Goals for the Course

Here are the MAIN goals for the course.  This is what you must master to be successful in 43.

1. Demonstrate the ability to formulate a topic sentence that establishes a clear direction.
2. Demonstrate ability to write a paragraph with appropriate organization.
3. Demonstrate ability to write a paragraph with appropriate development.
4. Demonstrate ability to write a paragraph free of an excessive amount of sentence-level errors.
5. Demonstrate ability to write a paragraph free of an excessive amount of word-level errors.

This is what you will do throughout the semester to master those goals:

1. Read pre-college and basic college-level texts for the purpose of writing and class discussion.
2. Practice and apply appropriate strategies from the writing process including pre-writing, composing, revising, and editing techniques.
3. Plan and write sentences, paragraphs, and basic compositions (for a total of 2,500-3,000 graded words) that are clear, unified, and purposeful on personal and non-personal or abstract topics.
4. Produce in-class paragraphs and basic compositions that demonstrate organizing, composing, revising and editing skills.
5. Practice and apply appropriate mechanical and grammatical structures in the production and editing of sentences, paragraphs, and basic compositions.
6. Apply critical thinking in reading, writing, and class discussion.
7. Employ study skills and habits necessary for further academic success.

Look at the goals that are highlighted in yellow.  These are the goals that we have spent time during the first six weeks.  The others (reading texts and writing in-class paragraphs) will come a bit later in the semester.  Reflect back on the work you have done so far and think about the progress you have made toward these highlighted goals.  Which ones have you mastered?  Which ones are you working on?  Which ones could you put more effort toward?