ENGLISH 1303

Freshman Composition

Instructor: Kathryn M. Peterson, M.F.A.
Office: 117 Law Hall
Office Hours: TBA
Office Phone: (713) 743-0927
E-mail address: english1303@hotmail.com
Web address: http://www.geocities.com/kat_77598/1303.html
class listserv: english1303@egroups.com

I. Texts and Materials (available at UH UC Bookstore)

Required:

(1) Axelrod, Rise B., Charles R. Cooper, and Lenora P. Smith. The St. Martin's Guide to Writing. New York, NY: St. Martin, 1999-2000.

(2) Several handouts which I will give you in advance and note on the syllabus. Where it's allowable, I'll put them on the web or include links to them in order to make them even more accessible.

Optional, but strongly recommended:
(1) Fulwiler, Toby and Alan Hayakawa, The Blair Handbook. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999-2000.
(Look for used copies)

(2) A good, recent college dictionary such as The Random House College Dictionary.

(3) Access to a personal computer. (We will be starting many of the assignments in class, but there will be times when you'll need to finish them and edit them on computers outside the English or Scholars community labs. Just plan accordingly for those times).

II. Prerequisites

40+ TSWE; 17+ ACT (pre 1992), 19+EACT; or 240 TASP
Remember, only one of the previous scores needs to meet the minimum requirements for you to have
satisfied the prerequisite for English 1303.

III. Course Description

Welcome to English 1303! This course is designed to help you to construct and critique expository writing. My goal is to meet you where you are in the development of lifelong writing skills. I hope that as the semester progresses, you will expand your ability to discover, analyze, and communicate ideas. You will spend the majority of class time working on various writing and reading assignments, with me in the room to help you as much as I can, every step of the way. Successful completion of English 1303 requires an ability to write essays which are clear, informed, well organized, and coherent, and which display a knowledge of the writing techniques we will discuss in class. By the end of the course, I hope that you will not only be better writers, but better readers and thinkers, too.

IV. Course Requirements

• Participating thoughtfully and actively in class discussions, small group and pair work, and our list-serv. You will also participate in frequent short in-class writings. These writings will not receive a letter grade, but will contribute to your journal grade. They are designed to give you practice writing and to let me know where your strong and weak points are.
• Completing papers. You will write four essays for this course. Although the papers should always be typed and double-spaced, I expect that they will vary in length depending upon subject matter and material. Some may be two while others may end up being four or five pages. I will let you know more about what to expect when I give out the assignment for each paper.
• Completing one 150-200-word summary of a published essay.
• Revision. You are required to maintain a portfolio of your work. This portfolio will consist of a thorough revision of two or more papers, your four very best journal entries, and will be handed in along with your reflective essay. By the time you get to that point in the semester, you'll already have a good idea of what grade you're getting, and you'll already know what to expect from my grading. Students usually do quite well on portfolios if they put their time into them. In addition to the portfolio, you may also revise another paper during the first half the semester for a completely new grade. For instance, if you get a horrible grade on one of the first two papers, you can use this option and revise it for anything up through an A-. I've seen D papers go to B papers and C papers to A- papers before, so if you need to take advantage of this option, definitely do so.
• Responding thoughtfully in your journal to the questions I ask outside of class for each set of readings. Please read thoroughly and carefully so that you can make a solid response. The readings are mostly SHORT, and don't take that long to cover, especially if you get together with someone and read them.

VI. Important Policies

(1) Late Papers: Late papers will be marked down one letter grade for every class day that the paper is late. You may contact me in advance if for some good reason you are unable to turn in work on time. I am willing to work with you, but you must communicate with me.

(2) Attendance: Since participation in class discussion and workshop days is important to both your grade and your overall performance in class, you will be dropped from the course if you have more than four unexcused absences. If you miss, you are responsible for all information that was discussed in class and should contact me or a classmate to find out what you missed. Excessive absences will negatively affect the participation/attendance part of your grade, but on the positive side, perfect attendance will be taken into consideration in borderline cases.

(3) Tardiness: I realize that there will be times when you will be prevented from coming to class on time, but if you are habitually "just a little bit late," I will have to start counting off the time towards your absence allotment. Again, I don't want to be inflexible, but puctuality is important to this class since we don't have much time to get settled and working. Try to allow time for traffic, parking, and walking to class.

VII. English 1303 and Beyond

Realize that as your instructor, I am here not only to teach, but also to help you meet your own personal goals. BUT DON'T EXPECT ME TO READ YOUR MIND. If you are feeling anxious or resentful, by all means communicate to me. If, for any reason, you are late or miss class, don't feel embarrassed or ashamed. Again, TALK TO ME. I am human (most of the time). Also, if you have had rough English classes in the past, remind yourself that the slate is wiped clean and that those classes are behind you. I advise you to do whatever you can to shed your stress. Be good to yourself!