Composition with Georgie Ziff Welcome to English 100 Composition with Georgie Ziff

About you… On a piece of paper please write the following… name and contact phone number other courses you’re taking what college English courses you’ve taken and where Current employment and schedule things - anything I should know to better help y help you during the class how y – how you feel about your writing - what your academic goals are - why you are in college

About me… Two boys: 20 & 23 - We live in Oakland. Grew up on the East Coast and the Midwest, but came to California for a one year job and never left. M.A. in Composition and Creative Writing from CSUEB B.A. from CSUEB: double major in English and Women’s Studies 10th year teaching college composition at California State University East Bay; 9th year at Merritt College; 7th year at Berkeley City College; 5th year at Los Medanos College Certified Scorer/Reader – Educational Testing Service – SAT, GRE, EPT, EAP Why the photo? Because we’re all that kid on the inside; find your own voice in your writing. My advice: school will always be ready for you when you are ready for school.

About Writing… my favorite writing quote: “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell. William Strunk Jr. Elements of Style

Required Course Materials Exploring Language 14th ed. by Gary Goshgarian (Available in the bookstore and online at Amazon.com) Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas Blank composition book for your writing journal

Suggested Materials Some kind of cloud storage to access while in the computer lab or a USB flash drive or an online free account with Dropbox.com Reliable computer and internet connection Alarm clock – this is an early class!

Grading in the Course Three Essays 60% Timed In-Class Essay 5% Homework 10% Group Present. 10% Writing Journal 5% Portfolio 5% Participation 5%

Group Writing Presentation In a small group of 3 or 4 classmates, you will select and research a topic about writing and create a 15 minute presentation for the class. The presentation must have three parts: 1) describing the topic 2) demonstrating the topic 3) involving the class with a learning activity/exercise

Group Rhetorical Analysis Your small group will select an article about language from the textbook that we have NOT discussed in the class, OR any good article or essay about language. You will create a presentation analyzing the essay from a rhetorical standpoint.  In addition, each group will submit a collaborative Group Portfolio Presentations will be during the last week of school; practice them in advance so they are, on average, no more than 15 minutes.  Details are provided online

Work with your Group Members

Homework The Schedule lists readings, due dates, and the homework assignments, which are hyperlinked to articles about writing topics. Your task is to read each article and provide TWO paragraphs (not just a few sentences!) a) paragraph one = summary of the article (no opinion) b) paragraph two = your response and analysis of the topic. Specifically: * How effective/understandable/helpful is the article? * How is this information applicable to your writing? * What strategies can you employ from this information improve your college writing? Homework due to Camvas by 5pm Thursday to get full 5 pts credit; 3 points, the next week, 1 point the next week, after which assignment expires.

Attendance/Participation Policy Come to class prepared and on time Bring your textbook to every class. As this class meets two days a week, missing more than two weeks of classes, or more than four classes, will result in being dropped from the class. In addition, as participation is required, the instructor reserves the right to lower the final grade of a student who fails to submit any assignments and essays in a timely manner, i.e. more than two weeks late. Computer lab days are required! Attendance is your job as a student; your life is not my business, so as such, do not feel it is necessary to inform me about reasons for absences or tardy issues.

Instructor Contact The best time to talk to me is right before or right after class. If you do need to contact me otherwise, send an email to georgie.ziff@csueastbay.edu To receive a response ALL EMAILS must have THIS information the subject line: LMC English 100 Your Name Emails with the correct information will be responded to within 48 hours during the work week: Mon - Fri. before 5 pm. Messages received after 5pm will be responded to the next day; those received after 5pm Friday will be responded to on Monday. In addition, remember you are writing to an English teacher! Use real words and punctuation. Show you care about, you know, writing!

Today’s Objectives To get oriented to the course, the syllabus, requirements, expectations, and so forth. To break/melt the ice with one another To form and begin working in collaborative groups

Break the Ice Form groups of three Talk to each other. Who are you? Why are in you school? What do you like to do? Find one thing that everyone in your group has in common Exchange email/contact information with each other

In the Spot Light Each of you will in turn introduce one person in your group and share something you learned about him/her Share what everyone in your group has in common

Working as a Team Now, in your group, together come up with 3 to 4 questions you have about this course Now, with the syllabus, try to find the answers to the questions you came up with Let’s talk about the questions you couldn’t find answers to…

What to expect next class… Writing presentation sign ups Discussion of writing process Your first reading assignment

To Do… Buy the books and a blank composition book for your writing journal Carefully read the information on the Canvas class page. Also available on my website: www.georgiesenglishwiki.pbworks.com Look at the Schedule, noting the homework assignments and due dates.