Category: Students

College (and Life) Resources

The Writing and Language Development Center (WLDC) is a great place to get help and feedback on your essays. They can help you at any stage of the writing process, from generating ideas to preparing a paper for submission. (Note that are not a proofreading or editing service, so please don’t expect them to “look at your paper and fix it.” ) They also have workshops and access to computers. In addition to the Marysville center, they usually have a limited presence at the Sutter Center. They also have online tutoring available.

In fact, here is a welcome video that they’ve created, which might give you a good idea of what they offer (and how welcoming and supportive they are):

Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSPS) offers support for students with physical and learning disabilities. If you know (or suspect) you have a learning disability, be sure to contact them. There are resources available to support you.

The Yuba College Library has great staff. Since COVID, they’ve developed a strong online presence. (I’ll talk a bit more about the library during the course, especially as we approach the research portion.)

The Yuba College Counseling Department has both in-person and online counselors to help. They can help with a lot of different needs, from academic questions (what classes should I take if I want to go to Chico?) to personal questions (I’m hungry and don’t have any money. Where can I get food?)

Canvas Help

I’ve been creating short videos explaining how Canvas works in my course. (Every teacher uses Canvas a little differently.) Generally, I’ll introduce the videos in the modules, when the information would be useful.

Yuba College offers Online Learning Resources. This page includes general information and resources about Distance Education, as well as links to Canvas guides, video tutorials, general FAQs, and guides specifically for mobile phones and tablets.

Canvas also has a Student Guide, which is pretty complete.

And if you need more help, you can contact one of the Help Desks:

• Any time, you can email College’s Help Desk at helpdesk@yccd.edu;
• During working hours (Mon – Fri 8:00 am – 5:00 pm), you can reach Yuba College’s Help Desk at (530) 741-6981;
• After hours (Mon – Fri 5:00 pm – 8:00 am, and weekends), you can reach Canvas’s Help Desk at (844) 303-8279.

Closing Thoughts

Online classes can be challenging; they require an high level of self-discipline, organization, and “self-starting.” It’s easy to get behind — and that can lead to feeling overwhelmed, which can lead to procrastination that gets you even further behind, and so on. It’s a nasty cycle. (I speak from experience.)

So: if you find yourself struggling, I hope you will reach out — to me, at least, or to some of the resources listed above. Please don’t think that I’ll be upset, or that I won’t care, or that I won’t want to help.

I want you to succeed. Of course, I can’t do it for you — I don’t give grades; you earn them. But I’ll support you however I can.

See you around.

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My philosophy

My grading policies are based on the notion that a student’s grade should measure learning, not compliance.

This philosophy has led me to reconsider a few things that I’ve done in the past — things that you may be used to, since it’s what many (possibly most) instructors do.

Grading

To pass this course, you will need to do both of these two things:

• Turn in all three major essays
• Earn an average of at least a “C-” for all graded work.

If you turned in all three essays, but your graded work averaged to less than 3.5 points (more details on that, below), you would not pass the class. Similarly, even if your graded work averaged a C, but you only turned in two of the three essays, you would not pass the class.

Letter Grades and the 11-Point Scale

I assign letter grades for your work. But for the purposes of calculating your overall grade, I use an 11-point scale:

• A = 11 points
• A- = 10 points
• B+ = 9 points
• B = 8 points
• B- = 7 points
• C+ = 6 points
• C = 5 points
• C- = 4 points
• D+ = 3 points
• D = 2 points
• D- = 1 point
• F = 0 points

(The mathematically astute among you may note that this is actually a 12-point scale, since “0” is indeed a grade. But most people call it a n 11-point scale, so I’m going with that….)

Further, I only assign grades to a limited number of assignments — to essays, in most cases, though there are a couple other assignments that will also receive grades. I weigh those assignments as follows:

• Essay 1 (Educational Autobiography): 15%
• Essay 2 (Standard English): 25%
• Essay 3 (Issues in the Professions): 35%
• Annotated Bibliographies: 20%
• Reflection on the Course: 5%

Calculated grades will almost certainly end up having a decimal point (8.27, for example). I’ll follow the usual rules for rounding any decimal greater than .5 — for example, a calculated score of 6.5 points would round up to a 7, which is a B- (and, since Yuba College does not record the + or -, that would make the final grade a B).

Some Thoughts on this Grading Policy

As I mentioned earlier, I know that aspects of this policy may be different from what you’re used to, so let me offer brief explanations for the two most significant differences. If you have any further questions or concerns, I’d be happy to talk in more detail. (At some point, I’ll make a video with a more detailed explanation, but I don’t have time to do that at this point.)

Using Letter Grades

I used to use a-100 point system (A = 90+, B= 80+, etc.), but I have come to see a number of issues with that system — it puts way too much weight on failing (a “0” is almost impossible to recover from, for example), and, it encourages too much subjectivity as I grade (for example, what is the difference between an 88 and an 86 in a research paper?). Sticking with letter grades reduces both of those problems significantly.

Points (or the Lack Thereof)

Many instructors offer “points” for things like homework or discussion entries, etc. As you can tell from the breakdown above, I don’t do that.

Why not?

If points are meant to tell you how well you’ve done — well, for most of our work, it is just too soon. I want to grade you on what you know and/or can do at the end of the process. I want the grade to let you know the answer to this question: how well have you achieved the learning outcomes?

With that focus, I don’t think it makes make sense for me to grade you while you’re still learning. In some cases, the information or skill will be new to you; in other cases, I’ll be encouraging you to unlearn things you’ve learned in the past. Either way, genuine learning involves risking mistakes, and grades discourage most students from taking risks.

And if these points are just meant to encourage you to do the work… well, that doesn’t tell us if you’ve learned anything; it just tells us that you did what you were told. If you’re going to pass a class, it should be because you’ve learned something, not because you’ve jumped through hoops. And with a points system that enforces compliance, it’s often possible to pass the class without meeting the learning objectives.

Danger, Will Robinson

There are two dangers here.

First, I know many students only want to do work that is graded. Indeed, I’ve had students tell me that they didn’t do much of the work because there were no points attached.

That’s a dangerous strategy. I do not assign busy work; everything I assign—whether it’s officially graded or not—is designed to support you as you learn to read and write college-level texts. Skipping the “ungraded” work—deciding to just scroll through the modules without reading, or to skip Discussion Group Assignments or conferences—almost guarantees that you won’t understand the assignments that are graded.

The second danger: people who study student success note that community — a sense of belonging — is a major indicator of success. Indeed, some of my (ungraded) assignments, such as Discussion Group Assignments, ask you to respond to each other. If you don’t do that work, you cut yourself off from the community. (And for those who think, “I don’t need other people’s help; I know what I’m doing”: please consider that others might appreciate your help…)

A Note on Canvas’s Gradebook

I have chosen to “hide” the Canvas gradebook. I know that this annoys a lot of students, but I’ve found—especially with my grading policy—that the Canvas gradebook does more harm than good.

• The Canvas gradebook is designed around the 100 point scale. I tried to adapt it to my system, but it was a disaster. The information it presented to students was wrong, which led (understandably) to a lot of questions and complaints.
• Even if the gradebook were correct, though, the structure of the class means that grades are misleading. Since the essays increase in importance, later essays can change your grade (positively or negatively) fairly dramatically. Students with a lower grade may feel more discouraged than they should, perhaps even giving up; students with a higher grade may feel overconfident and slack off. Neither of those is a good thing.

I have learned that focusing your attention on the grade is often a weak strategy. Focus on learning, and, in many cases, the grade takes care of itself.

However, if you need to know your grade—and there are reasons where this might be true (sports, scholarships, etc.)—please feel free to ask. I hide the gradebook because I don’t want it to mislead you, not because I want to keep your grades secret from you.

One Last Thought

This grading system isn’t perfect. As far as I can tell, though, no system is perfect — there are always trade-offs. And this system has huge advantages over the 100-point scale.

If you’d like to talk through what these differences are—if you’re concerned (as many students are), or if you just want to understand better what’s going on here, I’m happy to meet with you to talk through it. I mean that: I welcome your insights, and I’ll consider them as I work on next semester’s courses.

Rewrites

As I said, I want my grades to reflect your learning. And if I want that grading to be consistent with my philosophy, it’s important that I offer you opportunities to redo at least some of your graded work. After all, you’ll be learning how to write essays all semester, and you might learn things in the second essay that would help you improve your first essay.

Therefore, I will offer you the opportunity to rewrite your first two essays, if you so choose. (There isn’t time before the end of the semester for a rewrite of the third essay.)

There are a couple requirements for this:

• You will need to meet with me to discuss how you plan to change your essay. Note that this isn’t meant to put you on the spot. But I want to be sure you’ve understood my comments on the graded paper, so you’re not just wasting your time rewriting an essay without improving it. (I’ve met with students who didn’t even realize that I had written comments on their essay.)
• Rewrites are due the last day of finals week. (This semester, that’s Friday, May 26.) Please plan accordingly, especially if you have other classes with finals that week.

I hope you can see that this rewrite policy means that, even if you’re struggling at the beginning of the course, you don’t need to give up. You’ll have the entire semester to learn what you need to know and/or be able to to, and a single grade — even a “0” — won’t doom you to failing the class.

Late Policy

As I’ve said a few times now, my grading philosophy emphasizes learning, not compliance. In a perfect world, that would mean that I’d have no late policy at all.

Unfortunately, the world isn’t perfect—and, on top of that, I have a deadline for turning in course grades. So I’ve had to put a few policies in place.

• Recommended due date: Every assignment has a recommended due date. This date is designed to keep you “on track”—to make it so that you’re only working on one essay at a time. (Note: Canvas will identify this as the official due date. Unfortunately, that means that Canvas will mark any work turned in after this date as “late.” Don’t worry about that; these policies apply, no matter what Canvas indicates.)
• Grace period due date: Every assignment has a “grace period”—usually two weeks, but later assignments may have a smaller grace period. You are free to turn in work during this grace period with no grade penalty and no additional requirements.
• After the grace period: I will still accept work with no grade penalty after the grace period, but you’ll be required to do two additional things: to fill out a questionnaire and to meet with me. This is not meant to be a big deal: the questionnaire is simple, and the meeting is brief. But I’ve found it’s an effective way to support students who have gotten this far behind.
• Drop-dead due date: All work is due no later than the last day of Finals Week. This semester, that is Friday, May 26. Please do not ask if you can turn in work that weekend—I will not accept any work after this date. Please plan ahead!

More Danger, Will Robinson

There are dangers to this late policy. Students who turn in an assignment late usually start the next assignment late as well. That can add up over the course of the semester. And I don’t know about you, but when I get overwhelmed, I procrastinate even more, which makes things worse.

So do your best to keep up with the pace of the course. But if you find you need to turn an assignment in late, try not to stress out too much. The late policy is meant to relieve the pressure of huge deadlines.

Next up: Resources

The next section is about resources that you might find helpful.

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Registration

First Week Rule

I often have a number of students hoping to add the class during the first week or two of the semester. So, to make sure that those students have time to join — and to be sure that registered students don’t delay getting started — I require you to do two things by the end of the first week.

Specifically, I’ll need to drop any registered student who does not complete both the Syllabus Quiz and the Canvas Message Assignment by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, January 29.

If that creates a problem for you, please contact me in advance. We can make another arrangement, if needed. But I do need you to contact me before Sunday.

Drop Dates

This semester, the deadlines for dropping the course are as follows:

• February 3, to be eligible for a refund and to avoid a “W” on your permanent record
• April 28, to receive a “W” on your permanent record.

NOTE: The state of California (which funds community colleges) no longer distinguishes between a “W” (Withdraw) and a non-passing grade (in ENGL 1A, a “D” or “F”) in determining the number of times a student may attempt a class; students are now limited to three attempts total within a district. If you decide you need to drop, I recommend that you see a counselor to discuss what effect that might have on your educational plans.

Student Responsibility to Drop

Every term, several students disappear from the course for a variety of reasons. I cannot always tell if a student has really left the course (and forgotten to officially drop) or has decided to prioritize her time differently (and plans to get caught up). If you stop participating in the class, I will do my best to contact you.

In the end, though, it is the student’s responsibility to drop by the appropriate deadlines. If you do decide you need to drop, please be sure you follow through with the Admissions Office.

More important, though: If you find yourself tempted to quit, I encourage you to contact me first. I might be able to help you get back on track.

Disability Statement

If you need special arrangements for a physical or learning disability, I encourage you to let me know, and to arrange an accommodation plan through Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSPS) as soon as you can. Working with DSPS isn’t a requirement, but they offer helpful support for both you and me.

Please visit the DSPS page to see what kind of help is officially available to you. If you’re on campus, you can drop by their office (Building 1800, at the west end of campus), or you can contact them by phone — (530) 741-6795 or email (dspsinfo@yccd.edu).

Communication

Announcements

Two or three times a week, I will post announcements for the class using (surprise!) Canvas’s Announcements. There will basically be two kinds:

• Reminders for upcoming assignments, changes to due dates, corrections, and other announcements related to the logistics of the course (how the course works);
• Instructional material, clarifications, responses to issues that come up in student work, and other items related to the content of the course (things to help you do your work).

Both kinds of announcements are important, so I recommend that you log in to the course and look for announcements at least three times each week—or, even better, consider setting up a “Notification” to inform you whenever an announcement appears (see the next item in this syllabus).

Notifications

Canvas has an incredibly flexible communications system. Indeed, at times, it can even be too flexible, and communications can get lost in the range of possible channels.

If you haven’t yet done so, I recommend that you go to your Canvas Settings and set up Notifications in a way that is comfortable for you. (I will walk you through that process in the first module of the course.)

You can set it up so Canvas notifies you when there’s a new announcement (as mentioned above), as well as when I post a grade, or someone responds to a message in the Discussion forum, etc.

Discussions

Throughout the class, I will assign a number of Discussion Group Assignments (DGAs). These are designed to allow you to work through issues and ideas we bring up in class. I will also set up specific threads that focus on specific assignments, as well as general questions.

It is important that everyone feel comfortable participating in Discussions. For this reason, be respectful of your peers. You will, at times, disagree, but please do so thoughtfully and politely, not with sarcasm or derogatory remarks directed at any person or group of persons. Please remember that there is a feeling human being on the other end of the computer connection. There is a lot of room for debate, but not for flame wars.

On the other side of the coin: please don’t take criticism or advice personally. Love-fests don’t help anyone improve; honest suggestions do. When they’re right, we learn something new. But even when they’re wrong, we strengthen our own position by articulating why we think they’re wrong.

In short: strive both to give and to receive feedback, criticism, or advice with grace.

Canvas Messages (“Conversations”) and Personal Email

Messages to individuals (to your classmates, or to me)—Canvas calls these “Conversations”— should generally be used only for private communications. If you have any comments or questions that might be of interest to the class, please post them in an appropriate Discussion thread so others may benefit from the conversation.

For example, if you want to let me know why you haven’t turned in an assignment yet (a private issue that the rest of the class doesn’t need to know about), it would be appropriate to send me an individual Canvas message. If you are confused about the instructions on a writing assignment, though, it would be appropriate to ask that question in the Discussions area. You may be a little nervous about that, but try not to be. While you may fear that your question is obvious, it’s likely that others have a similar question — and sometimes students’ answers to such questions are clearer than my response.

For class-related issues, please contact me through Canvas; it’s much easier to keep track of conversations that way. For issues not related to the class, or in case you have trouble with Canvas (if you have trouble logging into Canvas, for example), you can go ahead and contact me through my personal email address (gkemble@yccd.edu).

I will respond within two business days (though I’m usually much quicker than that).

Dead Links

Every semester, I work to improve the course, which sometimes causes unintended glitches. If you find any “dead” links (or other mistakes—inconsistent due dates, typos, whatever), please let me know so I can fix them.

I am also open to feedback, so if you have any suggestions for improvement to the presentation, or you can identify areas that were confusing or not intuitive, please feel free to let me know that as well.

Standards

Using Modules

As modules are released, the assignments associated with the modules will also become available, in the course’s Assignments section. However, you should go directly to an assignment only as a convenience, after you have worked through the module leading up to the assignment.

Occasionally students try to skip straight to the assignment without working through the modules. This is a recipe for disaster, for a number of reasons. Please work through the modules thoroughly and in order, so that you will benefit from the explanations and preparatory writing assignments.

Formatting

Your three main essays should be formatted using MLA style. We’ll talk about this during the course, but here’s a short version:

Essays should:

• be typed, using a standard 12-point font (e.g., Times or Times New Roman);
• be double-spaced (never single-spaced; never triple-spaced);
• have one-inch margins;
• have a correctly formatted header, title, and pagination
• document sources correctly, using both in-text citation and a Works Cited page.

Final drafts of essays, especially, should be edited, proofread, and spell-checked.

And please give each essay a clever and informative title (“Essay 1” is neither clever nor informative….)

Submitting Essays

Unless specified otherwise, please submit assignments as a “File Upload” through the Assignments section in Canvas. (The most notable exception: Discussion Group Assignments.)

Please don’t submit work to my personal email unless it is absolutely necessary. It’s hard to keep track of work that is not submitted as instructed—especially work submitted outside Canvas.

If possible, please upload essays in Microsoft Word format (.doc, or .docx), as this format allows me to respond to your work most effectively. (Note that Google Docs can save a in Word format, under “File | Download.”)

If you do not have access to Word (or Google Docs), you may save and upload your essay as a PDF file. As I said, though, I am able to work more effectively with Word documents.

Note that Canvas won’t allow you to upload files in other formats (unless I’ve specified that other formats are acceptable).

Retrieving Graded Essays

When I’ve graded an assignment, you’ll find the letter grade on a PDF of your graded essay, along with other comments. This is where I offer the specific, personalized response to your work. (Note: If you would prefer a Word document, please let me know. However, unless you need it in Word—for example, screen readers handle Word documents better than PDFs—I recommend staying with the PDF, as that format more consistently displays my comments.)

You’ll find this document in the same place you submitted the original work—usually, in the Assignments section—and should be able to download it and then either read it on screen or print it out.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as using another person’s words or ideas without proper acknowledgment. This may take many forms: cutting and pasting from the Internet, using others’ ideas without proper citation, buying a paper, having a friend or family member do an assignment, and so on.

Please don’t.

Plagiarism is serious, and it carries serious consequences. At the very least, a plagiarized paper will receive a “0” on the assignment. But plagiarism may also result in disciplinary probation or suspension, or even expulsion. (See the Student Code of Conduct).

Most cases of plagiarism that I have encountered — and I have encountered many — have arisen from desperation. If you find yourself growing desperate, please contact me as early as possible so that we can discuss strategies for success on the assignment.

Next up: Grading

The next section is about my grading policies.

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Objectives and Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

The English Department at Yuba College has four Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) that guide much of our instruction in composition courses.

Upon completion of the course, students will:

• use reading strategies to understand argumentative texts that contain both literal and implied meanings;
• compose a clearly-written, well-organized, purpose-driven essay;
• synthesize evidence from outside sources to support claims effectively;
• attribute and document sources correctly.

That isn’t the most student-friendly language, so don’t be too concerned if much of this doesn’t make sense to you yet. Things should become clearer as we work through the semester.

In addition to the official outcomes, have a number of other objectives, as well; I would like you to:

• develop your skills as a critical thinker, reader, and writer;
• affect people in your sphere of influence;
• engage deeply with important public policy issues.

Ideally, you also have your own objectives. If you don’t, I recommend you spend some time thinking about what those objectives might be. Why (beyond earning a grade) are you taking English 1A? Why are you in school more generally?

The clearer your sense of purpose, the more likely you are to stick with the course when it becomes challenging.

Next up: Policies

The next section is about the course’s policies.

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Course Title and Section

English 1A: College Composition and Reading

Section: D9055 (online)

Instructor

Greg Kemble

Contact information

Whenever possible, please contact me through Canvas, using the “Inbox” in Canvas’s main menu. It’s much easier for me to keep track of our conversations that way.

If you’re not able to contact me through Canvas, though, here are some alternatives:

• Email: gkemble@yccd.edu (As I said, it’s easier for me to keep track of things in Canvas, so please only use this when you need a response more quickly than usual.)
• Office Phone: (530) 749-3821 (please leave a voicemail)

Note: I don’t spend a lot of time in my office, so I’m likely to get a message more quickly though Canvas or email than by voicemail.

Office Location

Marysville Campus: 1100 Building, Room 1179.

Student Hours (via Zoom)

I call these “student hours,” rather than “office hours,” because I want to be sure you understand that they are scheduled for you, not for me. Please don’t hesitate to take advantage of them.

Further, if you are not available at the times listed, please contact me to set up an appointment. I’m happy to find a time that works for your schedule — even if that means connecting in the evening or on a weekend.

• Monday and Wednesday: 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (In-person, in my office)
• Thursday: 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. (via Zoom)

You are welcome to drop in at any of the above times, but I recommend that you contact me to set up an appointment, even for scheduled student hours. Though I do my best to protect these times, I am sometimes required to attend meetings or other appointments.

Here’s the link for the Zoom room: Student Hours

Conferences

A few times throughout the semester — usually to discuss a draft of your essay — I will schedule a Zoom conference with you. We’ll use the same Zoom link that as we do for Student Hours.

Textbook

Anna Mills’s How Arguments Work – A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College.

This course is a “Zero-Cost Textbook” course, which means that we’ll be using an Open Educational Resources (OER) textbook. (If you’re interested in OER, you can read about the initiative on the California Community Colleges OER page.)

I’ve included the relevant parts of the text within the course, in Canvas, so you shouldn’t need to download anything. (If that changes, I’ll let everyone know through a Canvas announcement.)

However, if you’d like a copy of the full text — it’s a good book! — you may either download the full PDF (for free) or buy a paper copy at the book’s LibreTexts page. (Hover over the blue “Downloads” button for options.)

Just to be clear: you are not required to buy the textbook. Further, we won’t read the whole book, so — unless something comes up that makes me change my mind — you don’t need to download the full PDF, either. You’re welcome to do so, of course, but it’s not required.

Course Description

Here’s the description of English 1A that you’ll find in the Yuba College catalog:

An introductory course offering instruction in expository and argumentative writing, appropriate and effective use of language, close reading, cogent thinking, research strategies, information literacy, and documentation. Focus on the recursivity of writing processes and integrating reading, writing, and speaking skills. Students will write a minimum of 6000 words.

If you don’t already have a lot of experience with college or with college-level writing, some of that might not make a lot of sense yet. That’s okay — that’s why you’re here! Don’t let the fancy words intimidate you.

On the other hand, English 1A — especially the online version! — is a demanding course. I don’t want you to be scared of it, but I don’t want you to underestimate it, either.

Time Commitment

As I just said, English 1A is demanding. That’s not just because English professors are mean (though we may be). We’re required to follow rules and policies that the state of California has set for us.

One of those policies is to include the following information in our syllabi:

English 1A is a 4-unit course, which translates to:

• Total hours for the course: 216
• In-class (“lecture”) hours: 72
• Out-of-class (“homework”) hours: 144

Of course, these numbers are for face-to-face courses, so the 72 hours of “lecture” obviously doesn’t apply in quite the same way for our class. But you should expect something similar — an average of around 4 hours per week working through the online content, and another average of around 8 hours a week doing outside work (reading, writing, and research).

Does that sound like a lot? It is! I am often surprised at how many students expect to be able to do the course in just a couple hours each weekend — or, worse, in a few hours at the end of the semester.

Again, I’m not trying to scare you here. Lots of people succeed in the course! But it’s important that you understand what’s expected of you so that you can plan your semester accordingly.

Are you ready?

Requirements for placing into English 1A have changed, due to changes in California state law; placement is now mostly based on high school Grade Point Average (GPA).

This means that our class will include students with a wide range of reading and writing skills, and a wide range of expectations:

• some of you are just out of high school (or still in high school!) and have not yet encountered college-level writing;
• some of you have been away from school for a number of years and fear that you have forgotten much of what you used to know;
• some of you are masters of a language other than English, but struggle with English;
• some of you are just sure that, for whatever reason, you’re not good writers.

I will do my best to meet you at whatever level you find yourself. Of course, online instruction and assignments are relatively set, and it’s impossible for personal interactions to be 100% customized for each member of the class; there just aren’t that many hours in a day. But when I respond to your assignments, I will do my best to address your particular needs.

But you will need to do your part, too. Please read my comments carefully, and ask questions when something is not clear.

Above all: understand that one aspect — probably the most important aspect — of college is learning how to learn. Don’t rely only on me and my instruction; make sure you also seek answers on your own. There are a lot of good writing resources out there (I’ll point to several of them throughout the course, including later in this syllabus). The more you pursue questions on your own, the more useful my help — and the help of teachers in future courses — will be.

Next up: Learning Outcomes

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve broken this syllabus up into several parts so that it’s not just one long, overwhelming document. The next section is about Learning Outcomes.

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College (and Life) Resources

The Writing and Language Development Center (WLDC) is a great place to get help and feedback on your essays. They can help you at any stage of the writing process, from generating ideas to preparing a paper for submission. (Note that are not a proofreading or editing service, so please don’t expect them to “look at your paper and fix it.” ) They also have workshops and access to computers. In addition to the Marysville center, they usually have a limited presence at the Sutter Center. They also have online tutoring available.

In fact, here is a welcome video that they’ve created, which might give you a good idea of what they offer (and how welcoming and supportive they are):

Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSPS) offers support for students with learning and other disabilities. If you know (or suspect) you have a learning disability, be sure to contact them. There are resources available to support you.

The Yuba College Library has great staff. Since COVID, they’ve developed a strong online presence. (I’ll talk a bit more about the library during the course, especially as we approach the research portion.)

The Yuba College Counseling Department has both in-person and online counselors to help. They can help with a lot of different needs, from academic questions (what classes should I take if I want to go to Chico?) to personal questions (I’m hungry and don’t have any money. Where can I get food?)

Canvas Help

I’ve been creating short videos explaining how Canvas works in my course. (Every teacher uses Canvas a little differently.) Generally, I’ll introduce the videos in the modules, when the information would be useful. But they’ll be collected on a How To Page, which you’ll have access to once the course is open.

Yuba College’s eLearning page offers an orientation to Canvas, as well as video tutorials, general student guides, and guides specifically for mobile phones and tablets.

Canvas also has a Student Guide, which is pretty complete.

And if you need more help, you can contact one of the Help Desks:

• Any time, you can email College’s Help Desk at helpdesk@yccd.edu;
• During working hours (Mon – Fri 8:00 am – 5:00 pm), you can reach Yuba College’s Help Desk at (530) 741-6981;
• After hours (Mon – Fri 5:00 pm – 8:00 am, and weekends), you can reach Canvas’s Help Desk at (844) 303-8279.

Closing Thoughts

Online classes can be challenging; they require an high level of self-discipline, organization, and “self-starting.” It’s easy to get behind — and that can lead to feeling overwhelmed, which can lead to procrastination that gets you even further behind, and so on. It’s a nasty cycle. (I speak from experience.)

So: if you find yourself struggling, I hope you will reach out — to me, at least, or to some of the resources listed above. Please don’t think that I’ll be upset, or that I won’t care, or that I won’t want to help.

I want you to succeed. Of course, I can’t do it for you — I don’t give grades; you earn them. But I’ll support you however I can.

See you around.

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My philosophy

My grading policies are based on the notion that a student’s grade should measure learning, not compliance.

This philosophy has led me to reconsider a few things that I’ve done in the past — things that you may be used to, since it’s what many (possibly most) instructors do.

Grading

I use a 4-point scale for grading:

• A =4 points
• B = 3 points
• C = 2 points
• D = 1 point
• F = 0 points

(The mathematically astute among you may note that this is actually a 5-point scale, since “0” is indeed a grade. But most people call it a 4-point scale, so I’m going with that….)

Further, I only assign grades to a limited number of assignments — to essays, in most cases, though there are a couple other assignments that will also receive grades. I weight those assignments as follows:

• Essay 1 (Educational Autobiography) 15%
• Essay 2 (American Standard English) 25%
• Essay 3 (Equity) 35%
• Annotated Bibliographies 20%
• Reflection on the Course 5%

Calculated grades will almost certainly end up having a decimal point (3.27, for example). I’ll use the usual rules for rounding up at .5 — for example, 3.5 =A, 2.5 = B, and so on.

Some Thoughts on this Grading Policy

As I mentioned earlier, I know that aspects of this policy may be different from what you’re used to, so let me offer brief explanations for the two most significant differences. If you have any further questions or concerns, I’d be happy to talk in more detail. (At some point, I’ll make a video with a more detailed explanation, but I don’t have time to do that at this point.)

The 4-Point Scale

Many instructors use a-100 point system (A = 90+, B= 80+, etc.). I have a number of issues with that system — it puts way too much weight on failing (a “0” is almost impossible to recover from, for example); practically, it encourages too much subjectivity as I grade (for example, what is the difference between an 88 and an 86 in a research paper?). The 4-point system reduces both of those problems significantly.

Points (or the Lack Thereof)

Many instructors offer “points” for things like homework or discussion entries, etc. As you can tell from the breakdown above, I don’t do that.

If those points are meant to grade you — to tell you how well you’ve done — well, that’s just too soon. I want to grade you on what you know and/or can do at the end of a unit. I want the grade to let you know the answer to this question: how well have you achieved the learning outcomes?

With that focus, it doesn’t make sense to me to grade you while you’re still learning. In some cases, the information or skill will be new to you; in other cases, I’ll be encouraging you to unlearn things you’ve learned in the past. Either way, genuine learning involves risking mistakes, and grades discourage most students from taking risks.

And if these points are just meant to encourage you to do the work… well, that doesn’t tell us if you’ve learned anything; it just tells us that you did what you were told. If you’re going to pass the class, it should be because you’ve learned, not because you’ve managed to jump through hoops. And with a points system that simply records compliance, it’s often possible to pass the class without meeting the learning objectives.

Danger, Will Robinson

There are a couple dangers here, of course. I know many students only want to do the work that is graded. They look at Canvas’s Calendar or To-Do List, jump directly to an assignment that is due, and try to fulfill the assignment.

That is rarely — and I mean rarely — a successful strategy.

So please don’t misunderstand me. I do not assign busy work; everything I assign — whether it will be officially graded or not — is meant to support you as you learn to read and write college-level texts. Skipping the “ungraded” work — deciding not to read the modules, or to write Discussion Group Assignments, or to meet with me to discuss a working draft of an essay — almost never works out.

The second danger: people who study student success note that community — a sense of belonging — is a major indicator of success. Indeed, some of my (ungraded) assignments, such as Discussion Group Assignments, ask you to respond to each other. If you don’t do that work, you cut yourself off for the community. (And for those who think, “I don’t need other people’s help; I know what I’m doing”: consider that others might need your help…)

One Last Thought

The 4-point scale is not perfect. As far as I can tell, though, no scale is perfect — there are always trade-offs. And the 4-point has huge advantages over the 100-point scale.

If you’d like to talk through what these differences are — if you’re concerned (as many students are), or if you just want to understand better what’s going on here, I’m happy to meet with you to talk through it. I mean that: I welcome your insights, and I’ll consider them as I work on next semester’s courses.

As we get closer to the first graded assignment (Essay 1), I’ll post an announcement with some thoughts about Canvas’s Gradebook. There are some general issues that I’ve found with the Gradebook, but the 4-point scale has created some new ones for me. But I’ll do my best to make sure that it’s as understandable as possible. (That’s not easy; Canvas really, really wants a 100-poiont scale…)

Rewrites

As I said, I want my grades to reflect your learning. And if I want that grading to be consistent with my philosophy, it’s important that I offer you opportunities to redo graded work. After all, you’ll be learning how to write essays all semester, and you might learn things in the second essay that would help you improve your first essay.

Therefore, I will offer you the opportunity to rewrite any graded work, as you choose.

There will be some limitations. For one thing, the class does end, at some point, and I need time to be grade the rewrites. Further, I will require you to follow a process before turning it in. (This process will be relatively simple, but I want to be sure you’re not just wasting your time rewriting something without actually making it better.)

I hope you can see that this rewrite policy, especially when added to the 4-point grading scale, means that, even if you’re struggling at the beginning of the course, you don’t need to give up. You’ll have the entire semester to learn what you need to know and/or be able to to, and a single grade — even a “0” — doesn’t doom you.

Late Policy

As I’ve said a few times now, my grading philosophy emphasizes learning, not compliance. In a perfect world, that would mean that I’d have no late policy at all.

Unfortunately, the world isn’t perfect, so I’ve had to put two basic rules I’ve needed to put in place.

First: since I need to turn in grades during the week of Dec. 19, I will accept work no later than noon on Saturday, December 17. I hope you can see why: I need time to grade the work.

Second: Each graded assignment — the essays, annotated bibliographies, the reflective essay — will all have two due dates:

• The first due date, which is the one that Canvas will display, is a recommended due date. Meeting this deadline will ensure that you finish the assignment before starting the next assignment of unit. (Note that Canvas will flag anything turned in after this date as “late”; that has no effect on your grade.)
• The second due date is the no added requirements due date. In other words, if you meet this second deadline, I’ll accept your assignment just as if you had turned it in by the recommended date, with no penalty. (How much later this due date is will depend on the assignment; for example, Essay 3 is due near the end of the semester, so there isn’t as much time to accept a late assignment.)
• If you want to turn in the assignment after that second due date, you’ll need to fulfill a couple extra requirements. There are several reasons for this, but here are two: I want to encourage you not to get so far behind that you can’t catch up; and I want to be sure that your work fulfills the assignment, since there would be less time for rewrites.

However, in all these cases, I am willing to work with you if you contact me. If you think your situation will require you to miss either the end-of-semester deadline, or an assignment’s second deadline, let me know. As I said, I’m willing to work with you, but I need you to let me know what you need.

More Danger, Will Robinson

There are dangers to this late policy. Every time a student turns in an assignment late, it usually means she starts the next assignment late as well. That can add up over the course of the semester. And I don’t know about you, but when I get overwhelmed, I procrastinate even more, which makes things worse.

So do your best to keep up with the pace of the course. But if you find you need to turn an assignment in late, try not to stress out too much. The late policy is flexible — and, if you contact me, I might be able to be even more flexible.

Next up: Resources

The next section is about resources that you might find helpful.

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Registration

First Week Rule

I often have a number of students hoping to add the class during the first week or two of the semester. So, to make sure that those students have time to join — and to be sure that registered students don’t delay getting started — I require you to do two things by the end of the first week.

Specifically, I’ll need to drop any registered student who does not complete both the Syllabus Quiz and the Canvas Message Assignment by 11:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 21.

If that creates a problem for you, please contact me in advance. We can make another arrangement, if needed. But I do need you to contact me before Sunday.

Drop Dates

This semester, the deadlines for dropping the course are as follows:

• August 26, to be eligible for a refund;
• September 2, to avoid a “W” on your permanent record
• November 10, to receive a “W” on your permanent record.

NOTE: The state of California (which funds community colleges) no longer distinguishes between a “W” (Withdraw) and a non-passing grade (in ENGL 1A, a “D” or “F”) in determining the number of times a student may attempt a class; students are now limited to three attempts total within a district. If you decide you need to drop, I recommend that you see a counselor to discuss what effect that might have on your educational plans.

Student Responsibility to Drop

Every term, several students disappear from the course for a variety of reasons. I cannot always tell if a student has really left the course (and forgotten to officially drop) or has decided to prioritize her time differently (and plans to get caught up). If you stop participating in the class, I will do my best to contact you.

In the end, though, it is the student’s responsibility to drop by the appropriate deadlines. If you do decide you need to drop, please be sure you follow through with the Admissions Office.

More important, though: If you find yourself tempted to quit, I encourage you to contact me first. I might be able to help you get back on track.

Disability Statement

If you need special arrangements for a physical or learning disability, I encourage you to let me know, and to arrange an accommodation plan through Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSPS) –LINK– as soon as you can. Working with DSPS isn’t a requirement, but they offer helpful support for both you and me.

Please visit the DSPS page to see what kind of help is officially available to you. If you’re on campus, you can drop by their office (Building 1800, at the west end of campus), or you can contact them by phone — (530) 741-6795 or email (dspsinfo@yccd.edu).

Communication

Announcements

Two or three times a week, I will post announcements for the class using (surprise!) Canvas’s Announcements. There will basically be two kinds:

Reminders for upcoming assignments, changes to due dates, corrections, and other announcements related to the logistics of the course (how the course works);
Instructional material, clarifications, responses to issues that come up in student work, and other items related to the content of the course (things to help you do your work).

Both kinds of announcements are important, so I recommend that you log in to the course and look for announcements at least three times each week—or, even better, consider setting up a “Notification” to inform you whenever an announcement appears (see the next item in this syllabus).

Notifications

Canvas has an incredibly flexible communications system. Indeed, at times, it can even be too flexible, and communications can get lost in the range of possible channels.

If you haven’t yet done so, I recommend that you go to your Canvas Settings and set up Notifications in a way that is comfortable for you. (Here’s a tutorial for setting up Notifications.)

You can set it up so Canvas notifies you when there’s a new announcement (as mentioned above), as well as when I post a grade, or someone responds to a message in the Discussion forum, etc.

Discussions

Throughout the class, I will assign a number of Discussion Group Assignments (DGAs). These are designed to allow you to work through issues and ideas we bring up in class. I will also set up specific threads that focus on specific assignments, as well as general questions.

It is important that everyone feel comfortable participating in Discussions. For this reason, be respectful of your peers. You will, at times, disagree, but please do so thoughtfully and politely, not with sarcasm or derogatory remarks directed at any person or group of persons. Please remember that there is a feeling human being on the other end of the computer connection. There is a lot of room for debate, but not for flame wars.

On the other side of the coin: please don’t take criticism or advice personally. Love-fests don’t help anyone improve; honest suggestions do. When they’re right, we learn something new. But even when they’re wrong, we strengthen our own position by articulating why we think they’re wrong.

In short: strive both to give and to receive feedback, criticism, or advice with grace.

Canvas Messages (“Conversations”) and Personal Email

Messages to individuals (to your classmates, or to me)—Canvas calls these “Conversations”— should generally be used only for private communications. If you have any comments or questions that might be of interest to the class, please post them in an appropriate Discussion thread so others may benefit from the conversation.

For example, if you want to let me know why you haven’t turned in an assignment yet (a private issue that the rest of the class doesn’t need to know about), it would be appropriate to send me an individual Canvas message. If you are confused about the instructions on a writing assignment, though, it would be appropriate to ask that question in the Discussions area. You may be a little nervous about that, but try not to be. While you may fear that your question is obvious, it’s likely that others have a similar question — and sometimes students’ answers to such questions are clearer than my response.

For class-related issues, please contact me through Canvas; it’s much easier to keep track of conversations that way. For issues not related to the class, or in case you have trouble with Canvas (if you have trouble logging into Canvas, for example), you can go ahead and contact me through my personal email address (gkemble@yccd.edu).

I will respond within two business days (though I’m usually much quicker than that).

Dead Links

Every semester, I work to improve the course, which sometimes causes unintended glitches. If you find any “dead” links (or other mistakes—inconsistent due dates, typos, whatever), please let me know so I can fix them.

I am also open to feedback, so if you have any suggestions for improvement to the presentation, or you can identify areas that were confusing or not intuitive, please feel free to let me know that as well.

Standards

Using Modules

As modules are released, the assignments associated with the modules will also become available, in the course’s Assignments section. However, you should go directly to an assignment only as a convenience, after you have worked through the module leading up to the assignment.

Occasionally students try to skip straight to the assignment without working through the modules. This is a recipe for disaster, for a number of reasons. Please work through the modules thoroughly and in order, so that you will benefit from the explanations and preparatory writing assignments.

Formatting

Your three main essays should be formatted using MLA style format. We’ll talk about this during the course, but here’s a short version:
Essays should:

• be typed, using a standard 12-point font (e.g., Times or Times New Roman);
• be double-spaced (never single-spaced; never triple-spaced);
• have one-inch margins;
• have a correctly formatted header, title, and pagination
• document sources correctly, using both in-text citation and a Works Cited page.

Final drafts of essays, especially, should be edited, proofread, and spell-checked.

And please give each essay a clever and informative title (“Essay 1” is neither clever nor informative….)

Submitting Essays

Unless specified otherwise, please submit assignments as a “File Upload” through the Assignments section in Canvas. (The most notable exception: Discussion Group Assignments.)

Please don’t submit work to my personal email unless it is absolutely necessary. It’s hard to keep track of work that is not submitted as instructed—especially work submitted outside Canvas.

If possible, please upload essays in Microsoft Word format (.doc, or .docx), as this format allows me to respond to your work most effectively. (Note that Google Docs can save a in Word format, under “File | Download.”)

If you do not have access to Word (or Google Docs), you may save and upload your essay as a PDF file. As I said, though, I am able to work more effectively with Word documents.

Note that Canvas won’t allow you to upload files in other formats (unless I’ve specified that other formats are acceptable).

Retrieving Graded Essays

When I’ve graded an assignment, you will be able to find your letter grade in the Canvas Gradebook.

However, for most assignments, I will also upload a PDF of your graded essay with my comments, which is where I offer the specific, personalized response to your work. (Note: If you would prefer a Word document, please let me know. However, unless you need it in Word—for example, screen readers handle Word documents better than PDFs—I recommend staying with the PDF, as that format more consistently displays my comments.)

You’ll find this document in the same place you submitted the original work—usually, in the Assignments section—and should be able to download it and then either read it on screen or print it out.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as using another person’s words or ideas without proper acknowledgment. This may take many forms: cutting and pasting from the Internet, using others’ ideas without proper citation, buying a paper, having a friend or family member do an assignment, and so on.

Please don’t.

Plagiarism is serious, and it carries serious consequences. At the very least, a plagiarized paper will receive a “0” on the assignment. But plagiarism may also result in disciplinary probation or suspension, or even expulsion. (See the Student Code of Conduct).

Most cases of plagiarism that I have encountered — and I have encountered many — have arisen from desperation. If you find yourself growing desperate, please contact me as early as possible so that we can discuss strategies for success on the assignment.

Next up: Grading

The next section is about my grading policies.

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Objectives and Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

The English Department at Yuba College has four Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) that guide much of our instruction in composition courses.

Upon completion of the course, students will:

• use reading strategies to understand argumentative texts that contain both literal and implied meanings;
• compose a clearly-written, well-organized, purpose-driven essay;
• synthesize evidence from outside sources to support claims effectively;
• attribute and document sources correctly.

That isn’t the most student-friendly language, so don’t be too concerned if much of this doesn’t make sense to you yet. Things should become clearer as we work through the semester.

In addition to the official outcomes, have a number of other objectives, as well; I would like you to:

• develop your skills as a critical thinker, reader, and writer;
• affect people in your sphere of influence;
• engage deeply with important public policy issues.

Ideally, you also have your own objectives. If you don’t, I recommend you spend some time thinking about what those objectives might be. Why (beyond earning a grade) are you taking English 1A? Why are you in school more generally?

The clearer your sense of purpose, the more likely you are to stick with the course when it becomes challenging.

Next up: Policies

The next section is about the course’s policies.

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Course Title

English 1A: College Composition and Reading

Sections

This syllabus applies to three sections of English 1A: D9229, 9230, and 9231. All three sections are online.

Instructor

Greg Kemble

Contact information

Whenever possible, please contact me through Canvas, using the “Inbox” in Canvas’s main menu. It’s much easier for me to keep track of our conversations that way.

If you’re not able to contact me through Canvas, though, here are some alternatives:

• Email: gkemble@yccd.edu (As I said, it’s easier for me to keep track of things in Canvas, so please only use this when you need a response more quickly than usual.)
• Office Phone: (530) 749-3821 (please leave a voicemail)

Note: I don’t spend a lot of time in my office, so I’m likely to get a message more quickly though Canvas or email than by voicemail.

Student Hours (via Zoom)

I call these “student hours,” rather than “office hours,” because I want to be sure you understand that they are scheduled for you, not for me. Please don’t hesitate to take advantage of them.

Further, if you are not available at the times listed, please contact me to set up an appointment. I’m happy to find a time that works for your schedule — even if that means connecting in the evening or on a weekend.

• Mondays 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
• Wednesdays 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
• Thursdays 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

You are welcome to drop in at any of the above times, but I recommend that you contact me to set up an appointment even for scheduled student hours. Though I do my best to protect these times, I am sometimes required to attend meetings or other appointments.

Here’s the link for the Zoom room: Student Hours

Conferences

A few times throughout the semester — usually to discuss a draft of your essay — I will schedule a Zoom conference with you. We’ll use the same Zoom link that as we do for Student Hours.

Office Location

1100 Building, Room 1179.

I am rarely in my office, though, so (as I mentioned above) student hours and conferences will be held on Zoom.

Textbook

This course is a “Zero-Cost Textbook” course, which means that we’ll be using an Open Educational Resources (OER) textbook. (If you’re interested in OER, you can read about the initiative on the California Community Colleges OER page.)

This is the first time I’ve used a free, OER textbook, so I’ll be sorting out how best to use it in the class. I should be able to include the relevant parts of the text in Canvas, so you shouldn’t even need to download anything. (If that changes, I’ll let everyone know through a Canvas announcement.)

If you’d like a copy of the full text — it’s a good book! — you may either download the full PDF (for free) or buy a paper copy at the book’s LibreTexts page. (Hover over the blue “Downloads” button for options.)

[Just to be clear: you are not required to buy the textbook. Further, we won’t read the whole book, so — unless I discover that I can’t embed the text in our course’s modules — you don’t need to download the full PDF, either. You’re welcome to, of course, but it’s not required.)

[Updated 8/16/22] Somehow I forgot to include the name and title of the text: Anna Mills’s How Arguments Work – A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College. (The above link still works, and (as I said) I’ll include the important chapters as we go. But I should have named the book.)

Course Description

Here’s the description of English 1A that you’ll find in the Yuba College catalog:

An introductory course offering instruction in expository and argumentative writing, appropriate and effective use of language, close reading, cogent thinking, research strategies, information literacy, and documentation. Focus on the recursivity of writing processes and integrating reading, writing, and speaking skills. Students will write a minimum of 6000 words.

If you don’t already have a lot of experience with college or with college-level writing, some of that might not make a lot of sense yet. That’s okay — that’s why you’re here! Don’t let the fancy words intimidate you.

On the other hand, English 1A — especially the online version! — is a demanding course. I don’t want you to be scared of it, but I don’t want you to underestimate it, either.

Time Commitment

As I just said, English 1A is demanding. That’s not just because English professors are mean (though we may be). We’re required to follow rules and policies that the state of California has set for us.

One of those policies is to make sure we include the following information in our syllabi:
English 1A is a 4-unit course, which translates to:

• Total hours for the course: 216
• In-class (“lecture”) hours: 72
• Out-of-class (“homework”) hours: 144

Of course, these numbers are for face-to-face courses, so the 72 hours of “lecture” obviously doesn’t apply in quite the same way for our class. But you should expect something similar — an average of around 4 hours per week working through the online content, and another average of around 8 hours a week doing outside work (reading, writing, and research).

Does that sound like a lot? It is! I am often surprised at how many students expect to be able to do the course in just a few hours each weekend — or, worse, in a few hours at the end of the semester.

Again, I’m not trying to scare you here. Lots of people succeed in the course! But it’s important that you understand what’s expected of you so that you can plan your semester accordingly.

Are you ready?

Requirements for placing into English 1A have changed, due to changes in California state law; placement is now mostly based on high school Grade Point Average (GPA).

This means that our class will include students with a wide range of reading and writing skills, and a wide range of expectations:

• some of you are just out of high school and have not yet encountered college-level writing;
• some of you have been away from school for a number of years and fear that you have forgotten much of what you used to know;
• some of you are masters of a language other than English, but struggle with English;
• some of you are just sure that, for whatever reason, you’re not good writers.

I will do my best to meet you at whatever level you find yourself. Of course, online instruction and assignments are relatively set, and it’s impossible for personal interactions to be 100% customized for each member of the class; there just aren’t that many hours in a day. But when I respond to your assignments, I will do my best to address your particular needs.

But you will need to do your part, too. Please read my comments carefully, and ask questions when something is not clear.

Above all: understand that one aspect — probably the most important aspect — of college is learning how to learn. Don’t rely only on me and my instruction; make sure you also seek answers on your own. There are a lot of good writing resources out there (I’ll point to several of them throughout the course, including later in this syllabus). The more you pursue questions on your own, the more useful my help — and the help of teachers in future courses — will be.

Next up: Learning Outcomes

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve broken this syllabus up into several parts so that it’s not just one long, overwhelming document. The next section is about Learning Outcomes.

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