Welcome to English 1A

Composition with Georgie Ziff

About you…o On a piece of paper please write the

following…�̶name and contact phone number�̶other courses you’re taking�̶what college English courses you’ve taken and where�̶Current employment and schedule�̶things - anything I should know to better help y help you during the class�̶how y – how you feel about writing in gene in general

About me…Georgie Ziff - Two boys: 20 & 23 - We live in Oakland.

�̶ Grew up on the East Coast and the Midwest, but came to California for a one year job and never left.

�̶ M.A. in Composition and Creative Writing from CSUEB

�̶ B.A. from CSUEB: double major in English/Women’s Studies

�̶ 10th year teaching college composition at California State University East Bay; 8th year at Merritt College; 6th year at Berkeley City College; 4th year at Los Medanos College

�̶ Certified Scorer/Reader – Educational Testing Service – SAT,GRE, EPT

�̶ Why the photo? Because we’re all that kid on the inside; find your own voice in your writing.

�̶ My advice: school will always be ready for you when you are ready for school.

About Writing…̶� my favorite writing quote:

o “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.”

o William Strunk Jr. Elements of Style

Required Course Materials

o Exploring Language, 1414thth ed. ed. by by Gary GoshgarianGary Goshgarian - click on title for Amazon link 

o Blank lined composition book for your Writing Journal

o Reliable computer and Internet access - you will be submitting work to the class Moodle page

o Flash drive cloud storage

Grading in the Course

oTwo multi draft essays 50%oHomework 15%oGroup Presentations 10%oWriting Journal 5%oFinal In-Class Essay 15%oParticipation 5%

Save Your Work Online* Create a free account

at www.dropbox.com for saving your work online. You can then access it in the computer lab. This is a great tool – it not only provides you with a place to save work, it also synchronizes any changes you make online, so your Dropbox is always up to date!

* Use a flashdrive as backup, in case you cannot go online.

Essay Assignmentso You will write three essays, two

of which will be multi-draft:o Chapter 6 – Language Perspectiveso Chapter 8 – Language and Technology

These will be peer reviewed in class and worked on in the computer lab.

o Come to class prepared with drafts as part of the writing process.

o The last essay will be the FINAL in-class essay written in response to a writing prompt on the last day of class.

Group Writing Presentation

o In a small group of 3 or 4 classmates, you will select and research a topic about writing and create a 20 minute presentation for the class that has three parts:

1) describes the topic 2) demonstrates the topic 3) involves the class with a learning

activity/exercise

Be creative! Have fun!

Group Rhetorical Presentationo Group Rhetorical Analysis PresentationGroup Rhetorical Analysis Presentation  o In this course, you’ll write arguments.  One

way to develop your skill at making arguments is to develop the skill of analyzing the arguments of others. 

o In this assignment, in a small group, you will analyze an argument, trying to understand the elements of its rhetoric. 

o This will be a collaborative effort, creating a presentation for the class with either a powerpoint or a video that is  presented to the class on Wednesday of the last week of class.

o In addition, your group will submit a Group Portfolio at the conclusion of the presentation. 

Homeworko On the online Schedule on your class page, the

homework assignments are underlined with hyperlinks to articles about writing topics.

o Your task is to read each article and provide TWO paragraphs (not just a few sentences!)a) paragraph one = summary of the article (no opinion) b) paragraph two = your response and analysis of the

topic. Specifically: * How effective/understandable/helpful is the article? * How is this information applicable to your writing? * What strategies can you employ from this

information to improve your college writing?Homework must submitted to the Moodle class page

by Thursday of the week it is due to get full 5 pts. Late is accepted for only partial credit and the assignments expire after two weeks. No emailed work accepted.

Attendance Policyo Come to class prepared and on time.o Bring your textbook to every class.o As this class meets four days a week,

missing four classes will result in being ineligible to continue in the class.

o Computer lab days are required! o Attendance is your job as a student; your life

is not my business, so as such, do not feel it is necessary to inform me about reasons for absences or tardy issues.

Contact Informationo If you have a specific question, it is

best speak to me before class. o I prefer that emails are sent through

Moodle; if not, they must include the school, class, and your name in the subject line of the email. 

o Emails with the correct information will receive a response within 24 hours during the work week: Mon - Fri. before 5 pm. 

o Messages received after 5pm will be responded to the next day; those received after 5pm Friday will be responded to on Monday.

Today’s Objectiveso To get oriented to

the course, the syllabus, requirements, expectations, and so forth.

o To break/melt the ice with one another

o To form and begin working in collaborative groups

Break the Ice1. Form groups of three

2. Find one thing that everyone in your group has in common

3. Discuss why you are in school and how you made the decision to attend school.

4. Exchange email/contact information with each other

In the Spot Light1.Each of you will

in turn introduce one person in your group and share something you learned about him/her

2.Share what everyone in your group has in common

Working as a Team1. Together come up with

3 to 4 questions you have about this course

2. Now, with the syllabus, try to find the answers to the questions you came up with

3. Let’s talk about the questions you couldn’t find answers to…

What to expect next class…

o Presentation sign ups

o Discussion of writing process

o Plagiarism Lessono Your first reading

assignment

Your To Do List:o Buy Exploring Language, 14th

edition, by Gary Goshgarian

o Buy a blank composition book for your writing journal

o Go to the class website

on Moodle and on my website–

www.georgiesenglishwiki.pbworks.cowww.georgiesenglishwiki.pbworks.comm

Download the Syllabus and Schedule, noting the homework assignments.