UNCOMMON EDUCATION:

LEARNING AMERICA IN SCHOOL, AT WORK, AND THROUGH OTHER CULTURES

ENC 101.5750
Composition I: An Introduction to Expository Writing
Mondays 5:45-6:45, Wednesdays 5:45-9:05

Instructor: Beth Schwartzapfel Office hours: Mondays, 3:25-5:35 and by appointment

[email protected] In the E Building Atrium
Mailbox: MB-14 (please email me if you English Dept: 718-482-5656
leave something in my mailbox)

About ENC 101 (From the course catalogue)

In this course students focus on the process of writing clear, correct and effective expository essays in
response to materials drawn from culturally diverse sources. A minimum of one contact hour per week
contains curriculum designed to improve basic skills deficiencies in writing by reinforcing grammatical
concepts. Emphasis is placed on using various methods of organization appropriate to the writer's purpose
and audience. Students are introduced to argumentation, fundamental research methods and
documentation procedures. Students write frequently both in and out of class. Admission to this course is
based on college placement test scores.

About ENC 101.5750, “Uncommon Education”

Welcome! Because this course is only open to new students, each and every one of you is experiencing
his or her first semester here. For many of you, it’s your first semester ever in college. With that in mind,
we’re going to be studying college-level writing through the lens of the following questions: what does it
mean to get an education in this country? How does one learn to speak, read, and write English? How
does one learn to “be an American”? What does that mean, anyway? The essays, articles, speeches, and
stories we will read will all grapple with these questions in one way or another, whether by focusing on
formal classroom learning or examining the kinds of informal learning that we do at home, at work, or on
the streets of our neighborhoods. Together we will look at some of our era’s most controversial
educational policy questions, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, ESL versus English language
immersion, charter schools, and schooling for teen parents.

This course is designed to prepare you to write college-level papers; the only way to learn how to write is
to write. So, in addition to reading and participating in our in-class discussions, be prepared to write. A
lot.

ENC 101 is structured exactly like ENG 101, except for an additional hour of instruction each week.
Because you were only one point shy of passing the ACT, we’ll spend that extra hour preparing you to
take the ACT again. Students in good standing will have two opportunities this semester to re-take the
ACT. You must pass the ACT to go on to ENG 102.

Required texts and materials

Across Cultures: A Reader for Writers, 7th edition, edited by Sheena Gillespie and Robert Becker
Keys for Writers: A Brief Handbook, 5th edition, by Ann Raimes
A good college dictionary
3-ring binder and looseleaf paper
*Unless you’re told otherwise, please bring your reader, your handbook, and your binder to every class.
Requirements
Reading: You will be assigned 20-40 pages of reading each week. You are expected to do the reading on
time and come to class prepared to be an active participant in class discussions about the readings.

Freewriting: We will start each class with 10 minutes of freewriting on a topic that I will give you, usually
relating to the reading you’ve done for that day. Please use your looseleaf paper and keep these freewrites
organized in your binder. These are very informal but they help to get your creative juices flowing and
they do become part of your portfolio.

Class Discussion: A crucial part of digesting and understanding the readings we’ve done and the concepts
we’ve learned is to discuss them as a group. Please use your reading journal and the freewriting at the
start of class to assemble thoughts/opinions/questions about the readings that you’d like to discuss with
your classmates. Your opinion matters! Please don’t deprive us of your thoughts—jump in and share
them. It goes without saying that the class discussion is a respectful space. No personal attacks, no
interrupting or talking over anyone. That said, disagreeing is not disrespecting; to the contrary—a good
academic debate helps everyone to learn.

Papers: You will write 5 600-word formal papers: 2 in class (the midterm and the final exam) and 3 at
home. Each of the 3 at-home papers requires several steps, including formulating a thesis statement and
outline and writing a first draft. You will hand in each of these steps, and each will contribute to your final
grade for that paper.
Per English Department Policy, you cannot pass the class if you receive a failing grade on any one of
these papers. Anyone who receives an F on the midterm or any of the three at-home papers must rewrite
it, and receive a passing grade on the rewrite, to pass the class. You cannot rewrite the final. You must
pass the final to pass the class.
Papers must be typed, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, with 1” margins on all sides.
Papers must be submitted in person; I do not accept papers via email. Grades on papers will be deducted
one half-grade for each day they are late.
Reading journal: As part of your portfolio, you will keep a reading journal. Each time you are assigned a
reading, you will make an entry to your reading journal. Further instructions on your reading journal are
attached.

Portfolio: Your portfolio consists of your reading journal entries, your freewrites, and each of the assigned
steps and drafts of each of your paper. So, PLEASE SAVE ALL THE WORK YOU DO THIS
SEMESTER to include in your portfolio. Please use your three-ring binder to keep everything organized:
make a section for your Reading Journal and freewrites and a section for your paper steps and drafts.
When they’re filed in chronological order, these documents will be evidence of your writing process
unfolding—you’ll be able to look back at the idea taking shape and crystallizing, at your outline and then
your increasingly more polished drafts and revisions. I will collect and review your portfolio twice during
the semester: once during the midterm, and once during the final.

ACT: We get an additional hour of class time each Wednesday explicitly set aside to prepare you to re-
take (and pass!) the ACT. The only way to improve is to practice, so we will alternate weeks with
instruction and practice exams. This means you will be sitting for a faux ACT exam every other week!
During the alternate weeks, we will grade and critique each other’s practice exams from the previous
week and discuss strategies for passing the ACT. Of course all of the skills you will learn from the rest of
our class time—developing a thesis statement, outlining an essay, organizing your paragraphs, etc.—will
also help you pass the ACT.
Sitting for the ACT is a privilege, not a right. Only students in good standing may take the exam. Before
you can sit for the exam, the college will ask me to certify that you are up to date with your work and an
active participant in our class.
None of our ACT prep work is graded. Your desire (and need) to pass the ACT should be motivation
enough to work hard on this aspect of class. I and/or your classmates with ‘grade’ your essays, but only to
give you a sense of whether or not your work is in the ‘passing zone’ yet—none of these grades will count
towards your grade in the course. (Disruptive or disrespectful behavior during this hour, of course, will
still negatively affect your grade in the course.)

Grades
Per English Department policy, I must apply the same grading standards to your work throughout the
semester. That means that your first paper, which you will write in the first few weeks of class, will be
graded by the same set of standards as your last paper, which you will write after having spent the entire
semester learning and practicing. To account for this policy, the relative weight of each paper to your
overall grade increases over the course of the semester. So don’t be discouraged if your grades are lower
than you had hoped early on in the semester. Instead, see it as inspiration to work harder and commit
yourself to learning and improving your skills.
Paper #1 10%
Midterm 15%
Paper #2 20%
Paper #3 20%
Final exam 0% (you simply must pass)
Portfolio 15%
Class participation (includes participating in class discussions, coming to class prepared and ready to
learn, visiting the Writing Center when necessary, re-writing your papers even when you are not
required to do so, and generally demonstrating that you are committed to learning and improving your
writing.) 20%

Class policies and information

Website: I’ve set up a class website: http://enc1015750.blogspot.com. After every class, I will post the
day’s homework here. I will also post announcements, links, and documents relevant to what we’ve
discussed in class. Please check the website at least twice a week.

Peer group: On the second day of class, you will be assigned a peer group of 3-4 other students. Please
exchange email addresses and phone numbers. Throughout the course of the semester, you will help each
other develop ideas and critique drafts of each other’s work. Use your classmates as a resource! These are
also the people you should turn to if you miss class and need to be filled in on what you missed, or if you
need someone to hand in a paper for you.

Attendance: It goes without saying that you can’t learn from what we do in class or participate in class
discussions if you’re not here. So you are expected to be in every single class, awake, alert, and ready to
learn. Of course, life doesn’t always go as we planned and things come up that we can’t foresee.
Excused absences: If you have an important appointment that cannot be rescheduled, a religious holiday,
or a pressing family or health concern, email me in advance of the class you need to miss to request that
your absence be excused. You are allowed up to four hours of excused absences over the course of the
semester.
Unexcused absences: Any absence that you did not contact me about in advance, and that I did not
explicitly excuse, is an unexcused absence. Per English Department policy, you may not have more than 4
hours of unexcused absences and still pass the course. This means that you cannot be absent for more than
two classes throughout the course of the semester.
Lateness: Arriving in class late is disrespectful to me and disruptive to your fellow students. If you arrive
more than 10 minutes late for a class, I will mark you ‘late.’ Three latenesses equal one absence. Arriving
more than 30 minutes late (or departing more than 30 minutes early) will count as one hour of absence.
You are responsible for making up any work that you miss due to absence or lateness. Reading Journal
entries and other homework due on that day can be handed in on the class immediately following. Not so
for papers: If a paper is due on a day you are absent, you are still responsible for getting that paper into
my hands (or into my mailbox) on the day it is due.

Re-writes
Revising is an essential part of the writing process. You will have the opportunity to re-write four of the
five papers you will hand in this semester (the final cannot be re-written). Those with a failing grade are
required to re-write, but everyone else—even those who got an ‘A’ or ‘B’ the first time around—is
encouraged to do so. There’s always room for improvement! In order to re-write a paper, you must first
meet with me during office hours to map out a strategy for your re-write. I will not accept re-writes from
students who haven’t met with me first. You must hand in all your previous drafts along with your re-
write. The grade on your re-write will be your new grade for the paper. However, a re-write grade can’t be
more than a full letter grade higher than the grade on your original paper.

The Writing Center

Tutors at the Writing Center, in E-111 (718-482-5688) can help you work on essays for this class, develop
your writing skills, and study and practice grammar in specific areas of difficulty. Based on your
diagnostic exam and/or other writing we do in and out of class, I will require some of you to visit the
Writing Center, whether for one-time help or for weekly tutoring sessions. Even those who are not
required to go can benefit from extra help, so please use this wonderful resource available to you!

Respect
Please be respectful of me. This means: turn off your cell phone, put away your iPod and other gadgets or
distractions. (If you have children or some other pressing reason that you must leave your phone on,
please leave it on vibrate and take the call out in the hall; this is for emergencies only—no more than once
or twice during a semester.) Anyone texting during class will be marked as ‘late’ for that day. Nap at
home, not during class. When I’m talking, please listen and take notes.

Please be respectful of each other. This means listening attentively when others are talking, putting your
opinions and thoughts into the mix, not interrupting or talking over anyone, and being sensitive to cultural
differences. LaGuardia is one of the most diverse colleges in the country—our students come from over
160 countries, and countless communities and identity groups—so you will almost certainly run up
against someone who is different from you in terms of gender, language, cultural, racial and ethnic
background, nationality, religion, class, sexual orientation, and abilities. See this for what it is—a gift and
a privilege—and learn from each other’s ways of seeing and being in the world!

Plagiarism and academic honesty

All students of LaGuardia Community College are responsible for preparing and presenting original
work. In accordance with the college’s policy on Academic Integrity, the penalty for papers which are
plagiarized and any cheating during exams is grounds for immediate course failure. Please refer to your
college catalog for a more complete discussion of Academic Honesty.