Welcome
to English 100A!
Welcome to English
100A! This semester, I will help you develop the building blocks of
strong writing. These building blocks will support all the writing you
do from here on, whether in English 1A, in other college courses, in
the workplace, or in your personal life. The ability to communicate
one's ideas is one of the most important attributes of a successful
person-consider the downsides of being a politician who can't communicate
with her constituents, a business owner who can't communicate with his
employees, an actress who can't communicate with her audience, or a
husband who can't communicate with his wife. So, while this course demands
a strong commitment, the rewards are great-improvements in your writing
and excitement about your future as a writer and effective communicator.
This course is also an important introduction to college writing assignments
and to college life generally, particularly for those who are entering
college for the first time, are returning after a long time, or are
most familiar with the educational systems of other countries. Do think
of your instructor and the instructional assistants as resources-not
only for proper grammar and writing style, but for navigating the campus
as a whole. Feel grateful that you are here-100A and 100B are great
refreshers for students who had weak grammar instruction in high school
as well as important way stations for students who write well but need
help with reading comprehension and critical thinking. If you speak
and write in English as a second language, these courses may be right
for you, but ESL 24 and 25, both of which are transferable to the CSU
and UC systems, might be better. Please come talk to me if you are at
all uncertain of which LPC writing courses are best for you.
This Web site will
present course information in a slightly different format than the printed
syllabus. Use the bar on the left to link to textbook information, policies
on grading, the course schedule, handouts, and the like. I will periodically
update the site, mainly to reflect schedule changes and make recent
handouts available for downloading. If you are ever forced to be absent,
log on to check the schedule and download any handouts you missed. Finally,
call a classmate to find out what was discussed or worked on in class.
If you follow these steps, you can rest assured that you will arrive
back in class with all required assignments completed and ready to be
submitted on time!
Again, welcome.
I look forward to our semester together!
