Welcome
to English 104!
Welcome to English
104! 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 impacted and accelerated-you have the best chance of
succeeding in it if your English assessment tests are close to English
1A eligibility and you have strong study skills. It can be a great refresher
for students who had weak grammar instruction in high school, and also
for students who write well but need help with reading comprehension
and critical thinking. For many students, however, taking both English
100A and 100B, instead of the accelerated 104, may be a better route.
Reviewing and learning the concepts of critical thinking, grammar, style,
and organization at a slower pace often yields greater benefits to one's
writing in the long run. This is especially true for students with lower
assessment test scores, students who speak and write in English as a
second language, and/or students with heavy school, work, and/or family
commitments. Another choice for students who speak and write in English
as a second language might be ESL 24 and 25. Both are excellent writing
courses that are transferable to the CSU and UC systems. 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!
