ACADEMIC PREPARATION: SPECIAL TOPICS: BRIDGE

Winter 2010

Instructor:	Rob Fieser
Room:	R-209
Email:	rfieser@bellevuecollege.edu
Class:	Monday-Friday; 1:30-3:20
Text:	Raise the Issues, 3^rd edition
Office Hours:	by appointment (Office C-235)

Course Overview

The goal of this class is to help you develop the skills you will need to succeed in academic classes. We will focus on active listening, note taking, summarizing and giving reactions both in speech and writing, reading, speaking, and critical thinking, and study skills. In addition, students will be expected to attend and observe 7 different credit classes beginning the second week of the quarter. You will ask and get permission from the instructors of the classes you choose to visit. After the observation, you will get a signature from the instructor and write a report about what you observed.

Our textbook provides a good source of reading, listening and discussion topics and activities, and we will extend those topics with information from other sources including videos, magazine articles, and the Internet. Topic extension homework will also be assigned and may include summary/response reports, vocabulary study, and short oral reports.

It is important to be active in all class activities by reading the assigned texts, attending class regularly, and asking and answering questions.

Course Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Listening and Speaking
Listen for specific information in an academic lecture in a variety of content areas
Summarize lectures through discussion
Participate appropriately in small and large group discussions
Plan, organize, and deliver effective presentations: individual and group
Reading
Take reading notes in a variety of content areas
   Make an outline of a reading passage
    Recognize the organization of a passage
   Distinguish fact from opinion
   Use skimming and scanning to quickly find information
   Use the index and appendix of a text effectively
   Identify points of view and audience
   Infer meaning through tone, voice, vocabulary, etc.
Critical Thinking
   Respond critically in both oral and written responses to a reading and/or lecture
   Formulate logical questions to a reading and/or lecture
   Make and evaluate inferences
    Understand the difference and application of inductive and deductive reasoning
    Use self evaluation as a tool increase learning and academic success
Writing
   Learn and apply the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing
   Decide which parts of source material are important for both summarizing and paraphrasing
   Paraphrase using different grammar and vocabulary
   Use verbs which indicate they are summarizing: suggest, report, argue, question, conclude
    Synthesize by grouping connected ideas from various sources
    Organize sentences into logical paragraphs and combine them into one continuous piece of writing
   Include original ideas
   Use MLA format for quoting, footnoting
   Recognize what constitutes plagiarism

Study Skills
   Recognize and explain teacher expectations through syllabi analysis
    Understand how to organize and review material prior to an exam
   Understand how to employ test taking strategies: objective, subjective
   Use time management skills
   Reduce test anxiety
    Learn from their exams: evaluate their preparation, learn from their mistakes, get help for the next exam

Attendance

Attendance and participation are critical for success in this class. Any hour that a student is not in class will be counted as an absence. Students who miss class 12 times will receive a grade of “F.” Students who miss 10 or 11 times will receive a grade of “D”. Three (3) late arrivals of 5 minutes or more will equal 1 absence.
When you are absent from class, it is your job to find out what you missed. You can contact me or another classmate to get this information. Keep in mind that the speaking and listening components of the class cannot be made up.
In the event that you are absent, I will accept an e-mail with your work attached as a word document. However, in order to receive full credit, you must send it before the beginning of class on the date that it is due. Assignments that are not handed in at the time they are collected are considered late. Late assignments will lose 10% for each day they are late and will not be accepted more than two days after the due date.

Student and Teacher Joint Responsibility

The relationship between students and their teachers is similar to that between players and coaches.

Both need to prepare to have a successful class or game. Players practice before their games. They prepare themselves so that their coaches and teammates can count on them. If you prepare well before class, you help yourself, your classmates, and, yes, your teacher, too. You will, for example, be more able to contribute ideas and respond thoughtfully in group discussions. On the other hand, if you do not prepare, and you stay up till 3 AM each night watching TV or Internet Messaging with your friends back in your country, you will most likely be groggy during class and unable to contribute to class discussions. You will be wasting your money. In order to do your best in this class, you need to do your homework and get sufficient rest and proper nutrition. Therefore, take care of yourselves.

Grading

The following grading scale will be used:
Tests	30%
Summaries & Responses	25%
Class Observations	20%
Classwork, assignments and homework	25%

All written assignments including summaries and responses should be typed, double-spaced and in size 12 font. All written work should have your full name and assignment written in the upper right or left corner.

There are no make-ups for tests. Make-up tests will only be available to students with a medical or an advisor’s written excuse.

Plagiarism and cheating

Students are in ELI classes to learn English and ELI teachers are here to help them. Cheating makes that harder for both the students and the teachers. There are different kinds of cheating: plagiarism, “borrowing” a classmate’s homework (partially or wholly), using an essay or a presentation from a previous quarter, using “cheat notes”, and copying answers from classmates’ papers during tests.

Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas as your own in both writing and oral presentations. It is cheating and is not acceptable in American classes.

Examples of plagiarism are:

Copying from a Web page, book or article
Buying papers
Copying from another student
Using a friend’s paper from a previous quarter

If you plagiarize:

First time: your teacher will work with you so that you understand what not to do
Second time: Fail the assignment
Third time: Fail the class and be reported to the Associate Dean of Student Services. Possibly be asked to leave the school

Classroom Conduct:

Use only English in the classroom.
Use college appropriate behavior at all times and be respectful of your classmates and your teacher.
Keep cell phones off.
No eating during class; bottled/covered drinks only please!

Special Needs

If you require accommodation based on a documented disability, have emergency information to share, or need special arrangements in case of emergency evacuation; please make an appointment with DRC (Disability resource Center.) If you would like to inquire about becoming a DRC student, you may call 425-564-2498 or go in person to the DRC program office in B132.

Tentative schedule for Winter 2010

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

WEEK 1/2

1/4

1/5

1/6

1/7

Classes Begin

1/8

WEEK 1

Unit 3 – The Global Child

1/11

Late Placement/

Challenge Test

Section Changes

1/12

1/13

1/14

1/15

WEEK 2

Unit 4 – Beyond Darwin

1/18

Holiday

1/19

1/20

1/21

1/22

Observation 1 due

WEEK 3

Unit 6 – Drawing the Line on Immigration

1/25

1/26

1/27

1/28

1/29

Observation 2 due

WEEK 4

Power Point Presentations

- Important Inventions

2/1

2/2

No Class

2/3

2/4

Observation 3

due

WEEK 5

2/8

2/9

2/10

2/11

2/12

Mid-Quarter Evals Due

WEEK 6

Unit 7 – The Right to Die vs. The Right to Life

2/15

Holiday

2/16

2/17

2/18

2/19

Observation 4 due

WEEK 7

Unit 9 – For Every Winner, There’s a Loser

2/22

2/23

2/24

2/25

2/26

Observation 5 due

WEEK 8

Unit 10 – Alternative Energy

3/1

3/2

3/3

3/4

Observation 6 due

WEEK 9

Power Point Presentations - Difference Makers

3/8

3/9

3/10

Elective Sign-Ups

3/11

3/12

Observation 7

due

WEEK 10

3/15

3/16

3/17

3/18

3/19

Writing: 1:30

S/L: 3:30

WEEK 11

3/22

Reading: 12:30

EOQ: 1:30

3/23

3/24

3/25

3/26