Course:  English 1550
Instructor:   Dr. William Greenway
Code:  0986
Office:   DeBartolo 241
Time:  TTh 12:30-1:45
Phone:   742-3418
Places:  T B048 DeBartolo;  Th 1107                                 Cushwa Office:   MW 1-2, Th 2-5
E-mail:   willlgreenway@aol.com

Prerequisite: Placement from the Composition and Reading Placement Test or successful completion of English 1540 (a grade of NC is not sufficient).

Course Aims:
We will study how closely observing and writing about nature can help writers focus on personal, moral, philosophical, or even theological problems.  We will study nature writings and discuss them in class in order to help you learn how you can draw on your own experiences and observations of nature to use as rhetorical structures for your own essays.

Texts:

Being in the World, Dixon & Slovic
Being in the World: English 1550 Handbook (course booklet)
Never Cry Wolf, Farley Mowat
Decisions: A Writer’s Handbook, Rosen
Help Documents for English 1550 Computer Labs
Two 3.5" formatted disks

Reading and Writing Assignments:
The essays we read will provide models, ideas, and information for your own essays as well as topics for class discussion.  All reading assignments should be completed before class.  You should bring Being in the World and the course packet with you to class every day.  You will write five essays as well as daily in-class written responses to your reading, and will also, along with some of your classmates, teach a class.
  Consult Decisions to help you write, revise, edit, and proofread your papers for this course (and other courses that you take in college), and whenever you have questions about grammar, punctuation, usage, or other aspects of writing.  We will not go over this material as a class, but reading it carefully will improve your papers.  Many of my comments on your papers will direct you to certain sections, and you are required to consult these in order to make corrections.

Attendance Policy and Late Papers:
Be in class and on time for each meeting, but you are responsible for what goes on in a class whether you attend it or not.  I’ll deduct one letter grade for each class period an assignment is late.  I’ll lower your final grade one letter grade for every six classes or every twelve unexcused class hours missed.
 Class attendance is important because this is not a "data" course, where you "learn" or memorize facts or a body of knowledge and then show that you have by recalling it on an exam.  The course is a process we will go through together, not so much learning something as learning how to learn.  And because each of us learns something different, or in a different, unique way, objective exams can’t measure how much you have gotten from the course.  One of the ways I can measure how much you’ve learned in the course is by measuring how much you’ve participated in the process.   As Woody Allen says, "80% of life is just showing up."

Grades:
Each of your five essays (400-500 words) will be worth 10% of your final grade.  Class work will comprise another 30% of your grade, and the class presentation the other 20%. Thus, your final grade will be determined by this recipe:

·  5 Essays   50%
·  Class presentation 20%
·  Classwork   30%

        For your classwork, you must complete each reading assignment prior to the class period in which it will be discussed, and each class will begin with a writing assignment on the material, for which you will receive up to 10 points: 3 points (for writing your name on your paper), up to 3 more points for demonstrating you have read the assignment, and from 1 to 4 more points for how well you answer the question.  Thus, it is possible to get 10 points per assignment.  You will also earn points for other class writing, especially in lab, and your final classwork grade will be determined by your accumulated points: A = 90% of total possible points, B = 80 %, etc.  Missed in-class writing assignments can’t be made up.  If you leave class after completing the writing assignment, you will not be given credit for it, since the writing is in preparation for class discussion and activities. All writing assignments must be turned in when I call for them.  I won’t accept those that are turned in later, even if, or especially if, you were late for class.
        You must complete all assignments, and must make at least a C to receive credit for the course.  Your final grade will be either an A, B, C, or No Credit.
        You are also responsible for what the English department handout has to say about plagiarism and incomplete grades.

Suggestions:
· Be in class on time.  Late arrivals are disruptive and create a bad impression.
· Bring the appropriate books to class.
· Find out your assignments, and write them down.  Have an assignment notebook where you write down your
        assignments for all your classes.  If you have a question about the assignment, ask your teacher before you
        leave the classroom.  He/she will be happy to answer it.
· Tell me if you will be leaving class early—don’t just walk out.
· Don’t talk while someone else is talking.
· If you have to miss an appointment, or two classes or more in a row, contact me.