Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Students That Inspire Teachers

Go to the link:

http://www.npr.org/2013/06/03/188355966/the-students-that-keep-teachers-inspired

Read the interview in preparation for a short quiz next class.

One-time-due-date-extender



The One-Time-Only Due-Date Extender
Instructions: Fill in your name, the date, and the name of the assignment you’d like to turn in late or make up. Then attach the form to the same email that you are using to turn in your assignment.
 I am requesting permission to turn in the attached assignment, or make up a missed test, up to three calendar days late with no grade penalty. I agree not to ask for extensions on any other assignments I may turn in for this class, and I understand that any other assignment I turn in after the class period in which it is due, for whatever reason, will not be accepted.
 Note: no assignments will be accepted for any reason after the last regular day of classes (i.e. no assignments are accepted during finals week).
 ___________________________________
Name of assignment
 ___________________________________
Name of student
 ___________________________________
Date:


Thursday, August 7, 2014

Rd 115 Winterl 2015 syllabus



 

Mt. Hood Community College

RD 115 Reading for College Success

Humanities Division – Academic Literacy – Winter 2015

 

Instructor: Joe Van Zutphen    Email: Joe.VanZutphen@mhcc.edu
Office and mailbox:  Humanities Division, AC 2450   Office Hours: TTH: 8:15- 8:55
Class Location: AC 1553 Time: 9 -10:20 am
Blogspot: http://vanzutphenrd115.blogspot.com/

 Course Information _________________________________________________________________________
Credits: 3

WELCOME TO MT. HOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE!

For those of you new to the college experience, this document, your course syllabus, will outline everything of importance in this course. Keep this syllabus, refer to it often, and use it to guide your work in this course. Please know that this guide, like most others, is subject to change, and that if substantive changes do occur, I will issue revisions to this document.

 

MT. HOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE MISSION STATEMENT

A commitment to the community: Mt. Hood Community College affords all people a knowledge-based education, giving them the ability to make life choices: adapt to change; build strong communities; contribute to and derive benefit from the new economy; and become part of a skilled workforce.

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Effective reading of college textbooks requires a variety of critical thinking and reading skills. This course teaches effective strategies and tactics directly applicable to textbook learning. Students develop skill with techniques designed to make them active, thinking participants in the reading/learning process. Focus of instruction is on comprehending textbook material through the recognition, understanding, and application of main ideas and thesis. College-level vocabulary acquisition is also emphasized.

 

REQUISITE

Placement in RD 115 is based on the college reading placement (CPT) test scores, grades of C or better in RD090 and WR090, or instructor referral. Concurrent enrollment in WR115 or higher is recommended.

 

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:

 

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

  • Use context clues to determine unfamiliar word meaning at an advanced level.
  • Use word parts (prefixes, roots and suffixes) to define unknown words.
  • Accurately answer factual questions about a college-level text at an advanced mastery level.
  • Identify both stated and implied main ideas in college-level texts at an advanced mastery level.
  • Identify and distinguish among main ideas, major support and minor support in college-level texts at an advanced mastery level.
  • Identify transition words at an advanced mastery level.
  • Identify organizational patterns in college-level texts at an advanced mastery level.
  • Write a simple summary of college-level texts at an advanced mastery level.
  • Create a visual representation of main idea and supporting details within a text using skills such as creating an outline, map, or Cornell Notes at an advanced mastery level.
  • Make accurate inferences from a college-level text at an advanced mastery level.
  • Use a variety of reading strategies at an advanced level, such as previewing, annotations, prediction, visualization, recalling and reacting to text, and/or writing a summary.
  • Read and respond to selected readings from diverse voices at an advanced mastery level.
  • Demonstrate increased fluency and study skills by reading a book-length work (300 pages or more).
  • Discuss and demonstrate productive student behaviors including note-taking at an advanced level.
  • Distinguish fact from opinion in a text at an advanced level.
  • Identify an author’s purpose at an advanced level.
  • Identify an author’s point of view in a persuasive text at an intermediate level.
  • Identify figures of speech at an intermediate mastery level.

 

REQUIRED MATERIALS

  • Textbook: Bridging the Gap, 11th Edition, by Brenda D. Smith
  • Additional required book: Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, pub. by Random House
  • three-ring notebook
  • A personal e-mail account & access to a computer and the Internet

 

HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD I INVEST IN THIS COURSE?

You should be prepared to devote at least 6 and optimally 9 or more hours per week to preparing for this class, or around 2 to 3 hours of preparation for each hour you spend in class. Preparation includes reading and completing your assignments, reviewing your work, working with your study group, and any other work that you need to do to support your learning.

 

COURSE COMPONENTS

Class Participation: I like to think of class participation as a willingness to participate in and/or adhere to all of the following:

  1. class discussion
  2. in-class exercises
  3. collaborative/group work
  4. punctuality
  5. coming to class regularly
  6. being respectful of your peers
  7. motivation to succeed

If I feel that you fall short in any of these areas, I reserve the right to drop your class participation grade as I see fit. I will use my “Tardiness and Attendance” policy below to further arrive at your participation grade.

 

Homework: Students will be asked to complete specific homework assignments as outlined on the course calendar and as directed in class. These assignments will provide students with the opportunity to practice and apply skills taught both in lectures and from the text.

 

Vocabulary Development: College students can expect to encounter a large number of words and terms that they will not be familiar with in their textbook reading.  One of the best ways to develop an understanding of these words is to use structural analysis – learning to recognize common prefixes, suffixes, and roots (morphemes) that make up many words in the English language. In order to develop recognition and understanding of these common word parts, students will be asked to create vocabulary cards, using the master list provided, and you will be tested on these morphemes.

 

Exams: There will be 3 mastery exams during the term.  These exams will include recall and application of skills and strategies taught.  It is the students’ responsibility to prepare for exams.  It is also the students’ responsibility to find out why he/she missed items on an exam and to check with the instructor if grading is unclear.

 

GRADING

You will be graded on a letter grade basis at the end of the term: A, B, C, D, F, and I (Incomplete). During the term, I will use grades A – D for passing work and the grade F for non-passing work. Letter grades in this course equate to percentages in the following ways:

A = 90% - 100%, B = 80% - 89%, C = 70% - 79%, D = 60 - 69%, F = 0 – 59%

 
Your final grade for the course will be determined by the following:

 Attendance & Participation                                               40
Additional assignments (inc. Unbroken)                           50
Assignments (8 projects x 10)                                           80
Unbroken quizzes (10 X 6)                                               60                                     
Quizzes (10 pts each) & Exams           (40 pts each)      200

                                                                                       430 Total

 Note that some programs consider a C grade or better in RD115 to be passing.

 Students who wish to know their progress during the term will need to make an appointment to meet with me to discuss such information.
 

LATE WORK

The purpose of homework is two-fold: to extend in-class learning, and to prepare to continue learning. If homework is not done in a timely manner, both of these purposes are lost. Any homework not turned in at the time that it is collected is considered late and will not be accepted. This policy applies to all circumstances, including excused absences. Any assignments completed during class time on the due date are late and a grade of zero will be entered. At the end of the term, I will drop your lowest homework grade and quiz grade, which can take care of a missed assignment and a missed quiz. Additionally, there is a one-time due date extender (see blogspot); this extender is worth 5 end-of-terms points if unused.

 TARDINESS

Tardiness disturbs me greatly, as it should you.  Every time someone walks into class late, he or she disturbs the flow of learning.  For this reason, I will hold you accountable to the following:

  • All entrances into the room after I have finished taking roll will be marked as tardy. Students more than 5 minutes late will lose some participation points for that class meeting. Extreme tardiness for a class meeting may result in a loss of all participation points for that day.
  • If you enter the classroom after I have taken roll, it is up to you to notify me that you are present by the end of class so that I don’t mistakenly mark you as absent.
  • Three tardies will count as an unexcused absence (see below how unexcused absences will affect your final grade).
  • Leaving class early or stepping out in the middle of class is just as disruptive as arriving late. Therefore, if you leave early or step out of class to attend to personal business, it will be treated the same as a tardy.
  • I will start this policy after the second week of classes. By then, you should know if the timing of this class and your own personal schedules are workable together. 
ATTENDANCE

Students are expected to attend each class.  Regular attendance is necessary in order to meet the course objectives.

  • It is not possible to make-up classroom activities. Therefore, any absence will result in no participation points for that class period.
  • Important: Students who miss more than 20% of class hours (i.e., two weeks of instruction) risk failing the course and may be encouraged to drop the class.
  • If you miss one class during the first two weeks of the term, you may be dropped from the course.
  • In order for an absence to be excused, you must contact me before class via voicemail or e-mail. It is a good idea to program my number/e-mail address into your phone. Failure to do this will result in an unexcused absence.
  • If you miss more than three class sessions, you must confer with me to discuss the best course of action regarding your learning in this course. In most cases, I recommend that you withdraw from the course if you must miss more than 3 or 4 class sessions all term.
  • Each unexcused absence will cost you 1% of your overall points earned this term.
  • Excessive excused absences will result in lower achievement and reduced learning.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The following applies if there is a waitlist for the class. If you are not present by the second-class meeting and if I have no message or understanding of your intention to continue with the class by the beginning of the second-class meeting, I will drop you from my personal roster and move you directly to the waitlist. You are then responsible for officially withdrawing from the course.

 LATE ADDS

I will not accept “late adds” after the second class meeting during the first week of instruction. NO EXCEPTIONS. Any student who would like to be added must do all the work and be caught up with the rest of the class.

 PERSONAL ELECTRONIC DEVICES

Please turn off all cell phones and audio equipment when class starts and keep this equipment out of sight. If I see you making a habit of texting or using your phone in any inappropriate manner during class time, I will request a brief conference with you. If the inappropriate behavior continues, I will deduct 10 points from your overall grade for each subsequent occurrence. If the distracting behavior persists beyond this point, I reserve the right to drop or fail you from the course. If your cell phone goes off or if I see a cell phone or other evidence during an exam or quiz, you will lose all points for that exam/quiz. If you are a parent or someone needing to be attendant to the needs of someone else for emergencies only, please leave your phone on silent mode and take the emergency call only after you have quietly stepped out of the classroom. If you cannot turn your cell phone off on a day when we have a test, you will need to make alternate arrangements as you cannot leave your cell phone on during exams.    

CLASSROOM COMMUNITY

In order to create the best learning environment possible, I ask that we respect each other at all times. This especially means no talking while others are contributing to classroom discussion. I will do my best to make sure that everyone has a chance to participate.  In addition, I would appreciate your commitment to refraining from the following: sleeping, doing homework for other classes, packing up early, arriving late, wearing headphones while in class, text messaging, and other behaviors that, with a little bit of foresight, you know are disruptive. Ongoing disruptive behavior will affect your participation grade in this class. I also reserve the right to drop you from the course if the disruptive behavior continues.
 

STUDENT CONDUCT

Students are expected to adhere to the guidelines spelled out in the student handbook with regard to conduct.
 
CHEATING POLICY

It is against MHCC Guidelines for Student Conduct to cheat or plagiarize, both of which are grounds for disciplinary action.  For purposes of this course, any student who submits work that they did not do, copies work from other students, allows other students to copy their work, or cheats in any form, will not receive credit for the work and will not be allowed to redo the work.  If the situation warrants, further disciplinary action may be taken.

 INSTRUCTOR E-MAIL

I will only check and reply to e-mail Tuesday and Thursday during those times that I am on campus. After grades are due at the end of the term, I will not respond to student e-mail or voicemail until the first day of class at the start of the next term.

Letters of Recommendation

If you seek a letter of recommendation from me, you need to be earning an 88% or higher in my course which includes an overall average grade of 88% or higher on your exams.

WITHDRAWAL PROCEDURES

Should it be necessary to quit attending this or any other class, you must officially withdraw in the Registration Office by the dates published in the class schedule or risk a failing grade.  A UW (Unofficial Withdrawal) is equivalent to an F on your transcript.

 PLEASE NOTE

Because the individual make-up and needs of each class varies, and the reality that unforeseen circumstances may interfere with the completion of all of the items in the course syllabus, the instructor reserves the right to modify this plan in ways that will not penalize any student. Students will always be notified of any modification.

 FOR ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT MHCC POLICIES AND SAFETY INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE:
 


TUTORING

Many of you may wish to work with a tutor periodically throughout this course.  In some cases, I may require that you do so.  FREE tutoring is available through the Learning Success Center in AC 3300 on the third floor above the Library.  Call 503-491-7108 for an appointment. Keep in mind that tutors are not there to proofread your work. When visiting with a tutor, please make sure to bring your textbook so the tutor understands what assignment you are working on and try to be as specific as possible as to what you want help with.  Also, don’t wait till the last minute to seek out tutoring; the tutoring/learning process doesn’t work if you try to meet with a tutor the day your assignment is due. The LSC also offers individual learning skills consultation and academic success seminars. The LSC Computer Lab is available for individual academic use and has a variety of skill-building software available.

 Final Exam Week -- March 16 – 20  (Check Finals Schedule for all of your courses)

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

(Please listen to specific assignments as they are given in class. If you are absent, please check with a classmate)
 
 
 
Week 1:
Introductions/Orientation
Chapter 1:Active Learning
 
Week 1:
Chapter 1: Active Learning
 
 
Week 2:
Chapter 2: Vocabulary
Project 1 due
Week 2:
Chapter 2: Vocabulary
Quiz 1
Week 3:
Chapter 3: Strategic Reading and Study
Project 2 due
Week 3:
Chapter 3: Strategic Reading and Study
Quiz 2
 
Week 4:
Predict Exam Content
Review for Exam #1
Project 3 due
Week 4:
Exam # 1 w/Quiz 3
Week 5:
Chapter 4: Main Idea
Project 4 due
Week 5:
Chapter 4: Main Idea
Quiz 4
Week 6:
Chapter 5: Patterns of Organization
Project 5 due
Week 6:
Chapter 5: Patterns of Organization
Quiz  5
Week 7:
Chapter 6: Organizing Textbook Information
Project 6 due
Week 7:
Chapter 6: Organizing Textbook Information
Quiz 6
Week 8:
Predict Exam Content
Review for Exam #2
Veteran’s Day No class      Project 7 due
Week 8:
Exam # 2 w/ Quiz 7
Week 9:
Chapter 10: Graphic Illustrations
Project 8 due
Week 9:
Thanksgiving Holiday: No Classes 21,22,23
Week 10  
Chapter 10: Graphic Illustrations
 
Week 10
Chapter 11: Rate Flexibility
Quiz 8
Week 11
Chapter 12: Test Taking
Review for Exam
Week 11
Chapter 12: Test Taking
Review for Exam
Finals Week  
Exam # 3 Day and time TBA.

Latin Roots Quizzes

Roots Quiz One

1. (a)equis                                           equal, even                                        equivocal, equate

2. anima                                               breath, spirit                                      magnanimous, inanimate

3. ann, enn                                         year                                                       annuity, bicentennial

4. anthropo                                        man                                                       misanthropic, philanthropy

5. astro                                               star                                                          astronomical, astral

6. aud, audit                                       to hear                                               audiophile, audiotape

7. auto                                                  self                                                         autistic, autopilot

8. bellum                                             war                                                        rebel, belligerent

9. bene                                               good, well                                             benign, benefactor

10. bio                                                   life                                                          biodegrade, bionic

 

Roots Quiz Two

1. cap, cept                                         to take                                                  capture, capacious

2. capit                                                 head                                                       caption, decapitation

3. cede, ceed                                     to yield, to go                                    concession, concede

4. cent                                                  hundred                                              centennial, centipede

5. chron                                                time                                                       synchronize, anachronistic

6. civ                                                      citizen                                                   civility, civilization

7. cogni                                               to know                                               recognize, connoisseur

8. corpus                                              body                                                      corpulent, corpse

9. crat, cracy                                       rule                                                        aristocracy, bureaucrat

10. cred, credit                                to believe                                              credit, incredible, credence

 

Roots Quiz Three

1. cult                                                    to care for                                           culture, occult

2. cycle                                               wheel, circle                                         cyclical

3. dem                                                  people                                                  pandemic, democracy

4. dent                                                  tooth                                                     dentifrice, dental

5. derm                                               skin                                                         hypodermic, pachyderm

6. dic, dict                                            to say, to speak                              indicate, verdict

7. duc, duct                                         to lead                                                  educate, conducive

8. fac, fact                                           to make                                               facsimile, factor

9. fin                                                      end, complete                                  finish, infinity

10. gen, gene                                     birth, origin                                         gender, generator

 

Roots Quiz Four

1. geo                                                    earth                                                     geography, geophysics

2. gram                                               to write                                                grammar, epigram

3. graph                                                to write                                                              graffiti, phonograph

4. hetero                                             other                                                     heterosexual, heterodox

5. homo                                               same                                                     homonym, homogenous

6. hydra                                                water                                                    hydrate, dehydrated

7. jac, ject                                            to throw                                              dejected, ejaculate

8. log, logo                                          word, study                                        etymology, mineralogy

9. loqui, locut                                     talk                                                         ventriloquist, loquacious

10. luc, lus                                           light                                                       illustrate, elucidate

 

Roots Quiz Five

1. mania                                               madness                                              maniac pyromaniac

2. manus                                              hand                                                      manacle, manipulate

3. metr                                               measure                                                parameter, metric

4. micro                                                small                                                      microscope, microfiche

5. mit, miss                                         to send                                                transmit, mission, demise

6. mono                                               one                                                        monopolize, monogamy

7. mor                                                   dead                                                      immortality, morgue

8. ocul                                                   eye                                                        monocle, binocular

9. path                                                  feeling, suffering                             apathy, psychopath

10. ped                                               foot (also child)                                  expedite, pedestrian

 

Roots Quiz Six

1. photo                                               light                                                       photophobic, photograph

2. port                                                   to carry                                               deport, portfolio

3. phon                                               sound                                                     symphony, cacophony

4. scrib, script                                     to write                                                               scribble, nondescript

5. spec, spect                                     to look                                                  spectrum, circumspect 

 6. un-                                                   not                                                         unkind, unnecessary

7. re-                                                     again, back                                          replace, repeat

8. in-, im-, il-, ir-                              not, opposite of                               illogical, immature, inactive

9.  dis-                                                   not, without                                       dislocate, disrupt

10. en-, em-                                       in, to cause to be, put                    emphasis, enlarge, enemy

 

Roots Quiz Seven

1. non-                                                  not                                                         nonentity, nonpayment

2. over-                                              over                                                         overdue, overcoat, overt

3 mis-                                                    ill, mistaken                                        mistake, mischief, misdeed

4. sub-                                                  under, below                                     submerge, substitute

5. pre-                                                   before (both time & place)          preamble, predict

6 inter                                                   between                                             intergalactic, interfere

7. fore-                                                before, in front of                            forehead,

8. de-                                                    from                                                      delight, dedicate

9. trans                                               across                                                     transportation, trajectory

10. eu                                    good                                                    euphoria, euphemism

 

Roots Quiz Eight

1. ambi                                           both                                             ambivalent, ambiguous

2. mal                                                 bad, evil                                                  malevolent, malady

3. ad-                                              toward                                         adhere, adverse

4. be-                                              on all sides, overly                  bemoan, bedazzled

5. con-, com-                                 with, together                                       construct, companion

6. –ist                                             one who                                     dentist, oncologist

7. mal-                                           bad, evil                                      maladjusted, malcontent

8. dia-                                            through                                                       dialysis, diagnosis, diameter

9. sur                                             over, above                                                surface, sirloin, survivor

10. luna                                         moon                                                            lunatic, loony, lunar