Jeremy T.
Mumford
Contact Info:
Phone: (209) 384-6178
mumford.j@mccd.edu
Current* and Previously Taught Courses:
English 80
English 81
English 84
English A
English 1A
English 41
English 1B
English 12
English 13
Useful Student Links (includes online
sites, class PowerPoint presentations, etc.)
Useful Teacher Links (includes online
sites, links to journals, teaching websites)
Clubs:
Phi Theta Kappa
Students for Social
Justice
|
English 13/ Philosophy 13
Schedule Number 6439 Eng/ 6440 Phil
M 7-10 pm
IAC 142
Fall 2008
3 units
Professor:
Jeremy Mumford
Contacts: (209)384-6178, mumford.j@mccd.edu
Office: Interdisciplinary Academic Center (IAC) 238
Ofiice Hours: T Th 10-12
LINK TO SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS
Course Description
ENGL-13/PHIL-13 meets the IGETC
critical thinking/composition requirement. The course emphasizes the
development of critical thinking skills through instruction in reading and
writing arguments. This course will emphasize the social and political
intersections between the Middle East and the United States. This course
will deal with controversial social and political topics.
Expected
Student Outcomes: Successful students will:
A. Identify and describe in standard American English the main
claim or conclusion (point) of
an argument.
B. Identify and describe the chief support
or reason(s) (premises) for accepting the main claim as more
or less persuasive.
C.
Analyze weaknesses in arguments produced by
fallacious reasoning (i.e. the informal fallacies), emotionally loaded
language, incompatibility and inconsistency, ambiguity, and inattention
to exceptions and/or rebuttals,
D.
Examine unstated warrants (premises) and/or
conclusions in written arguments, as well as relate other elements of the
argument (e.g. qualifiers, backing, exceptions) to the central
argument.
E.
Evaluate the effectiveness of an argument for a
given audience, including a general audience, a particular audience, or a
sophisticated audience.
F.
Compose an argument from several sources in
standard American English that a sophisticated audience would most
likely deem as an acceptable position on a given issue.
G.
Differentiate a valid argument from an invalid
argument and a strong argument from a weak
argument.
Required Texts and Materials
Opposing Viewpoints
Series: The Middle East
The Kite Runner by Khaled
Hosseini Riverhead
Trade
A Power Governments
Cannot Suppress by
Howard Zinn City Lights
Quick Coach Guide to
Critical Thinking by
Sonya Alvarado Houghton Mifflin
Email account and internet access
A college dictionary
A pocket folder for submitting essays
A binder to keep all class writing and handouts
Copies of your essays and reading responses as needed for
small group and whole class workshops
Printouts and copies of book excerpts and articles, online
and newspaper, as required
Course Policies
Attendance and Preparedness
You may have two absences. Any more absences will either lower your course
grade or lead to you being dropped from the course. Three tardies equals an absence. Leaving before half the
class session has been completed is an absence. Leaving after half the
class session has been completed will count as a “reverse” tardy.
Participation: Class and Groups
Collaboration and small group work along with discussions will be a primary
activity in our class. It is imperative that each person participates.
This portion of the grade will be given holistically.
Class and Online work: Class and online work will include a variety of
exploratory writings done in response to texts we have read, each other’s
writing, and various prompts, which I will assign. Often times the writing
you do will be the foundation for longer writing assignments you will
complete outside of class. Save all of the writing we do in and out of
class for the whole semester.
Group work: Group work will consist of small group discussions that
lead to whole class discussions in which your participation or lack thereof
will be noted. You are expected to participate to the best of
your abilities. A successful participant in this class will generate
questions, identify problems, infer, elaborate on texts using personal
experience, and will make predictions about the overall class meaning.
Journals
A
journal will be due each day we meet for class. Journals are to be at
least 200 words, single spaced, in length and should respond to the topic I
give you. These journals may be posted by email to your groups and
myself and will provide the basis for online discussions; these discussions
will then form the basis for our in class activities.
Argumentative Research
Essays
In the argumentative research essays you will provide
effective analysis of and argumentation based on material covered in class.
You will strategically present evidence and recognize both sound
logic/reasoning and identify fallacious reasoning. When you turn your
essay in, it will need to have all the appropriate supporting documents
including all rough drafts (drafts in this sense mean versions of the essay
with significant changes in each version), partner’s and group’s revision and
editing responses, and all supporting, in-class writing. Essay one and two are to be 1500 words each
and essay 3 will be 2000 words in length.
All will be written using MLA formatting and documentation with works
cited pages.
Course Grading
Your final grade will be based on the following:
Participation and preparedness
(10%) 10 points
Journals
(20%) 20 points
Group Presentations (2) (10%)
10 points
Debates (2) (10%)
10 points
Essays one and
two
(20%) 20
points
Argumentative Research Essay
(30%)
30 points
____________________________________________________
Total points
possible
(100%) 100 points
The grading scale is as follows:
A: 100-90 of total points possible
B: 89-80
C: 79-70
D: 69-60
F: 59 and below
Plagiarism Policy
Cheating is the actual or
attempted practice of fraudulent or deceptive acts for the purpose of
improving one's grade or obtaining course credit; such acts also include
assisting another student to do so. Typically, such acts occur in relation to
examinations. However, it is the intent of this definition that the term
'cheating' not be limited to examination situations only, but that it include
any and all actions by a student that are intended to gain an unearned
academic advantage by fraudulent or deceptive means. Plagiarism is a specific
form of cheating which consists of the misuse of the published and/or
unpublished works of others by misrepresenting the material (i.e., their
intellectual property) so used as one's own work. If I suspect you of
plagiarism, I will give you an oral and written examination on the material
to be evaluated by the English Department chair and myself. Penalties
for cheating and plagiarism range from a D or F on a particular assignment,
through an F for the course, to expulsion from the college.
Classroom Behavior
The classroom is a
special environment in which students and faculty come together to promote
learning and growth. It is essential to this learning environment that respect
for the rights of others seeking to learn, respect for the professionalism of
the instructor, and the general goals of academic freedom are maintained.
Differences of viewpoint or concerns should be expressed in terms which are
supportive of the learning process, creating an environment in which students
and faculty may learn to reason with clarity and compassion, to share of
themselves without losing their identities, and to develop and understanding
of the community in which they live. Student conduct which disrupts the
learning process shall not be tolerated and may lead to disciplinary action
and/or removal from class.
Instructor's Disclaimer
I reserve the right to make changes and additions to
this syllabus and schedule as I see fit. You, the student, are responsible
for any and all changes to the syllabus, should they occur.
Schedule
Week Assignment Expected Student Outcome
|
Week 1
|
Introduction
|
|
|
Week 2
|
Kite Runner
|
A, B, C
|
|
Week 3
|
Kite Runner
|
A, B, C, D,
E
|
|
Week 4
|
Essay 1
|
F, G
|
|
Week 5
|
The Middle East
|
A, B, C, D,
E
|
|
Week 6
|
The Middle East
|
A, B, C, D,
E
|
|
Week 7
|
The Middle East
|
A, B, C, D,
E
|
|
Week 8
|
The Middle East
|
A, B, C, D,
E
|
|
Week 9
|
The Middle East
|
A, B, C, D,
E
|
|
Week 10
|
Essay 2
|
F, G
|
|
Week 11
|
A Power Gov’ts
Cannot Suppress
|
A, B, C, D,
E, G
|
|
Week 12
|
A Power Gov’ts
Cannot Suppress
|
A, B, C, D,
E, G
|
|
Week 13
|
A Power Gov’ts
Cannot Suppress
|
A, B, C, D,
E, G
|
|
Week 14
|
A Power Gov’ts
Cannot Suppress
|
A, B, C, D,
E, G
|
|
Week 15
|
A Power Gov’ts
Cannot Suppress
|
A, B, C, D,
E, G
|
|
Week 16
|
Essay 3
|
F, G
|
|
Week 17
|
Essay 3
|
F, G
|
|
Week 18
|
Final
Portfolio and Project due
|
A, B, C, D,
E, F, G
|
|
