Practical Writing ENGL 1422
Spring 2020 (Course ID: 000544; section 41)
Mr. Paulson
Contact Info
Address: Pierz Healy High School, Kamnic Street, Pierz, MN, United States, Room 230
In partnership with CIS at Central Lakes College, 501 West College Drive, Brainerd, MN, United States
Prep Hours: 1 and 7
Email: dpaulson@pierz.k12.mn.us
Website: derrickpaulson.weebly.com
Phone: 320-468-6458
Term:
Days: M-T-W-TH-F
Time: 11:35 - 12:22 (5th period)
Credits: 3
Course Description
Course Purpose
MN Transfer Curriculum (General Education) Courses - This course fulfills the following goal area(s) of the MN Transfer Curriculum: Goal 1 – Written and Oral Communication| Goal 2 – Critical Thinking
Learning Outcomes
1. College-Wide Outcomes
College-Wide Outcomes/CompetenciesStudents will be able to:
- Demonstrate written communication skills.
- Complete numerous short written assignments and three or four longer reports.
- Demonstrate interpersonal communication skills.
- Create a sustained, multi-step report in groups of three or four, working together and communicating clearly.
- Apply abstract ideas to concrete situations.
- Apply abstract ideas like “audience” and “effective communication” to their assignments.
- Utilize appropriate technology.
- Select and use appropriate media for communicating their messages.
- Work as a team member to achieve shared goals.
- Work in groups to divide responsibilities, develop an appropriate timeline, and complete their reports.
2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:
- Select appropriate communication choices for specific audiences. MnTC Goal 1
- Understand/demonstrate the writing and speaking process through invention, organization, drafting, revision, editing and presentation. MnTC Goal 1
- Use authority, point-of-view and individual voice and style in writing and speaking. MnTC Goal 1
- Employ syntax and usage appropriate to academic disciplines and the professional world. MnTC Goal 1
- Participate effectively in groups with emphasis on listening, critical and reflective thinking and responding. MnTC Goal 1
- Recognize and articulate the value assumptions which underlie and affect decisions, interpretations, analyses and evaluations made by ourselves and others. MnTC Goal 2
- Gather factual information and apply it to a given problem in a manner that is relevant, clear, comprehensive and conscious of possible bias in the information selected. MnTC Goal 2
- Imagine and seek out a variety of possible goals, assumptions, interpretations, or perspectives which can give alternative meanings or solutions to given situations or problems. MnTC Goal 2
- Demonstrate an ability to adapt the structure and tone of texts to meet the needs of different audiences. MnTC Goal 2
Topical Outline
Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.
1. Lecture Sessions
- Effective communication
- Students will learn how to adapt writing to meet the needs of different audiences
- Students will learn how document sturcture impacts effective communication
- Students will learn the importance of concise writing and effective sentence structure
- Letters and memos
- Students will learn to distinguish between internal and external audiences
- Students will learn how to use audience needs to decide on content, tone and document structure
- Students will learn how to properly format professional correspondence
- Students will learn how to adapt the content of letters and memos to achieve a variety of goals (i.e. describing policy changes, generating support for a new ideas, rejection letters and invitation letters)
- Mechanism Report
- Students will learn how to describe a mechanism using effecitve, concise descriptions
- Students will learn how to evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of process descriptions
- Students will learn how to import, label and use graphics
- Proposals
- Students will learn to evaluate the effectiveness of arguments
- Students will learn what logical fallacies are and how to avoid them in their writing
- Students will learn to use facts and effective arguments to write persuasively
- Students will learn how to present an original idea to a potential boss via business letters and memos
- Multi-part report
- Students will create a survey based on a research question they have developed
- Students will administer their survey and learn how to analyze and interpret data
- Students will learn how to create a production schedule and work plan to accomplish their goals
- Students will learn how to represent data graphically
- Students will explain and describe data to internal and external audiences
- Students will learn to summarize data and findings in a business letter format
- Students will learn how to make their findings public by writing a press release
Materials needed:
- Chromebook (make sure it's charged)
- headphones or earbuds
- Lined notebook
- Folder to store handouts and assignments
- Pencil or pen (black or blue ink)
Web Resources:
- Although CLC and other colleges frequently use a course delivery software called Desire 2 Learn (D2L) which is much like Schoology, this course will utilize Google Classroom exclusively.
- Although there is no physical textbook for this course, we will frequently be utilizing primarily multiple online, open educational resources (OERs) which are available free to educators and students via creative commons licensing. The links to these texts are in your Google Classroom "About" page as well as here, here, and here.
Required Texts
Expectations
1. Be on time and be prepared with your materials.
2. Complete assignments to the best of your ability.
3. Show respect to everyone and to their property.
Attendance Policy
At Pierz Healy High School regular attendance is considered one of our highest priorities. Students are highly unlikely to succeed in their academic pursuits in school without regular school attendance. Vast research has proven regular school attendance is a necessary component and a strong indicator of success in future work endeavors.
College Lounge Policy
Juniors and seniors who have 3 or more college courses will be allowed to use the College Lounge during their study hall or during their PSEO Online class periods only. Students will not be allowed to utilize this space during class time.
Academic Standards
This course is part of the College in the Schools program through CLC. If you are taking this course for college credit you are required to meet CLC’s academic standards. This means that you must maintain a 2.0 GPA and complete 67% of the college courses that you enroll in or you will be placed on academic probation. Students who do not maintain both of these cumulative averages are placed on Academic Warning status after one semester and Suspension status the next semester if they are not able to meet Central Lakes College’s cumulative standards.
Participation
Participation involves being on time. Tardies are tracked by the office and may result in detention. Inappropriate behavior/lack of participation will be referred to the office. Participation also requires focus, especially where technology is concerned. Using technology for non-school related activities without express permission while in class may result in the device being put away/taken for the remainder of the period and any unfinished classwork becoming homework instead. Repeated device misuse will result in further actions taken at the discretion of the instructor and in accordance with school policy.
Internet
Grading
Late Work: Any graded work turned in past the due date by any length of time or for any reason without the student having received prior approval for the tardiness of the work and a new due date will automatically receive a 10% reduction in the final grade. For example, if the work was of "B" quality and would receive 85% (85/100) it will instead receive a "C" grade at 75% (75/100).
Example #1: Nolan's press release was due Friday by 3:17 PM and he did not turn it in until Friday at 3:30 PM because his Chrome-book died at the end of his 8th period class and he had to go to the media center to attach the file and submit it in Google Classroom on one of their computers. Although this was an accident, Nolan had multiple weeks to complete the assignment and poorly chose to wait until the last minute to turn it in. He will lose 10% since he did not receive prior approval for the tardiness of the assignment.
Example #2: Jennifer learned that her grandmother's funeral will be held Thursday and that her family will be driving to the location Wednesday and staying for the rest of the week with an aunt and she will miss school Wednesday - Friday. Since her resume and cover letter are due Friday, she contacted her instructor ahead of time and was given the following Monday as an alternative due date for the assignment without penalty.
Redo Policy: Since this course has many small and large assignments, quizzes, and video guides that combine for the final grade, students are expected to learn from their mistakes and to then apply that learning to other assignments. That said, work done for this class cannot be redone. However, some assignments will have the option of early submission of rough drafts so students can improve their final versions.
Extra Credit: One extra credit opportunity is available for this course for up to 25 points and is as follows:
- Compose a professional, well-edited email letter of 250 to 300 words to the Reader Opinion column of the Brainerd Daily Dispatch newspaper.
- Avoid libel (publishing false statements that are purposefully damaging to a person's reputation).
- Include in your email your first and last name, your city of residence, and your phone number so they can reach you should they have questions regarding your letter.
- Email it to readeropinion@brainerddispatch.com.
- CC your instructor in the email.
Any student who does this will receive 15 points of extra credit immediately upon the instructor receiving the email and will receive another 10 points if the emailed opinion is published on the newspaper's website (the student will notify the instructor).
GRADE BOOSTS ONLY HAPPEN THROUGH EXTRA CREDIT. GRADES WHICH ARE CLOSE TO, BUT BELOW, BY ANY MARGIN, DO NOT GET BUMPED UP IN ANY OTHER FASHION, SO DON'T ASK.
"Tentative" Unit Breakdown
500 total points for the semester
200 points for quizzes and video guides:
100 No Red Ink Quizzes (25x4=100)
45 Video Guides (5x9=45)
10 Audience Quiz
20 Web Presence Quiz
25 Employment Quiz
300 points for assignments:
30 Book/Film Review
20 Recipe Assignment
50 Personal Blog
10 Bad Questions Survey
15 Questionnaire
25 Press Release
50 Resume
25 Cover Letter
25 Mock-Interview
25 Scholarship Essay
25 Scholarships Presentation
Unit 1--Rules of Writing
Four (4) No Red Ink Quizzes (25 pts each) on:
- Identification of Parts of Speech
- Sentence Structures
- Punctuation
- Commonly-Confused Words
Unit 2--History of English
Viewing and discussion of the following:
- Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press
- The Adventure of English (BBC--8 Episodes)
- Video Guides (5 pts each)
Unit 3--Understanding Audiences
- Experts - Nonspecialists
- High and Low Context Cultures
- Audiences Quiz (10 pts)
- Film/Book Review
Unit 4--Instructional Writing
- Imperative Sentences
- Concision of Language
- Recipe Assignment
Unit 5--Web Presence
- Text Messaging
- Blogging
- Copyright
- Email Etiquette
- Website Design
- Web Presence Quiz (20 pts)
Unit 6--Business Writing
- memorandum
- complaint Letter
Unit 7--Survey Writing
- bad questions
- questionnaire
Unit 8--Journalistic Writing
- AP formatting basics
- Press Release
- Reader's Opinion Letter (extra credit)
- Fake News
Unit 9--Employment
- resume
- cover letter
- references
- interviewing
- inquiry letter
- rejection letter
- thank you letter
- resignation letter
- branding
- mission statements
- Employment Quiz (25 pts)
Unit 10--Scholarships
- Scholarship Essay
- Scholarships Presentation
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is one of the most important values in higher education. This principle requires that each student's work represents his or her own personal efforts and that the student acknowledges the intellectual contributions of others. The foundation for this principle is student academic honesty. Central Lakes College expects all students to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity and acts of dishonesty will not be tolerated.
Professional Conduct and Communication are expected. Formal and professional conduct is expected of you at all times. Your practice of study, communication, politic, inter-personal and group interaction skills, generally accepted and expected of a college-bound student, begins and/or continuously improves in this class. Pro-actively shared, cooperative assistance is highly valued in professional settings. Because unprofessional, disruptive, and/or rude behavior demonstrated by you is both a distraction to your own learning and the learning of others, its demonstration in this educational setting toward anyone, including the teacher, is unacceptable and will result in your immediate discharge from the classroom. Your grade and your continued membership in the course will be negatively affected based upon the severity of the offense.
Cheating / Plagiarism
Cheating / Plagiarism are not tolerated in any form.
Cheating defined:
- Copying, in part or in whole, from another’s test or other evaluation instrument or obtaining answers from another person during the test.
- Submitting work previously presented in another course, if contrary to the rules of either course.
- Using or consulting, sources or materials not authorized by the instructor during an examination.
- Altering or interfering with grading or grading instruction.
- Sitting for an examination by a surrogate, or as a surrogate.
- Any other act committed by a student in the course of his or her academic work, which defrauds or misrepresents, including aiding or abetting in any of the actions defined above.
- Talking or consulting during the test with another person.
- Giving / providing in any way, information to other students that allows the student an undeserved advantage on an exam or quiz, such as telling a peer what to expect on a make-up exam or prepping a student for a test in another section of the same class.
Plagiarism defined:
- The act of incorporating the ideas, words, sentences, paragraphs or parts thereof, or the specific substance of another’s work, without giving appropriate credit, and representing the product as one’s own work.
- Representing another’s artistic/scholarly or similar works as one’s own.
- Plagiarism may either be deliberate or unintentional, but it must be avoided with all due diligence.
Consequences of academic dishonesty, un-acceptable behavior:
Upon the first infraction of academic dishonesty, the instructor may do one or more of the following:
- Give a lower or failing grade on the assignment or exam.
- Give a lower or Fail grade in the course.
- Refer the student to the Vice President of Student Services for student disciplinary action.
- In the event of a second infraction, upon consultation with the division chair, the instructor may do one or more of the following:
- Fail the student from the course.
- Refer the student to the Vice President of Student Services for student disciplinary action.
Affirmative Action Plan/Statement of Accomodation
Mandatory Reporting
Emergency Procedures At Healy High School
In case of fire, exit the building through the doors just to the left of the classroom door.
In case of an accident, if the instructor is not capable of calling the office, please use the classroom phone to call the office at x1209. In case of a lockdown, please follow instructor’s directions. ALICE training procedures may be followed. In case of a tornado or severe weather, move to the ITV room attached to the Media Center and follow the intercom instructions.