Table of Contents
General Information
Course Title
English 1A: College Composition and Reading
Sections
This syllabus applies to three sections of English 1A: D9024, D9091, and D9575.
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 message)
- Note: Thanks to COVID, I will not be on campus this semester, so I’m likely to get a message though Canvas or email more quickly than through voicemail.
Student Hours / Office Hours
I’ve also scheduled three student hours (or, if you prefer, “office hours”) each week. Feel free to log in to Zoom during the following times:
- Tuesdays 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
- Wednesdays 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
- Thursdays 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
I am also available by appointment. I will do my best to be logged in to Zoom during the above hours (and I will try to use the Announcements when I can’t make it). But if you or I can’t make any of those times, I’m happy to set up a meeting during weekdays, weekends, mornings, afternoons, evenings. I will work hard to find something that works for you.
I prefer to meet on Zoom, when possible, because it gives us the opportunity to share a screen — we can look at a paper or website together, for example. Note that I don’t mind if you leave your camera off during a Zoom call. But if you’d prefer to talk on the phone, we can arrange that by appointment.
Here’s the link for Zoom Student Hours [no longer valid]
Passcode (if needed): 784679
Conferences
A few times throughout the semester — usually to discuss a draft of your essay — I will schedule a Zoom conference with you. I’ll send you the login information for those meetings when we schedule them.
Textbooks
Required
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say / I Say. 4th edition. Norton, 2018. ISBN: 978-0-393-63167-8.
WebAdvisor lists the 4th edition, without readings, and it would be best if we all used the same text. However, the 3rd edition, or the 3rd or 4th edition with readings, should be fine, if you already have one of those. The differences aren’t earth shattering, and as long as you’re a bit flexible, you should be able to get by.
Optional
Aaron, Jane E. Little Brown Handbook: Brief. 2nd edition. Pearson, 2015. ISBN: 978-1-323-04096-6.
I’m not sure if this is the Yuba College edition; I know we used to have a college edition, but the publisher discontinued it.
However, all handbooks are pretty much the same. Older editions, or non-Yuba College editions, or even completely different handbooks are all fine (though information about MLA citation may be out of date). Indeed, you may even be able to get by with just the Internet, as long as you have good access. You’ll just need to use the index (or search engine) to find explanations about issues I point out in your papers.
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.
That said, English 1A is a pretty demanding course. That’s especially true of the online version. So while I don’t want you to be scared of it, I don’t want you to be complacent, either.
Time Commitment
As I just said, English 1A is pretty demanding. That’s not just because we English professors are ogres (though we may be); we’re also required to follow some policies that the state of California has set for us. (They even require us to include the following breakdown in the course’s syllabus!)
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
These numbers are for face-to-face courses, and that obviously doesn’t apply in quite the same way for an online 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 students try to take this class along with three others — and a full-time job.
Again, I’m not trying to scare you here. Lots of people succeed in the course! But please don’t expect a couple hours each weekend — or, worse, a few hours at the end of the semester — to lead to success in this class.
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) — though passing ENGL 51 or 56 still qualifies you for the course.
This means that our class will include students with a wide range of reading and writing skills and 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, and especially your major essays, 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 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
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.
