Course Policy Statement

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The Writing Program Staff Manual defines the following four objectives for English 12 students:

1. To develop students’ skills at each stage of the writing process (prewriting, writing, and rewriting);
2. To introduce students to the discourse of various academic communities so that they develop skills and versatility they need to be effective writers for these communities;
3. To devote approximately five weeks to each of the three disciplines, i.e. five weeks on Public Health, five weeks on Business writing, and five weeks on Film Studies; and
4. To require of each student at least one oral presentation per unit.

Intersecting with the goals above, I set the goal for this class to enable you to use writing as a tool to achieve success inside and outside the classroom through harnessing current and emerging technologies. I understand attaining this goal to be crucial to your status as a literate, educated person in the 21stC.

This course hinges on the dual assumptions that writing is essential to success in college and beyond as a lever for thinking and that writing can be learned. Accordingly, this course provides you with the opportunity to grow as a writer through frequent in- and out-of-class practice and draft workshops. Further, this class privileges you, the student, as an expert in your own writing and as a teacher to your fellow students.

REQUIRED MATERIALS:
The Student Guide to English 10, 11, and 12, 2005-2006
The St. Martin’s Handbook (Fifth Edition)
www.dictionary.com bookmarked on your laptop

RECOMMENDED:
USB Connecting Microphone

EVALUATION:

The formula for final grade is as follows:

Portfolio 30%
Participation 15%
Unit 1 Project 15%
Unit 2 Project 15%
Unit 3 Project 15%
Numbered Assignments 10%

The final grading scale in this class is as follows:

A 90-100
B 80-89
C 70-79
D 60-69
F 0-59

Students’ portfolios will earn numeric grades based on rubrics discussed in class.

Students’ participation grades (out of one hundred) will be based on the instructor’s holistic impression of the student’s level of engagement in class. This will be based on observation, homework, student self-evaluation, feedback provided from the group, and the student’s attendance record.

The Unit Projects will earn numeric grades (out of a hundred) based on rubrics discussed in class.

The numbered assignments will not be graded for instructional purposes, instead receiving copious comments. Students will receive credit for completing the assignments.

PARTICIPATION:

Students will attend every class. Students who miss ten or more classes will automatically fail the course. If a student misses a class for illness or a family emergency, s/he should obtain documentation from either Student Health or his/her Dean. Any absence that is unexcused by such official documentation will reduce the absentee’s final grade by one letter. Students who experience a personal crisis or severe illness which will take them away from the classroom for an extended period should see their academic advisors about withdrawing from the class.
When students happen to miss class, they should understand that they are not excused from the assignments due, and gather the information distributed in class from the available resources such as the syllabus, group members, and blackboard.unc.edu. Simply emailing the instructor asking “What did I miss?” is not an acceptable from of information gathering.
Students will arrive on time to every class. Since grossly late arrivals are disruptive to the educational atmosphere, students who arrive after 9:15 will be counted as absent.
Students should practice good computer hygiene. Students should run weekly virus scans on personal machines, back up all work, and manage files.
Students will participate in all class activities. This includes class discussions, group activities, blogging, impromptu presentations, drafting, responding, and researching. Adequate participation also requires that individuals refrain from non-productive activities during class time, such as IM-ing, emailing, surfing the net, carrying on extraneous conversations, or doing work for other classes.
Students will work in a writing groups assigned by the instructor. Students should make an effort to share the burden of group work equally and take seriously the mission of teaching and learning cooperatively.
Students will attend face-to-face office hours at least one time per unit, i.e. three times per semester, in Greenlaw 406. Office hours are held Mondays, from 10 am to 11:30 am. They are welcome to come to office hours more than three times a semester or take advantage of virtual office hours through AOL Instant Messenger on Thursdays, from 9 am to 1 pm.
Students will avoid even the appearance of plagiarism. Plagiarism, a grave violation of the Honor Code (Section II.B.1), will not be tolerated. Plagiarism consists of the intentional or inadvertent submission of another’s work as your own. Two examples of plagiarism are turning in a paper or parts of a paper purchased on the internet or from another student, and failing to adequately cite quoted or paraphrased source material in an original paper. The instructor, as an employee of the UNC Department of English, actively seeks out plagiarism in student writing. If the instructor suspects plagiarism, she is bound by her contract with UNC to interview the student or students involved.
Students will respect the guidelines of the multimedia classroom by not bringing food or drink into the classroom. In addition, they will protect their work and privacy by saving to a disk or their H:/ drive rather than the classroom computer desktops.
Students will avoid the following counterproductive behaviors when dealing with the instructor: whining, threatening, bargaining, pestering, and fit-pitching.
Students will, in the words of Section II.A of the Honor Code,
1.Obey and support the enforcement of the Honor Code;

2. Refrain from lying, cheating, or stealing;

3. Conduct themselves so as not to impair significantly the welfare or the educational opportunities of others in the University community; and

4. Refrain from conduct that impairs or may impair the capacity of University and associated personnel to perform their duties, manage resources, protect the safety and welfare of members of the University community, and maintain the integrity of the University.

Further, students will show respect for the course, the instructor, themselves, their classmates, and opinions that may differ from their own in deference to the educational atmosphere.

ASSIGNMENTS:

· Students will complete three major assignments in this course and six minor assignments. Some of these assignments will be “traditional” writing assignments and some will feel like more experimental assignments, taking advantage of new media. Some assignments will be composed in groups, some individually. Some assignments must be completed in class while some will require days or weeks of outside-of-class preparation.
· Students will complete prewriting, drafting, and revising for all major and minor assignments. All of these materials will be posted to the student’s blog.
· Students will complete a draft workshop for all major and minor assignments. It is the student’s responsibility to take notes on these activities and revise accordingly.
· Students will submit all assignments on time. Late assignments will not be accepted. There are no exceptions to this policy.
· Students will “turn in” Unit projects, numbered assignments, and homework by posting them to their blogs. Students should post no later than the beginning of class, 9:00am, on the due date. Assignments that do not need to be posted will be noted in class.
· At the end of the course, students will submit a portfolio of revised work that demonstrates their progress as writers. This portfolio, accompanied by a letter or digital video detailing the progress they have made, will constitute the bulk of their grade.