Women’s History Syllabus for Class 3A Spring 2020

 

WELCOME

Welcome to the CUNY Language Immersion Program. This is the class syllabus. The purpose of the syllabus is to introduce the course to students. You should know that this class has several purposes. It is an ESL class, but it’s much more than that. You and I are about to take a journey together.

 

THEME

CLIP uses “thematic instruction.” This means that each class uses a theme as the basis for studying English. We learn about the theme at the same time as we learn English. Most of the reading and writing assignments in the course will be related to the theme. There are several reasons for using thematic instruction:

1. It is more interesting for students to learn about something—an academic subject—while they learn English. 

 

1. Cognitive scientists—scientists who study the way we think—know that we remember information better when it is connected to other information. 

 

For example, imagine that someone says hello to you on the street, but you can’t remember meeting her before. Then she says, “We were in the same history class in high school!” Then you remember her from the class! Connecting her with the context where you met helps you to remember her. 

 

• Using a theme makes your CLIP class more like a college class. Students get the experience of looking in a detailed and academic way at an academic topic. In this class there will be tests on English and also on the history we learn in class.

 

 

Our theme: The theme of this class is Women’s History, with a particular focus on the United States. Here are three excellent reasons to have this as a theme: 

1. It should be naturally interesting to everyone. Even if you are not a woman, there are women in your life. 

 

1. Women’s history is a theme that everyone can understand in a very personal way because everyone has a very personal experience with the different roles of men and women in society. It’s not just about women! It’s about all of us, and how society has changed and is changing.

 

1. Women’s History is an academic topic that is an appropriate subject for college level learning. It is a subject that is studied in college. Women’s History is connected to many majors that students might choose to study in college. For example, it is connected to the larger fields of history, anthropology, sociology, women’s studies, marketing, law and psychology.

ENGLISH

In this course, you will learn a lot of English in a short time. In one semester many students can improve a lot in the way they listen, speak, read and write in English. Many teachers have different ways of teaching, but all teachers agree on one thing. The best way to improve is to practice. If you want to be better at something, practice is very important. The only skill you can improve by sitting in class and listening, is listening. The rest, you have to do for yourself. Fortunately, you are in exactly the right place to do it! 

 

READING

Reading is the foundation of a CLIP course. Most of the writing and speaking and listening we do in the course is based on the reading.

In this course, you will read both fiction and non-fiction texts that is related to Women’s History. Here is a short list of the core reading:

Fiction:

• Cinderella adapted by Oliver Mann
• Jane Eyre (adapted for ESL version) by Charlotte Brontë
• Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina

Non-fiction: 

• The Story of the Women’s Movement by Maureen Ash
• You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation (excerpts) by Deborah Tannen 
• America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines (excerpts) by Gail Collins
• When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to Present (excerpts) by Gail Collins

 

In order to strengthen your ability to read many kinds of text, we will focus on three elements of reading:

 

• Background Knowledge;

• Reading Skills; and

• Vocabulary.

 

 

1. Background Knowledge

 

What is background knowledge? It is information that you already know before you read a text.  Imagine that you are a lawyer. If you are a lawyer, you already understand a lot about law.  Reading a legal document will be easy for you since you are familiar with so much of what it says.  You are also probably familiar with its structure (the way the information is presented). On the other hand, if you aren’t a lawyer, it’s difficult to understand a legal document.  

What can you do to build your background knowledge?  That’s what we will practice in class. We’ll work at building layers of understanding by choosing texts that present ideas in a simple way first.  For example, in order to build background knowledge about President Obama, you could start by reading a children’s book about him. By reading a book that is easy for you to understand, you will quickly build background knowledge about Obama’s life.  With this knowledge, you can then read a longer book about Obama more easily.  

Before we start reading, we will do a number of pre-reading activities to get ready to comprehend and analyze the text.  Many of the pre-reading activities that we will do in this class are related to background knowledge.  As we do these activities, I will explain why and how they work.  

 

2. Reading Skills

 

What are reading skills?  If you have a skill, you have the ability to do something well. Reading skills are the different things you do when you read that make you a good reader. For example, if you are able to quickly understand the most important idea of an article, this is a skill that makes you a better reader. There are many other reading skills that will make us better readers. Here are a few.

 

 

• Identify common text types and elements:

 

 

There is so much text in the world, but there are a few common types, including narrative, informational, and persuasive. Understanding and recognizing these types—and elements of each type—will help you read quickly and more accurately. We’ll also learn how to read the charts, graphs, and maps that are often a part of nonfiction texts. 

 

 

• Improve metacognition (awareness of & reflecting on your reading process):  

 

 

Have you ever missed your subway stop because you were thinking about something else? Have you ever gotten to the end of a page and realized that you had no idea what you just read because you were thinking about lunch? Reading is not a passive activity. Your mind is active and alive as you read—making connections, thinking about meaning, responding to what you read—and maybe getting distracted when you remember that you need to buy milk on your way home.  How can you redirect your attention back to the text when you get distracted? This is thinking about the way you think, and it is one example of how you can use metacognition to become a better reader.

 

• Interact and react to a text by asking questions and annotating:

 

 

People who annotate or take notes as they read will remember the information from the text better than people who don’t.  As we read, we’ll work with ways to take notes on our responses to the text. For example, if you read a sentence two or three times and you don’t understand it, you might write “?” next to this paragraph. Or, if you read something that reminds you of an experience you had at JFK airport, you might make a note to record this connection.  

 

 

• Identify main ideas, supporting details, and examples:

 

 

When you read for a college class, what is usually tested? Do you see the big ideas on a test, or the small details? Most professors test students on the big ideas. The big ideas are more important than the small details. Distinguishing between these two is not always easy.  In every text we read, we’ll ask the questions: What’s the main point here? What details or evidence does the writer provide in support of the main point?

 

 

• Make logical inferences—explicit vs implicit:

 

 

Texts say some things explicitly.  For example, “The man with the cane moved slowly down the hallway.” What is explicitly stated? Only what is in the sentence—there is a man, and he’s using a cane, and he’s moving down the hallway slowly.  Based on this, what can you assume about this man?  Do you think he might be weak, ill, or injured?  The sentence doesn’t say this, but since you know that he’s using a cane and moving slowly, you can infer that he is weak, ill, or injured.   

 

3. Vocabulary

 

The juice is good. The juice is sweet and delicious. The juice is tangy with a slight floral scent.  The more words you know, the more specific you can be. We take vocabulary seriously in this class, since a large vocabulary also makes you a better reader (and writer and communicator in general). We’ll discuss in class how to select and work with the most useful words to incorporate them into your vocabulary. Finally, we’ll learn a set of word parts (prefixes and suffixes) that repeat throughout the English language.  These short pieces of words help you figure out the meaning of new words. We’ll also learn about the multiple meanings of words, and how to determine the meaning of a word used in a text.

 

WRITING

This class will include a lot of writing. You will write 6 multi-draft essays, two paragraph length summaries, and two paragraph length answers to key questions related to the theme. In addition, you will write more than one practice CATW. Writing multiple drafts of essays means looking again at what you wrote and trying to develop your ideas. This doesn’t mean only trying to better express what you thought the first time, it means trying to think more and differently about your topic, and express your thoughts in a more refined and organized paper. In addition, you will have weekly homework assignments that may include writing. There will also be shorter writing assignments in class. You will write for many purposes, including: expressing your opinions, explaining what you have learned, explaining your own experiences and comparing and contrasting different ideas, people or events.  

 

Drafting Process:

• The first draft will usually be written in class. It is important to finish the first draft before you begin the next step. 
• The second draft must be typed. You will staple the second draft to the top of the first, so the newest draft is on top. I will read the second draft. I will use correction symbols to help you learn grammar and spelling. Equally important, I will make comments to help you express yourself more clearly, and in a more organized way. 
• You will write the third draft, making the changes I asked for on draft 2. I will read that too. If the third draft has made good use of the comments, has strong grammar and vocabulary, and meets the criteria of the assignment, the third draft will be the last one. You will keep it in a portfolio (a collection) of your essays which we will use to assess and self-assess your learning and progress in the course (more on portfolios later).
• If it still needs more work, you will do a fourth draft. The fourth draft will be the final draft and will receive your final grade for the essay.

 

When you date your essay, please use the date that you give me your essay, not the date you started it. When I return your essay, I will write the date on it. I will not accept late assignments unless you have arranged for more time before the due date. If you don’t do your work on time, you will miss a major part of the class. 

FILMS

In this class you will learn to view films with an academic eye. 

• Jane Eyre (1943), directed by Robert Stevenson 
• Iron Jawed Angels (2004), directed by Katja von Garnier
• A League of Their Own (1992), directed by Penny Marshall
• Mona Lisa Smile (2003), directed by Mike Newell
• Miss Representation (2011) directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom
• North Country (2005), directed by Niki Caro
• Boys Don’t Cry (1999), directed by Kimberly Pierce

 

COMPUTER LAB AND PROJECTS

We will have at least one hour in the computer lab every day. We will use Blackboard. This website contains important information and we will look at it the first week of class. 

COLLEGE KNOWLEDGE 

This class will also help you prepare for college by learning about college-going information, concepts and skills. You will learn the academic reading skills I mentioned in the reading section, and you will learn how to write several different kinds of essays that are common assignments in American college classes. You will learn how to present your work in ways that show you are a serious student. You will also learn how to find out about college courses, majors, programs and opportunities available at CUNY.  College knowledge lectures are a great opportunity to practice note-taking. Notes from these lectures should be saved and included in the portfolio.

TRIPS_______________________________________________________________________

We can gain additional insights into our theme, and put our English skills to work outside of the classroom, by taking some trips. 

We will have a chance to visit The New York Historical Society’s new Center for Women’s History. 

We will have a chance to visit world-class museums and reflect on female archetypes and the roles of women in art.

MATERIALS

As with any class, there are some materials required for this class. You will need:

1. a three-ring loose-leaf binder and loose-leaf paper. If you don’t like to use a loose-leaf binder, that’s okay. You don’t have to like it; you just have to get one. As the semester continues, you will see the reasons for this. 

 

1. 1. to write in blue or black pen. After today, I will not read anything in pencil. Most college professors will never take work in pencil and I am not different.

 

• a USB flash drive or cloud storage. For security reasons, you cannot save anything on the computers in the computer labs. Some files will be too big to email.

• an English-English dictionary. You need a paper dictionary, not a phone; bring this dictionary every day. It is essential.

• You are not required to own a computer, but you are required to use a computer for many class assignments and you will be expected to use and check email. If you don’t have a computer at home, you can use the computers in the school library.

 

 

CLASS RULES

Our class and our program have some rules for behavior. The rules are designed in order to help everyone learn as much as possible. We will review the program rules, including the attendance policy, together. Here are some additional ones for the class.

1. 1. Speak only English during the class. This is not only for your personal benefit, but for the benefit of everyone in the class.
   2. Show respect to all your classmates. Don’t laugh at other students and don’t laugh about them. You are all in the same class for the same reasons. If one person struggles more than the others, we should truly respect and admire that person more for having the strength to continue trying something that is difficult for him or her. 

 

• Don’t leave garbage or recycling in the classroom. The room does get cleaned at night, but there will be another class in this room before it gets cleaned.

• Come to class every day, come on time, and stay until the end. Of course, anyone can be late or absent once in a while, but CLIP has a strict attendance policy that we will review and follow closely.

• Participate. The teacher cannot make a class good alone. The students have a responsibility to participate, raise their hands, express opinions, volunteer, take a chance on yourself. To do your part, raise your hand several times every day. Even, if you do not get a chance to ask your questions in class, you can still participate. Come see me in the office right after class any day of the week, with or without an appointment. I want to give you the help you need!

 

 

EVALUATIONS

Of course there will be tests. And, the tests are important, but they are not everything. Test scores are numbers; they cannot tell you who you are, where you’re coming from or where you are going. Having said that, let’s talk about tests, evaluations and assessment.

Every student in this class should make it his or her goal to improve on the CLIP essay and Michigan tests. 

There will be weekly vocabulary evaluations that I will explain in the first week. 

In the middle of the semester, there will be a test on everything covered up to that point. This will include grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, writing techniques and all of the other content of the class. You will need to remember some facts and skills to do well on these tests.

You will receive a written evaluation from me in the middle of the semester and another at the end of the semester. 

In addition, there will be a final exam on both content area knowledge and English language development.

One normal and intelligent question students might have is, “How do I pass this course?” I don’t have a traditional answer for that. CLIP does not give passing or failing grades. Some students learn faster than others and some students work harder than others. There is no limit to how much you can improve!

Finally, all student work should be saved so that we can make an academic portfolio at the end of the semester. This portfolio will have everything you do in the class.  

 

IMPORTANT DATES

January 28 Class begins

February 12 No class: Lincoln’s Birthday

February 17 No class: Presidents’ Day

March 19 Mid-Term Exam (tentative)

April              09-17 No class: Spring Break

May 05 Trip to New York Historical Society

May 25 No class: Memorial Day

June 03 Last Day of Class: Closing Ceremony

June 04-08 and beyond… If you are starting college in the summer or fall, you will have to come in some additional days for advisement and registration.