Course Schedule
English 101 - Spring 2024

what's below in the left column?

• Links to the Weekly Lectures
  Read these at the beginning of the week.

• Links to the Weekly Discussion Topics
  Posts are due Fridays before midnight, and
  replies are due Sundays before midnight.

• Links to Writing Assignments
  with due dates listed.

what's below in the right column?

• A list of the Week's Readings. Read these at the beginning of the week; all are required.
  Most readings are found in the Files section on Canvas; check the folder for that week.

• Occasionally, links to Videos, which are also required and should be viewed at the beginning of the week.

• Occasional suggestions about things to look ahead to

Important: Please always be looking ahead. This class moves very quickly, and the readings, assignments, papers take time to do well (and you want to do well).

Additional Note: On occasion you will be asked to Print a file to be used as a reference work.
Please do so; this takes the place of a very expensive handbook I am not making your buy, and there will not be many to print. If you do not have a printer, that's OK, but you will need to make sure you have those files open in separate TABS when you need to refer to them.

• Lecture 1

• Orientation Assignment (due 2/7)
  Yes, this is Wednesday;
  Feel free to turn this in early

• Discussion 1 (due 2/9), Friday

IMPORTANT! Day 1 be sure you do the ONLY module on our Canvas site; it is the class Orientation.
That is how you will get the answers to the Orientation Quiz.

Unless you see otherwise, locate readings by going to Canvas and looking under Files
They are organized in weekly folders. This week there are no readings on Canvas; you just have the week's Lecture and Orientation information to read.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THE LECTURES: Read them!
Yes, I know some of you will be tempted to skim them, but please don't. The lecture material is essential, and you are responsible for all of the information in them. So Week 1 you should know how to write about what you have read, how to quote and parenthetically cite.
By Week 2 you should know how and why to do a Works Cited page in MLA-8 format, and so on. You are not going to do well in this class if you don't have these techniques down. They are not hard, but you are not born knowing these things.

On a positive note, these take the place of a very expensive (far too expensive) handbook I used to use, and it is a lot less reading than was assigned from that handbook.

So please read all of the lecture material, carefully. Review it if you need to.

• Lecture 2

• Discussion 2 (due 2/15, THURSDAY)
  NOTE: Friday is a holiday; however,
  Posts put up Friday night
  Will NOT be counted late.
  
  Replies continue until 11:59 pm Sunday.

Unless you see otherwise, locate readings by going to Canvas and looking in the Files section
They are organized in weekly folders, so you need to read everything in the "Week 2 Readings" folder.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Note: Don't forget to review the general Writing Assignments information; it explains How to Submit your Work, such as next week's Stuff Exercise and the essays that follow.

• Lecture 3

• no discussion

REMINDER: Papers not in MLA format
will not be accepted.
Be sure you are using the MLA resources.

Reading:

The files in the Week 3 Readings folder on Canvas include two from last week (in case you missed them) and some Sample Student papers you should refer to as models for your Stuff Exercise.

The Set-Up video is not optional, but if you are using some software other than Word, then it is up to you to find a YouTube video that explains how to set up a paper in MLA-8 format (yes, that includes the Works Cited as well as the main document) in whatever software you are using. I do recommend you download the free Word from the school website.

If you did not print the MLA Sample file, DO SO NOW. You need this file; it is a reference work you will use throughout this class and in many other future classes. Read this carefully, and follow the directions. DO NOT GUESS or just think you know; papers not correctly formatted will not be accepted; you will have to re-do them with late paper penalties.

• Lecture 4

• no discussion

IMPORTANT REMINDER:
Approximately 1/3 of your paper must be
direct quotations from your sources, and
each direct quotation must be followed
by a parenthetical citation.

There are no additional readings this week as you finish your first full-length paper.

However, do look at the Sample Student Papers in the Week 4 Readings folder in the Files section on Canvas.

• Lecture 5

• Discussion 3 due (due 3/8)

All readings are in the Week 5 Readings folder on Canvas

• no lecture

• no discussion

IMPORTANT REMINDER:
Approximately 1/3 of your paper must be
direct quotations from your sources, and
each direct quotation must be followed
by a parenthetical citation.

The "Week 8 Readings" folder actually contains no readings, but there is a link to a funny YouTube clip on an Alternative House which you might enjoy :)
and remember to look at the Sample Student Papers,

Note: If you see yourself as a slow reader,
be sure to begin A Man Called Ove OR Mr. Pendumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore now;
at the very least, you should be deciding which of the two you will be reading for later discussions.

And, yes, you should be taking notes because you will be quoting/citing from the novel when you discuss it later.
You could even look ahead to see exactly what you will be writing about (I would).

• Lecture 6

• Discussion 4 (due 3/22)

The "Week 7 Readings" folder contains two files that not only look at common things in uncommon ways; they also help us think about what kinds of arguments are "credible"

• no lecture

• no discussion

There are no NEW assigned readings, but if you have not begun reading your class novel,
pick, one (either A Man Called Ove or Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore) and start.

• NO CLASSES

SPRING BREAK! (have a fun, safe holiday week, and don't forget to come back :).

• no lecture

• Discussion 5 (due 4/12, Friday)

The "Week 10 Readings" folder introduces you to Intentional Communities

• no lecture

• no discussion

IMPORTANT REMINDER:
Approximately 1/3 of your paper must be
direct quotations from your sources, and
each direct quotation must be followed
by a parenthetical citation.

The "Week 11 Readings" folder is very short but likely very useful. Since your paper requires that you include a definition of "Intentional Communities," I have provided some links to sources with definitions. Don't forget that these must be included on the Works Cited page.

And, as always, there ae Sample Student Papers in this week's Readings Folder in the Files section on Canvas.

• no lecture

• Discussion 6 (due 4/26, Friday)

The "Week 12 Readings" folder also has some short, interesting examples of Google Projects, and "Inside the Google Moonshot Factory" has useful background on google Projects which you might want to include in next week's essay.

NOTE: If you have not yet completed the novel A Man Called Ove OR Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore,
please do so ASAP; We will be discussing and writing about the novels in just two weeks.

Reminder: you should be taking notes for those discussions (did you look ahead to see what sorts of things you will need to quote/cite from the novel?)

• no lecture

• no discussion

• There are no further readings this week while you finish your Google Projects paper, though do look at the Sample Student Papers.

However; if you have not yet finished one of the two class novels, be sure you do so this week;
The next two discussions on the novel are worth double points.

• no lecture

• no discussion

There are no new assigned readings this week, but if you have not finished the novel, use this week to complete EITHER


• A Man Called Ove

  OR

• Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

The next TWO discussions (WHICH MAY NOT BE SKIPPED AND WHICH ARE WORTH 40 POINTS EACH) will be about the novel you chose.

• no lecture

• Discussion 7 (due 5/17)

Reminder: you are answering
questions on only one of
the two novels.

Also, this is a longer
Discussion worth up to 40 pts
and CANNOT be skipped.

• A Man Called Ove

      OR

Mr.Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

• no lecture

• Discussion 8 (due 5/24)

Reminder: you are answering
questions on only one of
the two novels.

Also, this is a longer
Discussion worth 40 pts
and CANNOT BE SKIPPED;
there are no Replies required.

• A Man Called Ove

      OR

Mr.Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

• no lecture

• Final Discussion (due 5/31)
  Note: this is an optional,
  Extra Credit discussion.

• The "Week 17 readings" include two articles on how toys/games that show how computers have shaped much of our world