Department of Rhetoric and Writing

Composition I: RHET 1311.28 (CRN 61382)

Fall 2014 Annotated Syllabus
Instructor: Lashaundra Tyler
Meeting Times: Monday & Wednesday 4:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.
Meeting Place: DKSN 201
Office Hours: By appointment only
Email: lstyler@ualr.edu
Skype ID: Lashaundra Tyler

Texts/Materials required:
Everyones an Author by Andrea Lunsford, Michal Brody, Lisa Ede, Beverly Moss, et. al
They Say I Say, Second Edition by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein
UALRs The Everyday Writer, Fifth Edition by Andrea Lunsford
3-ring binder and loose leaf paper
Black or Blue Pen

I chose Everyones an Author because of its resourcefulness and the title. I want my students
to know that they are authors in ways that may not have not imagined. By the end of the
semester, I want my students have a new outlook on who they are as writers. This book
will help me achieve this goal.

Department Statement:
This class is offered through the Department of Rhetoric and Writing. If you have any
questions or concerns, please contact Dr. Sherry Robertson, Director of Composition, at
sjrobertson@ualr.edu or 501.569.3477

Course Description:
Prerequisite: A minimum ACT English score of 19, a minimum SAT I verbal score of 450, or
a grade of C or higher in RHET 0310 or RHET 0321. Practice in writing, with an emphasis
on personal, expressive writing as well as transactional writing. Students will focus on
organizing and revising ideas and writing well organized, thoroughly developed papers
that achieve the writers purpose, meet the readers needs, and develop the writers voice.
Final course grades are A, B, C, or NC. Students must complete this course with a grade of C
or greater to take RHET 1312. Three credit hours.

Outcomes for First-Year Composition: The Department of Rhetoric and Writing has
adapted the following outcomes for first-year composition courses from the outcome
statements of the Council for Writing Program Administrators.

Rhetorical Knowledge:
Students will learn how audience, purpose, genre, and content shape the meaning and
effectiveness of writing.

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing:
Students will use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating.
Students will learn that writing is a series of tasks, including finding, evaluating, analyzing,
and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources. They will discover how to
integrate their original ideas with the ideas of others.

Process Strategies:
Students will develop strategies for generating ideas, revising, and editing their writing
through successive drafts. Those strategies will include collaborating with others, including
giving and receiving feedback in peer groups.

Knowledge of Conventions:
Students will have extensive practice in writing and will develop knowledge of
conventions, including organization, formats/genre, and style, control of surface features,
and incorporation and documentation of materials from sources.

Composing in Electronic Environments:
Students will learn how to use electronic environments for drafting, reviewing, revising,
editing, and sharing texts. They will also be able to locate, evaluate, organize, and use
research material collected from electronic sources. Additionally, they will understand and
exploit the differences in the rhetorical strategies and in the capabilities of both print and
electronic composing processes and texts.

From the Department statement to the WPA outcomes are departmental guidelines for this
course.


Policies
The following are my policies for this course.

Attendance: You are expected to be in class on time and prepared to participate in
classroom discussion for the session. Fours absences are allowed. Any absences after the
third absence will lower your grade by one letter grade. Four tardies will be considered as
one absence. You are tardy after ten minutes. If you have questions or concerns about your
attendance, feel free to email me.

I think four absences are reasonable for a sixteen week course that meets on Mondays and
Wednesdays. The first 10 minutes of class are crucial. Instructions and important
information are given during this time. If a student misses this much time in class., they
may be lost for the rest of the class. This policy will help them see how important it is to be
on time for class. A daily work assignment maybe given during this ten minute window. If
they miss this time, they will not receive daily work points.

Daily work cannot be made up if you miss class. In the event you miss class, contact a
classmate to find out what was missed.
Cell phone policy: Leave cell phones on silent and out of view. If you are expecting an
important call, please step outside of the classroom to take the call. I will ask you to leave
the class for the day if you are using your electronic communication device unless
otherwise instructed to do so in class. Texting, playing games, and listening to music on
these devices during class is not acceptable.

Cell phones can be a great distraction in class. Students will need to give their undivided
attention during class time. However, students have lives outside of class so they need
some flexibility when it comes to taking care of their responsibilities. Students can step out
of class to take important phone calls. Also, there may be opportunities for them to use
their cell phone during the lesson for the day.

Revision Policy: If you receive a B, C, or D on your paper, you will be allowed to revise
your papers during the revision period one week after your paper is returned for one letter
grade higher.

I am a firm believer in process pedagogy. Students should have the opportunity to improve
their writing. Revising will allow a student to see how their paper has improved over time.
Students should understand that the first draft is not the best draft. Revising will also help
students think critically about what they have written in order to make it better.

Assignment Submission: All papers must be submitted on Blackboard in the assignment
dropbox on the due date by 11:59 p.m. Access to a computer and Internet are required.
There are computers available in labs and the library on campus. Always be sure to back up
EVERYTHING by periodically saving a copy on desktop, using a Flashdrive or your Google
Drive within your UALR email account, emailing yourself a copy of your work, or another
cloud account like Dropbox and One Drive.

Assignments are due online by 11:59 p.m. so that I can have an electronic record of when
students turn work in. I will also be able to visually see a students progress overtime. I
highly recommend that they save their work externally. This will allow the student to
access their work from anywhere at any time. This gives them options in case of computer
crashes or internet issues at home.

Late work: All assignments are to be turned in on the due date. Your work will be lowered
one letter grade for every 24 hours your assignment is late. Late work will not be accepted
after 72 hours. This will result in no credit for the assignment. The late work policy does
not apply to the portfolio. The portfolio will be due by December 9 at 11:59 pm.

This late work policy allows flexibility for the student because life does happen. However, a
deadline must be set so that the student can move forward with the class. Its not good for a
student to have an assignment hanging over their head long.

The course is graded on a scale of A, B, C, or NC.

Grading Scale:
90-100% A
80-89% B
70-79% C
Below 70% NC

This is a departmental grading scale.

Total Points Possible: 800

These points give the student a lot of room to succeed in this class. Each project is worth
100 points. The portfolio is worth 200 points. Participation points are a possible 300
points which is about 10 points a day.

Participation:Daily work will be done in class for credit and cannot be made up. This
will include activities, journaling, quizzes, etc.

Coming to class will enhance the students learning experience. One way students learn best
in is a social environment (Vygotsky). Points will be assigned daily for attendance and
participation.

Anticipated Projects:

I have chosen these projects because they align with my teaching philosophy and the
pedagogies that I embrace, which include genre and new media pedagogies. These
assignments will help student learn more about themselves and analyze the world around
them.

Project 1: 100 points-Literacy NarrativeWriting to Reflect: Write a literacy narrative
that identifies and reflect on a personal experience that strongly influenced you as a writer
and reader. This assignment will include digital storytelling. (Due )

**Project 2: 100 points-Profile Essay- Writing to inform: Write a profile about a place
that presents a new or surprising perspective. This assignment will include an annotated
bibliography and mapping. (Due )

**Project 3: 100 points-Letter to Editor- Writing to Persuade: Write a letter to the editor
of about a contemporary issue or concern. (Due )



Final Project: 200pointsPortfolio and reflective essay. The final portfolio will
demonstrate your growth as a writer. With this portfolio you are given the opportunity to
revise you work for final submission. The reflective essay will reflect on each assignment
given and demonstrate your understanding of the course learning outcomes, The Writing
Program Administrators Outcomes Statement. (Due )

** If you would like to explore different media types for the profile essay and the mapping
assignments, feel free to do so. You are welcome to discuss the media types with me.


The following are University policies and resources for students to adhere and to beware
of.

University Writing Center (UWC): The University Writing Center offers writing
assistance to any UALR student. Help with word processing is also available if needed.
Appointments are not necessary, and services are free to registered UALR students.
Services are available 5 days a week; hours of service vary by semester. The UWC is located
in SUB 116. The number is 569-8343.

Commitment and Success: I am very committed to your learning and success. I am
available to help you. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please dont
hesitate to email me. My office hours are by appointment only.

Respect for Each Other: Please remember to respect the thoughts and feelings of your
classmates. Steer clear of statements that could be construed as racist, sexist, homophobic,
or otherwise discriminatory toward your peers. This behavior will not be tolerated in this
classroom. You will be instructed to leave the classroom. If it persists upon return to the
classroom, you will be directed to the Director of Composition for further action.

Public Nature of the Classroom: Please consider all writing for this class to be
"public. Part of becoming an effective writer is learning to appreciate the ideas and
feedback of others; in this course, our purpose is to come together as a writing
community. Remember that all students will be expected to share writing with others.
Avoid writing about topics that you wish to keep private or that you feel so strongly about
that you are unwilling to listen to the perspectives of others. Additionally, the feedback
that is provided is intended to help improve your writing; be open to the suggestions about
your writing.

Students with Disabilities: Your success in this class is important, and it is the policy and
practice of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to create inclusive learning
environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have a documented disability (or
need to have a disability documented), and need an accommodation, please contact me
privately as soon as possible, so that we can discuss with the Disability Resource Center
(DRC) how to meet your specific needs and the requirements of the course. The DRC offers
resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities.
Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process among you,
your instructor(s) and the DRC. Thus, if you have a disability, please contact DRC, at 501-
569-3143 (V/TTY) or 501-683-7629 (VP). For more information, please visit the DRC
website at www.ualr.edu/disability.

Web Accessibility Statement: It is the policy and practice of UALR to make all web
information accessible to students with disabilities. If you, as a student with a disability,
have difficulty accessing any part of the online course materials for this class, please notify
the instructor immediately.

Weather Policy: The UALR website, UALR email, the Universitys main telephone number
(501.569.3000), and the campus emergency alert system are the official means of
communicating all information concerning weather-related closing. Local television and
radio stations will also be notified. Weather and road conditions vary from place to place.
Employees and students are expected to exercise good judgment regarding the safety of
travel when road conditions are affected by the weather.

Academic Integrity Statement: College and University regulations regarding academic
dishonesty, as set forth in the UALR student handbook and other University documents and
publications, will be strictly enforced in this class. Any student who submits work that
he/she did not produce for the given assignment will be assigned a grade of zero points (F)
for the assignment in question, and may possibly fail the class. In accordance with Section
VI: Statement of Student Behavior, under the code of student rights, responsibilities, and
behavior, the university defines academic dishonesty under the classifications of cheating,
plagiarism, collusion, and duplicity. Cheating and blatant plagiarism in this class can result
in disciplinary sanction.

Plagiarism is a form of cheating that can cause you to fail this course. Plagiarism includes
reproducing documents or visual aids designed by someone else (even if you rewrite parts
of them) without giving the original creator proper credit. In addition to giving credit for
written ideas, you will be expected to give proper credit when you use art or
photography that appears on another persons website or in print. I also do not allow
you to reuse any work you have already written. If you would like to take a piece and
substantially revise and edit then we can discuss that option.










Important dates are included so that students can manage their time accordingly.

Important Dates for FALL 2014:

August 18: First day of class
August 22: Last day to drop/add classes (with refund)
August 29: Last day to drop a class (50% refund)
September 1: University Closed (Labor Day Holiday)
September 10th: Literary Narrative due
October 8th: Profile Essay due
October 13-14- Fall Break
October 16: Last day to drop a class
October 22nd: Mapping assignment due
November 6th: Annotated Bibliography due
November 20th: Source Based Assignment due
November 26- No classes
November 27-November 30- Thanksgiving break
December 8: Last day of class/Last day to withdraw from all classes
December 9: Consultation Day-Faculty available to meet with students
December 9: Completed portfolio due
December 9 at 4PM: Final exams begin. See final exam schedule at:
http://ualr.edu/records/examschedule/201410.php
December 10: Portfolio Presentations