and annotate the Story of Stuff script, including the footnotes, pages 97-112 in the course reader.

Do a blog post responding to the "Story of Stuff." Write a paragraph in which you discuss how Annie Leonard tries to establish her own credibility and get us to trust her (ethos). Pay special attention to the kinds of evidence and sources she uses. To what extent do they convince you? Quote at least twice and introduce and explain how your quotations demonstrate your points about her credibility, as in a PIE paragraph. You do not have to have a topic sentence or single focus for the paragraph, however.

Complete Library Workshop W either online or byattending a workshop in the library computer lab. You'll need to stop by the library and get the assignment checked and signed by a librarian. If you already completed this workshop, just bring the proof of completion from a previous semester. The library keeps records, so if you have lost the proof you can obtain another.

Read and annotate the excerpt from The Rough Guide on pages 113-126 (not the second half of the excerpt) and "Environmental Harm Disproportionately Impacts the Poor and Minorities" (90-94 of the reader).

Blog post: Possible research paper topics: Blog post: Browse the list of ideas and do some research on topics that interest you, either on the web or in the library periodicals databases. Then write a blog post in which you explore at least three possible topics that interest you. Discuss why each topic interests you, what you found out about it so far. Describe and link to at least one reputable source for each possible topic.

Complete Library Workshop B online either either online or by attending a workshop in the library computer lab. You'll need to stop by the library and get the assignment checked and signed by a librarian. If you already completed this workshop, just bring the proof of completion from a previous semester. The library keeps records, so if you have lost the proof you can obtain another.

Annotate "The Elusive Green Economy" (45-56) and "Technological Solutions" on 127-140 in the reader.

Blog post: Write a paragraph describing your topic and the material you will cover in your research paper. Make sure your topic is sufficiently narrow to cover in a 5 page paper. Make sure you can educate the reader and make a specific recommendation for action.

Read the excerpt from Thomas Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded on 140-154.

Comment on three of your classmates' blog posts. What is interesting to you about their topics? What questions would you encourage them to ask as they research? What will you hope to learn from their presentations?

Read the excerpt from Thomas Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded and 167-179.

Continue researching and post to your blog again about the new information you are finding. If your topic was too broad to start with, define it more narrowly.

Blog post: Describe and provide a reference to each of your four sources for the research paper. Briefly summarize each source and explain how you will use it in your paper. If you are looking for more sources or dissatisfied with any of your sources, discuss that too.

Print or copy and annotate two sources of at least a total of six pages.

How to give a good presentation

Discussion of the readings

Annotate"Green Manhattan" (81-89), "Beyond Eco-Apartheid" (63-69) and "The Nurture of Nature" (31-32)

Error logs on the second essay due

Presentations

Outline of research paper: Write an outline with topic sentences and supporting details in full sentences. You may want to download this outline worksheet and type directly into it.

Read the sections on introductions and conclusions on 201-207 and 220-225 in Inquiry. Bring Inquiry to class.

Read section 4d, especially pages 54-46 on transitions in Rules for Writers.

3 copies of your rough draft of the research paper. Must be at least 5 pages.

Presentations +

Peer review of grammar

Read the final exam assignment.

Blog post on the reading: choose from among all the readings we have done since 10/21 and respond thoughtfully in your own way to one or two of them. Use at least two specific examples or quotations to tie your response to the text.

Comment on three classmates' blog posts on the readings

Choose your final exam topic

Final exam outline. (Outline worksheet)

Research paper error logs due.

Meet in Cyberia (Art Extension 265)

English 96 Final Exam

Bring any extra credit proof (mainly Writing Lab stamps since Tehmina will give me a record of WSP visits).

Final homework credit: Download and fill out the anonymous 96 Evaluation Form. You will turn it in (folded) and I will check off that you did it. I never read the evaluations until well after I have turned in the final grades.

Revise your outline and prepare for the exam. You can bring the following:

• Readings
• Your outline (topic sentences, thesis, and quotations or other supporting details)
• Your notes (no 3 sentences in a row that end up in the essay)
• A print card and/or some change in order to print the exam at the end. 
• A dictionary (optional)
• Rules for Writers (optional)

Optional: If you would like to try to improve the grade on one of your essays from the semester, download and fill out a revision plan and bring it to the final exam in a folder with the graded essay and grade sheet with all my comments. I will look over your plan while you take the final and give it back to you. The revised essay must then be turned in to my office (Batmale 560) by 12:00 noon on Thursday, December 16. You can slip it under my door at any time before that.

I will email final grades to everyone at the same time.

If you would like feedback on your final exam and/or revision and/or last error logs, I would be happy to give it. Turn in a self-addressed, stamped envelope with sufficient postage for me to mail the papers to you. Enclose a note to me explaining what kind of feedback would be useful to you. Otherwise, you can pick up your final exam and revision and final error logs with the grades on them at the beginning of Spring semester.

Have a great break!