Jeremy T.
Mumford
Division:
Humanities
Department:
English/
Developmental
Contact Info:
Phone: (209) 384-6178
mumford.j@mccd.edu
Current* and Previously Taught Courses:
English 80
English 81*
English 84*
English A
English 1A
English 41
English 1B
English 12
English 13*
Useful Student Links (includes online sites, class PowerPoint presentations, etc.)
Useful Teacher Links (includes online sites, links to journals, teaching websites)
Clubs:
Phi Theta Kappa
Students for
Social Justice
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English 81
Basic Reading Tactics II
Fall 2008
3 units
Schedule #1270
MWF 11-12
VOC-38
Course Introduction
The central goal of this class will be to develop critical and academic reading skills. We will begin to define reading as more than just what we do with books and written texts. Reading, in fact, is an activity that we perform in all kinds of ways and in all types of circumstances and situations. Oddly enough, you have probably been practicing critical reading skills for most of your life but just haven’t applied them in the official context of a “college class.” We will define academic and critical reading as we look at communities and the issues that pertain to them. For example, we will look at our personal experiences with literacy, a literacy issue affecting our communities, and end by reflecting on the class and the lab! We will use the textbook, handout essays provided by me, the news media, and your own writing to discuss the themes of the class. Writing and discussion will be our primary way of developing the reading skills outlined in the expected outcomes and course goals at the end of this syllabus. Developing your ability to read critically is perhaps one of the most important keys to future success in the academic sense and employment, job, and work worlds. I’d like to welcome you as you begin the adventure.
Course Description
This class emphasizes comprehension and critical thinking skills at a pre-college reading level. This course is for students who need to work applying reading comprehension skills and critical reading/thinking skills to pre-college level reading materials. Instruction will focus on strategies to build reading skills.
Required Texts and Materials
Bridging the Gap: College Reading
Night by Elie Wiesel, Bantam Books, 1960. ISBN 0553272535
A college dictionary (optional)
2-3 large blue books
A three ring binder to hold handouts and class work
Copies and printouts of articles from magazines, newspapers, and career center as required.
Course Policies
Preparedness and
Participation
By preparedness, I mean being in class with all required materials and
work. Every absence will lower your preparedness grade by half a grade
level. Thus, you may miss two classes and get an A in attendance, albeit a
lower A grade than a student who has attended every class. After six
absences, you will be dropped from the class. Thus, excessive absences will
result in failure of the course. Two instances of tardiness equal an
absence. If you are more than twenty-five minutes late, you will be counted
as absent. Answering a cell phone in class will be equivalent to a tardy,
then an absence. TURN THEM OFF!
A portion of the preparedness grade will be based upon your participation in whole class discussions and groups. This grade is given holistically and is based upon my observations of you over the course of the semester. Collaboration and small group work along with discussions will be a primary activity in our class. It is imperative that each person participates.
Class work:
Class work will include a variety of exploratory writings done in class in
response to texts we have read, each other’s writing, and various prompts,
which I will assign. Often times the writing we do in class will be the
foundation for longer writing assignments you will complete outside of
class. Save all of the writing we do in and out of class for the whole
semester.
Group work:
Group work will consist of small group discussions that lead to whole class
discussions in which your participation or lack thereof will be noted.
You are expected to participate to the best of your abilities. A
successful participant in this class will generate questions, identify
problems, infer, elaborate on texts using personal experience, and will make
predictions about the overall class meaning.
Journals and Quizzes
There will be a weekly reading and learning journal. Journals should be one, full, handwritten page. I will collect your journals in the ninth week and at the end of the course. Topics for the journals will be given in the week prior to their being due and will be posted on this class website under Current Schedule.
Exams
Exams include an in-class or take-home essay in which you will be required to demonstrate perspectives based on the reading you do and the skills you learn. The essay portion will require you to take a clear stance or position on the topic and use adequate details and examples to support your thesis. Essays must be written at a level that corresponds to the English 84 entry level skills. The short answer portion will ask you to recall and restate key concepts from the textbook and apply these concepts to the essays that you read. There will be three exams (given approximately every six weeks) and a comprehensive final.
Course Grading
Your final grade will be based
on the following:
Preparedness and Participation (25%) 25 points
Journals and quizzes (25%) 25 points
Exams (1-4) (40%) 40 points
Comprehensive Final Exam (5) (10%) 10 points
_____________________________________________
Total points possible (100%) 100 points
The grading scale is as follows:
A: 100-90 of total points possible
B: 89-80
C: 79-70
D: 69-60
F: 59 and below
Plagiarism Policy
Cheating is the actual or attempted practice of fraudulent or deceptive acts for the purpose of improving one's grade or obtaining course credit; such acts also include assisting another student to do so. Typically, such acts occur in relation to examinations. However, it is the intent of this definition that the term 'cheating' not be limited to examination situations only, but that it include any and all actions by a student that are intended to gain an unearned academic advantage by fraudulent or deceptive means. Plagiarism is a specific form of cheating which consists of the misuse of the published and/or unpublished works of others by misrepresenting the material (i.e., their intellectual property) so used as one's own work. Penalties for cheating and plagiarism range from a D or F on a particular assignment, through an F for the course, to expulsion from the college.
Classroom Behavior
The classroom is a special environment in which students and faculty come together to promote learning and growth. It is essential to this learning environment that respect for the rights of others seeking to learn, respect for the professionalism of the instructor, and the general goals of academic freedom are maintained. Differences of viewpoint or concerns should be expressed in terms which are supportive of the learning process, creating an environment in which students and faculty may learn to reason with clarity and compassion, to share of themselves without losing their identities, and to develop and understanding of the community in which they live. Student conduct which disrupts the learning process shall not be tolerated and may lead to disciplinary action and/or removal from class.
Expected Outcomes and Course Goals
Upon successful completion of the course, you should be able to:
A. Demonstrate reading comprehension at an 11th grade level by:
1. Locating and assessing stated main ideas (topic sentences)
2. Formulate and compose unstated (implied) main ideas
3. Distinguish between major and minor details.
4. Evaluate inferences with increasing proficiency.
5. Recognize and apply transitional words and phrases.
6. Identify organizational patterns
B.
Use critical reading skills to an 11th grade level by:
1.
Evaluate
fact and opinion
2. Analyze
author’s purpose
3. Recognize
bias and tone
4. Identify arguments
5.
Analyze creative and critical thinking
C. Apply study skills to reading materials:
1. Examine and apply a study system
2. Create outlines and maps for reading selections
D. Apply strategies to determine and increase vocabulary by:
1. Examining and applying word parts
2. Analyze context clues
3. Identify transitional words and phrases
Current Schedule
Week 1 Introductions and Orientation (ESO A1)
Syllabus and introductions
Webpage, lab, and supportive services; Maxine Hong Kingston's "The Misery
of Silence, pg. 301
Journal 1: Use the five reading
strategies emphasizing connection and analysis. 1 page.
Week 2 Section 1 Literacy and Education Experiences (ESO A1-A4)
Discuss journals;
Read "Many Going to College..." and work on reading strategies with partner;
discuss;
Journal 2: Discuss your own education. What types of issues did you
struggle with? What came easy? How
did your early education prepare you for the work that is required of you
now? Refer directly to the articles that
we have read.
Week 3 Chapter 4: Main Ideas (ESO A1-A4)
Review chapter in groups and as whole class;
Find main ideas in reading selections and discuss as class
Week 4 Exam 1 (ESO A1-A4)
Review
Test
Week 5 Section 2 Literacy and Specialized Knowledge in My Community (ESO A5-A6, C1-C2)
Reading:
Choose a discipline from the textbook and read the complete section,
newspaper article, longer essay,
and overview of the field.
Journal 3: Read the longer essay and apply the five reading strategies.
Identify and present to class main idea and the approach to knowledge (support)
Week 6 Project 2 (ESO A5-A6, C1-C2)
Continue discussion and presentation of discipline specific knowledge
Review
project 2; Academic
Writers Organize Power Point
Week 7 Bridging the Gap: Chapters 1, 5 & 6:
Paragraphs and
Organizational Techniques (ESO A5-A6, C1-C2)
In
groups, define and present paragraphs and organizational techniques
Journal 4: Discuss what new information reading the Eureka printouts has
given you about this discipline,
career, or major. What kind of knowledge is this field organized
around?
Work on artifacts; questions and answers; revising and expanding portfolio contents
Week 8 (ESO A5-A6, C1-C2)
Model and write paragraphs in class
Paragraphs one and two due. Continue writing paragraphs and finalize organization.
Week 9 Section 3 Community Issue: Topic to be announced (ESO A4, B1-B5)
Powerpoint: Inference and Point of View; groupwork
Review articles and identify points of view
Week 10 Chapters 7: Inference and 8: Point of View (ESO A4, B1-B5)
Review articles and identify points of view
Review articles and identify points of view
Week 11 Exam 3 (ESO A4, B1-B5)
Exam 3 Review
Exam 3
Week 12 Section 4 Literate Traditions (ESOs All)
Discussion of Elie Wiesel's Night, pgs. 1-26
Discussion of Elie Wiesel's Night, pgs. 27-44.
Week 13 Reading and Discussing Literature
Discussion of Elie Wiesel's Night, pgs. 45-62
Discussion of Elie Wiesel's Night, pgs. 63-109.
Week 14 Critical Thinking Introduction (ESOs All)
Discussion and reading assignment: Chapter 9 overview; discuss critical thinking overview in class
Begin group work on four steps to critical thinking (p.390)
Week 15 Critical Thinking Overview (ESOs All)
Continue
discussing four steps to critical thinking
(p.390)
Review relevance, believability, and consistency fallacies
Week 16 Critical Thinking Application (ESOs All)
Read and discuss Columbus handout essay
Read and discuss Columbus handout essay; review for exam 4
Week 17 Exam 4 and Final Review
Exam 4
Week 18 Final
Instructor's Disclaimer
I reserve the right to make changes and additions to this syllabus as I see fit through the semester. You, the student, are responsible for any and all changes to the syllabus, should they occur.
Updated 8/14/08 by Jeremy Mumford