L216 Course Guide
Contents
Essential Course Information 2
Instructor Information 2
Required Materials 2
Guiding Statements (Course Description, Goal, Objectives, Structure) 2
Course Requirements 3
Grading 4
Course Policies 5
Schedule of Readings and Assignments
Unit I: Success in America 6
Unit II: Globalization, Consumerism, and the Threat to Democracy 7
Unit III: Money Talks 8
Supplementary Documents
Analytical Synthesis Papers 9
Criteria for Grading Papers 10
Paper format Guide 11
Final Collaborative Group Project 12
Miscellaneous Assignments 13
Oral Report Guide 14
Discussion/Performance Guide 15
Self Evaluation Guide 16
Writer’s Journals 17
Self Evaluation Log 18
Professor: Eric Metzler Section number: 2972
Office: BU 218 B Day and Time: M/W 4-5:15 p.m.
Office hours: Tuesdays 5-6 p.m. Class location: Business 300 (434)
Wednesdays 5:15-6:15 p.m.
E-mail: emetzler@indiana.edu
Phone: 855-7119
There are no formal prerequisites for L216, but students are expected to command a basic competence in expository writing, as we shall not spend class time on basic writing skills. For those who need extra help with their writing skills, Writing Tutorial Services (WTS) in Ballantine 206 offers free writing help to all I.U. students. Call 855-6738 to make an appointment and inquire about tutorial hours.
When you enroll in L216, you will automatically be enrolled in W333, a zero credit section that designates L216 as an intensive writing course.
Course Packet, available at Collegiate Copies (1434 E. Third St.).
Benjamin Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld (New York: Ballantine, 1995).
Friedrich Dürrenmatt, The Visit, trans. P. Bowles (New York: Grove Atlantic, 1962).
Henrik Ibsen, Four Great Plays by Henrik Ibsen, trans. R. F. Sharp (New York: Bantam, 1958).
Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (New York: Vintage, 1958).
Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation (New York: Perennial, 2002).
George Ritzer, The McDonaldization of Society (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Pine Grove, 2000).
Required software: Microsoft Word. The drafts of at least two papers will be submitted to me electronically for comments and suggestions via Microsoft Word attachments to email messages. Software packages are available to students at the I.U. Bookstore for a nominal fee.
By the dawn of the twenty-first century, capitalist/consumerist business structures, which glorify efficiency, standardization, and profits, have come to constitute our reality to the extent that we hardly even notice them. Everywhere and all the time we see, hear, and consume by means of these structures without a backward glance at their many costs. Our goal in this interdisciplinary seminar will be to reflect on the way America does business from a critical perspective. Using texts from disciplines as diverse as sociology, political science, cultural studies, history, literary studies, film studies, and theater and drama, the course surveys the historical background of the American desire for wealth and then studies the fast-food industry as an exemplar of the business structures it critiques. The course then considers some alternatives to capitalism/consumerism as a means of helping students see that individual choices can and do shape the world. The seminar is conducted without examinations, but students can expect to write copiously. The final creative project, undertaken collaboratively, will ask students to pull together various aspects of the course in order to propose and present a viable business that eschews some of the worst excesses of the capitalist/consumerist business model.
The main goal of L216 is to help students develop intellectually from an unreflective understanding of American business practices and their impact on society to a critical perspective on those aspects of the business world. Over the course of the semester, students’ thought should grow more sophisticated, complex, and critical vis-à-vis the way the values and goals of the capitalist/consumerist business world form and constitute society’s values, assumptions, and perceptions.
In L216, students can learn
Course Structure
Organized as a true seminar (a course in which all participants are responsible for constructing knowledge), this section of L216 will rely heavily on student participation as we examine a variety of texts. Accordingly, the teaching and learning in L216 will be student-centered and rely on the effort and hard work of all. Frequently, students will lead discussions, present enriching information, or guide the class to new understandings. The instructor will facilitate classroom interactions and help students stay on task, but will not “give” students knowledge or tell students what they must know or think. Rather, the professor will help students develop their own ideas about the course topic and make connections among the many texts explored in the seminar.
a. Because of the importance of student contributions in the seminar format, students should arrive punctually and regularly prepared for each class meeting, ready to discuss the assignment of the day and contribute to the construction of knowledge about the course topic.
b. Attendance, participation, and preparation will be self-assessed. (see below).
Students will:
a. Keep a writer’s journal in which reflections, responses, discovery drafts, reactions to texts, and other assorted informal writing will be collected.
b. Write 1 short point of departure paper as a means of assessing a starting point in the course.
c. Write and submit 3 formal analytical synthesis papers, two of which will be revised and resubmitted after students receive constructive feedback.
d. Write 1 reflective paper as part of the final collaborative project.
Students will:
a. Prepare and present in a professional manner two short (approx. 5–10 minutes) oral reports, one presenting a journalistic story, the other providing background information on an assigned text or topic.
b. Prepare and lead one discussion on a chosen text.
c. Prepare and lead one discussion with their workgroups on a dramatic text.
Students can expect to work collaboratively in work groups of 4 throughout the semester, engaging
a. In-class discussions on topics assigned by the instructor.
b. A dramatic reading followed by a discussion.
c. A collaborative project that must be presented to the class by the entire group.
a. Most assignments in L216 will be assigned letter grades, including plusses and minuses. In order to calculate your grade, these letters will be converted to numbers as follows: A+ = 100; A = 95; A- = 91.5; B+ = 88.5; B = 85; B- = 81.5; C+ = 78.5; C = 75; C- = 71.5; D+ = 68.5; D = 65; D- = 61.5; F = 59. After multiplying this converted score by the weighting of each assignment (see below), your score will be totaled. Hence, there is a total of 1,000 points possible for the course. Your final grade will be assigned according to the total points you accumulate for the course. The ranges for each grade appear below:
|
A+ |
≥ 970 |
B+ |
870–899 |
C+ |
770–799 |
D+ |
670–699 |
|
|
|
A |
930–969 |
B |
830–869 |
C |
730–769 |
D |
630–669 |
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|
|
A- |
900–929 |
B- |
800–829 |
C- |
700–729 |
D- |
600–629 |
F |
< 600 |
a. Your grade for this course will be weighted as follows:
Analytical Synthesis Papers (45%)
Essay I: Success in America 10%
Essay II: McEssay 15%
Essay III: Course Topic Question 20%
Final Project (25%)
Group Prospectus 3%
Group Oral Presentation (peer assessed) 12%
Individual Reflective Essay 10%
Miscellaneous Assignments 15%
Self-Assessed Work (15%)
Writer’s Journal 10%
Participation/Attendance 5%
TOTAL 100%
b. Explanations, grading criteria, and further details regarding course work can be found in the “supplemental documents” section of this course guide. See table of contents for specific page references.
Course Policies
a. Because of the seminar format of this course, regular attendance of all seminar members is crucial, not only to individual student learning, but also to the learning of the entire class. You will be in charge of keeping track of your own attendance (see pp. 16 and 18 of this guide). Only absences for illness or family emergency will be excused on the condition that you contact me before the absence, via phone or email.
a. Class will begin promptly at 4 p.m. Please arrive on time so to avoid disrupting the class. Neither habitual nor excessive tardiness will be tolerated.
b. Arriving late to class will automatically move your attendance grade for the day to the C range. Hence, it will be essential to your success to arrive on time.
a. In order to ensure fairness, assignment due dates will be strictly observed. You will be given a date and time when your assignments must be handed in. The grades of assignments handed in after that time will be docked, subject to the instructor’s discretion (depends on circumstance and severity of lateness).
a. Part III of Indiana University’s Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct reads as follows:
The university may discipline a student for academic misconduct, which is defined as any activity that tends to undermine the academic integrity of the institution. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, the following: cheating, fabrication (lying), plagiarism, interference (harming another student’s work), violation of course rules, and facilitating academic dishonesty.
b. Because the graded work in this course will be primarily student papers and not examinations, the section on plagiarism is especially pertinent:
A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, words, or statements of another person without appropriate acknowledgement. A student must give credit to the originality of others and acknowledge indebtedness whenever he or she quotes, paraphrases, uses ideas, or borrows from another’s work.
c. We will discuss what plagiarism is and how to avoid it in class as essay assignments are distributed.
a. In this course we will communicate often via e-mail. E-mail, however, can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can provide an excellent means of communicating speedily with the instructor or other students at any time. Students are urged to ask any questions that pertain to the course and I shall try my best to answer them promptly and professionally.
b. On the other hand, e-mail should never be used as a forum for expressing frustration or dissatisfaction about a grade, a policy, or any aspect of our course together. Should a difficulty arise, students are urged to see the instructor personally during office hours, where differences can be ironed out in-person and non-verbal communication and bodily presence allow for full communication rather than the disembodied text of e-mail.
Schedule of Readings and Assignments
January
Unit I: Success in America
13 Course Introduction.
In class, handout: selections from
Allen “Horatio Alger”
Conwell “Acres of Diamonds”
15 Course Reader 1–9: selections from
De Tocqueville, “Equality and Materialism”
Cawelti, from Apostles of the Self-Made Man
Carnegie “From The Gospel of Wealth”
20 Martin Luther King Holiday. No Class.
22 Course Reader 10–16: selections from
Heller “By Success Obsessed”
Shames, “The More Factor”
DUE: Point of Departure Essay.
27 Hansberry, Raisin in the Sun, Act I.
29 Hansberry, Raisin, Act II.
February
3 Hansberry, Raisin, Act III.
Unit II: Globalization, Consumerism, and the Threat to Democracy
February (cont.)
5 Ritzer, The McDonaldization of Society, chapters 1–2.
*7 DUE electronically by 5 p.m.: Success in America Essay
10 Ritzer, McDonaldization, chapters 3–6.
Jigsaw Exercise and quiz.
12 Ritzer, McDonaldization, chapters 7 (all), 9 (pp. 167–79).
*14 DUE by 5 p.m. in BU 218 B: Revised Success in America Essay
17 Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, intro., chapters 1–2.
19 Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, chapters 3–4.
24 Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, chapters 5–7.
26 Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, chapter 10.
March
3 Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld, intro.
Course Reader 17–25, Gloria Steinem, “Sex, Lies, and Advertising.”
5 Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld, chapters 1–3.
10 Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld, chapters 4–7.
12 Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld, chapter 8–9.
*14 DUE electronically by 5 p.m.: McEssay
17, 19 Spring Break. No Class.
24 Ritzer, McDonaldization, chapter 10.
Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, epilogue (255–70).
26 Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld, chapter 19.
Group Work on Final Project Prospectus.
*28 DUE by 5 p.m., BU 218 B: Revised McEssay
Unit III: Money Talks
March (cont.)
31 This week: film screening, Cradle will Rock (date and time TBA). All students will be responsible for viewing this film by classtime on Monday, April 7. If you are unable to attend the film screening, you must make arrangements to view the film on your own.
Course Reader 26–35, selections from Howard Zinn, The Socialist Challenge,” from A People’s History of the United States.
Course Reader 44–49, selections from K. Marx, “Manifesto of the Communist Party.”
April
2 Course Reader 36-43, Zinn, “The Socialist Challenge”
Group Work Day (final project)
DUE: 1-2 page Group Project Prospectus (Final Project, pt. 1).
7 Discussion of Cradle will Rock.
9 Ibsen, Enemy of the People, acts I, II, and III.
14 Ibsen, Enemy, acts IV and V.
16 Dürrenmatt, The Visit (Der Besuch der alten Dame), acts I and II.
21 Dürrenmatt, The Visit, act III.
23 Conclude discussion of dramatic works.
28 Group Workday (final project).
Course evaluations.
30 Student Group presentations (Final Project, pt. 2).
May
2 DUE by 5 p.m., BU 218 B: Paper on Course Topic.
6 DUE by 5p.m., BU 218 B: Final Reflective Essay (Final Project, pt. 3).
Supplementary Documents
Analytical Synthesis Papers (45% of your grade)
Analytical synthesis counts among the most important writing skills college students should master by the time they receive their diplomas. This kind of writing demands clarity and precision of thought, keen insight and meticulous analysis, creativity and the ability to juggle several ideas at once. Indeed, the ability to write a successful analytical synthesis paper is one of the marks of a highly effective communicator, a skill prized among employers.
Accordingly, a great deal of weight will be placed on the practice and work you do to write such papers. Essays 2, 3, and 4 are all designed and sequenced to fit the units we are exploring in L216 and should offer you a means of reflecting on the texts and discussions held in our seminar. They are also constructed around both the overarching goal of the course as well as the more specific objective of helping you to learn and practice the skills necessary to write effective analytical synthesis papers.
As you practice writing such essays, you will develop your own procedure for completing the task. For most writers, the process begins by gathering ideas and thoughts as one reads and reflects on the assigned texts. Next, one begins to generate an original statement or argument about the several texts that have been read. Once that argument has been developed into a thesis, the next step is to find supportive evidence from the texts to show one’s reader that, in fact, the thesis is defensible and that the reader should believe it. After these three major steps are taken, the writer can then begin to compose the essay. Notice that the writing begins only after much thought has gone into the essay. Do not make the mistake of “the hasty writer” by just sitting down at the computer to compose your essay the night before it is due. In my many years of experience teaching writing, I have found that this approach nearly always guarantees the student a marginal grade at best.
Grading student work is always a difficult task for teachers. One way to simplify the task for instructors and at the same time clarify expectations for students is to provide a grading rubric, or set of criteria by which grades will be assigned. The grading rubric for this course appears on the following page. It should serve to explain what is expected for each grade level.
On the page following the rubric you will find an example of how to format your paper. Although I am much more interested in your ideas and writing than the format in which it arrives, format is nevertheless important. Since you have a clear model to go by, I expect all papers to adhere to that model; the grades of improperly formatted essays will be docked.
Criteria for Grading Papers
C A C paper is satisfactory (fair). One may think of C papers as accomplishing the bare minimum to complete the assignment. A C paper will fall short of the criteria described for an A paper in 3 or more categories or fall seriously short in one category. Papers in the C range, for example, may contain a thesis that is difficult to understand; alternately, a C thesis may represent simple, unsophisticated thought by stating the obvious, offering an unremarkable observation, or merely restating the prompt given by the instructor. The thesis may be supported with poor evidence or struggle to integrate evidence in an effective manner. Alternately, there may be evidence and/or discussion that does not relate to the thesis at all or the thesis may fail to describe the intellectual work carried on in the body of the paper such that some confusion results from unexpected discussion. A C paper will typically contain organizational and structural flaws at the paragraph level, resulting in a difficult read and an overall lack of persuasiveness.
B A B paper is meritorious (good). Papers that fall in the B range will strive for the goals set forth for an A paper, but miss the mark in one (B+/B) or two (B-) areas. For instance, a B paper may have a strong argumentative thesis but discuss some examples that do not support the thesis well. Alternately, a B paper may be well-written, but contain a thesis that could have probed deeper for a more satisfying explanation to the issue at hand. Another type of B paper may contain a good thesis supported by appropriate evidence, but have body paragraphs that lack topic sentences, adequate transitions, or organization; they may be repetitive. The same might apply to a paper whose data or evidence are sometimes not explained (i.e. not developed) or explicitly related to the thesis. Another example might be an otherwise exemplary paper with so many grammatical, mechanical, and other errors that the reader is distracted during the reading process.
A An A paper is exemplary; it may serve as a model of excellence. The paper will address the assignment with a thesis that is complex and sophisticated, but also clear, concise, and focused in scope. Body paragraphs will be unified, developed, and coherent; they will be headed with a topic sentence and connected to one another with smooth transitions. The introductory paragraph will lead the reader to the writer’s thesis in a logical and interesting way. Body paragraphs will be centered on appropriate evidence or data that help the writer discuss and persuade the reader to accept her or his thesis. Evidence will be introduced with a context, (re)produced accurately, and discussed, so the reader will be able to see explicit connections to the writer’s thesis. The concluding paragraph will answer the question “so what?” or invite the reader to consider further implications of the writer’s thesis. Finally, an A paper will have very few or no grammatical, mechanical, orthographical, or other errors of this type.
D A D paper suggests incompetence. Papers in the D range will have serious flaws that reflect foggy, unclear thought. A thesis may be missing and the reader may not understand what the writer is trying to discuss. The language may be so garbled and/or vague in places that the reader cannot understand the writer’s point. The use of evidence will demonstrate that the writer has not understood the texts well. There may be distracting errors throughout and/or several areas where the writer veers off topic. A D paper will typically contain organizational and structural flaws at the sentence level, resulting in great difficulty in comprehension.
F An F paper demonstrates incompetence. Failure to complete the assignment, to address the paper topic or to use the sources required will result in an F grade. In addition, papers that are so disorganized and/or difficult to understand that the reader cannot understand the writer will receive an F.
Your Name
Professor: Eric Metzler
LAMP 216
6 November 2003
Your Paper’s Title
You should start your first sentence by indenting one tab space. Your pages should be numbered in the upper right-hand corner, except on the first page, which should have no numbering. Your entire paper should be typed in Times New Roman, 12 point font. It must be double spaced, with margins of 1 inch on each side; be sure to set up your page this way, as the default in Microsoft word is not necessarily set as required for L216. Of course, your paper would not have the three-line heading as in this example. All formal papers should be titled, but notice that the title is neither underlined, nor in quotation marks, nor italicized. You should pick a title that represents the main thrust of your paper. In the first paragraph, you will introduce your thesis, beginning with a rather general statement and narrowing the focus until you come to your last sentence of the first paragraph, usually the best location for your thesis statement. So if this were your paper, this sentence you are reading right now would be the thesis.
Here, I will
demonstrate how to use quotations in your writing and cite the work from which
they are drawn. You may wish to give credit to the author directly in your
writing, in which case you only need to cite the page number in parenthesis
following your quote: In act two, scene two of Hansberry’s Raisin in the
Sun, Beneatha says, “I’m trying to talk to you” (96). Alternately,
you may wish to focus more on the quotation itself, in which case you must
supply a more complete parenthetical reference. For example: Beneatha responds
to George, “I’m trying to talk to you” (Hansberry, Raisin in the Sun,
96).
Final
Collaborative Group Project (25% of your final grade)
The collaborative group project will ask you to spend approximately six weeks of intense work with your workgroup, developing an economically viable business that makes social and environmental concerns a part of its mission. The assignment is designed to roll the course’s overarching goal and several of its major objectives into one creative project: you must collaborate effectively, prepare and deliver a professional oral presentation, and apply the theories and ideas you will have learned and constructed in our seminar discussions and in your writing assignments. The challenge of this assignment will be to operate from a perspective critical of typical American business practice, but at the same time to design a business that will turn a profit. Successful negotiation of such cross-purposes in a professional and effectively manner has been identified as a core value of the LAMP curriculum.
Soon after the final project is assigned (around midterm), groups will submit a 1–2 page prospectus, detailing plans for the business and the roles each student will assume in completing the project. After receiving feedback from me, groups will work to create a business that they will introduce during the last week of the semester. The audience will be the entire class and a panel of peers, who will grade the presentations according to a rubric that outlines the standards for excellent, good, satisfactory, and unsatisfactory presentations. Effective presentations offer convincing explanations of the business’s viability as well as its social and environmental watchfulness. Groups will receive feedback from peers after the presentation and then each student will write a 5-page essay in which he or she reflects on the genesis of his or her ideas. This last piece of the final project, which equates to the course’s fifth formal paper, is essential because it will ask students to recognize their own intellectual growth and how that growth has served them in developing a business. It also effectively closes the triangular learning structure of learning, applying, and reflecting.
Miscellaneous Assignments (15% of your final grade)
Miscellaneous assignments are designed to give you practice at some of the skills you will need in order to succeed on the final collaborative assignment and in the course as a whole. Each targets one or more course objectives in a specific way, but is worth a relatively small portion of your final grade. Hence, miscellaneous assignments are a good place to venture risks and reach beyond your comfort zone, as the stakes are low.
Assessment on these assignments assumes all will pass; students will receive a 1 (high pass), 2 (pass), or 3 (low pass).
I. Point of Departure Paper (2 pages)
You will receive explicit instructions for this short introductory paper on the second day of class. Grading criteria will be included in the assignment sheet.
II. Individual Oral Report
Please see explanation and grading criteria in the “Oral Report Guide” below (p. 14).
III. Individual Presentation of editorial copy (journalistic writing).
Please see explanation and grading criteria in the “Oral Report Guide” below (p. 14).
IV. Leading a Class Discussion
Please see grading criteria in the “Discussion/Performance Guide” below (p. 15).
V. Group dramatic presentation and discussion (Group grade)
Please see grading criteria in the “Discussion/Performance Guide” below (p. 15).
VI. Ritzer Jigsaw Quiz (Group grade)
Specific directions for this activity will be covered in class.
The scores of all 6 miscellaneous assignments will be added and a miscellaneous assignment grade will be assigned according to the following scale:
A+= 6 B+= 9 C+= 12 D ≥ 15
A = 7 B = 10 C = 13
A- = 8 B- = 11 C- = 14
F = failure to do any one assignment
ORAL REPORT GUIDE
The purpose of oral reports in L216 is to give you the opportunity to practice your oral presentation skills and to inform the seminar members (classmates and instructor) about a person, topic, or idea that will enrich the material we are studying. Reports will be timed, and in order to pass, they should last between 5 and 10 minutes (not including questions). Hint: practice at home so your report is the right length. Your report will be evaluated on a pass/no pass basis, with the pass broken into three levels, high pass (1), pass (2), or low pass (3). Your oral report score will constitute part of your “miscellaneous assignment” grade (see page 13 for details).
I. Personal Presentation
a. Come to class neat and groomed, wearing appropriate attire. Ties, suits, or dresses are not expected, but jeans, wrinkled or untucked shirts, baseball caps, sweats, and so on should be avoided.
b. Stand up straight on both feet; do not lean on a lectern, the wall, or a desk.
c. Use your notes as cues; do not read them. You should look at your audience as you speak and engage us.
II. Language
a. Avoid distracting filler words, such as um, uh, and especially “like.”
b. Use clear, vivid language.
c. Enunciate so all can understand your speech.
III. Organization
a. Present your ideas in a logical and concise (non-repetitive) manner.
IV. Content
a. Is it relevant to our course and the material we are studying?
b. Does the information presented enrich the content of our seminar?
c. Is the report interesting?
Because L216 is structured as a seminar, much of the discussion about the various texts we read and experience vis-à-vis the course topic will be student led. Student-led discussions should last approximately 15 minutes (group dramatic presentation approx. 30 minutes). Your discussion will be evaluated on a pass/no pass basis, with the pass broken into three levels, high pass (1), pass (2), or low pass (3). Your discussion score will constitute part of your “miscellaneous assignment” grade (see page 13 for details).
The requirements for student-led discussions are extremely flexible; use your creativity and try something new, if desired. The following are some examples of ways to structure your discussion:
Workgroups should gather outside of class to organize their dramatic presentation and discussion.
The criteria for grading how students lead discussions are relatively modest. You should
· organize your discussion so that you do not have to shuffle through notes or search for passages in class.
· plan questions that are complex and interesting. Do not ask the class questions that can be answered with a yes or no response. Do not ask obvious questions that lead nowhere.
· ask questions that help the class see new connections to ideas, other texts, previous discussions, or the world around us.
· lead a discussion that relates to the material we’re currently working with or to the course topic in general.
Self Evaluation Guide
General Remarks
Both the seminar format of L216 as well as the learning method (students are responsible for their own learning) require consistent attendance and superior student preparation. Accordingly, students will be responsible for rating themselves in the categories of attendance/participation and writer’s journal/preparation on the chart that appears on page 18 of this document.
At the end of each class meeting, you should rate yourself on a scale of 0–10 according to the guide below. Occasionally, I shall ask you to hand in your sheets to oversee the process and ensure that all are adhering to the guide specified below. While all marks are subject to my final approval, I will assume that students will honestly and honorably evaluate their own work.
At the end of the term, I will collect the self-evaluation sheets, total the columns, divide by a figure that will set “10” to an A, “9” to a B, and so on, and then enter the score in my grade book.
The following scale assumes that you arrive to class on time. If you are late to class, deduct 2 points from your score.
10 I listened attentively to the instructor and my classmates for the entire class period. I actively added to the discussion by raising my hand to speak in class more than once. If there was group work, I took a leadership role and worked well with my group members. Excused absence.
9 I listened attentively most of the time. I added to the discussion by raising my hand to speak in class once. If there was group work, I worked well with my group members to accomplish the task.
8 I listened attentively some of the time and raised my hand to speak in class once.
OR: I listened attentively in class but did not raise my hand to speak. If there was group work, I contributed some to the discussion, but mostly I let others do the work.
7 I listened little of the time. I contributed minimally to classroom activities.
0 Unexcused absence.
Writer’s Journal/Preparation (10% of your final grade)
10 I read all the required readings and reflected on them before coming to class. I spent 20–30 minutes reflecting on the readings and I responded to the prompts for the writer’s journal in detail. I came to class with the daily writer’s journal filled out and was ready to discuss the ideas suggested in the prompts.
9 I read all the required readings before coming to class but did not have time to reflect on them. I responded to all the prompts for the writer’s journal.
8 I read most of the required readings before coming to class. I responded to some of the prompts for the writer’s journal.
7 I skimmed or glanced at the required readings before coming to class, but I did not do my writer’s journal assignment for the day.
0 I did not prepare for class. I did not read the required reading for the day; nor did I do my writer’s journal assignment for the day.
Writer’s Journals
To help you with some of the more challenging aspects of creating and writing successful analytical synthesis papers and to encourage your best effort at preparing for each class meeting, you will be writing informally for 20–30 minutes outside of class prior to each class meeting. I will send you a prompt sheet via e-mail attachment that will typically ask you content questions (to practice close reading), inference questions (to practice drawing conclusions), and synthesis questions (to practice bringing diverse texts to bear on a single topic). In addition, the journal prompts will frequently ask you to find relevance in the “real world” to the texts you are studying.
Since you will be evaluating your own effort in completing your writer’s journal, this is definitely the place to explore new ideas, venture writing risks, or to say things you wouldn’t necessarily say in other venues. Occasionally, I will ask you to submit your writer’s journal and self evaluation just to keep you honest, but I will not otherwise grade or evaluate your work in the writer’s journal. This is the place for you to explore and make preliminary connections in anticipation of the formal papers you will submit during the semester.
To complete your WJ, you may either print out the prompt sheet I send you and fill it out by hand OR you may type your ideas right in using the computer. The format does not matter, only your effort.
Name:_____________________
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|
April 14 |
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April 16 |
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|
|
April 21 |
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|
|
|
April 23 |
|
|
|
|
April 28 |
|
|
|
|
April 30 |
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|
|
|
TOTAL |
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