English 108 Fall 2015

Accelerated First-Year Composition: Engaging in Public Discourse

Instructor: Jonathan Isaac

Office: Heavilon Hall 214

Office Hours: Monday 12:30-1:30

Wednesday 9:30-10:30

Email: isaacj@purdue.edu
Website: isaacj108.wordpress.com

All class meetings 8:30 am to 9:20 am:

Monday
Wednesday
Friday
Heavilon 206 Heavilon 206 Wetherill 212
Classroom
Classroom
Computer Lab

Required Texts and Materials

Writing and Community Action: A Service-Learning Rhetoric with Readings by Thomas Deans
USB or some kind of portable storage device. We will be producing multimedia projects that
require a good amount of storage space.
Access to transportation: either by using the bus, car, or bike. In order to complete the oral
history project, you will need to have access to reliable transportation.

In addition to the above text, I will occasionally assign articles to be read for classif I do not
provide a handout for these articles in class, you will find them on my website (listed above). Please
print them and/or download them onto your devices so they are available to you.

Course Description:
English 108 is an accelerated course: it expects that you have ample knowledge about the basic
conventions of writing and focuses more on your awareness of the rhetorical situations of writing and
communicating. It offers you a chance to develop your rhetorical awareness and your academic
writing abilities (including research, analysis, and experience with multimedia) through participation
in a service-learning project. Because this is a service learning class, a major part of the course
requirement involves volunteering for a local community organization. In our case, we will be
compiling oral histories for the residents of Westminster Village, a local senior community, to share
with their families and loved ones.
The purpose of adding a service-learning component to this course is three-fold: (1) to increase your
awareness of the rhetorical strategies integral to composing effective written and multimedia texts;
(2) to develop your understanding of what community engagement is and how it relates both to
education more generally and ones own life more specifically; and (3) to introduce you to the larger,
local community in which you live, beyond Purdue's campus borders. This course emphasizes a
rigorous approach with high expectations on your ability to work quickly and independently.

Course Objectives:
By the end of the course, you will:
Demonstrate rhetorical awareness of diverse audiences, situations, and contexts
Compose a variety of texts in a range of forms, equaling at least 7,500-11,500 words of
polished writing (or 15,000-22,000 words, including drafts)
Critically think about writing and rhetoric through reading, analysis, and reflection
Provide constructive feedback to others and incorporate feedback into their writing

English 108 Isaac - Syllabus

Perform research and evaluate sources to support claims

Engage multiple digital technologies to compose for different purposes

Attendance Policy
This class requires participation in class discussions and writing activities, and I will be taking
attendance daily. You will be allowed four absences; if you miss more than four classes, your
final point total will be reduced by 20 points for each subsequent absence. Absences for
bereavement, or for other extreme circumstances which I agree are unavoidable, will not count
against this total. If you know of an absence ahead of time, please notify me in advance if possible
so we can make arrangements for you to catch up on missed work. For any additional absences to
be excused beyond your four allowed absences, I will need to see documentation (a doctors note,
letter/email from the Dean of Students etc.). The days we do peer review are days you are required
to have a printed draft of your project. If you come unprepared, you will be unable to participate
effectively in class that day, and you may be considered absent.

Late Work
If you will be absent the day a major assignment is due, make arrangements with me ahead of time
or ask one of your classmates to submit it for you or it will be late. Major assignments will be
lowered by five percentage points for each day they are late. If you miss a class, you are responsible
for getting the assignments, class notes, and course changes from a classmate or from me during
office hours or after class. I will not review missed classes over email.

Assignments
We will complete three large projects this semester, though each of these projects will also have
several in-class writing activities, drafts, and peer reviews due that will be included as part of the
assignment grade. Listed below is just an overview of the projects; I will provide in-depth
assignment handouts throughout the semester as these projects are assigned.
Assignment

Due Date

Point Value

Our reading and writing practices

8/28

20

Unit 1: Unpacking Community Memories

10/2

120

Unit 2: Composing Community Stories

11/13

110

Unit 3: Researching Community Discourse

12/11

110

Final Reflection

12/15

40

Weekly Reading Responses

Ongoing

50

Class participation, in-class writing

Ongoing

50

Total

500

English 108 Isaac - Syllabus

Unit 1: Unpacking Community Memories

This unit has two components: in the first, you will be comparing and contrasting a print-based
community story with an aural community story to determine the unique audiences of each and
how these stories communicate implicit or explicit definitions of community. In the second
component, you will be producing your own audio narrative about a time when you felt close to or
excluded from a community.
Unit 2: Composing Community Stories
This unit will encompass our service project with Westminster Villagein groups, you will be
responsible for drafting interview questions, interviewing your resident, and producing an oral
history of about an hours length that crafts a cohesive narrative of your residents story.
Unit 3: Researching Community Discourse
For the final unit of the semester, you will take an issue or a theme that arises from our
conversations in class about the discourse of aging and you will produce a white paper. In this
document, you will select an audience and an issue that affects that audience and propose a few
different ways of approaching or solving that issue.

Academic Honesty
Plagiarism is the copying, deliberate or not, of another persons work and/or ideas either without
permission or without proper citation. It can also include purchasing anothers writing for a class or
assignment. Putting forward someone elses work as your own is dishonest, careless, and will not
help you at all in the long run. Academic honesty violations of any kind may result in your failure of
the assignment or the course, and possibly other disciplinary action. When in doubt, you can always
check with me.

Disabilities & Special Learning Needs

Accommodations for special learning needs are gladly arranged. If you have a disability that requires
special accommodations, please see me privately within the first week of class to make
arrangements. As per Purdue policy and Federal law, you must initiate contact with the Disability
Resource Center and me; I cannot do so.

Emergencies

Please check your Purdue email before heading to class. In the event of a major campus emergency,
course requirements, calendar, and deadlines are subject to changes as necessary.

Grading
1. In compliance with relevant privacy laws (FERPA), Purdue requires that I discuss grades
with you in confidence. This means I cannot email grades to you. Nor can I talk about
grades with you in front of others (e.g. in the hallway after class); please come to my office
for this purpose. As my time permits, I will upload grades to Blackboard.
2. In this course, I employ a rubric for evaluating your assignments. The rubrics are designed to
reflect the assignment guidelines as outlined on the assignment sheet and our in-class
discussions about the assignment. I generally show you the rubric for evaluating soon after
the assignment is introduced. We will discuss the rubric again as we get closer to the due
date to ensure that the rubric is effectively communicating the assignment expectations.

English 108 Isaac - Syllabus

4
Letter
A
A
B+
B
B
C+
C
C
D
F

Point range
500-465
464-450
449-435
434-415
414-400
399-385
384-365
364-350
349-300
2990

Course Calendar
WaCA = Writing and Community Action by Tom Deans
Week 1 - Aug. 24 to 28
M: Introductions, Syllabus
W: WaCA pp. 1-6; ICaP Learning Outcomes
F: WaCA pp. 6-24
Our reading and writing practices (in class)
Introduce Unit 1 projects

Week 2 - Aug. 31 to Sept. 4
M: WaCA chapter 3
W: The World is a Text pp.187-203; space project
F: Writing Lab tour

Week 3 - Sept. 7 to 11
M: NO CLASS (Labor Day)
W: WaCA chapter 2
F: The Santaland Diaries
Audio training #1
Project 1a due

Week 4 - Sept. 14 to 18
M: Hayden White, The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality
Cody Delistraty, The Psychological Comforts of Storytelling
W: Sherman Alexie, Superman and Me
Jhumpa Lahiri, Rhode Island
F: Audio training #2

English 108 Isaac - Syllabus

Week 5 - Sept. 21 to 25
M: WaCA pp. 355-356, 384-388
Sample NSF Grant
Project 1b rough draft due
W: Doug Straub, Responding to Other Students Writing
F: Peer review

Week 6 - Sept. 28 to Oct. 2
M: FieldWorking chapter 7
Introduce Project 2
W: WaCA chapter 6
F: Explore Westminster Village website / Visit from Cheryl?
Project 1b final draft due
Week 7 - Oct. 5 to 9
M: WaCA chapter 9 (pp. 396-424)
Dinner with WV residents, 4:40 pm
W: Antoinette Errante, But Sometimes Youre Not Part of the Story (e-text)
F: Skim Smithsonian oral history guide
Project 2 interview questions due
Week 8 - Oct. 12 to 16
M: NO CLASS (Fall Break)
W: NO CLASS
F: NO CLASS

Week 9 - Oct. 19 to 23
M: StoryCorps edited + unedited interview
Oral history interview 1 and transcript due
W: This American Life Fiasco!
F: Studio time

Week 10 - Oct. 26 to 30
M: Example Oral History Audio
Oral history interview 2 and transcript due
W: Example Oral History Transcript
F: Studio time

Week 11 - Nov. 2 to 6
M: Studio time
W: Peer Review
Rough draft due
F: Revisit Audacity
Week 12 - Nov. 9 to 13
M: Michael Kinsley, Mine Is Longer Than Yours
Get feedback on draft from residents by Tuesday, Nov. 10

English 108 Isaac - Syllabus

W: none
F: Studio time

Week 13 - Nov. 16 to 20
M: Lennard Davis, Introduction: Normality, Power, and Culture
Project 2 final due
W: The Lonely Death (Slate)
In Japan, Lonely Deaths in Societys Margins (NYT)
F: The Ecology of Aging (Mindful)

Week 14 - Nov. 23 to 27
M: Studio time
Project 3 starter due Tuesday, Nov. 24
W: NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
F: NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)

Week 15 - Nov. 30 to Dec. 4
M: TBD
W: TBD
F: Peer review
R Rough draft due

Week 16 - Dec. 7 to 11
M: TBD
Westminster Village celebration Tuesday at WV, 6 pm
W: Studio time
F: Project 3 final due

Finals Week - Dec. 14 to 18
T: Final reflection due