This document provides the syllabus and policies for an English 1A course. The goals of the course are to prepare students to analyze college texts and write college papers by developing skills such as reading analysis, essay writing, thesis development, and personal writing style. The course is hybrid, meeting weekly for 2.5 hours and requiring 2.5 hours of online work. Students will write 4 papers, complete online posts, and actively participate. Grades are based on essays, posts, activities, and workshops. Policies cover submission, attendance, conduct, and late work.

1. 1
EWRT 1A: Green Sheet
Kim Palmore, PhD Cell Phone: 408-674-3005
Email: Palmorekim@fhda.edu Office: F1-11
Goals: English 1A is a transfer level course in reading and composition that prepares students to analyze
college texts and to write college papers. In particular, you should learn to
1. Read and analyze a wide variety of types of writing.
2. Generate ideas and topics for essays.
3. Formulate and support theses.
4. Integrate and organize ideas.
5. Develop a personal style and voice appropriate to purpose and audience.
6. Practice writing as a multi-step process.
7. Compose essays with varying purposes, audiences, and rhetorical strategies.
Requirements:
1. Active participation in class discussions and regular attendance.
2. Active participation in the online portion (50%) of the class.
3. Keeping up-to-date on the assignments and reading.
4. Four formal papers, one of which will be written in class.
5. A series of posts to the class website .
Texts and Required Materials/Tools:
v Rise B. Axelrod and Charles R. Cooper, The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing 8th
Edition
v Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games.
v Please bring the St Martin’s Guide (SMG) to every class meeting; bring The Hunger Games on
the days we will discuss it. Bring your laptop and draft copies on the days we write in class.
Hybrid Class:
v A hybrid class meets both in the classroom and electronically. For this course, it means that we will
meet once a week for 2 hours and 15 minutes, and that you will complete the remaining 2 hours and 15
minutes of this five unit course on your own, via presentations on the website. We will not meet
together; rather, you will simply go to the online presentations and work through them on your own. I
will answer questions by email.
v The homework from the live class is due 72 hours after our class ends. The work from the hybrid
class is due 24 hours before our next face-to-face class.
Website:
Our class will use Canvas for both our face-to-face and online portions of the course. But in order to do the
homework, you must establish a username to use through Wordpress. To make your own FREE Word Press
account, go to wordpress.com. The system will walk you through the steps to signup for a username or to set up
your own user-friendly Word Press blog. Alternatively, you can sign up to post homework through Facebook.
There are also detailed directions available on the website under “Create Account.”
If you prefer not to use your own name, you may use a pseudonym. Just make sure you sign in with YOUR
Wordpress username before you post on our class page so you get credit for your work. Please email me
your username once you have established which account you shall use for the quarter.
If you cannot establish your username, please come to my office hours as soon as possible, and
I will help you with the process. Much of our work will take place online, so establishing this connection is
mandatory.

2. 2
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Students will be assessed on their ability to
1) Practice writing as a multi-step process including planning and revising with attention to varying
purposes, audiences, and rhetorical strategies.
2) Read and analyze rhetorically and culturally diverse narrative and expository texts from a variety of
perspectives.
3) Write cogent, well-developed arguments that clearly articulate a thesis supported by textual
evidence.
4) Document sources (print, electronic, and other) in MLA style.
GRADING:
Grades for this course will be based on an 850-point scale divided as follows:
Assignment My
Score
Point
Value
Assignment My
Score
Point
Value
Essay #1 (in-class) 2-3 pages 75 Website Posts 150
Essay #2 (out of class) 3-5 pages 150 Participation/Quizzes/Activities/
writing workshops
125
Essay #3 (out of class) 3-5 pages 150
Essay # 4 (out of class) 4-6 pages 200
Total 850 points
I will assign traditional + and – grades
Grade Points Required Grade Points Required
A 765-850 D 510-594
B 680-764 F 509 and below
C 595-679
CLASS POLICIES:
Essay Submission:
All out of class essays are to be submitted to me electronically before the class period in which they are
due.
1. Kaizena allows me to respond to your essay with both voice and written comments and to insert helpful
links.
2. Create your account. Go to Kaizena.com or simply use the link on our class website home page. Click
“Sign up.” Choose “Student.” Enter your group code (you can find this on the right side of the website
or in the slideshow directions for how to use Kaizena.
3. Files are added to Conversations in Kaizena. To add a file to a conversation, click the "Add File" button.
4. Next, choose to add a file from Google Drive or to upload a file from your computer. Use the box that
pops up to find your file. When you find your file, click it; next, click "Select" (for a Google Docs file)
or open (for an uploaded file). The file will be added to your conversation.
5. If you experience formatting errors when you upload a Word file, try saving the file as a PDF, and
uploading it again.
6. Once I have graded your paper, you can access it by going to the “conversations” link in Kaizena.
7. Click on the highlighted sections of the paper to find both audio and written comments concerning your
essay or links to materials that will help you improve your writing.

3. 3
Academic Dishonesty:
Plagiarism includes quoting or paraphrasing material without documentation and copying from other students or
professionals. Intentional plagiarism is a grave offense; the resulting response will be distasteful. Depending upon
the severity, instances of plagiarism may result in a failing grade for the paper or the course and possible administrative
action. All assignments will be scanned and scrutinized for academic dishonesty. Please refer to your handbook
for more information regarding plagiarism.
Attendance:
Attendance is a significant part of this course, and success in this course depends on regular attendance and
active participation. If excessive absences (according to state guidelines, more than a weeks worth of classes)
become a problem, you may be dropped from this course (see your handbook for more on De Anza’s official
attendance policy).
Students whose accumulated absences exceed one week of class meetings may be subject to a grade change. A
student's grade in the course may be reduced by one letter for each unexcused absence beyond the stated limit.
Students are responsible for validating excused absences in writing within one week of the absence.
"Excused" absences include the following:
• illness or injury that is documented by a letter from a physician or health professional.
• "mental duress" (divorce, death of friend or family member) that is documented in writing.
• officially sanctioned and sponsored university athletic, music, theater travel that is documented by a
letter by the appropriate university official.
• required court appearances that are documented by a letter from the clerk of the court.
Tardies and early departures may count as absences. Participation points will be part of our daily activities. If
you are not in class, you cannot earn these points. You should save absences for emergencies.
It is your responsibility to talk to me about your absences or other conflicts. Work done in class cannot be made
up. Also, please arrive on time, as you will not be able to make up work completed before you arrive, including
quizzes or exams.
Conduct, Courtesy, and Electronic Devices:
In this class, we will regularly engage in the discussion of topics that may stir passionate debates. Please speak
freely and candidly; however, while your thoughts and ideas are important to me and to the dynamics of the
class, you must also respect others and their opinions. Courtesy will allow each person to have the opportunity
to express his or her ideas in a comfortable environment.
Courtesy includes but is not limited to politely listening to others when they contribute to class discussions or
while they give presentations, not slamming the classroom door or walking in front of classmates giving
presentations if you do arrive late, and maintaining a positive learning environment for your fellow classmates.
To help maintain a positive learning environment, please focus on the work assigned, and do not text-message in
class. If your behavior becomes disruptive to the learning environment of the class, you may be asked to leave
and/or be marked absent.
Participation:
Participation includes doing all work asked of you inside and outside of class, maintaining a positive learning
environment for your classmates, and contributing to class discussion. Participation points are accrued based on
both your in-class and online participation.

4. 4
Workshops:
In this class, we will have workshops in conjunction with each take-home essay assignment. Please be prepared by
bringing the appropriate number of copies of your rough draft (see course outline) on workshop days. All drafts for out-
of-class essays must be typed and printed though using recycled paper is acceptable. If you come to class without the
proper number of copies required for that day’s lesson, I will excuse you from class to either make copies or work on
your essay. You will not receive participation points for the workshop.
Quizzes:
I may decide to include pop quizzes from time to time to ensure you are completing all readings in a timely
fashion. There are no make up opportunities for quizzes.
Late Work:
I do not accept late work. I do, however, extend an opportunity to revise one essay for a better grade. If you
miss an essay due date, you may submit that essay when the revisions are due. This does disqualify you from
revising another essay. Revised essays receive no feedback. I suggest only using this option in an emergency.
Appointments:
You can schedule an office visit with me by using the appointment finder on the class website. Alternatively,
you can just drop by to see if I have a vacancy. Or, you can email me if you need to make an appointment
outside of my formal office hours.
Adding and Dropping:
Adding and dropping this class is the responsibility of the student. Please observe all deadlines regarding the
same should you wish to add or drop this class.
Educational Use of Student Papers:
Occasionally, I retain copies of written work to share with this class or future sections of the course; selections
of student work used in these ways will be anonymous. However, if you absolutely object to the use of your
work in these ways, please let me know now, so that I can respect your preference.