I.     Catalog Description and Credit Hours of Course:  Focus on effective written expression, with particular emphasis on environmental issues; emphasis upon critical thinking and the research paper.  All students must complete a service learning project.  (3)

II.    Interdisciplinary Nature of the Course: Not an interdisciplinary course.

III.   Prerequisite: EN 100 or advanced placement.

IV.  Purposes or Objectives of the Course:

       A. To improve students’ writing, particularly writing using source materials (objectives 1 & 3)

       B.  To increase students’ awareness of environmental issues, especially as they affect the local community (objective 9)

       C.  To help students develop a sense of social and environmental responsibility (objectives 7 & 9)

       D.  To help students develop critical thinking skills (objective 2)

       E.  To help students develop the ability to incorporate environmentally related source material from their own experience and from various disciplines (objectives 1 & 6)

V.    Expectations of Students:

        A. Participate in all class activities, including

            1. discussions

            2. group work

       B. Complete a service learning project, including

            1. a journal of the service learning experience

            2. an oral presentation to the class

       C. Complete all written work, including

            1. quizzes

            2. essay assignments

            3. a research report drawing on library resources and on the service learning experience

            4. the final examination

VI.  Course Outline:

(Note: though the outline separates the components of the course into apparently differentiated activities, most of the components--especially journal keeping, critical reading, and argumentation-- will go on throughout the term in various ways.  The service learning project and the research paper are discrete segments of the course.)

       A. Journal keeping                                     (1 week)

Students will use journals for several of the assignments in the course, including the service learning project, where it will serve as a record of activities as well as a place to reflect on their experience.

       B. Critical reading                                      (2 weeks)

Early in the term, there will be explicit instruction in critical reading, and practice will occur throughout the course.

       C. Writing summaries and critiques             (1 week)

Some of the assignments will call on students to summarize and in some cases critique a selection that they have read or a presentation they have heard.

       D. Argumentation                                      (2 weeks)

There will be at least two assignments in writing argumentative essays, and the class will also analyze written arguments.

       E.  Service learning project                          (3 weeks)

These projects will be set up during the first few weeks of the term, and later in the semester (about weeks 6-8), students will participate in the activities.  The projects will serve as the basis for reflective writing as well as a source of experience which the students will be asked to relate to issues raised in their reading.

       F.  Research writing                                   (6 weeks)

This assignment will ask students to locate and gather information from a variety of sources in order to write a research-based essay addressing a problem related to issues raised in the course (and, if possible, to their service learning project).

       G. Timed, in-class writing                           (1 week)

This is practice in preparation for the final, which will be the common final for EN 140 (WP 002).

VII. Textbooks: Troyka, The Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers, 5th ed.; Anderson and Runciman, A Forest of Voices: Reading and Writing the Environment.  (A second edition of this text will be coming out soon.)

VIII. Basis for Student Evaluation:

       A. Participation in class activities

            1. discussions                                                    (5%)

            2. oral presentation                                            (5%)

       B. Written work

            1. journal                                                           (8%)

            2. essays                                                           (55%)

            3. quizzes                                                          (10%)

            4. research paper                                              (17%)

            5. final examination                                            (10%)

(Note: evaluation of the service learning project will be reflected in the evaluations of the oral presentation, journal, and possibly the research paper.)

IX:   Justification for Inclusion in the University Studies Program:

       A. Demonstrate the ability to locate and gather information.  Significant emphasis.

     Content: The Troyka text contains a section on locating and gathering information, as does chapter 5 of the Anderson and Runciman text.

     Teaching Strategies: Through lecture, I will introduce students to the major library resources they will need to use.  Also, the class will engage in group work in which they must locate and gather information related to an environmental issue about which there are competing claims (e.g., global warming or health effects of pesticide use) in order to examine how authors have supported their claims.  At least one class period will be devoted to a workshop on the evaluation and responsible use of on-line resources.

     Student Assignments: All students must complete a research assignment, preferably one related to their service learning project. This will entail library work as well as use of on-line resources.

     Evaluation of Student Performance: A significant portion of the grade for the research paper will be based on how well the students used library and on-line resources.

       B. Demonstrate capabilities for critical thinking, reasoning and analyzing.  Significant emphasis.

     Content: Part I of the Anderson and Runciman text (“Writing to Read”) addresses critical thinking skills: chapter 1 discusses keeping a reading journal, and chapters 2-4 cover summary and essay writing, including argumentation.

     Teaching Strategies: Students will work in writing groups on planning and revising their essays.  Since all students in a group will be working with the same readings, group work will consist of discussing those readings and responding critically to them.  In addition, my comments on student drafts will focus on helping student writers think more critically about the issues they are discussing.

     Student Assignments: All students will submit a portfolio consisting of three revised essays: the first essay assignment will be a critique of one of the readings in the text.  The other two will be argumentative essays in which students must make use of source material from the text and from their own experiences.

     Evaluation of Student Performance: The grade for the portfolio will be based largely on how well the student has demonstrated the ability to think critically about the issues he or she has written about.

       C. Demonstrate effective communication skills.  Significant emphasis.

     Content: Both the Troyka and the Anderson and Runciman texts focus on effective written communication.

     Teaching Strategies: Virtually every activity in the class will relate to this objective in some way.  Lectures (kept to a minimum) will deal with strategies of argumentation and analysis. Class discussion and small group discussion will focus on improving the quality of student drafts. Class presentations by students (preceded by instruction and practice in speaking in front of an audience) will call upon them to speak effectively.  Students will be asked to do a considerable amount of writing, both in and out of class.

     Student Assignments: All students will submit a portfolio consisting of three essays.  They will also do a research paper, and every student will deliver an oral report on his or her service project.

     Evaluation of Student Performance: Students will be evaluated primarily on how effectively they have communicated in their written work.  Also, their class presentation will be evaluated primarily on how effectively they communicate orally.

       D. Demonstrate an understanding of human experiences and the ability to relate them to the present.  Some emphasis.

     Content: Several of the readings in the text deal with events in the history of the environmental movement (e.g., the Hetch Hetchy controversy) or are important texts in that history (e.g., Aldo Leopold’s “The Land Ethic”).

     Teaching Strategies: Class discussions can focus on the background of current environmental problems, from the local to the global.  Instructor comments on student drafts will ask student writers to relate their perceptions of current problems to historical issues as discussed in readings in the text.

       E. Demonstrate an understanding of various cultures and their interrelationships.  Some emphasis.

     Content: A few of the readings in the text present views on environmental issues from the perspectives of people in minority cultures, such as N. Scott Momaday, Ishmael Reed, and Wangari Maathai.

     Evaluation of Student Performance: Where appropriate, evaluation of students’ papers will be based in part on their ability to analyze how cultural issues interact with environmental ones.  This is especially true of the service learning project and the research assignment.

       F.  Demonstrate the ability to integrate the breadth and diversity of knowledge.  Considerable emphasis.

Content: Environmental issues tend to be interdisciplinary in nature.  The readings in the text touch on scientific, social, political, and literary issues.  This is especially true of the sections of the Anderson and Runciman book entitled “Nature in Crisis,” “Land Ethics,” and “Taking Action.”  The authors of the readings in these sections include a farmer  (Wendell Berry), politicians (Al Gore, Gifford Pinchot), and scientists (Dixy Lee Ray, Rachel Carson) as well as environmental activists (John Muir, Dave Foreman) and professional writers (John McPhee, Terry Tempest Williams).

Student Assignments: The research assignment will explicitly ask students to integrate information from a variety of sources, including their service learning project if possible.  The service learning project will engage students in dealing with campus/community problems or issues from different perspectives.  For example, a student working on campus recycling would have to integrate social, economic, and ecological perspectives in order to understand the issues involved in making that program work.

Evaluation of Student Performance:  The research paper will be evaluated in terms of how effectively the writer has been able to integrate a variety of source material.

       G. Demonstrate the ability to make informed, intelligent value decisions.  Considerable emphasis.

     Content: Many of the readings in the text (e.g., Aldo Leopold’s “The Land Ethic” and Thoreau’s “Where I Lived and What I Lived For”) deal with questions of value.

     Teaching Strategies: Class discussions (both whole-class and small-group) of the readings will ask students to identify and discuss the values of the authors and to discuss the practical implications of those values for their lives and the life of the communities in which they live.  Such exercises should also lead them to clarify their own values.

     Student Assignments: At least one of the essay assignments will deal with questions of value.  For example, students will be asked to read the selections in the “Land Ethics” section of the text and then to construct an argument in which they must synthesize ideas from them in support of their position, which is a statement of their own personal environmental ethic.  In addition, the service learning project should also help students to clarify their values and to reflect on how they enact those values in their daily lives.

     Evaluation of Student Performance: Evaluation of the argumentative essays as well as the service learning project will be based in part on how well the student has demonstrated the ability to make informed, intelligent value decisions.

       H. Demonstrate the ability to make informed, sensitive aesthetic responses.  Some emphasis.

     Content:  The readings in the text introduce aesthetic considerations into the course.  Though most of the readings are essays, there will also be some short fiction and some poetry.  The text contains poetry by authors such as William Wordsworth, Maxine Kumin, and Mary Oliver and short fiction by Sarah Orne Jewett.

     Teaching Strategies: During the class discussions of the readings, the instructor will call attention to aesthetic aspects of the readings as well as to how aesthetics inform our perceptions of the natural world.  In addition, students will be asked to respond to the aesthetics of their surroundings in their journal entries.

       I.  Demonstrate the ability to function responsibly in one's natural, social and political environment.  Significant emphasis.

     Content: A number of the readings in the text (e.g., John McPhee’s “Duty of Care” and Wangari Maathai’s “Foresters without Diplomas”) are concerned with the responsibility of people for the natural environment as well as with how social and political responsibilities are related to that responsibility.

     Teaching Strategies: The instructor will emphasize this objective in virtually all course activities, including discussion of the readings and suggestions for revisions of essays.

     Student Assignments: All students in the class must complete a service learning project.  With the help of the instructor, the students will identify an agency, department  or organization, on or off campus, with which to complete this project.  Each student should complete a minimum of 15 hours of service activities.  He or she will keep a journal of those activities and will give an oral presentation to the class about them.  In this presentation, the student must reflect on the significance of this experience.  In addition, the research assignment should deal with a topic or issue related to the service work.

     Evaluation of Student Performance: Grades for the journal, class presentation, and research paper will be based in part upon how well students demonstrate the ability to function responsibly in the natural, social, and political environment.

X:    Background: The instructor for the course should have a sufficient knowledge of the theory and practice of teaching composition in order to design and comment upon student writing assignments.  He or she should also have some interest and background in environmental issues as they impact the local community.

XI:   Class Size: No more than 25.