Syllabus for EH 101
English 101
Mr. Mike Briscoe,
BS, MA, Ed.S., The University of Alabama
Mike.briscoe@adjunct.wallacestate.edu
Fall, 2009
Wednesday 6-8:30pm
This syllabus is subject to change.
Materials:
- A Writer’s Reference. 6th ed. Hacker, Diana. 2007.
- Wallace State ENG 101 packet.
- Tuesdays With Morrie. Albom, Mitch. Doubleday. New York. 1999.
In compliance with recommendations from the Alabama Department of Public Health, Wallace State Community College has in place programs to prevent and mitigate spread of the seasonal and H1N1 flu. Please assist us by frequently washing your hands, following posted guidelines to prevent the spread of flu and using the hand sanitizer provided when entering and exiting each class. College students have been given priority for immunization against H1N1 flu by the CDC. WSCC encourages each student to obtain vaccinations for both the seasonal and H1N1 flu.
Absences:
Absences are excused if it is for one of the reasons listed in the Wallace State handbook. Those usually include doctor’s notes, jury duty, etc. Those do NOT include routine doctor’s visits. It is your responsibility to check the handbook, and bring all necessary documentation to class upon your return. You will then be given a reasonable amount of time to complete them, usually one week. There will be no makeup work for unexcused absences.
Office Hours:
I can only be reached by email outside of class. My email address is listed above. If it is extremely, extremely urgent, contact the English department chair, Dr. Beth Johnson, at 256-352-8219. She will then call me, and give me a message to contact you.
Computers
Helpful hints (please feel free to help me add to this list):
- Avoid typing anything if there are storms in the area. Lightning does strike. It causes havoc with power outages, Internet access, computer crashes, etc.
- Set your computer to back up all of your work every ten minutes or so and use a “thumb” drive, aka “flash” drive to back up your work. These are found everywhere these days, and are usually the cheapest at Office Max or Wal Mart.
- Make sure you have enough toner/ink in your printers. Have you ever gone to Wal Mart at 3am to buy a cartridge? I have, and it wasn’t pretty.
- Make sure you have Microsoft Word 2007.
Bad Weather
I’m going to make every effort to be at Wallace on the assigned nights. However, storms do arise. If there is a Tornado Watch and/or Warning in effect for Cullman County, then you can pretty much bet that I’ll not risk driving to class. Look to my website at www.schoolrack.com/brisc001 to see if I have canceled class for that night.
Grading:
Grading is done by a points system. The total number of points is divided by the actual number of points received, and the average is calculated.
Note cards: 20 points each
Note card grades are given each week. These cannot be made up for any reason. They are for students who are conscientiously and actively reading the materials and are “religiously” coming to class on time. Twenty points doesn’t seem like much, but in the end, it can make the difference between a A or a C or a C or an F.
Essays: 100 points each x 5 essays in class = 500 points
Essays will be done in class, in the computer lab 3, with the exception of the research paper. No essay can be made up for any reason. I do not give make up work on these assignments. Make sure you are in class, well prepared, and ready to stay as long as it takes to write a thoughtful, five paragraph (or more), five hundred word essay.
You will be required to turn in a copy of the essay before leaving the computer lab. Again, if you miss the assigned date of any essay, you will not get credit, and you will not receive a makeup opportunity. Unless you have a documented, acceptable excuse, what you will receive is a grade of “zero.” Performance = results!
Final Exam (100 points)
For the final exam, you are to read the book Tuesdays with Morri, by Mitch Albom. The book is readily available for purchase online, and should be in the Wallace bookstore. Your exam will be a response paper to the book, and it will be done in class on December 9th . Tuesdays with Morrie is approximately a six hour read.
Research Paper (100 Points)
Each student will be required to write a research paper this semester. There are minimal guidelines for the research paper. I have prepared a handout for you to use, but here are a few of the guidelines:
- Paper must be typed, MLA format.
- Must be submitted to me, in person, on the date it is due.
- Acceptable Internet sources do not include Wikipedia, Schoolnotes.com, Cliffnotes.com, Classicshorts.com, www.123helpme.com, or any of those “dot com” type sites. Most sites that are acceptable have the file extensions of “.org” or “.edu” or “.net”. As a rule, students should avoid any of the dot com websites, as these are commercial websites, and used for profit. Typically, they are not creditable sources, or sources that should be used for college level writing.
- Must include a “Works Cited” page
- Must use a five line heading on the front page; there is no need to turn in a title page.
- Outline
- (this left intentionally blank in case I think of something else)
Tests – 100 points each (2 of them)
There will be two tests assigned this semester. Each test counts 100 points and will be done in class. Do not come late for class on test nights. You will not be allowed to take it if you are tardy.
Other assignments may be given at the discretion of the instructor.
Date Have Completed before Class:
August 19 Orientation & library tour (http://www.wallacestate.edu/library.html)
EH 101 packet, pages 1-10
August 26 A Writer’s Reference, “Mechanics,” pp. 297-314
Eh 101 packet, pages 11-18, 74-80
Eh 101 packet, Comparison/Contrast, 32 – 36.
Note card due – introduce yourself
September 2 Essay #1, comparison/contrast- TONIGHT, IN CLASS, 6pm. Be prompt. If you are more than fifteen (15) minutes late, you will not be admitted to class for this or any other essay.
September 9 A Writer’s Reference, “Punctuation,” pp. 259-293
Eh 101 packet, pages 19-26; 81-89
EH 101 packet, 37-40, “Mode: Definition”
Begin reading Tuesdays With Morrie, pages 1-32
Note card due
September 16 A Writer’s Reference: “Grammatical Sentences,” read pages 163-215
Eh 101 packet, pages 90-98
Test #1
September 23 Essay #2 – TONIGHT, IN CLASS, 6pm sharp!
September 30 A Writer’s Reference: p. 355-412
Eh packet, p. 99-104
Read pages 33-61 in Tuesdays With Morrie
October 7 A Writer’s Reference: Read pages 57-90
Eh packet, p. 27-31
Read pages 62-99 in Tuesdays With Morrie
October 14 Essay #3 – TONIGHT, IN CLASS
October 21 A Writer’s Reference: p. 93-119
Eh packet, p. 66-70
Read pages 100 – 129 in Tuesdays With Morrie
October 28 A Writer’s Reference: p. 123-160
Eh packet, p. 62-65
Read pages 130-159 in Tuesdays With Morrie
November 4 Essay #4 – TONIGHT, IN CLASS
November 11 A Writer’s Reference: p. 317-352
Eh packet, p. 62-65
Read pages 160-180 in Tuesdays With Morrie
Note: Research paper is due next week, in person, and ready to be uploaded into WebCT
November 18 Test #2
NOTE: Research paper is due tonight IN CLASS by 6pm. Bring a hard copy of the paper, ready to turn in, plus, bring a saved copy on a flash drive, ready to download into WebCt.
November 25 No Class-Thanksgiving
December 2 Finish reading pages 181-end in Tuesdays With Morrie
December 9 Final Exam – TONIGHT, IN CLASS.
