Welcome toENG 102: College Composition II!

Monica Swindle, M.A.SPR 2013

Online

AGENDA• Instructor introduction and

philosophy• Getting to know you. . .• The Big Picture• The boring (but important)

stuff• Questions• Getting started

Who Am I?Monica Swindle, M.A.

Feel free to call me Ms. Swindle or MonicaGraduated from UMSL in 2010 with a Master of Arts degree in English, a graduate certificate in Gender Studies and a certificate in University Teaching and have been teaching at Meramec since graduation; I also teach online at UMSL Scholarly interests include contemporary literature, feminist theory, and Girls’ Studies

My contact info is listed in “Important Contacts” and on the syllabus; email is the best way to reach me though you can also call my office at 314.984.7876 or message me on FacebookOffice hours are 10-11 M and F or by appointment

My PhilosophyBeliefs About Students: I believe that college-level students are responsible adults, ready to take control of their education and practice intellectual freedom and advanced scholarship. I also believe that most college students have a desire to develop writing skills that will help them throughout both their professional and personal lives. Students with a firm commitment to hard work and a desire to succeed will leave my course comfortable with writing and researching at the college level.

My PhilosophyBeliefs About Educational Purpose: Education offers everyone (instructors included) a chance to continue growing and developing. I view education as the tool that allows us to continually seek improvement in our lives. Through education we are afforded the chance to pursue lifelong dreams, change our lifestyles, and challenge our intellects. Education can be obtained in a variety of ways including but not limited to college instruction and on-the-job training. Often students are learning simultaneously both at a job and in school (while also balancing family and other commitments). To me, a college education should be about more than just getting a piece of paper to get a job; it is about opening your mind, learning to truly think for yourself, and going out into the world and to make it a better place.

My PhilosophyBeliefs About My Teaching Role: Writing is not an innate talent only a lucky few possess. Rather, it is a skill acquired and improved through much practice. My role is to ensure that you come to understand techniques to create effective compositions as well as your own unique writing process. Only by studying effective writing and understanding how we write are we able to improve our writing. This understanding, coupled with an awareness of the writing environment and much practice writing and researching, will enable each one of you to successfully achieve the objectives of this course. Because individual learning styles differ, we will learn in many different ways in this course using a wide variety of tools and assignments. I prefer to think of myself as a writing coach versus a writing instructor. As a coach, I help to focus your attention, and that of the class’s, on various aspects of the composition and research processes. I do not teach you to write; you already know how to do that. Rather I hope to give you the tools and the practice to help you write better than you ever have before.

My PhilosophyBeliefs About Writing:

Writing is scary and hard (even for accomplished authors)The “P” word makes it better- Process! (working through a process

of invention, discovery, organization, drafting, revision, and editing as opposed to a wait-until-the-night-before-and-pray approach). You may think you write better under pressure, but all the research shows this just isn’t true; our brains just don’t work that way.If you can think, you can write (which can be scary and hard)Writing is an act of discovery: the Unknown (also scary)

this is also what can make writing and research fun (if it isn’t left until the last minute)…you get to explore topics YOU are interested in because you have intellectual freedom in collegewriting classes are about fundamental intellectual skills & attitudes, teasing out ideas & exploring how we think about a topicyou don’t write to tell what you know, you write so you can learn more about what you want to know; keep an open mind and take the opportunity to learn something new & share that new knowledge with your audience don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and share your writing with others; this takes courage but often results in better writing

Make it yours: HAVE FUN!

Getting to know you. . .Post your introduction on the discussion board and reply to two of your classmates:Your name Your major and future career goals What you hope to get out of the class How you feel about writing One interesting or unique thing about

you A picture of yourself if you have one

handy (click the "Attach Image" button above where you type)

• The “big picture” for our course is basically to continue developing your analytical reading, critical thinking, and writing skills.

• We will do that by studying the conventions of academic writing, learning to effectively advance an argument to different audiences that achieves your purpose, examining how to evaluate others’ arguments for strengths and flaws, and learning how to find , evaluate, and use outside sources in your writing (research).

• This course is relevant in your academic life because it will give you the tools to compose effective compositions for an academic audience, your professional life because it will help you further polish your writing and communication skills as well make persuasive appeals to your audience, and your personal life because it will make you a more effective communicator and it will allow you think critically about the arguments made to you on a daily basis and research the facts before making up your mind about a particular issue.

The Boring (but all too necessary) StuffSyllabus (read it carefully and completely and consult when needed throughout the semester)

Goals This course is focused on argumentative writing and research; we will write longer papers than in ENG 101, they will all be persuasive, and we will learn to do scholarly research

Technology

You’ll need access to a computer every week to do coursework, type papers, and do research; there are computer labs on campus if your computer ever breaks

100% online: everything for our course is on Blackboard; you don’t ever have to come to campus or log on at a certain time.

Check your STUDENT email daily or forward your student email to the email you check; I will email you weekly (or more often if something comes up) with updates and check-ins

The Boring (but all too necessary) Stuff“We learn10% of what we read, 50% of what we see and hear, 70% of what we say, and 90% of what we say and do,” so we will be mostly discussing and doing, and we will do a variety of different assignments to engage students with varying learning styles. Our class is divided into four units broken down into lessons. The first three lessons should be completed during the first week and then the other lessons will each take about a week to complete. The first two units will focus on making and analyzing arguments and the last two on research.There are due dates on the course schedule for the coursework; you can move through the lessons more quickly, but the assignments must be completed by the due dates. This will help ensure you don’t fall behind.The coursework will ask you to read how-to’s and sample arguments in your textbooks and online, view presentations and other media, discuss questions and activities in the informal writing assignments, write and peer review essays and projects, and take unit quizzes.There is an assignment sheet for each essay and a grading rubric; grades, comments, and rubric will be posted on My Grades within 1-2 weeks of the due date. View them by clicking on the grade in My Grades.

Questions so far?If you ever have a question or need help, you can post a question or comment on Announcements or the “Ask a Prof” discussion forum, discuss on the “Student Lounge” forum, email or call me (I will respond to emails within 24-48 hours), or come see me or chat online during office hours or by appointment

What next? Read through the syllabus Take the syllabus quiz Post your introduction, replies, and any

questions you may have Buy your textbooks Explore our course Blackboard site Go to “Unit One” in Coursework and get

started!