Noel Kinnamon, PhD
(contact information below)
Fall 2008, 9:30-10:45 TR
Course
description: English 101 is designed to strengthen writing skills primarily
at the sentence and paragraph levels. The course focuses on helping students
develop effective writing, grammar, and communication skills that will
facilitate success in the areas of school, work, and personal development.
Students will work to improve communication skills through reading, discussion,
writing, and revision. English 101 writers will become familiar with the
characteristics of good writing: purpose, focus, organization, content,
audience, and style/mechanics. Through a variety of approaches to reading,
writing, and language activities, students will develop the necessary skills to
communication more effectively, thus preparing them for English 111 as well as
the rest of their academic courses.
Learning Outcomes:
1.
Comprehend and apply conventions of standard written English.
2.
Demonstrate unity and coherence in sentences and paragraphs.
Texts:
Conley, Dalton. Honky. New York: Knopf, 2001.
The Dolphin Writer: Building Sentences and
Composing Paragraphs. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008.
Supplemental materials to be provided.
NB These are required textbooks. You
must bring them to each class meeting, unless otherwise directed.
Furthermore, you must show your professor that you have written your name in
each of them in indelible ink by Tuesday, 2 September. If you delay, each
subsequent class meeting without textbooks will reduce your final grade by one
point.
Assignments:
Readings in Dolphin Writer and Honky, additional exercises to be
provided, impromptu exercises in class, paragraphs, peer evaluation.
Course
Policies and Requirements
1.
Students are expected to attend every class, to arrive on time, and to be
prepared for full
participation.
Four absences are allowed. More than four will result in a reduction of
the final course grade by five points for each excess absence. No distinction will be made between excused and unexcused absences.
Students who arrive after the roll has been called or after the door has been
shut will be counted tardy. Two instances of tardiness equal one absence.
2. No late work will be accepted unless it is accompanied by documentation of the reason for the absence (an official note from a physician, a coach, or court representative, for instance). If a student has difficulty meeting a deadline, he or she may request an extension by consulting with the instructor prior to the due date. (The extension may or not be granted, depending on the circumstances.) Lack of preparation for a conference or an in-class workshop (not taking a draft to class, for example) will result in an automatic failing grade on the assignment. In addition, an absence will be recorded for the class meeting scheduled for the conference, workshop, or other scheduled activity.
3.
Students must keep in good order all their writing assignments for the
semester (preliminary and final drafts) until the final grades are assigned at
the end of the semester.
4.
Except in special circumstances, all writing for the course is to be
completed with the use of a computer and is to be printed with double spacing
and a 12-pt. font. Students must be prepared to save work to the college server
or to have with them for each class meeting a portable memory device or an IBM-formatted
diskette (Mac-formatted diskettes will not work). All work must be saved in
Word (.doc), not “Works” or “Vista,” etc.
Electronic copies of all compositions must be available
(accessible, readable, subject to revision) during class; send copies to
yourself via email. No exceptions.
5.
Grading for the course will be on a 10-point scale: 90-100 = A; 80-89 =
B; etc.
Papers:
50% (minimum C- average)
Other
assignments (exercises, etc.):
50% (minimum C- average)
Instructional
methods: Class discussion, use of computer technology, collaborative work,
peer evaluation, effective speaking and attentive listening activities.
NB
Use of electronic devices
(including cell phones, MP3s, Internet browsers, and so on) is strictly
prohibited during class. The professor will indicate when the computers are to
be used.
Food
is not to be brought into the classroom or consumed during class.
Contact information
211
Cornwell
1233 (office), 689-4191 (home)
Tentative
office hours: 10:00-11:30, 2:00-3:30 MW (and
by appointment)
<nkinnamon@mhc.edu>
<http://users.mhc.edu/facultystaff/nkinnamon/kinnmain.htm>
(Telephone calls to my home are welcome;
unannounced visits are not.)
Honor
Code
We, the students of Mars Hill College, pledge ourselves to uphold integrity, honesty, and academic responsibility in and out of the classroom.
Honor
Pledge
Return to English 101 home page.