Module 12: Course Map Revisited for 14 Points
My Canvas asynchronous online Fall 2020 English 1A Semester has been completed. Because the Fall Semester Canvas courses are not yet available, I wrote the course on my Spring 2020 English 1A 6420 course.
I plan to transfer the Modules to my Fall English 1A Canvas courses when they become available. This Course Map was taken from my Modules completed on the 6420 course.
16-Week Semester Course Map for Jeffrey McMahon’s English 1A Composition Class
Instructor: Jeffrey McMahon
Sixteen-Week Semester
Class Mission (Enduring Understandings)
Hello, I'm Jeff McMahon, your English 1A instructor for this semester. I want to help you be successful in your college writing, not just for this class, but for any other college and non-college endeavors. This class has four research papers of about 1,200 words in length that require 4-5 sources to be integrated in your essays using signal phrases, MLA in-text citations, and MLA Works Cited pages.
Work You Must Do in This Class
Four Essays (Summative Assessments)
You will write 4 typed, 1,200-word essays in MLA format. Each essay will need 3 credible sources for your Works Cited. These essays will be uploaded on turnitin. Late essays are accepted for a week after the deadline and are marked down a full grade.
Two Building Block Assignments (Formative Assessments) for Each Essay
You will write two building block assignments for each of the four essays. You will use these assigned paragraphs as building blocks for your essays.
Discussion Material
Your building block assignments will be accompanied by Discussion Forums in Canvas. These nongraded forums will allow you to share your paragraph ideas with other students, stimulate ideas for pre-writing, and give you source material that you can use for your essays (using signal phrases and MLA in-text citation).
Going Through the Course in Modules
You will navigate this course in sequence on Modules, which is on the Canvas Learning Management System. I have divided your Modules into 16 units, with every unit representing a week in our 16-week semester.
Grading Based on 1,000 Points
4 Essays (called Summative Assessments) are 200 points each.
2 Building Block Assignments (called Formative Assessments) for every completed essay are 25 points each.
Total Points: 1,000
Module 1: Essay 1 (Summative Assessment) Is Following Your Passion a Dangerous Idea?
Course Level Learning Objectives: Find appropriate essay structure for an argument that explores the question: Should you follow your passion to choose a career? Present this argument using the Toulmin Essay Model with counterargument-rebuttal.
Learning Resources for Essay 1 (Summative Assessment):
Cal Newport’s blog post “The Passion Trap”
Cedric Chin’s book summary post“So Good They Can’t Ignore You”
Cal Newport’s blog post “On Passion and Its Discontents”
Janie Kliever’s article “Don’t ‘Follow Your Passion’” by Janie Kliever
Terri Trespicio’s article “Why ‘Find Your Passion’ Is Bad Advice”
Cal Newport’s YouTube video “Follow Your Passion Is Bad Advice”
Following Your Passion Is Bad Advice
Lesson 1: You will be presented with the Essay 1 Overview with instructions on integrating summary and quotations for MLA in-text citations in an argumentative essay.
Lesson 2: You will learn the Essay 1 learning objectives and format instructions.
Lesson 3: You will learn instructions for writing the introduction, thesis paragraph, and mapping components of Essay 1.
Lesson 4: You will learn instructions for writing counterargument-rebuttal, overall essay outline, effective conclusion, and effective title for your essay.
Lesson 5: You will go over instructions for your first Building Block Assignment (Formative Assessment), an introductory paragraph for Essay 1. As part of Lesson 5, you will use your introductory paragraph as a Discussion Activity in Canvas.
Discussion Activity #1 in Canvas:
Write a personal paragraph about your struggle to find a career that you are passionate about on one hand and is practical for your long-term financial needs on the other. Or write a paragraph about someone you know who started a career with minimum interest and passion but over time as the person became more skilled at this career the person’s passion sprung from the added skills and expertise.
Sharing the Above Discussion Paragraphs with Each Other
You can use each other’s material in the Discussion Material for your Essay 1, either in your introductory paragraph or as supporting material in your body paragraphs, provided you use correct signal phrases and MLA in-text citations. The purpose of this sharing is to generate ideas for your essay and to broaden your sense of how the “Follow Your Passion” adage affects people’s career success.
Module 2: “Following Your Passion” Debate Continued & Integrating Sources
Course Level Learning Objective: We will continue to explore the alleged “Follow Your Passion” myth, we will study the use of parallelism in writing thesis statements with mapping components, and we will learn how to integrate sources into a research paper using signal phrases and MLA in-text citations.
Lesson 1: We will study “Master the Six Parts of Signal Phrase,” Part 1.
Lesson 2: We will study “Master the 6 Parts of Signal Phrases,” Part 2.
Lesson 3: We will study the use of parallel construction in writing a thesis statement with mapping components in a video I have made.
Lesson 4: We will evaluate Cal Newport’s claim that “follow your passion” is a trap that will hurt your career path.
Module 3: Writing Counterarguments & Rebuttals in the Follow Your Passion Debate.
Course Level Objectives: Use appropriate counterargument-rebuttal paragraph sentence structures and learning how to be more persuasive by entertaining opponents’ views.
Lesson 1: We will study different counterargument-rebuttal paragraph templates in the context of the “Follow Your Passion” debate.
Lesson 2: We will go over instructions for your Building Block Assignment 2 (Formative Assessment): Write a counterargument-rebuttal paragraph before your conclusion paragraph to gain credibility with your readers by showing them you have considered opposing views to your thesis or claim.
Lesson 3: We will go over the complete checklist for your completed essay, which is due next week.
Module 4: Writing a Comparison Essay of Jim Crow 1.0 and 2.0
Course Level Objectives: Use appropriate comparison/contrast essay design for an exploration of Jim Crow 1.0 and 2.0; learn appropriate paragraph transitions for comparison/contrast essay; sentence structures and learning how to be more persuasive by entertaining opponents’ views.
Learning Resources for Essay 2 (Summative Assessment 2)
Video the “The New Jim Crow Museum”
Video of Childish Gambino’s “This Is America”
“Writing Definitions” from the Purdue Online Writing Lab
Lesson 1: Overview of Essay 2, a comparison/contrast of Jim Crow 1.0 and 2.0.
Lesson 2: Getting Started on Essay 2 with a lesson on writing an extended definition for your introductory paragraph.
Lesson 3: Writing a thesis, finding an appropriate essay structure, and source material for Essay 2.
Lesson 4: Instructions for Building Block Assignment 1 (Formative Assessment 1 for Essay 2) with required resources. This assignment will ask you to do the following: Write an introductory paragraph with a single-sentence definition followed by an extended definition to show a clear understanding of Jim Crow.
Discussion Activity #2 in Canvas:
In a paragraph, compare Jim Crow as you see it presented in Dr. David Pilgrim’s “Jim Crow Museum” video and Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” video.
Sharing the Above Discussion Paragraphs with Each Other
You can use each other’s material in the Discussion Material for your Essay 2, either in your introductory paragraph or as supporting material in your body paragraphs, provided you use correct signal phrases and MLA in-text citations. The purpose of this sharing is to generate ideas for your essay and to clarify your definition of Jim Crow 1.0 and 2.0.
Module 5: Defining Jim Crow 1.0 and 2.0
Lesson 1: We will break down the “Jim Crow Museum” and “This Is America” videos to better our understanding of Jim Crow 1.0 and 2.0.
Lesson 2: We will go over a lexicon of important terms to better our understanding of Jim Crow 1.0 and 2.0.
Lesson 3: We will explore Jim Crow 2.0 as The War on Drugs as explained by Michelle Alexander, author of the best-selling The New Jim Crow (what I am calling Jim Crow 2.0).
Lesson 4: We will go over instructions for Building Block Assignment 2 for Essay 2 (Formative Assessment): Write a thesis paragraph that outlines your body paragraphs in a clear design of block or point-by-point comparison.
Module 6: Jim Crow 1.0 and 2.0 Continued
Lesson 1: We will unpack the historical significance of Dr. David Pilgrim’s Jim Crow Museum.
Lesson 2: We will show you your options of supporting a comparison/contrast thesis with either a point-by-point or block paragraph design.
Lesson 3: We will do an unpacking of “This Is America,” Part 1.
Module 7: Jim Crow 1.0 and 2.0 Continued
Lesson 1: We will do an unpacking of “This Is America,” Part 2.
Lesson 2: We will do an unpacking of “This Is America,” Part 3.
Lesson 3: We will go over a complete checklist to maximize your success for Essay 2 (Summative Assessment).
Week 8: Jeff Henderson’s Memoir Cooked: My Journey from the Streets to the Stove
Course Level Objectives:
In a nutshell, the story of Jeff Henderson is a story about morality, meaning, and happiness. It is the story of a man whose initial misguided quest for happiness blinds him from his moral responsibilities. He only achieves real happiness after he experiences excruciating suffering, faces a moral reckoning, is forced to give up his old life, and becomes determined to become a moral person in his quest for professional excellence.
However, none of us likes to be lectured to about the principles of happiness and morality. We shut down, put up a shield, and we repel all trite words of wisdom. We are haters of homilies and truisms.
But we are more inclined to listen to stories. We are natural storytellers. We have since our Hunter and Forager ancestors been drawn to powerful stories that provide us a guide for more strength, self-protection, and happiness.
Jeff Henderson’s memoir is such a story, so the purpose of this assignment is to dig deep into Henderson’s story and, with the help of Arthur C. Brooks’ essay, pull out the memoir’s core wisdom and then put those moral lessons into our own words. Jeff Henderson’s life story helps us live a better life story for ourselves. So that wraps up the thematic purpose of this essay assignment.
In the world of essay writing when we breakdown something into parts, we call this exposition a cause and effect analysis or simply cause and effect.
In this essay assignment, you are using a cause and effect essay structure for your claim or thesis about Jeff Henderson’s transformation and as a design structure for your essay.
Learning Resources:
Jeff Henderson’s memoir Cooked: My Journey from the Streets to the Stove
Arthur C. Brooks' essay "Love People, Not Pleasure"
To get more acquainted with a cause and effect essay structure and the kind of causation signal phrases you will be using, you might want to look at Urban English & Writing video “Cause and Effect Essays.”
Another helpful video is by EssayPro called “How to Write a Cause and Effect Essay.”
Another useful video is the David Taylor video that shows how cause and effect analysis helps establish the “So what?” if your essay. It is titled “How to Write a Cause-Effect Essay.”
Lesson 1: Cooked Essay 3 (Summative Assessment) Overview.
Lesson 2: Getting Started and Outlining Essay 3.
Lesson 3: Breaking Down Arthur C. Brooks’ “Love People, Not Pleasure”
Lesson 4: Instructions for Building Block Assignment 1 (Formative Assessment) for Essay 3: Write an introduction paragraph for your Cooked essay that frames Jeff Henderson’s moral crisis in the context of Arthur C. Brooks’ essay “Love People, Not Pleasure.”
Discussion Activity #3 in Canvas:
In a paragraph, write about someone you either know about personally or in the news who has a moral crisis that parallels Jeff Henderson’s. You can use this paragraph as an attention-getting introduction.
Sharing the Above Discussion Paragraphs with Each Other
You can use each other’s material in the Discussion Material for your Essay 3, either in your introductory paragraph or as supporting material in your body paragraphs, provided you use correct signal phrases and MLA in-text citations. The purpose of this sharing is to generate ideas for your essay and to clarify the significance of Jeff Henderson’s moral crisis, which he recognizes before his transformation.
Module 9: Cooked Essay 3 Continued
Lesson 1: Breaking Down “Love People, Not Pleasure,” Part 2
Lesson 2: Building Block Assignment 2 (Formative Assessment) for Cooked Essay: Write a thesis paragraph that answers this question: “How did Jeff Henderson go from a criminal to a world-class chef and exemplar of moral goodness?”
Discussion Learning Activity #4:
To answer this question requires analysis: You are analyzing the causes and effects of Henderson’s behaviors as he evolves from Old Jeff to New Jeff. Since you are analyzing the causes of Old Jeff and his state of moral turpitude and contrasting Old Jeff with the causes that led to New Jeff and his state of professional excellence and societal responsibility, you are breaking down Jeff Henderson’s story into parts.
Sharing the Above Discussion Paragraphs with Each Other
You can use each other’s material in the Discussion Material for your Essay 3, either in your introductory paragraph or as supporting material in your body paragraphs, provided you use correct signal phrases and MLA in-text citations. The purpose of this sharing is to generate ideas for your essay and to clarify the causes behind Jeff Henderson’s transformation.
Lesson 3: From Nihilism to Embracing a Moral Code in Jeff Henderson’s Moral Evolution
Lesson 4: Jeff Henderson’t Rise & Fall (& Eventual Rise Again)
Module 10: Jeff Henderson’s Cooked Continued
Lesson 1: Jeff Henderson’s Denial Results in His Fall
Lesson 2: Jeff Henderson’s Redemption Journey Begins with the Fall
Lesson 3: Jeff Henderson Has to Choose Between “Team Meaning” & “Team Self-Pity.”
Module 11: Jeff Henderson’s Cooked Continued
Lesson 1: Jeff Henderson’s Flourishing & Fortitude & Sample Thesis Statements
Lesson 2: Review of Causes & Effects of Jeff Henderson’s Transformation
Lesson 3: Complete Checklist to Maximize Success on Essay 3 (third Summative Assessment)
Module 12: Is Social Media Addiction a Bug or a Feature?
Course Level Objectives:
Arguing a 2-Sided Debate:
Is the psychological degradation and addiction from social media use described by Sherry Turkle, Adam Alter, Jaron Lanier, and Tristan Harris a bug or feature? Can we exercise common sense and moderation in our social media use, or does the very nature of our interaction between social media and ourselves have addiction and psychological dissolution “baked in”? If this psychological degradation is a feature, what are we to do? Isn’t social media a “necessary evil” to some degree? Or can we save ourselves by going “off the grid,” as it were?
Using a Toulmin or Refutation Essay Model in MLA Format
In a 1,200-1,500-word MLA-formatted essay with a minimum of 5 sources for your Works Cited page, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses the claim by many that our social media accounts compromise personal excellence, degrade our core humanity, strip us of our metacognition and self-agency, and essentially transform us into “thirsty,” social-media addicted zombies. This is an argumentative essay, so you can either use the Toulmin or Refutation Essay Model. If you use the Toulmin model, be sure to have a counterargument-rebuttal section.
Exploring the Enduring Theme of Self-Agency Vs. Loss of Free Will:
Since most of us use social media, often for business or social interactions, we should understand the way social media companies, the “attention merchants” as they’re often called, target our brains using cutting edge knowledge of human addiction, their ability to get inside our heads, and get us hooked on their product. The more self-awareness we have about our vulnerabilities in the face of social media the better chance we have of preserving our dignity when so much dignity can be lost in an age when social media attention-seeking has become rampant.
One of the main focuses of this assignment is the matter of addiction. Are we all getting addicted to social media, or only a select few who already have a propensity for addiction in the first place, brought on by general anxiety disorder and depression? Or does social media afflict all of us with a certain amount of general anxiety disorder and depression? Is moderation of our social media habits even possible? Can we be responsible social media users, or is social media by its very design ensnaring all of us in its pernicious jaws?
Learning Resources:
Sherry Turkle’s Ted Talk video “Connected, But Alone”
Tristan Harris’ Ted Talk video “How a Handful of Tech Companies Control Billions of Minds Everyday”
Jaron Lanier video “How Social Media Ruins Your Life”
Adam Alter video: “Why Our Screens Make Us Unhappy.”
Netflix Black Mirror episode “Nosedive”
Andrew Sullivan’s landmark essay on social media addiction, titled, “I Used to be a Human Being
Lesson 1: Essay 4 Overview
Lesson 2: Getting Started and Outlining an Argumentative Structure for Essay 4
Lesson 3: How Social Media Hijacks the Brain & Steals Free Will
Discussion Learning Activity #5:
Write a paragraph about you or someone you know who went down a rabbithole of stolen time from social media addiction. Explain the temptations of social media and its addictive consequences, the harm to your college studies and relationships, for a couple of examples.
Sharing the Above Discussion Paragraphs with Each Other
You can use each other’s material in the Discussion Material for your Essay 4, either in your introductory paragraph or as supporting material in your body paragraphs, provided you use correct signal phrases and MLA in-text citations. The purpose of this sharing is to generate ideas for your essay and to clarify the debilitation of social media addiction.
Module 13: Social Media Addiction Essay Continued
Lesson 1: Building Block Assignment 1 (Formative Assessment) for Essay 4: Write an introduction paragraph and thesis paragraph for your social media essay that sets up the rest of your paper.
Discussion Learning Activity #6:
Post a tentative thesis statement in Discussions on Canvas.
Sharing the Above Discussion Paragraphs with Each Other
You can use each other’s material in the Discussion Material for your Essay 4, either in your introductory paragraph or as supporting material in your body paragraphs, provided you use correct signal phrases and MLA in-text citations. The purpose of this sharing is to generate ideas for your essay and to clarify your thesis about social media addiction.
Lesson 2: Refutation Essay Model
Lesson 3: Interlude: Should You Try to Agree with Your Professor When You Write an Argumentative Essay?
Lesson 4: Tristan Harris Argues that the Tech Lords Manipulate Billions: Breaking Down the Video.
Module 14: Social Media Addiction Essay Continued
Lesson 1: Building Block Assignment 2 (Formative Assessment) for Essay 4: Write a counterargument-rebuttal paragraph before your conclusion paragraph to gain credibility with your readers by showing them you have considered opposing views to your thesis or claim.
Discussion Learning Activity #7:
Post a counterargument-rebuttal paragraph in Discussions on Canvas.
Sharing the Above Discussion Paragraphs with Each Other
You can use each other’s material in the Discussion Material for your Essay 4, either in your counterargument-rebuttal paragraph or as supporting material in your body paragraphs, provided you use correct signal phrases and MLA in-text citations. The purpose of this sharing is to generate ideas for your essay and to clarify your thesis about social media addiction.
Lesson 2: Jaron Lanier Argues for the Idea That Social Media Addiction Is a Feature
Lesson 3: “Never Get High on Your Own Supply”
Lesson 4: Why Can “Normal” People Succumb to Social Media Addiction?
Module 15: Social Media Addiction Essay Continued
Lesson 1: You Are Swimming Inside a Fishbowl of Social Media
Lesson 2: Feedback is the Fuel of Social Media Addiction
Lesson 3: Devices Change Who We Are
Lesson 4: Counterarguments That Social Media Addiction Is a Feature
Week 16: Social Media Essay Addiction Continued
Lesson 1: Checklist for Maximizing Success in Your Essay 4 (Fourth & Final Summative Assessment).
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