SYLLABUS PART TWO (assignments, grading scale, required reading)

REQUIRED TEXTS:

For all of these books, you may buy any edition, online or paper.

1.     The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell.

2.     The Tortilla Curtain, by TC Boyle.

3.     Quick Access (Rationale: This handbook, which is required of all CSUB writing courses, is a resource for questions of grammar and mechanics. If purchased new, this text is expensive, so I recommend you find a used copy, borrow one from a friend, or just use an online tool such as the OWL at Purdue: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl).

GRADING:

·      IN CLASS ESSAY: (20%)

·      RESTAURANT REVIEW: (20%)

·      CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ESSAY: (20%)
 TORTILLA CURTAIN ESSAY (20%)

·      TIPPING POINT ESSAY

·      BLOG: (10%)

·      WRITING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ: (10%)

ASSIGNMENTS EXPLAINED: 

BLOG: (10%)

Each week there will be a question on the blog. You will write at least 250 words(a long and brilliant paragraph) in response to that question. You must also respond to your classmates’ writing. The more you write, the better.

WRITING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ: (10%)

After you read each week’s selection, you will respond to a question about the reading.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: (20%) (a descriptive essay)

This will be our first “essay.” You will get the full assignment this week, but in general, it is this: go to any restaurant. As you eat, take notes on the ambiance, the food, and the service. You may choose any restaurant (from Taco Bell to Café Med), but you should use this writing assignment to explore your descriptive capabilities. Use sound, touch, taste, smell, and the look of the food and surroundings. The review will be approximately two pages in length. You may use the first-person in this review.

TORTILLA CURTAIN ESSAY: (20%)
We will write an essay on this book.

TIPPING POINT ESSAY: (20%)

For this assignment, you will email me the final draft copy of your essay.

The essay should be attached as a Microsoft Word document and should be 4-5 pages in length, double spaced.

There are two essay topics to choose from.

Write a 4-5 page double spaced essay on one of the following topics:

1. How might one or more of the ideas in the book The Tipping Point apply to your chosen profession?

2. Locate a trend [social, political, cultural, other] that seems to exhibit a "tipping point" phenomenon. Provide a brief explanation of why you think this phenomenon meets Gladwell's three criteria for tipping point phenomenon: a) contagiousness b) little causes having big effects c) not gradual but dramatic change.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ESSAY: (a couple of extra credit percentage points) http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper2/thoreau/civil.html

I am not one for political activism—I teach history and English and love to attempt to inspire students to think deeply and to act justly and to love mercy and practice that with those close to them. Others, however, feel compelled to activism either because of their own experience of suffering or compassion for others in need. Henry David Thoreau, one of the most important American writers, arrived at a point in his life when he felt compelled to disobey the established powers and act for broader concerns.

Later in the semester, we will read the Essay on Civil Disobedience and write an argumentative blog entry about it and about what you feel the proper role for a person in 2017 should be as related to these issues.

IN CLASS ESSAY: (20%)

Since this course satisfies the GWAR, you must pass one in class essay to be eligible to pass the course. That essay will be given during our meeting on a date in March or April.

Students must earn a grade of C or higher in this course to satisfy the Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR). In addition, this course can fulfill the GWAR only if a student has completed 90 or more quarter units of college work before taking it.

To be eligible for a C in English 305, students must earn a C or higher on at least one in-class writing assignment and a C average on all other course assignments. Since this is an online class, in-class writing assignments may be given at the first meeting or the last.