Welcome to English 1A

1
Welcome to English 1A

• Composition with Georgie Ziff

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About you

• On a piece of paper please write the following
• name and contact phone number
• other courses youre taking
• what college English courses youve 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

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About me

• Georgie Ziff
• - Two boys, 17 20 - 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
  Womens Studies
• American Montessori Society Early Education
• Teaching Credential
• 9th year teaching college composition at
  California State University East Bay 7th year at
  Merritt College 4th year at Berkeley City
  College 2nd year at Los Medanos College
• As a teacher, I hold my students to high
  standards of excellence, but I will do all that I
  can to help them succeed (because I know they
  can).
• Why the photo? Because were all that kid on the
  inside find your own voice in your writing.

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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

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Required Course Materials

• Reading Critically, Writing Well by Axelrod,
  Cooper and Warriner 9th edition.
•  Im a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson ISBN
  9780767903820
•  Composition book for your writing journal
• USB flash drive and/or an online free account
  with Dropbox.com (suggested)
• Account with Engrade.com
• Reliable computer and printer
• Stapler or paper clips

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Suggested Materials

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

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Course Gradebook

• Engrade.com is the online grade book used for the
  course
• Go to www.engrade.com/student
• You will receive a personal registration code
  from me. You MUST type it in exactly, including
  the hyphens for example
• georgieziff-123456789-1234
• Each of you will have your own code to register,
  and then you will enter your own email, 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

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Grading in the Course

• Four out of class essays 60
• Homework 15
• Group Presentations 10
• Individual Presentation 5
• Writing Journal 5
• Portfolio 5

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Save Your Work Online

• Create a free account at www.dropbox.com for
  saving your work online. You can then access it
  in the computer lab. This is a great tool it
  not only provides you with a place to save work,
  it also synchronizes any changes you make online,
  so your Dropbox is always up to date!
• Use a flashdrive as backup, in case you cannot
  go online.

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Essay Assignments

• You will write four essays
• Observation Essay
• Evaluation Essay
• Position Essay
• Nonfiction Bill Bryson book essay
• These are multi-draft essays, which will be peer
  reviewed in class final drafts submitted without
  earlier drafts and peer review feedback will not
  be accepted and will receive a failing grade.
  Come to class prepared with drafts as part of the
  writing process.

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Presentations

• Individual Presentation
• a) You will choose one story from Bill
  Bryson book,
• Im a Stranger Here Myself and read it
  aloud
• b) You will provide a rhetorical analysis of the
  story in
• response to a set of questions
• Group Writing Presentation
• In a small group of 3 or 4 classmates, you
  will select and research any topic about
  writing and create a 20 minute presentation for
  the class that has three parts
• 1) describe the topic
• 2) demonstrate the topic
• 3) involve the class with a learning
  activity/exercise

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Presentations, cont.

• Group Rhetorical Analysis
• In small groups of no more than 4 or 5 students,
  you will select an essay from the textbook and
  create a class presentation analyzing the essay
  from a rhetorical standpoint. 
• Rhetorical Analysis Guidelines are available for
  download from the class web page and details are
  provided on the Rhetorical Group Presentation
  webpage. Presentations will be the last week of
  school. Each group will submit a collaborative
  Group Portfolio.

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Homework

• On the Schedule online on your class page, the
  homework assignments are underlined with
  hyperlinks. These are links to articles are
  writing topics.
• Your task is to read each article and provide
• TWO paragraphs (not just a few sentences!)
• a) the first paragraph is a summary of what
  the article said, without opinion, paraphrasing
  in your own words
• b) the second paragraph is 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?

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Attendance Policy

• Come to class prepared and on time
• 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. This class meets two days per
  week a student who misses three of the classes,
  regardless of the reason, will have their grade
  reduced by one full grade.
• Missing four classes will result in being dropped
  from the class. In addition, as participation is
  required, the instructor reserves the right to
  drop or reduce the final grade of a student who
  fails to submit any assignments and essays in a
  timely manner, i.e. more than a week late.
• Computer lab days are required!

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Todays 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

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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 email/contact information with each
   other

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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

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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. Lets talk about the questions you couldnt find
   answers to

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What to expect next class

• Presentation sign ups
• In class writing assessment so I can learn more
  about you
• Discussion of writing process
• Your first reading assignment

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Your To Do List

• Buy Reading Critically, Writing Well 9th
  edition, Bill Brysons book, and a blank
  composition book for your writing journal
• Download the Syllabus and Schedule, noting the
  homework assignments
• Send me an email with your school, class and name
  in the subject line to
• georgie.ziff_at_csueastbay.edu
• Go to the class website
• www.georgiesenglishwiki.pbworks.com