CLM Community College

We are reluctant to live outside tribal rules because we are afraid of getting kicked out of the
tribe. - Caroline Myss

Introduction to Critical Reading and Writing
(4-Week Summer Intensive 2014)
Class Hours: M W F 10-12:30

Course Description
This course is designed to improve your fluency in the reading and writing skills you will need
to be successful in your mainstream courses here at CLMCC. Course objectives focus on
the integration of key skill areas required of you in these courses. The skills we will focus on
include:
--Reading and writing well-constructed texts
--Identifying and creating organized texts
--Building academic vocabulary and style
--Defining and developing voice in academic writing

We often learn reading and writing as two separate things. In this course, we will focus on
the connections you can make - what can reading teach you about writing, and what can
writing teach you about reading? By looking at these two skills together, we will maximize
learning in both areas. Each section of this course focuses on areas that will help you
succeed here in school and in the world beyond.

In addition, we will be writing journals about our personal experiences integrating into the
academic community, focusing on the process of learning to read and write academically.
We will use these journals to learn about ourselves and explore our academic and
professional goals for the future.

Accuracy & Fluency in Writing
Accuracy and fluency are important steps to becoming an effective writer. In this course,
equal attention will be placed on both. In order to increase your accuracy, you will receive
peer and instructor feedback on grammar and punctuation when appropriate. Through
editing exercises, you will also learn to self-critique and edit your work for grammatical
accuracy.

Reflection Journal
You will be required to write weekly entries in your journals reflecting on your personal
experiences and how they might connect to the texts that we read in class. This is an
important part of the course because it allows us to value our personal experience and see
our growth over time, positioning ourselves into academic and professional spheres.

Blog Participation
Throughout the course you will be required to contribute to a class blog. This blog will be a
forum for discussing and analyzing texts that we read in class as well as a way to collaborate
with your classmates and share perspectives.

Final Projects: Students will write a 3-5 page paper comparing, contrasting and analyzing
the two articles that they have selected with the help of the instructors. The paper must be
structured logically and written in an appropriate academic style, using the vocabulary and
writing strategies presented in the class. In addition, the arguments of the paper should
showcase critical reading strategies developed in the course. The paper will include a
process cover letter, in which students will reflect on their personal processes and struggles,
as well as how they will implement what they have learned through this process in their
future academic writing (for example, when is personal experience appropriate to include in
an academic paper?). Students will complete the process cover letter with the assistance of
guided questions provided by the instructors.

Course Texts
Sealey-Ruiz (2006) One Womans Story from the South Bronx to the Academy

Required Course Materials
Notebook that will serve as your Reflection Journal
1-1/2 inch 3 ring binder with dividers for class handouts and notes

Course Assessment & Evaluation
Class attendance and participation are crucial. If you must miss a class, please let me know
ahead of time. No late work will be accepted unless you have provided me with a doctors
note verifying illness. Missed in-class work cannot be made up. Homework assignments that
are turned in late (after the end of the class on the due date) will be marked down for each
day that they are late.
Overall course evaluation will be based upon the following numerical breakdown:

Participation 15 %
Reflection Journal 15%
In-class Activities 15%
Writing Assignments 30%
Independent Project 25%