Fall 2009 Section Descriptions
Lower-Division Courses
College Writing 1
CW 1
Section: 1
CCN: 16403
Meeting time: M 10-12 p.m.
Meeting place: 224 Wheeler
Instructor: Melinda Erickson
Email address: erickson@berkeley.edu
Course description: A course for students who are non-native speakers of English, CW 1 develops an awareness of grammatical forms and academic vocabulary in written English. We will analyze a variety of texts--by professional and student writers--paying attention to the choices writers make when selecting words and composing phrases and clauses. The texts will also allow us to see how writers organize larger pieces of discourse to accomplish their rhetorical purposes. These analyses will lead to writing and editing tasks related to more complex grammatical forms and academic vocabulary.
Booklist: Read, Write, Edit (Patrica Porter & Deborah vanDommelan), They Say / I Say (Gerald Graff & Cathy Birkenstein), Focus on Vocabulary (Diane Schmitt & Norbert Schmitt)
CW 1
Section: 2
CCN: 16406
Meeting time: W 2-4 p.m.
Meeting place: 283 Dwinelle
Instructor: Melinda Erickson
Email address: erickson@berkeley.edu
Course description: A course for students who are non-native speakers of English, CW 1 develops an awareness of grammatical forms and academic vocabulary in written English. We will analyze a variety of texts--by professional and student writers--paying attention to the choices writers make when selecting words and composing phrases and clauses. The texts will also allow us to see how writers organize larger pieces of discourse to accomplish their rhetorical purposes. These analyses will lead to writing and editing tasks related to more complex grammatical forms and academic vocabulary.
Book list: Read, Write, Edit (Patrica Porter & Deborah vanDommelan), They Say / I Say (Gerald Graff & Cathy Birkenstein), Focus on Vocabulary (Diane Schmitt & Norbert Schmitt)
College Writing R1A
CW R1A
Section: 1
CCN: 16412
Meeting time: MWF 8-10 a.m.
Meeting place: 262 Dwinelle
Instructor: Caroline Cole
Email address: cmcole@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Gender: Beneath the Surface
Course description: We often divide gender into two neat categories—male and female—and ignore many questions. Is gender constant or fluid? Is it biologically determined, socially constructed, or both? If gender is at least partially constructed, who or what constructs the categories? What are the advantages and disadvantages of being perceived as male or female? And, what happens when people blur the boundaries? This section of College Writing R1A focuses on the ways gender plays out in various areas, such as biology, language, advertising, novels and more. By reading texts from a range of disciplines and perspectives, students will examine and critique the way gender impacts our understanding of ourselves, others, and our world. While the readings will inform discussions on the course's theme, students will use these readings primarily as a means to engage in authentic critical literacy practices; the resulting examinations and critiques provide subject matter for students to learn and practice various rhetorical strategies, such extended summaries, traditional argumentation, compare/contrast arguments, problem/solution arguments, visual analysis, and literary analysis.
Book list: Herland: A Lost Feminist Utopian Novel (Charlotte Perkins Gilman), Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think & Feel (Jean Kilbourne), Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism and Achieve Real Academic Success (Charles Lipson), Course Reader
CW R1A
Section: 2
CCN: 16415
Meeting time: MWF 8-10 a.m.
Meeting place: 189 Dwinelle
Instructor: Donnett Flash
Email address: dflash@berkeley.edu
Course theme:
Course description:
Book list:
CW R1A
Section: 3
CCN: 16418
Meeting time: MWF 8-10 a.m.
Meeting place: 204 Wheeler
Instructor: Katherine Lee
Email address: khlee@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Writing the Margins
Course description: When we say "margins" or "marginal," what often comes to mind is that which is at the border of: the blank spaces surrounding a piece of paper, the areas that border a geographical location, or what occupies the space at the edge. This class will explore alternative understandings of "the marginal" and how notions of the margin become increasingly complex when we consider both the ways that they are physically and socially constructed, as well as how intersections of politics, individual identity, language, time, and international frameworks continuously shape and re-define them. We will begin our class by reading essays written by writers who discuss the geographical margins of America in decidedly non-geographical ways. These essays will serve as the starting point for reading a broad range of texts (non-fiction, novels, poetry, music, films, museums) that will challenge us to think of margins, the marginal, and marginality as sites that embody more than the physical spaces they occupy or that which they are marginal to. As we read and discuss these texts, we will constantly return to the question of the role that writing plays in creating, describing, changing, and challenging our understanding of the margin. While our broader course theme is about marginality, this course is specifically designed to familiarize you with the critical reading, writing, and analytical strategies that are necessary for developing effective academic literacy skills for all disciplines. Throughout the next 15 weeks, we will learn about and attempt to apply a multi-stage process of writing and critical thinking to our own writing. We will practice responding critically to ideas and texts and work collaboratively with each other to develop skills in argumentative writing, self and peer assessment, and textual analysis. It is my hope that by the end of the semester you will not only develop a better sense of your own reading and writing processes, but more importantly, that you will have confidence in yourselves as readers, writers, and students at UC Berkeley.
Book list: Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route (Saidiya Hartman), Bone (Fae Myenne Ng), Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age! (Kenzaburo Oe), an unabridged dictionary, Course Reader
CW R1A
Section: 6
CCN: 16427
Meeting time: MWF 10-12 p.m.
Meeting place: 122 Wheeler
Instructor: Donnett Flash
Email address: dflash@berkeley.edu
Course theme:
Course description:
Book list:
CW R1A
Section: 7
CCN: 16430
Meeting time: MWF 10-12 p.m.
Meeting place: 262 Dwinelle
Instructor: Jon Lang
Email address: see the CalNet directory
Course theme: The Decades
Course description: Each recent decade in American history might be said to have its own distinctive character: the 1950s is the era of the suburban American family; the 1960s, the period of civil rights and civil dissent; the 1970s saw the end of the Vietnam War. Each period has a character because the conflicts it represents endure: in the year 2008, the contemporary "decline" of the family produces a nostalgia for the 50s; the legacy of racial strife in American life can be traced to the "disturbances" of the 60s; and the memory of the Vietnam war haunts the conduct of the current conflict in Iraq. Through literature, film, and the non-fictional essay, we will focus on understanding the character of "the decades." The course will present a basic review of the expository essay as a form; revision will be central to your development as a writer.
Book list: Rules for Writers (Diana Hacker), The Things They Carried (Tim O'Brien), This Boy’s Life (Tobias Wolff), Course Reader which will include essays written on the 1960s. Film: Far from Heaven (dir. Todd Haynes)
CW R1A
Section: 8
CCN: 16433
Meeting time: MWF 10-12 p.m.
Meeting place: 175 Dwinelle
Instructor: Michael Larkin
Email address: larkinm@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Food, Glorious Food! OR The Politics of Food OR Eat, Drink, Read, Write (i.e. The thematic focus is FOOD)
Course description: We eat it every day. It’s a source of sustenance and anxiety, comfort and ill-health. It’s a multi-billion (trillion?) dollar industry. It’s primal and high-tech. We mark celebratory and somber occasions with it. We think about it all the time while almost not thinking about it at all. So, what we will we do with food in this course? We will think about it, read about it, write about it, and—I hope—eat it. The main goals of the course will be to develop as writers and readers, but in the course of fulfilling those goals, we’ll also become more aware of the food we eat and ask tough questions about its place in our cultural, political, social, and spiritual pursuits.
Note: In keeping with Cal’s choosing of The Omnivore’s Dilemma as the centerpiece of the 2009-10 On the Same Page program, we’ll be reading Michael Pollan’s book as a starting place. More particulars to follow…
Book list: The Omnivore’s Dilemma (Michael Pollan),The Elements of Style,50th Anniversary Edition (William Strunk & E.B. White), Course Reader; more books/films to be announced—check back soon
CW R1A
Section: 9, for non-native speakers
CCN: 16436
Meeting time: MWF 10-12 p.m.
Meeting place: 233 Dwinelle
Instructor: Margi Wald
Email address: mwald@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Perspectives on Immigration and Multiculturalism
Course description: In this section, we will be reading, discussing, and writing about how cultural background and socio-economic class affect social institutions and individual and group identity—and vice versa. Specifically, we will explore how perspective and persuasive techniques play a role in rendering, representing and interpreting events and experiences related to immigration and multiculturalism. To further this exploration, students will engage with a variety of texts and craft a variety of critical, analytical essays through brainstorming, revision, peer response, and editing for grammar and word choice.
Book list: Asking the Right Questions (M. Neil Browne & Stuart Keeley), Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the U.S. City (Mike Davis), The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures (Anne Fadiman), Don’t Think of an Elephant (George Lakoff), Keys for Writers (Ann Raimes)
CW R1A
Section: 11
CCN: 16442
Meeting time: MWF 12-2 p.m.
Meeting place: 225 Dwinelle
Instructor: Pat Steenland
Email address: steenpat@berkeley.edu
Course theme: American Identities
Course description: Welcome to College Writing R1A. This is an accelerated 6-unit course which fulfills the Subject A and the first half of the Reading and Composition requirements. In this class you will read a wide selection of fiction, essays, and other writings by authors from very different backgrounds and disciplines. You will also write at least 40 pages over the course of the semester. This writing will take various forms--in-class writing, creative pieces, short one-page pieces and longer essays of 4-6 pages. I hope that in this class you will discover and strengthen your own voice as a writer. My goal is to help you develop as a critical and analytical reader, and a clear and expressive writer. In this process I hope you will attain a strong, engaged, confident and individual voice. In this class we will read a constellation of interesting texts, taking as our theme the complex nature of American identities. To aid us in our exploration of this topic, the author of God of Luck, the writer Ruthanne Lum McCunn, will make a visit to our class.
Book list: Part Asian, 100% Hapa (Kip Fulbeck), The Time Bind (Arlie Hochschild), The Big Sea (Langston Hughes), God of Luck (Ruthanne Lum McCunn), The St. Martin’s Handbook (Andrea Lunsford), Course Reader
CW R1A
Section: 12, for non-native speakers
CCN: 16445
Meeting time: MWF 12-2 p.m.
Meeting place: 223 Wheeler
Instructor: Teri Crisp
Email address: tcrisp@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Nature, Culture, and Creativity
Course description:
How do we "function responsibly and gracefully as citizens of the whole earth," in the words of writer Vicki Robin? For many, this is the essential question of our era. As futurist Duane Elgin points out, humans now "stand upon the Earth as [potential] agents of self-reflective and creative action on behalf of the universe." In other words, we have the power to address the ecological and social crises that we, as a species, have created. In this course we will pursue a broad question: what ways of thinking, philosophies or values, kinds of knowledge and sensibilities, are required for people to act on behalf of the Earth—that wondrous habitat of humans as well as countless other species? We will consider the perspectives of scientists, artists, farmers, activists, and others—all seekers after nature's secrets and better ways of living "lightly" on the planet, and all committed to sharing their ideas in engaging writing. We'll read, write, collaborate, and take trips in the field as part of our journey this term.
Book list (subject to change): The Rough Guide to Evolution (Mark Pallen), selections from The Letters of Van Gogh (Ed. Mark Roskill), Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (Bill McKibben), Course Readers
CW R1A
Section: 13
CCN: 16448
Meeting time: MWF 12-2 p.m.
Meeting place: 233 Dwinelle
Instructor: Mary Grover
Email address: mgrover@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Coming-of-Age: Representing the Journey to Adulthood
Course description: The expression "coming-of-age" carries provocative associations, such sexual awakening, disillusionment, and embattlement. This course explores how our culture makes sense of the concept. Through critical reading, analytical writing, and class discussion, we will examine the assumptions and arguments that influential writers and artists make when portraying how individuals come of age. Our inquiry will be framed by committed participation in all facets of the writing process, including pre-writing activities, drafting, critique, and of course, revision, revision, and revision.
Book list: Everything's an Argument (Andrea A. Lundsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz), Annie John (Jamaica Kincaid), Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi), Course Reader
CW R1A
Section: 14
CCN: 16451
Meeting time: MWF 12-2 p.m.
Meeting place: 224 Wheeler
Instructor: Verda Delp
Email address: vkd@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Learning
Course description: In this course, students will explore how an array of writers, working in non-fiction and fiction, represent their ideas about learning. Students will read texts that depict learning taking place in different times and places: Sherman Alexie's account of how he learned to read and write from comic books; Frederick Douglass' thoughts about learning to read and its relationship to freedom; Amy Tan's treatise on the importance of learning about her "mother tongue"; Scott Sanders' remembrances of his father's carpentry lessons; as well as other authors' texts. Students will look at their own experiences and ideas about learning in relation to the texts they read through class discussions and a series of writing assignments.
Book list: Dreams from My Father (Barack Obama), All Over but the Shouting (Rick Bragg), A Lesson Before Dying (Ernest Gaines), The St. Martin's Handbook (Andrea Lunsford), Course Reader
CW R1A
Section: 15
CCN: 16454
Meeting time: TuTh 9-12 p.m.
Meeting place: L13 Christian, Unit 1
Instructor: Kaya Oakes
Email address: kaya_o@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Transformation
Course description: Transformation is a sometimes painful but necessary part of human existence. In this section of R1A, our focus will be on the transformational experiences of individuals and the cultures they belong to. Readings will range from fiction to graphic novels to nonfiction, poetry and plays, and we'll also watch (and write about)at least one film. Expect to see transformation in your own writing habits and output by the end of the semester.
Book list: The White Tiger (Avarind Adiga), The Year of Living Biblically (A.J. Jacobs), American Born Chinese (Gene Yang), Easy Writer (Andrea Lunsford), Course Reader, and more info TBA
CW R1A
Section: 16
CCN: 16457
Meeting time: TuTh 9-12 p.m.
Meeting place: L15 Dining, Unit 3
Instructor: Stephanie Bobo
Email address: sbobo@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Points of View
Course description:
This section focuses on examining the extent to which and how points of view show up in and shape the texts we read and how we read those texts.
Book list: Reading the Lives of Others (Bartholomae and Petrosky, eds), A Primate’s Memoir (Sapolsky), Rules for Writers (Hacker)
CW R1A
Section: 17
CCN: 16460
Meeting time: TuTh 9-12 p.m.
Meeting place: L11 Towle, Unit 2
Instructor: Jane Hammons
Email address: jhammons@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Picture This: Reading and Writing about Images
Course description: In this intensive writing seminar you will practice and develop visual literacy, which requires you to look at individual elements of images and think about how they work together to create meaning. One of the required texts, The Soiling of Old Glory, by Louis P. Masur, tells the story of a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph. And in his blog award-winning book designer, Henry Sene Yee writes about how he envisions the design of a book’s cover after reading the text. Much as you will share drafts of your writing, Yee posts drafts and revisions of his book jackets and writes about the choices he makes along the way. In addition, you will read other texts on subjects ranging from art to the physiology of the eye.
Book list: The World of the Image (Smoke and Robbins), The Soiling of Old Glory: The Story of a Photograph that Shocked America (Louis P. Masur), The Children of Men (P. D. James), Henry Sene Yee Design <http://henryseneyee.blogspot.com/>, Keys for Writers, fifth edition (Ann Raimes)
CW R1A
Section: 18
CCN: 16463
Meeting time: MW 9-12 p.m.
Meeting place: L13 Christian, Unit 1
Instructor: Staff
Email address:
Course theme:
Course description: CURRENTLY NOT OPEN
Book list:
CW R1A
Section: 19
CCN: 16466
Meeting time: MW 9-12 p.m.
Meeting place: L11 Towle, Unit 2
Instructor: Michelle Baptiste
Email address: michellebaptiste@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Grassroots Movements for Peace
Course description: In this intensive reading and writing course, we will investigate how grassroots movements for social justice begin and succeed—to what extent individual heroes/heroines are responsible and to what extent wide community involvement plays a key role. We will examine diverse intersections of issues: from economics to the environment, from housing reform to civil rights within and outside the US, including a close look at Chicago, New Orleans, and Kenya.
Book list: Unbowed: A Memoir (Wangari Maathai), Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (Barack Obama), Language Awareness 10th edition (P. Eschholz, A. Rosa, and V. Clark), The Everyday Writer (Andrea Lunsford), Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Hereos in Extraordinary Times (Amy Goodman and David Goodman)
CW R1A
Section: 20
CCN: 16469
Meeting time: MW 9-12 p.m.
Meeting place: L15 Dining, Unit 3
Instructor: Staff
Email address:
Course theme:
Course description: CURRENTLY NOT OPEN
Book list:
CW R1A
Section: 21
CCN: 16472
Meeting time: TuTh 2-5 p.m.
Meeting place: 211 Dwinelle
Instructor: Sim Chiang
Email address: chiang@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Electronic Tribes
Course description: We blog, we tweet, we text, we wiki, we "facebook", we digg, we ping and we RSS feed; we also "Skype and "emoticon". What do these word-driven activities really mean to us? And are we creating electronic tribes for ourselves--ones that are not limited by social and geographical boundaries? If so, how do they impact our sense of self and our definitions of intimacy and communities? These are the questions we'll pursue in the class as we learn to read and write ourselves into the electronic age.
Book list: Electronic Tribes (Tyrone Adams and Stephen Smith), The Best of Technology Writing (Clive Thompson), Handbook for Writers (Douglas Hesse and Lynn Troyka), Feed (M.T. Anderson), Course Reader, and one other text TBA
CW R1A
Section: 22
CCN: 16475
Meeting time: TuTh 2-5 p.m.
Meeting place: 233 Dwinelle
Instructor: Heather Kirn
Email address: hkirn@berkeley.edu
Course theme: "What Box Do I Check?": Investigating the Self
Course description: We have answered identity questions all our lives, checking little boxes on forms to indicate that we are “male” or "female," "Latino" or "Asian" or "White" or "Other." But we all know our identities cannot be defined by a single box. In this course, we will examine various aspects of the self, including generational, ethnic, racial, and cultural. We will investigate how we define (and in some cases struggle to define) ourselves. We will read, discuss, and write about a variety of texts (such as autobiographical stories, cultural analyses, and graphic memoirs) in pursuit of the following questions: What does the decade in which we are born say about who we are, how we act, and what we value? How do the visual indicators of our identities shape people's impressions of and responses to us? If a person has spent significant time in multiple countries, how does she or he understand cultural identity? As we read and write about these and other questions, our ultimate goal is to develop insightful, focused, well-supported ideas through carefully revised and edited essays. By applying a variety of critical reading and thinking strategies and by practicing a multi-stage writing and revision process, we will lay a core foundation for your confidence and success at UC Berkeley.
Book list: Generation Me (Jean Twenge), The Complete Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi), Comics and Sequential Art (Will Eisner), Writing Analytically 5th edition (David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen), The Pocket Wadsforth Handbook 4th edition (Laurie Kirszner and Stephen Mandell)
CW R1A
Section: 23
CCN: 16478
Meeting time: MW 2-5 p.m.
Meeting place: 224 Wheeler
Instructor: Michelle Baptiste
Email address: michellebaptiste@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Grassroots Movements for Peace
Course description: In this intensive reading and writing course, we will investigate how grassroots movements for social justice begin and succeed—to what extent individual heroes/heroines are responsible and to what extent wide community involvement plays a key role. We will examine diverse intersections of issues: from economics to the environment, from housing reform to civil rights within and outside the US, including a close look at Chicago, New Orleans, and Kenya.
Book list: Unbowed: A Memoir (Wangari Maathai), Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (Barack Obama), Language Awareness 10th edition (P. Eschholz, A. Rosa, and V. Clark), The Everyday Writer (Andrea Lunsford), Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Hereos in Extraordinary Times (Amy Goodman and David Goodman)
CW R1A
Section: 24
CCN: 16481
Meeting time: MW 3-6 p.m.
Meeting place: 254 Dwinelle
Instructor: Jane Hammons
Email address: jhammons@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Picture This: Reading and Writing about Images
Course description: In this intensive writing seminar you will practice and develop visual literacy, which requires you to look at individual elements of images and think about how they work together to create meaning. One of the required texts, The Soiling of Old Glory, by Louis P. Masur, tells the story of a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph. And in his blog award-winning book designer, Henry Sene Yee writes about how he envisions the design of a book’s cover after reading the text. Much as you will share drafts of your writing, Yee posts drafts and revisions of his book jackets and writes about the choices he makes along the way. In addition, you will read other texts on subjects ranging from art to the physiology of the eye.
Book list: The World of the Image (Smoke and Robbins), The Soiling of Old Glory: The Story of a Photograph that Shocked America (Louis P. Masur), The Children of Men (P. D. James), Henry Sene Yee Design <http://henryseneyee.blogspot.com/>, Keys for Writers, fifth edition (Ann Raimes)
CW R1A
Section: 25
CCN: 16484
Meeting time: TuTh 3-6 p.m.
Meeting place: 262 Dwinelle
Instructor: Carolyn Hill
Email address: chill4@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Wanna Play?
Course description: Remember recess? Remember hide-and-seek, dominoes, Tetris, tic-tac-toe? Maybe you remember freedom, laughter, and winning the game. Or maybe you remember rules, stress, and getting picked last for the team. Assessing your opponent, making strategic moves to achieve your objective, timing things just right . . . . play isn't all fun and games. And writing and reading aren't all work and misery . . . . if you play. I promise you serious play and playful work as we explore the intersections of play, reading, writing, and life.
Book list: The Queen's Gambit (Walter Tevis), A Book of Surrealist Games (ed. Mel Gooding), Escape (R. A. Montgomery), Easy Writer: A Pocket Guide (Andrea Lunsford), Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace (Joseph Williams), Course Reader (online)
CW R1A
Section: 27
CCN: 16490
Meeting time: MWF 2-4 p.m.
Meeting place: 221 Wheeler
Instructor: Jon Lang
Email address: see the CalNet directory
Course theme: The Decades
Course description: Each recent decade in American history might be said to have its own distinctive character: the 1950s is the era of the suburban American family; the 1960s, the period of civil rights and civil dissent; the 1970s saw the end of the Vietnam War. Each period has a character because the conflicts it represents endure: in the year 2008, the contemporary "decline" of the family produces a nostalgia for the 50s; the legacy of racial strife in American life can be traced to the "disturbances" of the 60s; and the memory of the Vietnam war haunts the conduct of the current conflict in Iraq. Through literature, film, and the non-fictional essay, we will focus on understanding the character of "the decades." The course will present a basic review of the expository essay as a form; revision will be central to your development as a writer.
Book list: Rules for Writers (Diana Hacker), The Things They Carried (Tim O'Brien), This Boy’s Life (Tobias Wolff), Course Reader which will include essays written on the 1960s. Film: Far from Heaven (dir. Todd Haynes)
CW R1A
Section: 28
CCN: 16493
Meeting time: MWF 2-4 p.m.
Meeting place: 214 Haviland
Instructor: Staff
Email address:
Course theme:
Course description:
Book list:
CW R1A
Section: 29
CCN: 16496
Meeting time: MW 3-6 p.m.
Meeting place: 14 Haviland
Instructor: Staff
Email address:
Course theme:
Course description: CURRENTLY NOT OPEN
Book list:
CW R1A
Section: 30
CCN: 16499
Meeting time: MWF 2-4 p.m.
Meeting place: 109 Wheeler
Instructor: Teri Crisp
Email address: tcrisp@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Nature, Culture, and Creativity
Course description: How do we "function responsibly and gracefully as citizens of the whole earth," in the words of writer Vicki Robin? For many, this is the essential question of our era. As futurist Duane Elgin points out, humans now "stand upon the Earth as [potential] agents of self-reflective and creative action on behalf of the universe." In other words, we have the power to address the ecological and social crises that we, as a species, have created. In this course we will pursue a broad question: what ways of thinking, philosophies or values, kinds of knowledge and sensibilities, are required for people to act on behalf of the Earth—that wondrous habitat of humans as well as countless other species? We will consider the perspectives of scientists, artists, farmers, activists, and others—all seekers after nature's secrets and better ways of living "lightly" on the planet, and all committed to sharing their ideas in engaging writing. We'll read, write, collaborate, and take trips in the field as part of our journey this term.
Book list (subject to change): The Rough Guide to Evolution (Mark Pallen), selections from The Letters of Van Gogh (Ed. Mark Roskill), Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (Bill McKibben), Course Readers
CW R1A
Section: 31
CCN: 16502
Meeting time: TuTh 3-6 p.m.
Meeting place: 225 Dwinelle
Instructor: Tyrone Johnson
Email address: geronimo.johnson@berkeley.edu
Course theme: FoodStuffs
Course description: Should you diet or drive-thru; use sugar or Sucralose; go low-carb or no-carb? Is it I or me; i before e; a or an? What about that nosy comma, such a busybody, always butting in, and hanging around like an unemployed apostrophe? Do all those rules mean there's a recipe for good writing? We're going to answer that question, which is tricky because necessity and indulgence, desire and aversion, anxiety and joy, all govern our relationships with writing, eating, and reading. Our aim in this writing class is to define for ourselves what makes satisfying reading and good writing. Coming together as writers, we'll read a lot, write a lot, re-write a lot, and talk about writing—yes, you guessed it—a lot! Using food as the lens, we'll explore the world around us, and plumb the truth of the proverb, "One who eats alone, chokes alone." And speaking of eating, gird your stomachs, because we'll be reviewing dining facilities here at Cal, and publishing those reviews. We'll analyze books, song lyrics, stand-up routines, TV shows, and films. By the end of the class you will be able to explain the importance of revision as well as tell me why, in The Dark Knight, the criminal cabal convenes in the kitchen, and how the film not-so-subtly suggests that the war on terror is a recipe for disaster. And, because this is a writing class, we'll avoid clichés such as that last one, well, like the plague.
Book list: Asking the Right Questions 9th ed. (Browne & Keely), The Omnivore's Dilemma (Michael Pollen), The Jungle (Upton Sinclair), The Little Red Writing Book (Brandon Royal)
Fall Freshmen Program
College Writing R1A
FFP CW R1A
Section: 2
Meeting time: MW 3-6
Meeting place: 233 Dwinelle
Instructor: Heather Kirn
Email address: hkirn@berkeley.edu
Course theme: "What Box Do I Check?": Investigating the Self
Course description: We have answered identity questions all our lives, checking little boxes on forms to indicate that we are “male” or "female," "Latino" or "Asian" or "White" or "Other." But we all know our identities cannot be defined by a single box. In this course, we will examine various aspects of the self, including generational, ethnic, racial, and cultural. We will investigate how we define (and in some cases struggle to define) ourselves. We will read, discuss, and write about a variety of texts (such as autobiographical stories, cultural analyses, and graphic memoirs) in pursuit of the following questions: What does the decade in which we are born say about who we are, how we act, and what we value? How do the visual indicators of our identities shape people's impressions of and responses to us? If a person has spent significant time in multiple countries, how does she or he understand cultural identity? As we read and write about these and other questions, our ultimate goal is to develop insightful, focused, well-supported ideas through carefully revised and edited essays. By applying a variety of critical reading and thinking strategies and by practicing a multi-stage writing and revision process, we will lay a core foundation for your confidence and success at UC Berkeley.
Booklist: Generation Me (Jean Twenge), The Complete Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi), Comics and Sequential Art (Will Eisner), Writing Analytically 5th edition (David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen), The Pocket Wadsforth Handbook 4th edition (Laurie Kirszner and Stephen Mandell)
FFP CW R1A
Section: 3
Meeting time: MW 3-6
Meeting place: 246 Dwinelle
Instructor: Katherine Lee
Email address: khlee@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Writing the Margins
Course description: When we say "margins" or "marginal," what often comes to mind is that which is at the border of: the blank spaces surrounding a piece of paper, the areas that border a geographical location, or what occupies the space at the edge. This class will explore alternative understandings of "the marginal" and how notions of the margin become increasingly complex when we consider both the ways that they are physically and socially constructed, as well as how intersections of politics, individual identity, language, time, and international frameworks continuously shape and re-define them. We will begin our class by reading essays written by writers who discuss the geographical margins of America in decidedly non-geographical ways. These essays will serve as the starting point for reading a broad range of texts (non-fiction, novels, poetry, music, films, museums) that will challenge us to think of margins, the marginal, and marginality as sites that embody more than the physical spaces they occupy or that which they are marginal to. As we read and discuss these texts, we will constantly return to the question of the role that writing plays in creating, describing, changing, and challenging our understanding of the margin. While our broader course theme is about marginality, this course is specifically designed to familiarize you with the critical reading, writing, and analytical strategies that are necessary for developing effective academic literacy skills for all disciplines. Throughout the next 15 weeks, we will learn about and attempt to apply a multi-stage process of writing and critical thinking to our own writing. We will practice responding critically to ideas and texts and work collaboratively with each other to develop skills in argumentative writing, self and peer assessment, and textual analysis. It is my hope that by the end of the semester you will not only develop a better sense of your own reading and writing processes, but more importantly, that you will have confidence in yourselves as readers, writers, and students at UC Berkeley.
Booklist: Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route (Saidiya Hartman), Bone (Fae Myenne Ng), Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age! (Kenzaburo Oe), an unabridged dictionary, Course Reader
FFP CW R1A
Section: 4
Meeting time: TuTh 3:30-6:30
Meeting place: 2305 Tolman
Instructor: Cody Gates
Email address: cgates@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Exploring and Exploding the Moment
Course description: We are exposed to a speedier and denser data stream with each passing day. What can we learn by slowing this barrage down, dipping into the stream and isolating a packet of time and experience? In this section of College Writing we are going to hit the pause button and crawl inside a few of these moments, not simply to admire or critique, but as an opportunity to find the questions that connect these frozen moments to the world we live in. What can a tennis match (from first serve to last point) tell us about race and class in America? What can the details of the first hours after a devastating natural disaster teach us about our relationship to our neighbors, our infrastructure and our government? We know how an iPod works, but what does it mean? Through a variety of papers and approaches, we will attempt to decode some of the cultural language around us, applying the brakes in order to engage both the message and the medium with critique, analysis, reflection and evaluation.
Booklist: Levels of the Game (John McPhee), The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind (James Boyle), After the Quake (Haruki Murakami), A Dangerous Place (Marc Reisner)
FFP CW R1A
Section: 5
Meeting time: TuTh 3:30-6:30
Meeting place: 14 Haviland
Instructor: David Skolnick
Email address: dskolnick@berkeley.edu
Course theme: The Multifarious Facets of Food
Course description: "You are what you eat" goes the old saying. But how many of us consider the broader and deeper meanings of this proverb? The food we eat influences and is influenced by our personal preferences, our family, our culture, our media, and our politics, all of which enter into our daily lives either overtly or covertly, consciously or unconsciously. In this course, we will examine the various ways food intersects with our personal and public lives by reading, thinking critically, writing, and rewriting about, discussing, and eating the topic. We will define concepts, analyze our own and others' writing, learn how we are influenced by language, and, concurrently, how we can influence others with language. In the process, we will also examine what choices we can make and actions we can take when confronted with truths and perspectives that may surprise us.
Booklist: Fast Food Nation (Eric Schlosser), My Year of Meats (Ruth Ozeki), Read, Write, Edit: Grammar for College Writing (Pat Porter and Deborah vanDommelen)
CW R4B
Section: 1
CCN: 16535
Meeting time: MWF 10-11 a.m.
Meeting place: 206 Wheeler
Instructor: Pat Steenland
Email address: steenpat@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Images of History
Course description: How do we come to understand the past? Once an event recedes, we are left with an unfiltered mix of sources and perspectives, each reflecting a partial truth. In this class we will explore different representations of two major historical events of the twentieth century, the Holocaust and the Japanese American internment. Our intent is not to compare these events. Nor is our goal to gain an encyclopedic knowledge of either or both. Instead, we will explore how different genres can give us different perspectives. We will begin with the following texts as our starting points: Art Spiegelman's graphic novels about the Holocaust, Maus I and II; and Mine Okubo's pictorial memoir of the Japanese American internment, Citizen 13660. We will also look at novels about these events, including Julie Otsuka's When The Emperor Was Divine (part of which is set in Berkeley--you may recognize some landmarks.) When reading Bernard Schlink's novel The Reader (now a film), we will explore the question voiced by the writer Cynthia Ozick: how far may fiction be allowed to go when dealing with historical fact? With these concerns in mind, we will also look at other representations of these events in different genres, such as films, essays, oral histories, diaries, and standard history textbooks, to explore differences in genre and perspective. For the final research project, students will choose their own topic to explore from the Japanese American internment and work with primary materials found both online and at the Bancroft Library, including the Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive, an immensely rich collection of materials on this subject.
Booklist: Maus I and II (Art Spiegelman), Survival In Auschwitz (Primo Levi), The Reader (Bernard Schlink), Citizen 13660 (Mine Okubo), When The Emperor Was Divine (Julie Otsuka), From Our Side of the Fence: Growing Up in America’s Concentration Camps (ed. Brian Komei Dempster, on reserve in Moffitt), Writing With Sources (Gordon Harvey)
CW R4B
Section: 2
CCN: 16538
Meeting time: MWF 1-2 p.m.
Meeting place: 221 Wheeler
Instructor: Michael Larkin
Email address: larkinm@berkeley.edu
Course theme: War in Perspective
Course description:
Our readings, and subject matter of your writing, will focus on questions of perspective and getting at the truth in the telling and retelling of the story of war (specifically the wars in Vietnam and Iraq). We'll take a look at the ways in which people tell stories, both fictional and nonfictional, and how one's position—as observer, as participant, as storyteller, as reporter, as documentarian, as researcher—inform one's portrayal of events or people. How do we, as readers, evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the information we're given? How do we, as writers and researchers, figure out how to document an event fairly, how to tell a story accurately, and how to be aware of our own subjectivity as we do so?
Booklist: The Craft of Research (Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Columb, Joseph M. Williams), My War (Colby Buzzell), Baghdad Burning (Riverbend), In Pharaoh's Army (Tobias Wolff), Course Reader.
CW R4B
Section: 3
CCN: 16541
Meeting time: TuTh 9:30-11 a.m.
Meeting place: 242 Dwinelle
Instructor: Yuet-Sim Chiang
Email address: chiang@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Dying for Beauty
Course description: Television's hottest reality shows like "Extreme Makeovers" and "Nip and Tuck" testify to the extreme things people do in the name of beauty. In the United States, 1,484 tubes of lipstick and 2,055 jars of skin care products are sold every minute (Etcoff, 1999). And cosmetic surgery has become a multi-billion-dollar industry. Has the world gone insane, or has the beauty myth become a reality? Is "dying for beauty" a social construction, or a genetic tendency? In this course, we will explore the forms and representations of beauty and how and why we do what we do in the name of beauty. Using written and visual texts from a variety of disciplines--cultural studies, feminist studies, cognitive science, philosophy, and social psychology--we will explore the compelling pursuit of beauty in myth and in reality.
Booklist: Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty (Nancy Etcoff), Autobiography of a Face (Lucy Grealy), The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women (Naomi Wolf), Hope in a Jar (Kathy Peiss), Body Work: Beauty and Self-Image in American Culture (Debra Gimlin), More Than Skin Deep (Loren Eskenazi and Peg Streep), The Craft of Research (Booth, Colomb and Williams), and selected readings TBA
CW R4B
Section: 4
CCN: 16544
Meeting time: TuTh 9:30-11 a.m.
Meeting place: 206 Wheeler
Instructor: Gail Offen-Brown
Email address: gob@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Public History, Personal Story
Course description: This course will examine how artists and writers, working in a range of genres, explore and represent intersections between the personal and the public, between story and history. We will work with excerpts of photographic essays from the Depression era (Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by Walker Evans and James Agee and An American Exodus by Dorothea Lange and Paul Taylor); a graphic novel representing the Holocaust and its legacy (Maus by Art Spiegelman); a nonfiction study of multicultural America (A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki); and another text TBA. In writing a series of essays in response to these texts, students will develop their ability to critically read and analyze visual images as well as words. A central focus of the course will be investigating the research process, and coursework will culminate in a research portfolio.
Booklist: Ways of Reading Words and Images (David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky), Maus, Books I and II (Art Spiegelman), A Different Mirror (Ronald Takaki), The Craft of Research, 3rd edition (Wayne Booth, Gregory Colomb, and Joseph Williams), additional text TBA, Course Reader
CW R4B
Section: 5
CCN: 16547
Meeting time: TuTh 12:30-2 p.m.
Meeting place: 223 Wheeler
Instructor: Gail Offen-Brown
Email address: gob@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Public History, Personal Story
Course description: This course will examine how artists and writers, working in a range of genres, explore and represent intersections between the personal and the public, between story and history. We will work with excerpts of photographic essays from the Depression era (Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by Walker Evans and James Agee and An American Exodus by Dorothea Lange and Paul Taylor); a graphic novel representing the Holocaust and its legacy (Maus by Art Spiegelman); a nonfiction study of multicultural America (A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki); and another text TBA. In writing a series of essays in response to these texts, students will develop their ability to critically read and analyze visual images as well as words. A central focus of the course will be investigating the research process, and coursework will culminate in a research portfolio.
Booklist: Ways of Reading Words and Images (David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky), Maus, Books I and II (Art Spiegelman), A Different Mirror (Ronald Takaki), The Craft of Research, 3rd edition (Wayne Booth, Gregory Colomb, and Joseph Williams), additional text TBA, Course Reader
CW R4B
Section: 6
CCN: 16550
Meeting time: TuTh 2-3:30 p.m.
Meeting place: 221 Wheeler
Instructor: Kaya Oakes
Email address: kaya_o@berkeley.edu
Course theme: Adventures in the Musical Underground
Course description: Folk, punk, indie rock and hip hop all began as subcultural forms of expression, formed in small communities by networks of like-minded individuals. Soon enough, however, each of these underground musical movements became commercialized. In this section of R4B, we'll explore each of these musical genres and look at the ways in which they went from being underground movements to mainstream phenomena. You'll write three essays on music related topics, culminating in a research essay, and along the way, you'll hopefully learn a lot about analysis, argumentation, and research.
Booklist: Chronicles (Bob Dylan), Our Band Could Be Your Life (Michael Azzerad), Can't Stop Won't Stop (Jeff Chang), The Craft of Research (Booth, Colomb and Williams), and one more book TBA
CW R4B
Section: 7
CCN: 16553
Meeting time: TuTh 2-3:30 p.m.
Meeting place: 109 Wheeler
Instructor: John Levine
Email address: jblevine@berkeley.edu
Course theme: What's So Funny?
Course description: What makes something comedic? Why do we find some things funny? Is humor subjective? This course will consider humor in literature, on stage, and on the screen. Writing assignments—worked through multiple drafts—will analyze the humor we encounter in and outside of the classroom. The culminating writing project will be a research paper in which students pursue their own questions about what makes something funny.
Booklist: The Joke and Its Relation to the Unconscious (Sigmund Freud), Laughing Out Loud (Andrew Horton), Typical American (Gish Jen), Topdog/Underdog (Suzan-Lori Parks), The Craft of Research 3rd edition (Wayne Booth, Gregory Colomb, and Joseph Williams), Course Reader
College Writing 10A: Introduction to Public Speaking
CW 10A
Section: 1
CCN: 16556
Meeting time: TuTh 9:30-11 a.m.
Meeting place: 221 Wheeler
Instructor: John Levine
Email address: jblevine@berkeley.edu
Course description: If you think delivering a speech is a mystifying
process, something only politicians, performers, and prophets can do, this
course will take the mystery out of public speaking for you. We will study
speeches and learn about strategies for addressing small and large groups.
Whether it's reporting on the events leading up to World War II or persuading
an audience to support stem cell research or making a toast at your cousin's
wedding, public speaking is an important skill that you'll find useful
inside and outside the college classroom. Like anything else, speaking takes
practice; you will gain plenty of experience reading, writing and performing
speeches in a safe, supportive environment.
Booklist: The Art of Public Speaking (Stephen Lucas), Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (Anna Deavere Smith)
CW 10A
Section: 2
CCN: 16559
Meeting time: TuTh 11-12:30 p.m.
Meeting place: L7 Christian Hall, Unit 1
Instructor: Carolyn Hill
Email address: chill4@berkeley.edu
Course description: How do you feel about speaking in public? Are you petrified by fear? Do you love the attention? Do you wish people would listen to what you have to say? Maybe you want your audience to cry, to laugh, or to spring into action. Maybe you want to sell a product, convey an idea, or get a job. Maybe you just want to toast your best friend's wedding. Sometime, somewhere, you're going to be standing in front of a bunch of strangers who are all waiting for you to open your mouth and dazzle them. This class will help you shine.
Booklist: The Art of Public Speaking (Stephen E. Lucas)
Upper-Division and Graduate Courses
College Writing 108: New Technologies
CW 108
Section: 1
CCN: 16571
Meeting time: TuTh 3:30-5 p.m.
Meeting place: 203 Wheeler
Instructor: Staff
Email address:
Course description: CURRENTLY NOT OPEN
Booklist:
College Writing 110: Challenging Writing
CW 110
Section: 1
CCN: 16574
Meeting time: TuTh 2-3:30 p.m.
Meeting place: 20 Wheeler
Instructor: Steve Tollefson
Email address: tollef@berkeley.edu
Course description:
Booklist:
College Writing 121: Issues in Teaching English Internationally
CW 121
Section: 1
CCN: 16576
Meeting time: TuTh 3:30-5:00 p.m.
Meeting place: 203 Wheeler
Instructor: Melinda Erickson
Email address: erickson@berkeley.edu
Course description: What does it mean to teach English internationally? CW 121 offers students an opportunity to consider a variety of answers to this question by offering an overview of relevant academic and professional issues from a variety of disciplines. Through readings, discussions, and assigned projects, students learn about principles of language policy and planning; linguistics; methodology; and assessment. These topics contribute to an understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects of effective English language teaching abroad, leading to responsible engagement in the international community of English language teachers and learners.
Booklist: More Than a Native Speaker: An Introduction to Teaching English Abroad, revised edition 2006 (Donald Snow), Teaching English as an International Language (Sandra McKay), Course Reader
College Writing 151: Introduction to Principles of Professional Communication
CW 151
Section: 1
CCN: 16577
Meeting time: MWF 11-12 p.m.
Meeting place: 101 Wheeler
Instructor: Caroline Cole
Email address: cmcole@berkeley.edu
Course description: This course introduces students to key principles and rhetorical strategies of writing texts in non-academic settings. Although informed by rhetorical theory, this course encourages students to examine and practice a range of techniques to create appropriate and effective texts. By concentrating on audiences, purposes, forms, and formats of professional correspondence, students will write and design a variety of documents which emphasize content, organization, tone, and readability. The course may address issues of oral communication; however, the primary focus will be on learning and conscientiously applying techniques to generate written documents in business contexts.
For more information, please visit the course website, <http://writing.berkeley.edu/courses/Cole/cw151/> .
College Writing 300: Introduction to Theories and Practices of Teaching College Composition
CW 300
Section: 1
CCN: 16586
Meeting time: M 4-6 p.m.
Meeting place: 106 Wheeler
Instructor: Melinda Erickson
Email address: erickson@berkeley.edu
Course description: This seminar provides an opportunity to explore the role of writing in the university. We consider current theories and practices in composition studies, drawing on your experience as a student, writer, and teacher. We explore such issues as syllabus and assignment design, instructional methods, and assessment. This seminar is open to all graduate students. It fulfills the provision of the Graduate Council policy requiring all GSIs to complete a pedagogy seminar and also satisfies the specific requirement for those GSIs who teach Reading and Composition courses.
Book list: Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom (John C. Bean), Teaching Guide (UCB Teaching Resource Center), Course Reader
CW 300
Section: 2
CCN: 16589
Meeting time: Th 4-6 p.m.
Meeting place: 223 Wheeler
Instructor: Gail Offen-Brown
Email address: gob@berkeley.edu
Course description: This seminar introduces students to current composition theory and practice, and encourages students to test and critique those theories and practices against their own experiences as students, writers, and teachers. We will consider issues such as teaching philosophies, course design, instructional methods, and assessment. Students in this interactive class will read articles, listen to guest speakers, exchange ideas and materials, and reflect on the role of writing in the university. This course is open to all GSIs. It meets the campus policy requiring GSIs who teach a Reading and Composition course to complete a semester-long, graduate-level pedagogy course.
Book list: Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom (John C. Bean), Course Reader
