Using the Model Syllabus, Calendar, and Assignments
The model syllabus, model calendar, and sample assignments are provided as a point of departure for customizing your own course. They can be used and freely adapted by any instructor, but new instructors especially should review the suggested goals and assignments closely. As you get to know your students—and yourself in the role of English 100 instructor—you may want to make changes that take into account your particular group of students or your own teaching style.
The model calendar provides a complete schedule for the entire course, integrating all the required curriculum elements. New instructors may choose to follow the model calendar day by day, but this is not a requirement. We encourage you to make adaptations to best meet the needs of your class and integrate your particular scholarly and pedagogical interests, as long as they align with the English 100 program.
The model calendar suggests possibilities for weekly and daily goals, reading and writing assignments, and activities and lessons. Possible daily lesson plans are available through the LessonShare Canvas site and in this BOX folder. In some instances, we suggest more goals and activities than are possible to accomplish in one class period or week. We offer many possibilities because we want you to design your own course in a way that suits your personality and your students.
Our model calendars have been developed and revised collaboratively by instructors and the admin team over several years. They are offered as a work in progress. Along with a set of goals, the Comm A requirement prescribes some activities that must be included in any English 100 section, as well as in other Comm A courses (e.g., drafting, revision, an oral presentation). The model calendar and assignments organize the work of the course in a way that incorporates these goals and activities with the writing-centered approach of English 100. When customizing your own calendar and lesson plans, be sure to keep Comm A and the English 100 approach in mind.
When reviewing the suggested readings in the model calendar, you’ll notice they include Course Readings incorporated from the Course Readings website as well as other copyrighted readings shared solely through Canvas. You may choose to incorporate different readings, select a few additional readings provided as e-texts (pdf files) or on-line, or modify the reading assignments in some other way. However, all students should read at least the “Introduction to English 100,” “Course Policies and Resources,” and “Approaches to Rhetoric, Writing, and Revision,” which introduces them to the curriculum and the processes for approaching reading and understanding argument in English 100. You should also plan to assign the student essays for discussion.
As a final note, you will find that in many cases there are a number of activities mentioned for a particular day and you do not have to do all of these activities at once; rather, we encourage you to think thoughtfully about what works best for the direction of your course and select appropriately. Further, you will want to adapt and change the calendar to reflect the progress of your particular class and level of students, this might be especially true as the semester progresses.