English 10

English 10 - Ethnic Literature of the United States:
Migrations, Crossing Cultures, and Notions of Otherness

Note to students hoping to add the course after it is full

Online courses are in very high demand and often fill within the first few days of registration. There is no official waiting list, which means that as people change their minds and drop the class, or fail to pay their fees, slots can open up even after the course has been closed. Hence, if you are hoping to add a full class, it is advisable to check on the availability of open seats DAILY. Be prepared to act fast, and you just might get in.

Experience has shown me that the course will fill and then reopen a number of times between early registration and the start of the semester. There is a good chance that you will get into the class, but you must be vigilant, check on openings regularly, and pay all of your fees as soon as you are advised to do so (Make sure admissions has your current email address and be sure to check that account regularly for communications from the school).

I do not control the movement of people into or out of the class until the first day of the semester. Once the class has begun, I may add or drop people as appropriate. I will admit people in order from the names on my unofficial waiting list, which will be composed of names of people who have emailed me with requests to get in. Please do not call me with add requests. I will not return such calls, nor will I keep any record of your request.

If you email me, please make sure that you email from the account you wish me to answer to and that the subject line of your email reads: "Add Request for Section ________." Your email should include the following information:

Your full name
The course name and section number you wish to add
Your SMC student ID number
A brief description of any special circumstances I need to know about

I cannot promise you a response to your email request because I generally receive 75-100 for each class I teach, but I will save your request and will consider it during the first week of class if I have any spots. I will add students through the end of the first week and I will contact you if and when I add you. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL OR CALL ME TO ASK YOUR STATUS.

Required Texts (in the order we will read them)

What It Takes to Get to Vegas
Murray, Yxta Maya
New York: Grove Press, 1999
ISBN: 0802137377

As Nature Made Him
Colapinto, John
New York: Harper Collins, 2000
ISBN: 0060929596

Jasmine
Mukherjee, Bharati
New York: Grove Press, 1999
ISBN: 0802136303

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Fadiman, Anne
New York: Ferrar, Straus & Giroux, 1998
ISBN: 0374525641

Do They Hear You When You Cry
Kassindja, Fauziya and Layli Miller Bashir
New York: Delta Press, 1999
ISBN: 0385319940

Strongly Recommended Texts
Writer's Reference
Hacker, Diana
New York: Bedford St. Martin's

The American Heritage Dictionary
or any substantial Collegiate dictionary

Overview
Online English 10 is identical to the traditional (classroom) English 10 in both content and requirements. It is a college-level literature course that focuses on literary method and the particular concerns, perspectives, and contributions of various ethnic and cultural groups within America. It emphasizes the analytic thinking skills and writing proficiencies required for college-level work, and requires a substantial commitment of time and energy. Because we are on an abbreviated (6-week) semester, you are expected to put in around 9 hours per week of active time on the computer for the class. Realistically, this class will take around 20-22 hours a week of your time. (For the 8-week version of the class, the weekly login time is 6 hours and the total weekly commitment is around 18-20 hours).

Requirements

Technical requirements
In addition to the technical requirements listed on the smconline.org home page, you must have MS Word. If all you have is Word 2007, please save your paper in an older version as I do not yet have 2007 and cannot open documents written in it.

Attendance
Our week will run from Sunday to Saturday. You are required to be logged into the class for a minimum of 9 hours per week (6 hours in the 8-week version). As outlined in the welcome letter, this can take the form of participating in threaded discussions, collaborating with classmates on assigned projects, communicating with me, taking quizzes, engaging in peer-editing activities, and participating in many other tasks similar to being in a traditional classroom for lecture and discussion. Time spent reading the assigned texts and writing your assigned essays is in addition to those 9 hours. You may be dropped for lack of attendance if your participation/attendance falls critically low.

Paper
One 4-6 page paper will be due at the end of unit 5 in which you will demonstrate your ability to read our texts critically and write effectively. You may choose your own topic for the paper, but you must clear it with me first, or you can use one of the topics that I will provide when I assign the paper. You may also opt to deliver your paper in a multi-media format. More on that later.

Journal
Each week I ask that you complete a journal entry reflecting on the readings or the class activities. The journal assignment is explained in the "Journal" link under the course home banner.

General Discussion
A large component of this course will be the interaction of the class members in discussion threads. In each unit you will find a "Discussion" link that contains anywhere from 2-5 separate discussion threads. In these different threads, I will either pose questions that I want you to reflect on or debate, or I will indicate that you should use the space to post materials (like your group projects) or offer comments on others' postings. You must share your reflections, ideas, or materials with me and with the other members of the class on these threaded discussion pages. The grade you get on the unit's discussion will be determined by the number of posts you make, the quality of your contributions, and the amount of engagement with others' ideas you demonstrate. Generally, I will be looking for a minimum of 1 original response to each discussion question per unit, and 10-12 responses to others' comments.

Quizzes
Occasionally I will have a multiple choice or short answer quiz to test your command of the material.

Quick-Writes
Twice in the course we will have in-class essay exams called quick-writes. These are essay questions that you will have two-hours to answer. In addition to having an analytic, argumentative thesis, the essays should be written in an academic style and adhere to the standards of formal, written English. Be sure to proofread your work before submittting it.

Grading policy
Your paper and the quick-writes will receive letter grades. The discussion threads, group projects, and journals will receive points. At the end of the semester, the discussion and journal points will be added up and assigned a letter grade based on the standard 10% rubric. At the end of the semester, your final grade in the course will be a rough average of your discussion, journal, paper, and quick-write grades.

Your grade in the course will be a rough average of the following grades
1 formal essay of 4-6 pages
quizzes, quick-writes,
weekly journal submissions
regular and substantive contribution to threaded discussions
participation in collaborative activities, chats, any assigned group work

All items do not count equally. The paper, quick-write, discussion and journal grades are most significant in my final computation of your grade. However, failure to participate fully in the other assignments can lower your score by a full letter grade.

Your work will be graded on content, logic, style, form, adherence to the conventions of written English, and effective use and documentation of outside sources when appropriate. Be sure to check out my policy on plagiarism (in "class protocols" under announcements on the course home page, and on my web page).

I will comment on the content, mechanics, and style of your written work in my comments. For the discussions, journals, and quick-writes, once the grades have been posted, each week, you can click on the grade in the grade book to read our response and reflection on your posts. You are responsible for asking me questions about anything you do not understand or discussing with me anything you disagree with.  The feedback that we provide will help you to know what you can do to make your responses to subsequent assignments even stronger.

As you prepare to submit written work for this class, assess your material in the following areas:

                     thoughtfulness of response to the assignment
                     specificity and clarity of thesis
                     quality and clarity of idea presentation
                     organization and development of idea
                     strength and clarity of support discussion
                     clarity, precision, and vitality of language

I strongly urge everyone in the class who has access to the campus to make liberal use of the Humanities Tutoring Center, located in Drescher 313. If you take the time to make and keep a one-half-hour appointment each week with a tutor, your work throughout the semester can't help but improve. I do not see tutorial services as a remedy for deficiency. Rather, I think that seeking regular support outside the classroom is a great habit and the mark of someone who wants to work hard and learn as much as possible.

Students with Disabilities
All students who are requesting disability-related accommodations must request Disabled Student Services to contact me with a request for any accommodation needed. If you know that you will need special accommodation, please notify me right away - no later than the end of the first week.

Academic Conduct & Dishonesty
Students are expected to behave in a manner appropriate to the college environment and in a way that enables the class to run smoothly. For further information, please see the Student Code of Conduct.

Cheating or plagiarism of any sort will not be tolerated in this class. The penalty for such actions ranges from a failing grade for the exam/assignment, or a failing grade for the course, to expulsion from the college. The academic honesty policy of Santa Monica College (in the SMC Schedule of Classes) will be strictly enforced.

Final Thoughts
Some advice on sending email and attaching documents:

Only send documents written in MS Word. MS Works documents, or any other type of file will be returned unread.

When attaching a document to email, make sure you have some version of your name in the subject line as well as an indication of the assignment. For example: remmes/essay1

DO NOT SEND ZIPPED FILES. Those of you who use AOL need to be aware that AOL will automatically zip all attached files. That is all I know about AOL, so I can't help you to figure out how to undo it. Zipped files will be returned unread. You will have one warning after which subsequent zipped files will be considered late and therefore will not receive credit.

Please always identify yourself and the class that you are in in your email communications with me. SMC offers free email accounts to all registered students. It would be good to use that account for this class, since the alias is your full name. This, along with a meaningful subject line, can really help if your email accidentally ends up in my SPAM folder.

Note to the wise: I delete any email if it is not immediately apparent who has sent it. Please make sure that the email address listed with the school is accurate. I will always use the ecollege system to send you back your graded papers, to do mass emailings, and to communicate with you individually. If the address you gave to the school is one that you do not check regularly, or is inaccurate, you will not receive vital communications from me and from your class colleagues.   Check the FAQ for instructions on how to update your email address in eCollege.

Always have a subject in the subject heading of your emails, and if you are replying to an email I have sent you, please use the quote feature so that my email to you will be included. That is, please don't expect me to remember what I said.

Please do not send unsolicited email to me or to your classmates.

Whenever possible, please post questions to the "online office" threaded discussion on the course home page instead of emailing me directly. If you have a question, whether it is about the text, an assignment, a protocol, or a mechanical detail of the course, the odds are other people have it too, and I will check there regularly.

Unless otherwise specified, all emailed assignments must be submitted by midnight Pacific Time on the due date. Work submitted in class (discussions, exams, and journals) must be submitted by midnight Mountain Time. Late work will not be accepted.

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