Fundamentals of Composition, English 450

section #8074 taught byDr. Cathy Decker
Text Books
  1. John Langan's English Skillswith Readings,4th ed.
  2. Peter Elbow's Writing withPower
  3. A good dictionary that is at leastone and one-half inch thick and gives the pronunciation for every wordentry
Contact Information forCathy
Grade Scale


D- D+ C C+ B- B+ A- A+
0-5455-6263-6768-7374-7778-8081-8384-8687-8990-9293-9596-99

  Tentative Schedule

M=Mon.; W=Wed.; p.=page; pp.=pages; ES=EnglishSkills; WP=Writing with Power
M 1/8Introduction to the class
Discussion of how, where, and with who to do homework
W 1/10Have read ES, pp. 2-10 and completedthe exercises on those pages, including the paragraph on your best or worstjob 
Have read WP, "Introduction: A Map of the Book"and Part I.3. "Sharing"
Discussion/Lecture/Workshop on Paragraph Writing
"Sharing" Activity and HomeworkSign-off
Discussion of Class to date and next week's schedule
W 1/17Have read WP, Parts I.1 and I.2 andPart IV.20
Have read ES, pp. 11-26 and completed the exercisesincluding the two freewrites, the journal entry, etc. Don't forget to writeanswers to the questions in the questioning exercise.
"Sharing" Activity and Homework Sign-off
"Jeopardy" on all of ES and WP covered to date
M 1/22Have read and done all activities,ES, pp. 27-35
Have read WP, Part I.4
Discussion of Composition Process: Outlines vs.Freewrites AND Our Mental Health 
Introduction to Argument and work on Argumentexercises, ES, pp. 208-211
Outlining Arguments Exercise, ES, p. 212 and HomeworkSign-off
W 1/24Have read and completed exercise onES, pp. 35-49 and pp. 208-211, including your four outlines on the liston p. 212
Peer grading of ES, pp. 47-49; peer discussionof outlines; and Homework Sign-off
Discussion/Workshop on Quiz and Formal ArgumentPaper
M 1/29Have read WP, Part I.5, I.6, and PartIII.13, III.16
Have writing four brief reaction journals to thefour parts of WP read (make each journal about 125 words). 
Quiz 1 on ES, "Important Factors in Writing" andHomework Sign-off
Peer Grading of Quiz and discussion of Homework
W 1/31Have draft of Formal Argument Paperwith writing center stamp OR Cathy's comments from an office visit
Have read WP, all of Part V
Feedback Workshop and Discussion of Class Progressand Our Mental Health
M 2/5 Jan. office visit must be done beforethis class or bring evidence of Jan. writing center visits to class
Have read handout "Let's Get Specific"
Have read ES and done all exercises on pp. 50-69;do activity pp. 68-9 on separate paper to be collected
Peer Grading of Homework/Homework Sign-off/Collectionof Homework Sheet 1 
Exercises on Specific Details
W 2/7Have read and completed all exercises,ES, pp. 70-82; Type your answers to pp. 81-2 on separate paper and be preparedto turn them in along with a writing center stamp on your draft OR Cathy'scomments on the draft form
Peer Grading of pp. 79-80 and Quiz on IdentifyingAdequate Supporting Evidence
Lecture/Workshop on ES, "The Third and FourthSteps in Writing"
M 2/12Formal Argument Due along with othermaterial required on assignment sheet
Have read WP, Part II.10
Have read and completed all exercises, ES, pp.87-94, 97-104
Quiz 2 on ES, "The First and Second Steps in Writing"and Homework Sign-off 
Peer Grading of Quiz and some homework
Lecture/Workshop on ES, "Four Bases for EvaluatingWriting"
W 2/14Have read and completed all exercises,ES, pp. 105-130
Quiz 3 on ES, "The Third and Fourth Steps in Writing"and "Providing Transitions"
Peer Grading of Quiz and some homework/HomeworkSign-off
Introduction/Workshop on ES, "Mechanics," pp.347-364
W 2/21Have read and completed all exercisesin ES, pp. 347-364; Do Review Test 2 p. 361 on separate paper, typed (thiswill be collected)
Have read WP, Part II.9 
Quiz 4 on "The Four Bases for Evaluating Writing"and "Mechanics" 
Peer Grading of Quiz and some homework/HomeworkSign-Off
Discussion of Class Progress and Our Mental Health
M 2/26Have skimmed entirePart II of ES, pp. 131-216 and be prepared to sign-up for an oral report/servicelearning activity on a method of development
Review for Test 1
W 2/28Test 1 on all of WPand ES covered by 2/15
M 3/5Feb. office visit mustbe done before this class or bring evidence of Feb. writing center visitsto class
Oral Reports
Discussion of Test and Service LearningActivity 
W 3/7Discussion of Test andService Learning Activity
Oral Reports
SpringBreak Week
M 3/19Oral Reports
Have read and completed in ES, "Methodof Development" Readings and Exercises (see handout for detailed list andpage numbers)
"Jeopardy" on Methods of Development
M 3/21Due, typed on separate paper, WritingAssignment 1, ES, pp. 142-3; Writing Assignment 1, ES, pp. 172-3; and WritingAssignment 1, ES, pp. 179-180. Turn in at least two writing-center stampeddrafts for any two of these assignments
Discussion of Class Progress/Service Learning/MentalHealth
M 3/26Have read all of PartsI-V of WP, except Part II.11 on poetry writing
Reading Journal on WP of about 300words due
Quiz 5 on Methods of Development
Peer Grading of Quiz
Sharing and/0r Feedback Sessions
Self-Assessment and Our Grades Discussion          New Homework Sheet
W 3/28Bring Dictionary toclass
Due, typed on separate paper, WritingAssignment 1, ES, pp. 188-190; Writing Assignment 1, ES, pp. 195-7;and Writing Assignment 1, pp. 204-5. Turn in at least one draft with awriting center stamp for any one of these assignments.
Introduction to ES, "Word Use," and Word Use Exercises
M 4/2Mar. office visit mustbe done before this class or bring evidence of Mar. writing center visitsto class
Have read and completed all theexercises in ES, pp. 397-416; have exercises on pages 398, 407, 415 doneon separate paper for collection.
Quiz 6 on Dictionary Use/HomeworkSign-off
More work on "Word Use"
W 4/4Have read and completeall the exercises in ES, pp. 417-446; have Review Test 2, ES, p. 428, ReviewTest 2, p. 446, done on separate paper for collection
Quiz 7 on Commonly Confused Wordsand Effective Word Choice/Homework Sign-off
Introduction to the Essay
M 4/9Have read and completeall the exercises in ES, pp. 218-231
Have skimmed ES, pp. 232-238
Have skimmed or reread WP, PartII.9
Journal entry and report on ServiceLearning Due (see assignment sheet)
Peer Grading of pp. 228-9
Essay Workshop
W 4/11Have read ES, pp. 365-396,and have done and graded all of the introductory projects
Have completed all of the exerciseson Apostrophes, ES, pp. 366-372
Workshop on Punctuation
M 4/16Bring draft of essayto class with writing center stamp
Due, typed Review Test 2, p. 373,and Review Test 2, p. 381
Have done all exercises in ES, pp.372-390
Sharing/Feedback Session and HomeworkSign-off
W 4/18No class/Faculty TrainingDay
M 4/23Have completed all exercises,ES, pp. 390-6; do Review Test 3, p. 391 on separate paper for collection
Have entire WP read, except PartII.11 on Poetry
Journal entry on WP, Part VI due 
Grammar Workshop and Class AnalysisSession/How are We Doing?
W 4/25Test 2 on all work coveredby 4/12 
M 4/30Have skimmed ES, pp.247-346 and done and graded all introductory projects so you are preparedto sign up for a grammar oral report
Have completed ES, pp. 253-254
Essay Project and Grammar discussion
Have completed all exercises inES, pp. 247-286; Do Review Test 1, p. 268, the corrections of Review Test2 (page 269), Review Test 4, p. 271, and Review Test 4, p. 286, on separatepaper to be collected
Homework Sign-off 
W 5/2Apr. office visit mustbe done before this class or bring evidence of Apr. writing center visitsto class
Essay Project Due
Oral Reports
Have completed all exercises inES, pp. 304-314 and 329-333
Quiz 8 on Subjects and Verbs, Fragments,and Run-ons/Homework Sign-off 
M 5/7Oral Reports
Have completed all exercises inES, pp. 315-328
Quiz 9 on Subject-Verb Agreement,Consistent Verb Tense, and Adjectives and Adverbs/Homework Sign-off 
W 5/9Oral Reports
Have completed all exercises inES, pp. 334-346; Do Review Test 1, p. 345 on separate paper to be collected
Quiz 10 on Pronoun errors and types/HomeworkSign-off 
M 5/14Last day of office hours
Last day to turn in evidence ofMay writing center visit 
Last class day, so the last dayto turn in anything!
Exam Prep

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