English 103 Goals

English 103 Course Goals:

• English 103 introduces students to the fundamentals of rhetoric; to the elements,

strategies, and conventions common to persuasion; to the use of those elements,

strategies, and conventions in the construction of their own persuasive visual and verbal

texts. Upon completion of English 103 students will:

 

1. Understand that persuasion—both visual and verbal—is integral to reading and

composing. – I understand this through the websites that we had to make. I used pictures to persuade them on my page and get at the emotions. I also used certain words to persuade the audience who is reading my website.

 

2. Understand how persuasive visual and verbal texts are composed for different

audiences and different purposes. – I also understand this through the website also. For my topic I chose adoption, which can be a touchy subject to talk about. I made sure my language was appropriate and my pictures wouldn’t offend anyone who read it.

 

3. Develop effective strategies of invention, drafting, and revision for different

rhetorical situations and individual composing styles. – Through the rhetorical analysis that we had to write I learned that you have to pick something that would interest you and that would also interest your audience. I learned that it is extremely important to do revisions. I have learned that this is probably one of the most important things to do when writing a paper or any type of thing.

 

4. Compose texts in various media using solid logic, claims, evidence, creativity, and

audience awareness. – I have learned that it is important to do this through the various assignments that we have had to do. Evidence is especially important because it gives substance to your argument. It also is important to have audience awareness because your audience is the one who is reading your work. You do not want your audience to be offended by anything you show or write. Creativity is also important because you don’t want it to be boring its important for it to be fun and interesting.

 

5. Integrate primary and secondary research as appropriate to the rhetorical

situation. – It’s important to do this to show that you have done work on your paper and to get other views on your topic from other people.

 

6. Develop strategies for becoming more critical and careful readers of both your

own and others’ texts. – I have learned this through the peer reviews and the intensive reviews. I feel like the intensive reviews have helped me the most. I enjoyed having people critique my writing because it can help me improve my work. I also enjoy giving constructive criticism to others’ work also.

 

7. Demonstrate a professional attitude towards writing by focusing on the need for

appropriate format, syntax, punctuation, and spelling. – It’s important to do this because other people are reading your work and you want it to be easy for them to read and understand and with correct punctuation syntax and spelling it makes that easier.

 

8. Take responsibility for your own progress. – Putting together this final portfolio has taught me this. Putting together different drafts that show my progression over the semester.

 

9. Develop the ability to work well with others on composing tasks. – I have learned this also through the peer review and intensive review. It has taught me to accept peoples’ criticism and also to give criticism to help others in the composing tasks.

 

Course Content & Format

• The content and format of English 103 are designed to enable students to achieve the

course goals; specifically, students in English 103 will:

 

1. Discuss, analyze, and respond to a variety of visual and verbal texts to identify

rhetorical elements, strategies, and conventions.  – I feel we have done this through the rhetorical analysis assignment. We have also done this through some of our blogs.

 

2. Discuss, analyze, and respond to the persuasive logics by which various visual

and verbal texts achieve, or fail to achieve, their purposes.  – I feel we have done this through the rhetorical analysis assignment, where I did a commercial about Doritos. I also feel we learned this through our assignment where we had to be persuasive through a website.

 

3. Collaborate in developing ideas, analyzing visual and verbal texts, and providing

peer feedback.  – We have done this through our peer review groups, where we analyze and give positive encouragement to each person concerning their work. We have also done this through our intensive reviews where everyone is able to collaborate together in helping someone become a better writer.

 

4. Compose persuasive texts through multiple drafts, revising based on peer

feedback, self-reflection, instructor’s written comments, and teacher-student

conferences.  – We have done this through our websites.  I have learned that it takes many drafts to get the best results possible. Mr. McArdle really helps with this especially when we turn in our writings and he gives helpful insight to what can be changed.

 

5. Reflect (orally and textually) on the rhetorical choices and decisions they are required to make as authors to shape a text for a specific audience and purpose.  – I feel we have done this through our rhetorical analysis projects and also when we do peer reviews and intensive reviews. This helps not only ourselves but the others in our class as everyone can get a view from one another.

 

6. Reflect (orally and textually) on the rhetorical choices and decisions they are

required to make in order to construct meaning out of another’s text.  – We have learned to reflect on our blogs when we respond to other’s blogs.

 

7. Complete a variety of writing assignments for multiple purposes, audiences, and

contexts, using various media, and including primary and secondary research. – We have done this throughout our assignments starting with the “I Believe” paper, rhetorical analysis, and the website. Doing a variety of papers has helped me to expand in my writing.

 

University Core Curriculum Goals

• The central purpose of University Core Curriculum is to enable men and women to live

rich and satisfying lives and to undertake the broad responsibilities of citizenship in a

free society.  Although The University Core Curriculum seeks to discover and nurture

individual talents, its primary emphasis is preparation for roles people share as human

beings and as members of family and community groups. Thus, students will be able to:

 

1. Engage in lifelong education by learning to acquire knowledge and to use it for

intelligent ends. – In this class I have learned how to write to help me later in life whether it be writing papers to parents or any other business related. This class has helped me to correct my writing so that it flows nicely and it has helped me with my grammar as well.

 

2. Communicate at a level acceptable for college students. – I think that the blogs has helped with this because it is off of the internet and we do it all on Facebook so why not blog about stuff that our class can comment on. I feel that this is a really good idea in this class.

 

3. Clarify their personal values and be sensitive to those held by others. – I feel that I have been able to do this through the papers that I have written. I’m able to freely write about my beliefs and how I feel about them, but yet be sensitive to those around me.

 

4. Recognize and seek solutions for the common problems of living by drawing on a

knowledge of historical and contemporary events and elements of the cultural

heritage surrounding those events. – I feel that I have done this through finding resource for my website. I have found information from others to support my topic and enhance it.

 

5. Work with others to solve life’s common problems. – We are freely to talk about anything we want and we are then able to question those in order to help them or enhance their papers. It can also answer some of their problems. We have done this in our peer review and intensive reviews.

 

6. Assess their unique interests, talents, and goals and choose specialized learning

experiences that will foster their fulfillment.  – This class fulfills all of these through all of the papers, peer reviews, and intensive reviews.