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Dear Students,

Hi! Welcome to English 450, Fundamentals of Composition! In this class we focus on what makes a great paragraph. I believe a good paragraph has an insightful, clear topic sentence; a sufficient amount of vivid, concrete, and relevant supporting detail; a clear, logical order; grammatical and mechanical excellence; and style, tone, and diction that are appropriate to the topic and audience. We will work on understanding, producing, and evaluating good writing.

We will be using a graph to measure our achievement of our goals. This graph, called a capacity matrix, will also be used to calculate grades.  Because this is an unconventional educational system, it is important that you monitor yourself to make sure you understand how the class works, how the matrix is used to grade assignments, and how you are progressing towards your final grade. Be sure to tell me in person, by phone, by email, or by fax if you need help with these key concepts or any of the we are trying to master.

With best wishes for a good semester,
Cathy Decker, Ph.D.
 
 

1. Gain an appreciation of the aesthetic and literary characteristics of good writing. (Our capacity matrix breaks this down into eight capacities or skills.)

2. Develop the ability to think logically and express thoughts in clear, effective prose. (This breaks down into eighteen capacities or skills.)

3. Explain and be better able to apply the principles underlying the creation of unified and coherent paragraphs. (See note after objective eight.)

4. Recognize and formulate clear and specific topic sentences and develop these into unified and complete paragraphs. (See note after objective eight.)

5. Analyze the structure of various kinds of paragraph development, including exposition and argumentation, and construct paragraphs in such patterns. (See note after objective six.)

6. Demonstrate an understanding of the various logical relationships of ideas within a paragraph and apply these in their own writings. (A combination of objectives five and six breaks down into twenty different capacities or skills.)

7. Study their own grammatical and punctuation errors to make their writing more effective.  (This goal breaks down into fifty different capacities or skills.)

8. Study and practice the coherency and rhetorical devices that make a paragraph rational, clear, and aesthetically sound. (The overlapping objectives three, four, and eight together break down into thirty-four capacities or skills.)

During our first class we will determine what we will give participation points for. When this policy is finalized, I will give a copy to each class member.  Basically I will keep a running tab of the maximum number of points a person can get.  Because the maximum will be indicative of giving 110%, that number will equal 110% (11 points out of a possible of ten)!  I will then calculate what number of participation points earns a 100%.  What percent of these points that you have is your participation-point grade.  Feel free to email  me or come to office hours to clarify this!

We will give participation points for the following.

1. Arriving at 11 AM ready to go

2. Sharing a computer or handout

3. Helping students with the computer or a class problem

4. Behaving in a way that causes another student to nominate you for a point.

5. Attending college book events

6. Having perfect attendance.

1. We will not be mean to each other, but rather be polite to each other.

2. We will speak loudly so everyone can hear and tell everyone our name.

3. We will tell speakers when we can't hear what they are saying.

4. We will ask questions when we don't understand something.

5. We believe that there is no such thing as a dumb question.

6. We will not call anyone dumb or stupid.

7. We will be positive and give advice and suggestions, rather than just criticism.

8. We will not bring devices that ring or beep or turn them off.

9. We won't make loud noises with gum or our hands and feet that are distracting to others.

Required Supplies

• Barbara Kingsolver’s  The Bean Trees
• John Langan’s English Skills with Readings, 4th ed.
• Folders and/or 3-Ring Binder for Portfolio, Class Handouts, Charts, Schedules, Calendar
• Three-hole punch lined paper
• IBM-formatted disks
• Scantron Sheets as announced in class (available at the College Bookstore in the Quad)

• Expect that work turned in on time will be graded in two weeks.
• Expect that I won’t return most weekend phone calls until Mon. and will take a few days to respond to email, snail mail, faxes, and phone calls.
• Expect that plagiarized work gets zero credit; repeat plagiarizers fail the class with an F.
• Expect that tests, quizzes, oral work, and such one-time things will not be rescheduled.
• Expect that when I don’t get work at the due date, I enter a zero in the grade book.
• Expect that if you stop coming to class and don’t drop yourself, you will get an F.
• Expect that I will make mistakes and that copies of all your work will come in useful at these times.
• Expect that we will deal with adult content in this course.

Good Things We Want in This Class . . .
 

Planning Ahead Supporting Others Rewarding Excellence Cooperativeness Politeness Promptness Good Listening Assertive Approaches to Problems and Problem Solving Effective Working with Others Drinking Water Without Destroying Equipment

Things that I Avoid and that I’d Like the Class to Avoid . . .
 

Silent Anxiety Not Asking Questions When You are     Worried or Confused Badgering or Brutally Questioning Others Leaving Others Out in the Cold Hostility Finger Pointing Noisy Cell Phones and Pagers Playing Computer Games Breaking the Food/Drink Policy

Go to Participation Points Chart