Course Description:

English 072 is part of a program that we call STEPS. The purpose of the STEPS program is to prepare you to take a reading and writing test for entrance into English 092, 093, or 101. Depending on your skills at the beginning of the course, it may take you one, two, or even three quarters to pass this test. The test will be given in class at the end of the quarter.

This class has both short-term and long-term goals. Your short-term goal is to test into English 092, 093, or 101 by the end of the quarter. Your long-term goal is to develop the reading, writing, and organizational skills to do well in other courses and in jobs that require these skills.

Over the quarter we will work to improve your reading, writing, and study skills. We’ll spend about half of our time together each week practicing the technical skills of reading and writing. During the rest of the time we’ll work on the art of finding meaning in what you read and communicating meaning in what you write.

I have an MA in English Studies, a BA in Secondary Education and over 13 years of teaching experience at the college and secondary level. I have lived in Europe and China and learned to speak a second language as an adult. My husband and I are raising a bilingual child, so I am very aware of the challenges and rewards of language learning. I am excited to be teaching this course and eager to help you meet your goals.

Specifically, to place in the next higher class you should be able to:

Reading:

· Use pre-reading strategies for college level texts written in a variety of styles.

· Read for comprehension on both a literal and inferential level.

· Develop vocabulary on both a passive and active level.

· Identify the main ideas and details in the reading.

· Identify the pattern of development of a reading.

· Identify the major themes in a reading.

· Identify the writer’s audience and purpose.

· Raise your reading level to the 089 level in three different programs in the Reading Lab.

· Apply literal and inferred knowledge gained from reading to class discussions and writing.

Writing:

· Write short essays that express and support a reasoned opinion.

· Follow a writer's process of planning, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading.

· Give useful advice to other students about their writing.

· Use vocabulary appropriate to your subject, purpose, and audience.

· Add variety to your word choice, increase sentence fluency and eliminate grammar errors.

· Write for specific academic purposes: summaries, annotations, short-answer responses, in-class essays, reader response journal entries, etc.

· Write for specific audiences.

Required Course Materials:

Please come with the following materials by the fourth day of class. You will need to bring them to every class meeting.

· Structured Reading, 7^th Ed., Troyka, Lynn and Thweatt, Joseph, Pearson Prentice Hall

· Patterns 1 – Basic Grammar and Editing, Leeds, Linda, Learning Solutions, Pearson, 2010

· The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Alexie, Sherman, Little, Brown and Company, 2001

· 100 page, college ruled, bound notebook (not a spiral)

· Memory stick for use in the computer lab; plan on bringing it every Tuesday.

· Two-pocket plastic folder for portfolio

Reading Lab

When you registered for STEPS, you were automatically registered in a Reading Lab section. You'll work in the Reading Lab outside of class on your own schedule. If you registered for two credits of Lab, you must complete a minimum of 44 hours during the quarter to receive credit. If you registered for one credit, you must complete at least 22 hours. You may work in the lab for more hours than you are registered for. If you don't complete the required number of hours, you won't pass the Lab part of the course. Failing the Lab does not mean you'll fail STEPS, but it does mean that your reading mechanics may not improve enough to give you placement in a higher class at the end of the quarter. Placement in the next higher class requires that you reach approximately the 089 level in at least three of the Lab programs.

Grading:

English 072 is graded as either credit or no credit. To earn credit for this class you must earn 80% of the points possible. A “no credit” grade will not affect your GPA, but it may cause you to lose financial aid, and it will limit the amount of financial aid you can receive in the future. The grade you receive in this class will be part of your permanent BC transcript. Assignments will be evaluated on both completion and quality. At the end of the semester you will take an exit exam, which will include reading an essay, answering two short-answer questions, and then writing your own essay. Your exit exam will be read by at least two instructors. After considering your performance in Eng. 072, the reading lab, and your final exit exam, I will make the recommendation for your next English course.

It is important to note that you were placed in this course based on your performance on the Compass Language exam. Not all students will progress at the same rate. Mastering reading and writing at the college level is complicated. It requires time, repetition of skills and dedication. The English Steps courses have been specially designed to help you achieve your goals. If you are an ESL student, if you were raised in a dual language household, or if you have been away from school for a long time, you may need more time to bring your skill and confidence levels up to speed. If you are a native English speaker, you will be working to improve your reading speed/comprehension, writing fluency, and using college level vocabulary. For all students it is important to take responsibility for their own learning, be organized and to attend class regularly. In addition to giving you feedback on your writing and assignments, I will let you know your overall progress at least once mid-quarter and prior to winter quarter pre-registration. Those students who dedicate themselves to the learning process will see progress and eventually move on. If you are taking a heavy class load, working a lot of hours at a job, or have demanding personal responsibilities outside of class, your progress will likely be slower.

Assignments: Assignments will fall into one or more of these three categories, reading, writing and/or grammar, each representing one-third of the points possible. I will give you a 2-3 week long assignment calendar which will give due dates for the following:

· 3 formal outside essays that include prewriting, first drafts, revision and proof reading.

· Writing Lab essays and exercises.

· Reading assignments, exercises, quizzes, summaries, outlines and annotations for Structured Reading and our novel.

· Vocabulary exercises and quizzes.

· Grammar exercises and assignments related to Patterns.

· Final portfolio

Policy on late work:

No late work will be accepted. If you are sick, speak to me or a neighbor after class for missed notes. Before you return to class, check the class website and your assignment calendar. I will post assignments on the site. Do whatever you can to come prepared for class!

If you know that you will be sick when an essay is due, submit it to me on-line by the due date. The day you return, bring in a hard copy. This is the only copy I will grade.

Grammar Journal:

In addition to grammar pattern exercises, our grammar text book includes several journal writing topics. For this section of the course, you will need a standard sized (9.5x11inch) 100 pg. bound notebook. You will use this notebook only for this class. Complete each journal entry on a separate page with your name and the title of the assignment at the top. Write neatly, so that your peers and I can read your work. You will share the journal assignments with your peers for editing practice, and I will review your work frequently during class and for conferences.

Writing Lab:

We will meet every Tuesday in the writing lab to practice writing in-class essays. The essays will be collected at the end of the class meeting. Save your work on a memory stick. We will use the work later in revision exercises, in our formal essay writing process and for your portfolio.

Attendance:

Attending class regularly is important if you want to achieve your academic goals, maintain financial aid, and/or participate in sports programs on campus. I will take attendance at the beginning of each hour of our class. If you miss more than 10 classes, you may be given a failing grade. If you are more than 10 minutes late for a class, it will be counted as an absence. Frequent absences and late arrivals are disruptive to me and impede the progress of serious students. If you know in advance that you will be missing several classes, this is not the ideal time for you to take this class. Please check the college website for relevant withdrawal dates and information. Consider an on-line course or taking this course another quarter. Please email me if you will be out more than one day. It would also be wise to have the contact information of one student in class who can keep you up-to-date on assignments, announcements or notes.

Please remember this: I design reading, writing and grammar activities with group work in mind. Attend class regularly and come prepared with your assignments completed. You will get more out of your time in class and others will enjoy working with you.

Computer and Cell Phone Use

It is not necessary for you to have a laptop in class. Our classroom is very small; small desks and crowed spaces will make computer use nearly impossible. If you decide to try anyway, I reserve the right to ask you to close your laptop during group activities or whole group work. This is also not a time to listen to music, check your Facebook page, email, or surf the Web.

Cell phones need to be turned off and not used for any function during class time. If you are truly dealing with an emergency, excuse yourself and deal with the call/text msg. outside of the classroom.

We will visit the computer lab once a week to work on writing assignments. The assignment will most likely take you the class period. If you finish early, you may work on other assignments for this class or leave quietly. This is not a time to check your Facebook page, email, or surf the Web. If you would like to do so, you should submit your work for the day and leave the lab. It is distracting to those working around you. You will find other computer labs in the library and in the “N” building.

End of Quarter Portfolio

Keep all of your formal essays and writing lab work. At the end of the quarter I will ask you to assemble them in a writing portfolio. This will be turned in and used should additional information be necessary in your English class placement for next quarter.

Essay Writing

Each formal essay we write will undergo a 3 stage writing process: prewriting, first draft, second draft, and a final revision. Full participation in the process is part of the assignment. Writing groups: Bring 3 copies of the first draft of your essay to class. You will read your essay aloud to your group while they read the hard copies. Your group will give you written feedback on your essay. Your job as a writer is to consider the feedback and then incorporate it into the next phase of the writing process. It is important that you share your essays with the group, so be mindful about how personal you are with your subject matter. If you aren’t willing to share something with your group, then take your writing in a different direction. Also, if you are not getting enough feedback from your group, change groups or ask me to help you find a more suitable group.

The first draft and all subsequent drafts should be done on a word processor. If you do not have access to a computer at home, please plan to use the computer labs on campus. The drafts need to be printed out before you come to class. Having a writing group to give you feedback is a great benefit, so come prepared to fully participate.

Format for Written Work

· Word process all essays written out of class. If you don't have access to a personal computer at home or work, you may use the computers in the Computer Lab in the N building.

· Put your name, the quarter, and the assignment title in the upper left corner of your paper.

· Use a 12 point, easy-to-read font; double-space the text.

· Give each essay a title. Center the title.

· Leave margins of about 1 1/2 inches on the sides and at the top and bottom. MS does this automatically, even if the margins don’t show on the screen.

· Use the spell-checker to check your spelling.

· If you need to make minor changes after you’ve printed your essay, make them neatly by hand. Use dark ink, not pencil.

Ethics

Your essays must present your own ideas in your own words. If you copy someone’s exact words, you must put them in quotation marks. If you summarize or quote someone else’s ideas, facts, or words, you must say where they came from. If you don’t do this, you’ll be considered disrespectful and unethical. Saying where words and ideas came from is called “citing your sources.” I’ll teach you the basic conventions for citing your sources now, and you’ll learn more about these conventions as you take higher level courses. I won’t accept an essay you’ve copied from someone else, an essay you wrote for an earlier class, or an essay in which you present someone else’s words or ideas as your own. These are called "plagiarisms." If you plagiarize once, I'll give you an explanation, a warning, and a more difficult make-up assignment. If you do it again, you'll fail the course. If you plagiarize in two different courses, you may be expelled from BC. Sometimes it's hard to know how to avoid plagiarism. If you're worried that I might consider something you've written to be a plagiarism, ask me about it BEFORE you turn it in.

Special Needs

If you have emergency medical information to share, or need special arrangements in case of emergency evacuation, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible. If you need course or classroom modifications because of a disability, I can refer you to our Disability Resource Center (DRC). If you prefer, you may contact the DRC directly by going to B132 or by calling (425) 564-2498 or TTY (425) 564-4110. Information is also available on their website at http://bellevuecollege.edu/drc/

Affirmation of Inclusion

Bellevue College is committed to maintaining an environment in which every member of the campus community feels welcome to participate in the life of the college, free from harassment and discrimination. We value our different backgrounds at Bellevue College, and students, faculty, staff members, and administrators are to treat one another with dignity and respect. http://bellevuecollege.edu/about/goals/inclusion.asp

Values Conflicts:
Essential to a liberal arts education is an open-minded tolerance for ideas and modes of expression that might conflict with one’s personal values. By being exposed to such ideas or expressions, students are not expected to endorse or adopt them but rather to understand that they are part of the free flow of information upon which higher education depends.

To this end, you may find that class requirements may include engaging certain materials, such as books, films, and art work, which may, in whole or in part, offend you. These materials are equivalent to required texts and are essential to the course content. If you decline to engage the required material by not reading, viewing, or performing material you consider offensive, you will still be required to meet class requirements in order to earn credit. This may require responding to the content of the material, and you may not be able to fully participate in required class discussions, exams, or assignments.