QUEENSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE, CUNY

Integrated Reading and Writing for Advanced ESL Students ENGL 090 (CRN);
SECTION: D23A
English Department
SPRING 2020
REVISED SYLLABUS AND SCHEDULE VIA BLACKBOARD

Professor Diana De Jesus

Email: ddejesus@qcc.cuny.edu
Email Office Hours: Tuesday- Thursday 12:00-1:00 PM. Please email me if you have any questions and/or concerns that
arise. I will do my best to respond to each and every one of you as soon as possible.

Class Discussions- Blackboard Blog: Sometimes I will post a CATW article for everyone to view and discuss on. You can
summarize the article, you can discuss a quote you either agreed or disagreed with and explain why. You can also
incorporate a personal experience that RELATES TO THE TEXT. This will give me an idea that you understand the article
to a degree. If your classmate did not understand the article, this will be your chance to explain it to them as much as
you can. I will use these discussions as part as your attendance and participation grade. TRY YOUR BEST. That is all I
ask for.

In addition, I created a category entitled “Ask Me a Question”. As stated above, if there is anyone in the class who needs
assistance on what they read or need help with an assignment, you can ask a question and I will do my utmost best to
address your concerns.

Peer Review- Blackboard Discussion Blog- For your Argumentative Essay, and CATW work and additional assignments,
you will each submit your draft via the Discussion Board area under Peer Review. From there, you will notice I created a
topic for your work and you can respond to my original thread and BE SURE TO ATTACH your essay there (MUST be a
Word Document, and or a PDF file. Those are the only two acceptable formats for this point and time). Once you open
the Discussion board area, choose on your own “Create Thread” and title your thread “Your Name + Draft” be certain to
attach the paper and also discuss your thoughts on what you felt was good about the essay and what you feel you need
more improvement on. I will also be providing comments in the drafts.

Papers & Revisions

Personal Narrative- If I advised you to revise this one and you have NOT submitted to me a revision of this first essay, I
am giving you another chance to email it me on Friday by 5:00PM. After the deadline, I will not accept it.

Argumentative Essay – I gave everyone a chapter on writing arguments. PLEASE review this chapter. I will hand out
additional resource for you to view. This will be the second paper you will write. We have been discussing the pros and
cons of social media by reading articles and viewing videos. We watched one last video before the shift to online
occurred. It was entitled “Is Social Media Hurting Your Mental Health?” by Bailey Parnell. The link is up under Readings,
Videos and Documents. You will write a five-paragraph draft- You will introduce whether or not you think social media
is good or bad for society.
Cause and Effect – This one is still up in the air. Meaning, I still may cancel this one and go straight into more CATW
writing AND your self-reflection essay,

For this particular assignment you were/will to discuss a community issue that effects your neighborhood or New York
City in general; (I will send out guidelines), you will watch videos from Ann Cooper and Tyrone Poole. Each of these
discussions addresses a CAUSE and EFFECT. Meaning an action relates to a consequence whether it was successful or
not. Therefore, you will need to try your best and find AT LEAST ONE article you want to use in your discussion. I will
provide a link to chapter on cause. and effect writing.

Midterm/Final Exam: This is TO BE DETERMINED. Your final exams were to be a CATW essay you were to take in the
Testing Center. More information is still forthcoming. I will contact everyone if this will take place.

Self- Reflection Essay/Portfolio Assignment: I will attach guidelines soon. This essay calls on you to reflect on your
writing throughout the semester. Your portfolio will consist of three formal and or informal assignments you have
written this semester as well as a self-reflection essay that describes what you have learned about writing and what you
think your strengths and weaknesses are as a writer. Because your goal is to demonstrate your effort and attempts at
improvement as well as the final versions of your essays, you also should include all of the work you have done on the
essays you have written. For this, I suggest after each essay you have done (Personal Narrative, Argumentative, Cause &
Effect) and write a one-page reflection of each. What did you find difficult in writing this essay, what was easy for you,
and so forth.

With each of these assignments, I will provide you with more details about their due dates. However, CATW writing will
be due every Tuesday by 5:00pm AFTER THAT DEADLINE, THESE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

CATW Practice Writing- I decided to have THURSDAYS as practice CATW Writing and each practice essay will be due
Tuesdays. If I see you that you improved, I will only ask you to make minor edits/fixes to grammar and paragraphs and
you WILL resend me them to me.

I am still working on the time frame on when these practice revised essays will exactly be due, because I do not want to
overwhelm everyone enough as it is.

With each of these assignments, I will provide you with more details about their due dates. However, with CATW writing
they will be due every Tuesday NO LATER BY 5:00pm. I am being more than generous here.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

New Semester Schedule: *This schedule is by no means SET IN STONE. It may be altered as needed. *

March 19 (Thursday) – Read “Computers in the Classroom” (Will be on Blackboard and attached in email)
Blog/Writing: Go to our Blackboard Blog and respond to your thoughts on the article. It does not have to be a lot, but
your brief thoughts on the subject addressed
Homework: Due Tuesday: COMPLETE A CATW response, send VIA EMAIL. Also: Read chapter on arguments/handout on
argumentative essay outline + Guidelines

March 24 (Tuesday)
Writing: Write a draft of your argumentative social media essay. Do as much as you can. Try Your best. T
Blog: Upload draft onto the peer review section on Blackboard
March 25 (Wednesday)
Blog: Peer Review Drafts. This must be done and it will count as participation
Homework/Writing Complete final drafts of argumentative essay. To give you more time, I will give you until FRIDAY
March 27 by no later than 5:00PM to send them to me VIA EMAIL.

March 26 (Thursday)
Blog: Read “Failure is a Good Thing” and write your thoughts
Writing: Practice CATW Writing. Write a Summary and Significant Idea ONLY Try your best
Homework: Finish up CATW. It is due Tuesday via EMAIL by 5:00 PM
Read: Proceed to the following link https://juancarloslemusstave.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/real-writing-with-
reading-paragraphs-and-essays-for-college.pdf go to pages 239 – 255 and read chapter on cause & effect. A Thread will
be created for you to discuss the chapter

March 31 (Wednesday)
Video: Watch the following Video by Ann Cooper “Reinventing School Lunches” uploaded onto Blackboard, along with a
handout for reflection.
Blog: Summarize the video in five-eight sentences to the best of your ability. Then free write your thoughts on the video
you saw. Did you know about these things Ms. Cooper was stating in in her passionate video? Do you agree with Ms.
Cooper about the school lunches? Was this an eye-opener for you(was there anything that she said that struck you)?
Anything that comes to mind. *YOU CAN TURN ON CLOSED CAPTIONS BY CLICKING ON CC ON YOUTUBE!*

April 2 (Tuesday)
Video # 2 “Creating Access to Housing in America” by Tyrone Poole Uploaded onto Blackboard
*YOU CAN TURN ON CLOSED CAPTIONS BY CLICKING ON CC ON YOUTUBE!*
Blog/Write: Discuss your thoughts on the video. Anything that comes to mind. Were you inspired by Mr. Poole? What do
you think of his discussion on housing? Is it realistic? Not realistic? Why or why not?
Homework: Start thinking of a community issue that you are passionate about and find ONE article from a reputable
source( meaning a source that is trustworthy from a newspaper, EDU, ORG, GOV) that connects to your community
issue. The chapter I linked you to, has some examples of cause & effect essays

During spring break, Write a five-paragraph essay draft. I am not asking for anything big- I will provide a template for all
to follow.

SPRING BREAK – April 8-16 NO CLASS

April 17 (Friday) *I know we go back on a Tuesday, (but to speed up the process, I am sorry)
Blog: Cause & Effect Draft due on the Blog

April 21 (Tuesday)
Writing: Read on Self-Reflection essay/Guidelines
Homework: FINAL drafts of Cause & Effect essay due via email, NO LATER BY 5:00PM Tuesday.

April 22 (Wednesday) TBD

April 23 (Thursday)
Read: Read the following article, “When Mañana Is Too Soon”
Blog: Discuss your views on this article, try to incorporate a personal experience.
Homework: Finish essay

April 28 (Tuesday) CATW PRACTICE WRITING DUE NO LATER BY 5:00 VIA EMAIL
Writing/Blog: Freewriting exercising: Think about the writing you have done (summaries, CATW, personal narrative,
argumentative, etc). Do you feel you have improved as a writer? Do you feel you still need to work on some areas? Did
you think the writing process would be easier? What essay did you feel you put your heart and soul into? Or felt you
could have done better on? Anything that comes to mind
Homework: Write a one-page reflection draft for each of the following: Personal Narrative, Argumentative, Cause &
Effect and any of the CATW articles you have written.

April 29 (Wednesday)
Homework: Continue working your reflection drafts on each essay.
Resources: Go the following link to get MORE examples of Cause & Effect writing
https://ngl.cengage.com/assets/downloads/greatwi_pro0000000335/gw5_unit6.pdf

April 30 (Thursday) – One last time: Continue working your drafts

Blog/Writing – IF you finish your drafts, UPLOAD them onto Blackboard AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BEFORE THE WEEKEND IS
OUT. YOU WILL PEER REVIEW THEIR REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Homework: Finish FINAL DRAFTS.

May 5 (Tuesday)
Blog: FINAL DRAFTS of self reflection essay due NO LATER by 5:00 PM
Writing: Construct a CATW response with the following article “A Degree in Three” by Stephen Joel Tratchenberg

May 6 (Wednesday)
Blog: Discuss your thoughts on the following article “Reading on Computer Screens Change how Your Brain Works” by
James Titcomb
Writing: CATW ESSAY RESPONSE of article

May 7 (Thursday)
Blog: Read article “Are School Uniforms Helping or Hindering” and discuss
Writing: CATW ESSAY RESPONSE on article.

May 12 (Tuesday)
Blog: Read “Do What you Love” by Tony Hawk
Writing: CATW ESSAY RESPONSE

May 14 (Wednesday)
Blog: Read this last article “Praise Children for Effort, Not Intelligence” and discuss only. LAST DAY OF CLASS.

May 15 (Thursday) – FINAL EXAM TBD