Welcome to English 100 Composition with Georgie Ziff

About you… o 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

About me… Two boys: 18 & 21 - 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 ̶ 9th year teaching college composition at California State University East Bay; 7 th year at Merritt College; 5 th year at Berkeley City College; 3rd year at Los Medanos College ̶ Certified Scorer/Reader – Educational Testing Service – 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: o“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. o William Strunk Jr. Elements of Style

Required Course Materials o Exploring Language 13 th ed. by Gary Goshgarian o Not a Genuine Black Man, by Brian Copeland (Available in the bookstore and online at Amazon.com) o Blank composition book for your writing journal

Suggested Materials o USB flash drive and/or an online free account with Dropbox.com – the online storage synchronizing website – o Account with Engrade.com – the online grade book in which you can monitor your progress and assignments. o Reliable computer and printer o Stapler and paper clips

Course Gradebook Engrade.com/student is the online grade book * Go to * You will receive a personal registration code from me. You MUST type it in exactly, including the hyphens; for example: georgieziff Each of you will have your own code to register, and then you will enter your own , user ID and password to access the grade book site. YOU are responsible for keeping track of the access code and your progress in the course, including missing assignments

Grading in the Course o Four Essays 60% o Homework 15% o Group Present. 10% o Writing Journal 5% o Portfolio 5% o Participation 5%

Save Your Work Online Create a free account - at for saving your work online. You can then access it in the computer lab.- Use a flashdrive as backup, in case you cannot go online.

Presentations o Group Writing Presentation: In a small group of 3 or 4 classmates, you will select and research a topic about writing and create a 20 minute presentation for the class that has three parts : 1) describes the topic 2) demonstrates the topic 3) involves the class with a learning activity/exercise

Presentations, cont. o Group Linguist Analysis: o You will select the work of one linguist mentioned in the chapter, and in a small group of no more than 4 or 5 students, you will research, summarize, and present to the class his or her theories and contributions to the field of language, and the connection between language and thought. o Presentations will be during the last full week of school. Each group will submit a collaborative Group Portfolio. Details provided on the English 100 Group Presentation page online. o (A linguist is a person who studies language: Linguistics can be broken into three categories of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context).

Homework o On the online Schedule on your class page, the homework assignments are underlined with hyperlinks to articles about writing topics. o 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 to improve your college writing? Homework must be typed, double-spaced, and turned in by Thursday of the week it is due to get full 5 pts. Late is accepted for only partial credit. NO ed work.

Attendance/Participation Policy o Come to class prepared and on time o Bring your textbook to every class. o 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. o 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. o Computer lab days are required! o 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.

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

Break the Ice 1.Form groups of three 2.Find one item you are carrying that is significant to you and share it with your group; explain the significance 3.Find one thing that everyone in your group has in common 4.Exchange /contact information with each other

In the Spot Light 1.Each of you will in turn introduce one person in your group and share something you learned about him/her 2.Share what everyone in your group has in common

Working as a Team 1.Together come up with 3 to 4 questions you have about this course 2.Now, with the syllabus, try to find the answers to the questions you came up with 3.Let’s talk about the questions you couldn’t find answers to…

What to expect next class… o Writing/grammar presentation sign ups o In class writing assessment so I can learn more about you o Discussion of writing process o Your first reading assignment

To Do… o Buy the books and a blank composition book for your writing journal o Carefully read the information on the class page at my website: o Look at the Schedule, noting the homework assignments o Register at