• Course Description

• Objectives

• Institutional Competencies

• Sample English 108 Paper

Course Description

ENG 108 students will complete three formal research based projects in addition to other graded and ungraded work. In these assignments, students will learn how to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the thinking of others in order to discover, develop, and test their own points of view. Final drafts of all formal writing assignments must be word processed. All students are expected to be prepared for class and participate in class discussions related to reading and writing assignments. In addition, students will keep complete portfolios of all their writings.

Before any grade appeal will be processed for a student in ENG 100, 104, or 108, the complete portfolio of writings will have to be submitted to the Departmental Review Committee.

Objectives

Students will add the following abilities to those presented in the objectives for English 104.

Learning to write for different audiences and purposes
Students will…

• focus particularly on academic audiences and scholarly purposes

Learning to use active reading and critical thinking
Students will…

• classify and define objects, events, data, ideas, and terms discovered through research;
  
• make judgments based on criteria that can be supported and explained;
• ask questions to clarify issues and solve problems;
• identify explicit and implicit meanings in a text;
• recognize problems and find workable solutions.

Learning to use writing processes
Students will…

• apply pre-writing strategies to discover what they already know and what they want to learn through research;
  
• write summary notes in the process of doing research;
  
• write drafts in which they reconstruct their beliefs on the basis of the wider experience they gain through research;
  
• revise for an organization appropriate to their specific main purpose and audience.

Learning written conventions
Students will…

• practice documentation conventions for styles such as MLA and APA;
  
• learn important grammatical concepts used for analyzing sentence correctness and style;
  
• correctly incorporate language, information, and ideas from sources;
  
• use advanced editing resources like dictionaries and writing handbooks.

Institutional Competencies

State-Level Goals: SKILL AREAS

Sample English 108 Paper

Assignment: Write a research essay which connects the date of an important autobiographical event with world happenings at that time.

Kinship Care: The Best Possible Choice

When Jennifer was three years old, she was removed from her home and placed with strangers within the foster care system. This was so traumatic for her that within two weeks she was hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation. What Jennifer needed was a familiar face. Her sense of loss was overwhelming, and she could not understand why she had been taken from her home. Had she been placed with a relative, as she now is at age five, her situation could have been less traumatic.

Because relatives are more likely than foster families to provide long term care, the child's need for a permanent, stable home is fulfilled. Being shuttled from one family to another causes a child to become inaccessible, unwilling to form relationships for fear they will soon be moved and lose them. To verify this, Jennifer does not remember who her caregivers were during her 14 month stay in the foster care system nor does she remember how many homes she was in. Kinship care alleviates this behavior by providing a stable, permanent home. Children know they belong to the family and are comfortable continuing those relationships.

Because of the existing bond between a child and relative, the child is less likely to be abused. Abuse in the foster home can come from other foster children or any member in that family. Children in foster care are most likely experiencing feelings of anger and hurt. These feelings, combined with the knowledge that they will not be staying with this family long, promotes negative behavior. They often choose to ignore rules and behave in whatever manner they want. The stress of a belligerent child increases the risk of abuse. The relationship bond between the child and relative promotes harmony and is therefore less likely to be abusive. An article in Parents magazine indicates that studies show foster homes are not always caring homes and children are more likely to be abused in foster care than in society as a whole (Alderson 36). Zuravin, Benedict and Somerfield agree and state in their study, "Because of the increase in kinship care placements, it is somewhat reassuring to see that such homes are at less risk for maltreatment than regular homes" (594).

When removed from the home, a child's need for ongoing relationships with close relatives is necessary for his or her emotional well being. A foster home cannot provide this. Many times neither the foster family nor the biological family have knowledge of each other's identity. The child is therefore caught in the middle, staying with strangers and not knowing what has become of their relatives. Kinship care allows children access to family members, although some may be on a limited basis. When Jennifer was in foster care, no family members were allowed direct contact. We could send cards and letters to the social worker, and she would pass them on. Jennifer did share that she had wondered what had happened to everyone even though she had gotten most of our cards and letters. Since her placement with me, Jennifer has picked up most of her relationships as if nothing had happened. She still misses her mother but has gotten to see her twice since her June accident.

Being removed from home is such a frightful event for children. Every effort to lessen their anxiety must be made. Kinship care goes a long way in accomplishing this because it provides permanence, safety, and loving relationships.

Alderson, Jeremy Weir. "The Foster-Care Crisis." Parents Jan. 1994: 36-29.

Zuravin, Susan J., Mary Benedict, and Mark Somerfield, "Child Maltreatment in Family Foster Care." American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 63 (1993): 589-96.