Course Information

Class Titles: English 2010-10
Intermediate Writing: Writing About Video Games

Class Time and Location:
2010-10 MWF 2-2:50pm, BC 208

 Instructor Information

Professor: Joy Sterrantino

Teaching Assistant: Madeleine Vasquez

Best Way to Contact Me: Canvas Inbox or during office hours

My Office: BC 308E

Office Hours: 
MWF 1-2pm; TTh 1:30-2:30pm, or by appointment
You can come in with questions or concerns about anything.  It is not a bother!  You can also just talk with me through the Canvas inbox.
*There are no office hours during finals week.  Inbox me if you have a question.

Announcements and Comments
If I need to change something for the class or some other issue comes up, I will contact the class through Canvas' Announcements- you are responsible for getting all announcements as well as for any comments I put on assignments (some which are time-sensitive).

***Go to Settings to tell Canvas if you want texts or emails for announcements and assignment comments.***

 Instructor's Response Time & Feedback

It is my goal to respond to student messages within one business day and provide grades within one week from the due date.

 Catalog Description

This course builds upon the skills learned in English 1010, reinforcing strategies that foster careful reasoning, argumentation, and rhetorical awareness of purpose, audience, and genre. The course involves several connected writing
assignments that culminate in a major research project.

In particular, this course takes a rhetorical approach to the concept of video games. Video games and violence.  Sexism in the industry.  Representation of race (or lack thereof).  Video game art, narrative, social commentary, addiction, or as therapy.  The list goes on...

 Course Materials

No required books.
One optional book that is helpful to break down academic writing: 
-They Say, I Say, Gerald Graf and Cathy Birkenstein, 3rd edition [ISBN-10: 0393617432] (But any edition will do, honestly).
Required:
-Access to Canvas
-Access to Word or equivalent

 Course Outcomes

Written Communication

• Construct arguments that demonstrate rhetorical awareness of purpose, audience, and context
• Employ accurate and diverse diction, appropriate tone, and construct sentences varied in structure
• Define the scope of the research question or thesis completely and determine key concepts.
• Design and construct arguments for specific audiences with an emphasis on organizing, sustaining, and
  maintaining consistency
• Employ standard grammatical usage, including correct punctuation for discipline, and adhere to a specific style guide.

Information Literacy

• Identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively and responsibly use and share information to achieve an intended purpose.
• Access and document information and relevant sources using a variety of search strategies
• Correctly use primary and secondary sources (including paraphrase, summary, and quotations) in ways that are true
to the original text

Inquiry and Analysis

• Systematically explore issues through the collection and analysis of evidence that result in informed conclusions and
judgments.
• Break complex topics or issues into parts to gain a better understanding of them.
• Arrange and synthesize evidence to reveal insightful patterns, differences, or similarities related to focus

 Student Responsibilities

It is your responsibility to read and understand the syllabus and the grading contract and to ask the professor at the beginning of the semester if you are confused by any of it. The same holds true of assignments as they come up.  You are expected to attend all class meetings and to participate in draft workshops, in-class exercises, and classroom discussions. All proposals, drafts, papers, and revisions must be handed in on time.

All work is in the modules.  Each week, you need to read the Weekly Schedule at the top of Module page as it will have requirements that may not be a Canvas assignment but that are still required.  You are responsible for everything on this syllabus, the grading contract, and in the modules, even if you choose not to read them or ask for clarification from the instructor during the semester.

 Attendance

I will keep attendance in order to report to the university if students stop coming (they ask me that when I turn in final grades).  It will not count against your grade directly. I will stop recording attendance once class starts each day, so if you're late at all, it is your responsibility to send me a message through inbox to let me know you were there that day; you need to do this each day, not days or weeks later. 

Indirectly, students who miss more than a couple of classes during the semester always do poorly; even good students who are sure they'll be the exception. So please don't miss unless you have to. 

Everything builds upon the last thing, so having gaps in what you've learned snowballs quickly into a mess for you, and you usually won't realize it until it's too late.  To that end, once you've missed 6 classes, you must come see me in my office before you can turn anything else in. 

If you have an issue, let me know ASAP.  Some things I can't work around, but most things I can help you with if you talk with me.  If you wait until you've missed for weeks, there's not a lot I can do for you at that point.  

COVID
If you are symptomatic or test positive for COVID, you should complete the COVID Self-Report Form. Please do not come to class if you have symptoms or if you have a confirmed case of COVID with symptoms or not.  Let me know asap if you need to miss and get notes from someone else in class. 
Masks are encouraged, especially in small classrooms where you are all on top of one another.  I may not wear a mask while up at the front by myself but may put it on when I'm talking one-on-one with students. 

 Assignment Descriptions

All work must be in MLA formatting!

1. Major Assignments:

• • • Definition Essay
      • First Draft
      • Peer Review
      • Final Draft
    • Literary Analysis
      • First Draft
      • Peer Review
      • Final Draft
    • Video Games Position Paper
      • First Draft
      • Peer Review
      • Final Draft

2. Minor Assignments:

• • • Summary/Responses
    • Go Play a Game! Discussions
    • Sign up for Grammar Girl
    • Definition Essay
      • Proposal
      • Thesis Statement
    • Literary Analysis
      • Proposal
      • Thesis Statement
    • Video Game Position Paper
      • Proposal
      • Thesis Statement
      • Outline 

 Grading Contract

Because I want you to focus on your learning in this course and not specific grades, the default grade for the course is a B.
This course has a labor-based grading contract; the basic idea is that if you perform all the work expected of you during the semester, you are guaranteed a B in the course. You can earn a higher grade by performing additional work. While I will offer you feedback and suggestions on your work, I will not be evaluating every aspect of individual essays as long as you do the basics of the assignment. Ideally, this will free you to take more risks with your writing. 

Contract Expectations

You are guaranteed a B course grade if you meet the following requirements:

• • No incomplete major assignments.
  • No more than 2 incomplete minor assignments.
  • If you turn in an assignment that doesn't fulfill the basic requirements, rather than give just you an Incomplete and a "too bad for you," I will give you an Incomplete and notes on what you need to do to fix it to make it Complete.  The exception to this is the final draft of the final essay, because the semester is over at that point.

Because the contract is for a minimum amount of labor, both A and B require the same minimum with an A also requiring extra work.

Late Work
You can turn late work with no repercussions, but I will only give notes for work that has been turned in on time.

Other Considerations

• • • For First Drafts: I mostly look at length and basic effort. 
    • For In-class Peer Reviews: You must show up to class and provide thoughtful, useful written feedback to each member of your group.
    • For Conferences with me: Plan to visit with me during office hours this semester to discuss your written work (at any stage of the process) and your progress in the course. At least one of these meetings should take place in the first ten weeks of the term; I will normally meet with you in the last weeks of the course only if I’ve met with you already at least once. 

Knowing Where You Stand
Not having regular grades may give some of you periodic anxiety, but this system is actually better than regular grading for giving you a clear idea of what your final grade looks like at any moment. If I marked it as complete, it counts and you don't have to worry about that particular assignment again. If I mark it as incomplete, I give you notes as to why (assuming you turned it in on time) and you can fix it.  If you are doing everything as directed and turning things in on time, you’re getting a B. 

Improving Your Contract Grade

If you want to earn a grade above the contracted B, you may do so by completing additional work for the course. 

To earn an A in the course, you must complete the B-level requirements plus three additional tasks:

1. Extra Peer Reviews
For each major assignment, you will give feedback to an additional peer. Students who let me know they are trying for an A on their Grading Contract are automatically put into bigger peer review groups, so as long as you come and do the peer reviews, you're covered.

2. Choose One (I expect that each option should take 3-4 hours of additional work):

• • A Bigger Project: For each major assignment, you can opt to do more work on each phase— research, drafting, or revision. You will need to decide to do this before starting the major assignment and you'll upload a letter to the "Extra Assignments" assignment, so that I can approve it before you start working on it, explaining what extra work you plan to do at each stage. This might include a brainstorming session (provide evidence), including additional sources, adding an additional page or two of writing, and putting more thought into your revision, or creating an annotated bibliography for your final paper.
  • Additional Revision: Choose one of your completed projects and do a drastic revision of the project. This might include rethinking and revising the same draft in a significant way (or it might include recasting that paper into a new format (like turning an essay into a letter for example).  Before you get started, you'll upload a letter to the "Extra Assignments" assignment, so that I can approve it before you start working on it.  
  • Additional Reading: Find 3 additional academic, peer-reviewed articles that relate to composition or the theme of the class, and write additional summary/ responses on those readings.
  • Additional Work that Benefits the Class: Do you want to write about and report on a cultural event related to the class? Do you want to create and present a handout on a topic related to the course that would help your peers in the future? Before you get started, you'll upload a letter to me to the "Extra Assignments" assignment, so that I can approve it before you start working on it. 

3.  Take a major assignment to the Writing Center for feedback.  
You can do this in-person or asynchronously over video but not through email.  Make sure you give the tutor your assignment, so they know what is expected of the assignment, and have specific questions or parts of the essay you would like to focus on.  Fill out the form they have at the Writing Center and upload a photo of it to the "Extra Assignments" Assignment.

If you don’t meet the contract but still want to raise your grade, you can raise your grade one step for each of the above. So if you have a C according to the contract, and you do the additional reading option, that would give you a C+. (The only caveat is that if you don’t complete all the work to get an A, you can’t raise your grade above a B+.)

 Canvas Information.

• For Passwords or any other computer-related technical support:
• 435-865-8200
• support@suu.edu
• IT Service Desk
• For Canvas help:
• 435-865-8555
• canvas@suu.edu
• Canvas Help Center
• How to Use Canvas

 SUU Campus Resources and Services

CAST (Care and Support Team for those with depression and anxiety)
The Care and Support Team is a network of faculty, staff, and students committed to the emotional support of those who are experiencing isolation, sadness, fear, anxiety, or other forms of emotional distress.  CAST members are not professional counselors, but are good listeners who are knowledgeable about campus and community resources and who are committed to helping students succeed. 
My comments on this: As a CAST member, I am willing to listen, talk about my own experiences with depression and anxiety, and help you get help you need inside and outside of the classroom.

Pride Alliance is a committee comprised of students, staff, and faculty dedicated to creating safe spaces for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Queer individuals and Allies (LGBTQA) on the campus of Southern Utah University (SUU).
My comments on this: As an ally, I am willing to listen and help you get any help you need inside and outside of the classroom.

Students with Disabilities
Official Statement from SUU: 
ADA Statement: Students with medical, psychological, learning or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Southern Utah University Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or phone (435) 865-8022. SSD determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.
My comments on this:
I'm happy to help anyone who needs it, but you have to go through the correct channels.

 The Writing Center
SUU Writing Center invites you to come to the writing center where qualified peer consultants are ready to work with you Monday through Friday 8am–9pm and Saturday 11am-3pm.  This semester, we are excited to offer outdoor tutoring, indoor tutoring, online tutoring, and a limited number of walk-in and email sessions.  Check out our website for appointment types, times, and to book a FREE session. The Writing is located in the Braithwaite Center 101 and in the library on the ground floor.  Let’s do this “Write!”
My comments on this: Going here will change your college experience.  They are awesome and can help with anything to do with writing for any major.

SUU Campus Resources and Services
Our colleagues in the Division of Student Affairs assembled a two-page quick reference guide of important SUU Campus Resources & Services.Links to an external site.