English 126, Section 5456, Online
Instructor: Jessica Barksdale Inclán
Spring 2008
Office Hours: MW 8-10 online, T TH 10.30-11, 3.30-4
Email: lilphi@pacbell.net
web site: www.jessicabarksdaleinclan.com
Course web site: http://www.coursecompass.com/ccindex.html
Text: The Contemporary Reader by Gary Goshgarian, 9th Edition
What Every Student Should Know About citing with MLA Documentation
Welcome to English 126, Critical Thinking. I am eager to learn what you think, and to that end, I have found a provocative book with interesting readings for you to ponder. What are left are the ideas you will come up with.
Many people think of critical thinking as the ability to prove what they think is correct (if being correct is actually possible). However, that isn’t critical thinking. That’s using language as violence, forcing opinions down others’ throats. Look to the TV to see certain newscasters pushing their views—either right, left, or in between—down viewers’ throats with bombast, hyperbole, rudeness, and anger.
That’s not what we are going to do here. Using careful reading and small group work, we will come up with views that surround a certain potentially controversial issues, whether it be advertising, physical appearance, love, race, the family, and sex.
You are going to learn how to separate opinion from fact; exaggeration from the truth; reaction from response. Whether of not you are firmly attached to one side of an idea or another, you are going to find a way to get into all aspects of an issue and explore. You are going to learn to not attack, to listen to all sides of an issue, to respond. To not, most importantly, to take someone else’s view personally. Hopefully, you’ll at least be able to acknowledge the other side. With more hope, you will understand it.
To achieve this, you will do the following:
• Once to twice weekly discussions (pay attention to the syllabus! There is not a consistent Monday or Wednesday pattern. So don't think that's so.) where you post in a small group setting and critique and then repost your ideas to the group and then to the discussion board.
The weekly/twice weekly work also consists of:
Your essay, which will begin as a two page response to the readings. However, these are not papers based on the readings, but papers based on the ideas IN the readings. You won't be telling me what the writers think about the topics (though you will use them for support) but what YOU think about the topics. (You will write in your word processing program and then cut and paste, not write directly on the board first. You need to spell check, word count, revise, etc).
A mistake many students make in the first essay is to create an essay based on the first three readings, going from one to the other explaining or analyzing. Don't fall into this pattern. Come up with your own idea about the topic at hand and USE the essays to back up your thoughts.
Responding to your group members in some detail.
Posting revised responses.
Posting to the discussion board and responding to 2 other people NOT in your group.
Basically, if you do what you need to each week, you will receive your points.
At the end of each essay, I will read through all the work on the discussion board and make comments and present writing ideas and strategies in a specific and yet general posting. Usually, my comments will be the last comments on the board for that date. Please read through the general notes, the specific essay notes, and then the essays that you think might help you learn.
I will NOT interfere with your small group work (though I will look in on all the small group work. If there are problems, please let me know), and I will take care of them. I will post ideas for your group to consider and mull over, and you should take very careful note of the weekly email/posting/announcement I send to you all telling you about specific responses to read and ideas to consider.
• A writer-write up, a “field trip” experience, where you go to hear and essayist or non-fiction writer read. This is the assignment that usually boggles students the most, so it’s well worth getting to it early and quickly. Worth 200 points.
• A final essay based (really revised and added to) on one of your prior essays that you work to full essay form. Worth 200 points.
Posting work 525
Writer Write up 200
Final Essay 200
925-832 A
831-740 B
739-647 C
646-555 D
554 Below F
Class Rules:
• I accept no late papers or assignments. You can not make up group work. If you know you will be away from a computer, arrange to post work early—but this will usually only work for final drafts, the writer write up, and your final essay. There are no exceptions to this rule. If you are having issues with getting to a place where you can log on, this in NOT the class for you. If you can’t seem to log on for the life of you and can’t navigate the site, it would be wise to find another class. Check now to see that you can fulfill the requirements.
• If you disappear for two weeks (i.e., no postings), I will drop you from the course.
• I offer no extra-credit opportunities.
• It is your responsibility to figure your grade as we go along throughout the semester. Do note that this program does add up your points—check it after every assignment. Please note: the points on blackboard are the total available throughout the entire class. If you see after the first week that you have 25 points out of 900 or so, do not panic. That is NOT your grade. There are only 25 available and if you have 25, you are doing pretty darn well, I'd say. You need to keep track of your points weekly. Check your scores often.
• Your grade will be posted on the classroom gradebook at the end of the class. Also, web advisor at www.dvc.edu posts grades about as fast as we turn them in. Do not call me after the class ends to ask for a grade other than the one you earned. Be responsible about your grade—keep track of it during the semester. You can always look at the points you are accumulating in your gradebook, which can be found under Tools. I do not want to engage in any grade discussion. Begging, pleading, telling me you will have to do army service, lose your insurance, your visa, your job, be kicked out of your apartment are (while interesting and scary) not going to sway me. You have control of your life, not me. You receive the grade you earn. Think about it now. Look at the syllabus, see what you have to do to get the grade you want, and do it. End of story.
• Most of the major handouts can be found on my web site www.jessicabarksdaleinclan.com
• If you have any concerns about the above, feel free to see me during my office hours.
All due dates are by the day listed at 7 PM. The course compass site is at EST, and I know that. But I sit down at 7 pm, and go through what is there. If you don’t post by that time, you are late and will not receive credit for your work. Do avoid the habit of posting at 6.59. Or even, 6.20. Earlier is better. It gives us all time to evaluate your work. Frankly, you won't get very many if any comments if you post late. And if you post late, of course, you receive no points.
I often find students cheating in this class. If I for one moment think you are not writing in your own words, I will drop you and report you to the Dean of Students here on campus. If your introductions, your emails, your group work comments do not resemble the essays you turn in, I will assume you are cheating.
January
14—Buy book, log on, get familiar with course site. Read the syllabus carefully. Look at the writer write up assignment. By the 23rd, you will have a lot of reading to do, so it would be best to get to the bookstore early.
23—By this date, read the following:
Intro—I think the most important parts of the intro are about writing and reading critically, but you should be familiar with all of the material in the intro. Also, look at the MLA handbook.
Essays: The Media Assault on Body Image, My Hips, My Caderas, Weight of the World
POST in small groups under group button a two page (12 font) response to body image, using your ideas as well as those that you’ve read about.
30—By this date, do the following:
Read What I Think About the Fashion World and Never Too Buff
Respond to your group members using the guidelines I will provide you with.
February
6—By this date, do the following:
Read Reading the Blog: Eating Disorders: The Numbers, Weighing In, A Man’s Guide to Slimming Couture, Why Do We Get to Laugh at Fat Guys?
Revise and then repost your essay in your group.
11—By this date, do the following:
Comment again on the essays.
Revise and repost.
Post final version on group discussion board.
Respond to two other students NOT in your small group.
13—By this date, do the following:
Read Targeting a New World, Lunch Box Hegemony
POST in new small groups a two page essay about advertising.
20—By this date, do the following
Read: Shop ‘til We Drop, A Portfolio of Advertisements, With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything
Respond to your group members using guidelines
27—By this date, do the following:
Read: What’s Wrong with Cinderella and Advertising and Which One of These Sneakers is Me?
Revise your essays and repost in small group
March
5—By this date, do the following:
Comment again on the essays
Revise and repost
Post final version on group discussion board
Respond to two other students NOT in your small group
12—By this date, do the following:
Read Can Television Improve Us and TV’s War of Words
POST in new small groups a two page essay about television
19—Spring Break
26—By this date, do the following:
Read: Overexposure of Violence in Our Society and Born Again
Respond to your group members using guidelines
April
2—By this date, do the following:
Read: TV News: Three Cheers for Reality TV and The Great TV Debate
Revise your essays and repost in small group
7—By this date, do the following:
Comment again on the essays
Revise and repost
Post final version on group discussion board
Respond to two other students NOT in your small group
9—By this date, do the following:
Read: Family: Idea, Institution, and Controversy, Did I Miss Something, and Numbers Drop for the Married With Children
POST in new small groups a two page essay about the family
16—By this date, do the following:
Read: The Decline of Marriage and For Better, For Worse
Respond to your group members using guidelines
21—By this date, do the following:
Read: Why the M Word Matters to Me and The Case Against Same Sex Marriage
Revise your essays and repost in small group
23—By this date, do the following:
Comment again on the essays
Revise and repost
Post final version on group discussion board
Respond to two other students NOT in your small group
30—By this date, do the following:
Read: My Most Attractive Adversary and Male Bashing on TV
POST in new small groups a two page essay about gender
May
7—By this date, do the following:
Read: The Men We Carry in Our Minds and The End of Herstory
Respond to your group members using guidelines
Writer Write Up Due
14—By this date, do the following:
Read: Girls: An Identity Reduced to a Burka and The Science of Difference
Revise your essays and repost in small group
19—By this date, do the following:
Comment again on the essays
Revise and repost
Post final version on group discussion board
Respond to two other students NOT in your small group
21— By this date, do the following:
Pick the essay you have worked on this semester that you have the most interest in. Using guidelines I will provide, revise and post on the group discussion board. Also By this date, do the following,
Comment to two other essays, people whose work you ARE familiar with, making sure you note how the essay has changed.