Composition I COURSE CALENDAR ◌ FALL 2020
KEY
All reading responses and essays are due on or before 11:59 p.m. on the Sunday following the week the assignment is indicated. For instance, a reading response listed under the week August 30-September 5 would be due on or before 11:59 p.m. on September 6 (the Sunday—and first day—of the following week). The portfolio must be completed on or before 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, December 15. The assigned readings that require reading responses are indicated in fuchsia semibold italics. ESSAYS AND YOUR PORTFOLIO ARE INDICATED IN ALL CAPS IN BLUE BOLD ITALICS. THE WEEK OF THE FALL BREAK IS INDICATED IN ALL CAPS IN BLACK BOLD. Also, don’t get confused when you see a hyphen followed by my initials—“-ALW”—at the end of a sentence or under several sentences. It’s a weird habit I started years ago to show that I had actually written something instead of a work-study student, an assistant, a secretary, etc. Finally, “IP” means it’s in the instructor-provided readings.
CALENDAR
AUGUST 24-29 · Introduction to the class. AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 · Complete the course agreement.
Allen Loibner-Waitkus
SEPTEMBER 6-12 · Skim chapters 1-5. · Read “A Writer in the World” (IP 25) by Annie Dillard. SEPTEMBER 13-19 · Read “Writing a Narrative / A Roadmap” (68). · Read “Me Talk Pretty One Day” (68) by David Sedaris. SEPTEMBER 20-26 · Read “Living Like Weasels” (IP 19) by Annie Dillard. SEPTEMBER 27-OCTOBER 3 · Read “I Have Been Called a Luddite” (IP 32) by Kurt Vonnegut. OCTOBER 4-10 ESSAY #1: NARRATIVE ESSAY DUE OCTOBER 11-17 · Read “Writing Analytically / A Roadmap” (74). · Read “Advertisements R Us” (330) by Melissa Rubin. OCTOBER 18-24 · Read “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s” (325) by Brent Staples OCTOBER 25-31 ESSAY #2: ANALYTIC ESSAY DUE NOVEMBER 1-7 · Read “Arguing a Position /’ A Roadmap” (104). · Read Chapter 6. · Read “A Modest Proposal” (412) by Jonathan Swift. NOVEMBER 8-14 · Read Chapters 7-10. · Read “The Internet Is Not Ruining Grammar” (447) by Jessica Wildfire. NOVEMBER 15-21 · Read Chapters 11-13. · Read “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (423) by Martin Luther King Jr. NOVEMBER 22-28 FALL BREAK—NO CLASSES
NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5 · Read “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (453) by Nicholas Carr. DECEMBER 6-12 ESSAY #3: ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY DUE DECEMBER 13-15 PORTFOLIO DUE