Jeremy T.
Mumford

Area 2:
  Humanities

Department:
  English/
  Developmental

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*

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

Back to home page

English 84: Math With a Purpose, Writing with a Context: Using Math and English to Explore Contemporary Issues*

Basic Writing II-Paragraph to Essay
Spring 2009
5 units
Schedule #1499 & 1310
M-F 10-11 and 12-1 pm
ART-5 and VOC-10

*Schedule number 1310, M-F 12-1pm, VOC-10 is a Learning Community with Math 80-Pre-Algebra, Schedule #1500 MWF 11-12, Voc 112.  Students must enroll in both sections.   Dropping one class will lead to being dropped from both classes.

Instructor:                                                            Jeremy Mumford
Office:                                                                   IAC 238
Office Hours:                                                      M-Th 11-12, and by appointment
Phone:                                                                   384-7178
Email:                                                                    mumford.j@mccd.edu
Web page:                                                             http://www.mccd.edu/faculty/mumfordj

LINK TO CLASS NOTES

Course Introduction:

This class will help you to develop academic writing, reading and thinking skills in math and composition.  You will begin to define writing and math as a means to expanding ideas and developing perspectives and thoughts on subjects. Many of you have been practicing many of the critical thinking skills needed to be a successful writer and mathematician but just haven’t applied them to writing and math problems like you will do in these classes.  We will read and write about your personal experiences with math and math instruction, notable mathematicians, the importance of being a critical thinker, and election year politics.  Writing about and discussion of these issues and ideas will be the way we learn to write in this class.  By developing your ability to write and think critically, you are taking one of the most important steps to ensuring your future success, both academic and personal. 

Course Description

This class emphasizes comprehension and critical thinking skills at a pre-college reading level.  This course is for students who need to work applying reading comprehension skills and critical reading/thinking skills to pre-college level writing materials.  Instruction will focus on strategies to build writing skills.

Expected Student Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to do the following:

A.      Evaluate the form and function of the paragraph and short essay

B.       Compose clear, specific topic sentences

C.       Support topic sentences with well-developed paragraphs

D.      Analyze a subject and develop a thesis

E.       Compose a thesis with appropriate details

F.       Organize material appropriately

G.       Compose unified and coherent prose

H.      Demonstrate a basic competence in grammar, syntax, and punctuation

I.         Demonstrate basic reading comprehension

Required Texts and Materials

Considering Literacy by Addler-Kassner

A college dictionary, double pocketed folder to turn in final drafts of essays and final portfolio, and binder to hold handouts and class work

Preferable but not required: Your school email account address, internet access, and frequent and easy access to a computer

Course Policies

Preparedness and Participation
By preparedness, I mean being in class with all required materials and work.  Every absence will lower your preparedness grade by half a grade level.  Thus, you may miss two classes and get an A in attendance, albeit a lower A grade than a student who has attended every class.  After six absences, you will be dropped from the class.  Thus, excessive absences will result in failure of the course.  Two instances of tardiness equal an absence. If you are more than twenty-five minutes late, you will be counted as absent.
                A portion of the preparedness grade will be based upon your participation in whole class discussions and groups.  This grade is given holistically and is based upon my observations of you over the course of the semester.  Collaboration and small group work along with discussions will be a primary activity in our class. It is imperative that each person participates. 
               
Class work
Class work will include a variety of exploratory writings done in class in response to texts we have read, each other’s writing, and various prompts, which I will assign. Often times the writing we do in class 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 and Quizzes
There will be a weekly reading and learning journal.  Journals should be one, full, handwritten page.  I will collect your journals in the ninth week and at the end of the course.  Topics for the journals will be given in the week prior to their being due.  Quizzes will be given if the reading is not being completed.

Conferences

I will schedule conferences with you at least once during the semester. Your attendance is mandatory. Because research shows that individual conferences often produce the greatest amount of learning, I encourage you to make even more time to meet with me during my office hours.

Essays and/or Assignments

You will write five essays.  The five essay portfolios will be worth ten points each.    The final portfolio will consist of  essay one,  two or  three, and essay four or five and be worth thirty points. The five essay portfolios and the final portfolio must include all drafts, partner response/evaluation, all drafts with my comments, and any revisions.  Each essay in the final portfolio must have at least two drafts with significant changes to each draft based on class discussions, conferences, and marginal/rubric comments and suggestions.  I accept hand written essays but prefer essays that are typed, double spaced, with one inch margins, in 12 point Times New Roman font.  Essay number five will be the program-wide essay which is written for and read by two other faculty members.  These faculty members will assign your essay a pass or no pass mark. 

Course Grading

Your final grade will be based on the following:

Preparedness and participation                          (20%)       20 points

Final essays 1-5                                                     (50%)       50 points

Final Portfolio                                                         (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.  Penalties for cheating and plagiarism range from an 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.

Course Schedule

Instructor's Disclaimer

I reserve the right to make changes and additions to this syllabus as I see fit through the semester. You, the student, are responsible for any and all changes to the syllabus, should they occur.

 Return to top

Updated 1/10/09 by Jeremy Mumford