MORN 101: Passport 013

David Elder
Office Hours: T 1:00-2:00, W 9:00-10:00, TH 12:00-1:00 Office Location: HJF Learning Center 208 Email: elderd@morningside.edu

SC*120

T/TH 9:50-11:30

Course Description and Outcomes

The First Year Seminar introduces students to basic academic skills such as careful reading, critical thinking, and thoughtful writing all essential to a successful college experience. It familiarizes students with useful tips on college survival, technological skills, and information literacy skills as they learn the general expectations of college-level course work.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Morningside graduates demonstrate analytic, synthetic, creative, evaluative, and quantitative thinking. Morningside graduates communicate effectively. Morningside graduates behave ethically and responsibly. Morningside graduates use knowledge of cultures to enhance their understanding of themselves and others. Morningside graduates apply knowledge and skills from multiple, diverse disciplines and practical experiences to un derstand complex issues and solve problems. Morningside graduates exhibit a passion for life-long learning. Morningside graduates effect positive change through leadership or active participation in their communities. Morningside graduates articulate their own spirituality and personal values, while understanding those of others.

Aaron, Jane E., and Ellen Repetto. The Compact

Reader, 9th edition.

Required Texts and Materials

Course Objectives
Writing: Students will demonstrate improvement in their writing skills through extensive and varied writing assignments. Students will show in essay assignments that they can develop good theses and support them well, using language that is clear, concise and corre Reading: Students will demonstrate active reading skills. Students will comprehend, interpret and evaluate the readings. Technology: Students will demonstrate competence in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Google sites, turnitin.com, Moodle, email, email attachments, and campus web. Students will demonstrate competence in the use of an internet browser via the Morningside College portal. College Success Skills: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the essential skills for succeeding in college. Knowledge of the College: Students will demonstrate familiarity with the liberal arts tradition, and the Morningside College Mission and Vision Statements.

Eagleman, David. Incognito.

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SC*120 General Policies Elder T/TH 9:50-11:30 Advising: I am your advisor for this academic year. That means I am your primary resource for any academic issues that might arise for you. I am also available for other issues that might come up. Feel free to chat with me about most anything. My office hours are listed at the beginning of this document. Policy on Laptops (and other electronic equipment): Please bring your laptops to class every day unless otherwise noted. We will write a lot in class, and who wants to waste paper? However, when the class is not using laptops, please keep yours closed. It is disrespectful and disruptive to be checking email or surfing the web while other students are actively engaged in classroom activities. Also, remember to turn off cell phones and other electronic equipment so you can be fully prepared to participate in class. Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. In order for you to succeed in this course (and the rest of your college classes), you will need to actively participate in the reading, writing, and analytical activities. The skills you acquire in this class will build on one another and enable you to excel in other courses as well. I expect that you come to class well-prepared. If you should miss a class, please work with one of your classmates to review the material you missed, do the required work, and come to the next class well-prepared. Please be aware that neither your classmates nor I can reproduce the content of a class session for you. Do NOT show up unprepared; your classmates and I are expecting you to provide insightful comments that can further our learning and development. If for some reason mental, physical, familial you must miss consecutive class sessions, you must let me know in advance. We may be able to work out an arrangement where you can receive and hand in assignments in advance. If you tell me after the fact, I will not be obligated to make these arrangements. By attending regularly and participating in meaningful ways, you will have a much better chance for success. Late and Missed Work: Meeting deadlines is an important part of success in college and beyond. If you suspect you cant make a deadline, please talk to me before the project is due. If you do submit a formal essay or semi-formal essay after the due date, points will be deducted from the overall grade (usually enough to lower the grade significantly). Informal writing, quizzes, and exams occur during class and can not be made up. If you have an excused reason to miss a quiz, however, you have two opportunities to replace the quiz by attending a Campus Event Series (CES) program and writing a one-page response. All Semi-formal Essays, Formal Essays, as well as the Midterm and Final exams must be completed if the student is to pass the course. Taking exams early is not allowed. Workload: At the college level you should expect to spend two to three hours working on reading, writing, and studying for each hour you spend in class. Freedom of Expression and Respect for the Opinions of Others: This class should be a place where all students feel comfortable asking questions and participating in the discussion. Dissenting views presented in a reasonable manner are welcome and encouraged; the class should be a place where we can agree to disagree while still respecting the rights and feelings of others. Should any disrespectful conversations take place, those involved will be addressed privately.

Academic Honesty: Our Academic Honesty Policy can be found in the 2009-2010 College Catalog and the 2009-2010 Student Handbook (print versions or on-line). Each student should read this policy; it defines the expectations of the faculty related to honest academic work as well as the consequences that occur when a student engages in plagiarism and/or other forms of academic dishonesty. Plagiarism: Plagiarism involves presenting someone elses written work or unique ideas as if they were your own. Plagiarism is illegal and contrary to school policy; penalties for it can range from failure of the assignment to failure of the course. If you have questions about what might be considered plagiarism or how to avoid it, please ask your instructor. Event Attendance: During the semester, you will attend three events in conjunction with this course. The dates have not been set, so we will cover these in class at least 2 week before the event to allow time to schedule. Campus Event Series (CES): The Morningside College Campus Events Series offers students an opportunity to take advantage of a rich variety of lectures, films, programs, concerts and theatre performances that take place every semester on campus. You can find a link to the current Campus Events Series calendar on the Morningside College Portal at http://my.morningside.edu/. You are encouraged to attend as many of these events that fit your interests; they should help you become more familiar with campus life and, perhaps, help you find a new extra-curricular activity! Assignment Formats: All written material must be produced in Microsoft Word and handed in according to the requirements of the assignment. All semi-formal and formal essays will be turned via Moodle and will go through Turnitin.com, which is a site that helps review for plagiarism. If an essay is NOT received in this way, it will NOT receive a grade. When you submit your papers, you will be required to do the following: 1. Name the file it should have this general format: Yourlastname.assignment.passport10.date (i.e. Anderson.essay1final.passport10.10Oct2009) 2. Submit the paper through the designated assignment option on Moodle. 3. You will not need to email a separate copy to me. Accommodation: If you have an identified disability that may adversely affect your performance in this class you should schedule a meeting with me or with someone in the achievement center as soon as possible to discuss accommodations that may be necessary to provide you with an equal opportunity for success in this class.

Grading: All elements described above are considered requirements to pass this course. The focus of the course is to urge you to become a confident student, inquisitive reader, and effective writer. And, of course, at some point a grade must be assigned for the work completed. Therefore, the following point system will be used for this section of Morn 101 (with descriptions of the assignments to follow): Blogs Formal Essays Midterm Exam Final Exam Quizzes Peer Conferences Portfolio Participation TOTAL 100 points (10 posts) 350 points (3 formal essays, 100 points each) 100 points 150 points 60 points (6 quizzes, 10 points each) 40 points (2 conferences, 20 points each) 100 points 100 points 1000 points

Class Blog
During the course of the semester, we will blog together. As you can tell from the grading section, you will be required to make 10 blog posts and. The blog will be a place where we begin the discussion of our readings and write about your first year at Morningside. Each response must be at least 250 words and include a specific reference (either a quote or an articulated paraphrase or summary) to a course reading.

Quizzes
We will have 6 quizzes over the course of the semester. Anything we cover in class will be possible material for the quiz. Each quiz will be based on a reading (or readings) from the class, but each quiz will also have questions about our discussions and the campus in general.

Exams
We will have two exams in this class: a midterm and a final. They will be all-inclusive and have multiple choice and short answer questions, but the bulk of the tests will be essay. Both exams will build on the skills that we have worked on throughout the semester and test your knowledge of both the course readings and the campus in general. They will include essays that mirror the types of writing we will do for the larger writing assignments in class.

MORN 101

SC*120 Assignments Elder T/TH 9:50-11:30

Unit #1 Informative Paper (3-5)

This assignment asks you to think about different spaces and places you identify with and describe how a particular place has affected you. The physical geography, architecture, economy, people, school system, restaurants, sports teams, and countless other factors that create the identity of a place also play a part in creating the identities of the people who live and work there. You will need to implement your rhetorical analysis skills in determining how identity is formed through your understanding of this place/ space. Remember to think both about how the place affects your perception of who you are and how the place affects others perceptions of you. This assignment requires you to thoughtfully consider why certain places and spaces are meaningful to you while trying to develop an understanding of how others think about you and the place/space. While there is no specific research element required for this project, you will be expected to demonstrate a thorough and accurate understanding of the place you are writing about, which may require some research. Also, you will be expected to be familiar with and implement the concepts and strategies covered in the readings and the in-class discussions (and incorporate at least two of the readings into your paper). Finally, your paper should have a well-thought out organization you should attempt to construct your argument in a way that supports the points you are trying to emphasize.

Unit #2 Process Analysis (3-5 pages)

TBD

Unit #3 Argument Paper (5-7 pages)

TBD