First Year Seminar Fall 2003
ZINT 101-35
“Not Your (typical) Course”
(NYC)
Anne &
Patrick Chang, Instructors
Tacquice Wiggan, Peer Facilitator
Home phone: (201) 818-8578 Pat’s office: (201) 684-7591
Anne’s e-mail: achang@ramapo.edu Pat’s e-mail: pchang@ramapo.edu
Office hours by appointment.
Tacquice’s phone:
(201)995-2754 Tacquice’s e-mail: twiggan@ramapo.edu
Update: December
3, 2003, 2003
The international cultural
and commerce center of the world is 28 miles east of
Caveats:
-- Although efforts will be made to keep student costs down, you should expect to
incur some extra expense with this course, for ex., some transportation, food.
-- If you're looking to do "classic" NYC tourist activities like
big Broadway shows or visiting The Hard Rock Cafe, this is not the course for
you.
-- Since our class does not
meet at regular intervals, you need to pay close attention to our schedule of
class times. We will hold you
responsible for being in the right place at the right time.
-- We hope to make this
class an enjoyable and engaging experience, but make no mistake: you will be doing a lot of work. Do not judge the difficulty of this class by
the first walking tour held during orientation.
Your research and writing skills will be challenged in this class, and
there will be a good amount of work required outside of our class time.
Course Policies
Attendance: Because of
the unusual nature of our class schedule (we meet for longer sessions, but less
days) attendance is paramount. So much
will be covered each time we meet and we expect you to be at each and every
class. Extenuating circumstances should
be discussed with the instructors ahead of time.
Grading: Your final course grade will be determined by the
following:
25% Attendance &
Participation
20% Midterm Project
30% Final Project
25% Short Assignments
Assignments: Assignments are due at the beginning
of class time on the date required. No late
assignments will be accepted without prior approval from the instructors. In other words, unless you have arranged with
us ahead of time for another due date, any assignment turned in after the due
date will be an “F.” There will be no
extra credit opportunities for you to “make up” an assignment.
All written assignments must
be typed, double spaced, stapled, and have a cover page. The cover page must include your social
security number, the date the assignment is due, the course and section number,
and some sort of title for the assignment.
If you hand in an assignment not in the correct format, we will not
accept that assignment and it will be an “F.”
All references and citations
must be done in MLA (Modern Language Association) format. You should consult the MLA style manual in
our required book list for proper format requirements for a given
citation.
You will be graded on
spelling, grammar, word usage, etc. as well as content.
There will be assignments
given throughout the semester, usually specifically pertaining to the various
topics and areas of
The midterm project, due
Saturday, October 25th, will require you to read a work of fiction (of your own
choosing) set in Manhattan at any time period (for ex., Ragtime , The
Alienist, The Catcher In The Rye, etc.), choose a chapter involving
a specific section of Manhattan, walk through that neighborhood, and analyze it
in relation to what you read. This paper
should be approximately 5-7 pages in length and include citations.
The final project, due
Saturday, December 6th, will require you to research an area of
Service Learning: In lieu of
the midterm or final project (not both), you may elect to do an approved
service learning experience. This
option, coordinated by The Cahill Center For
Experiential Learning and Career Planning, will be explained in detail
during our first classroom session.
Note: If you fail First Year Seminar, you cannot
retake this course.
Peer Facilitators
As
an added resource for first year students, each section of FYS will have a Peer
Facilitator. This upper level student will attend FYS classes and assist
the instructor in facilitating the seminar. They will serve as discussion
leaders on issues presented at the First Year Sanity Workshops. They will also
facilitate weekly discussions on the class readings. Your Peer Facilitator will be your mentor and
will be available to you to provide guidance on navigating the different
personal and social hurdles that you may encounter in your first year at
Ramapo.
Books:
Grader, Rob. The Cheap Bastard’s Guide to New York City.
Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers (5th Edition).
The New
York Times Company. The New York Times Guide
to New York City 2003.
Class Schedule
Tuesday, September 2,
Saturday, September 6,
with
Guest Presenter Karen Booth, Luminis and Project Descriptions
Tuesday, September 16,
Saturday, September 20,
Saturday, September 27,
Monday,
September 29, Start
reading through the book, The Cheap Bastard's Guide to NYC. Pick an activity from the book that you can
do in
Tuesday,
October 2, Today is the last day for you to sign up with Karen Booth to
do the Service Learning option in this course!
Tuesday, October 7,
Saturday, October 11,
Professors
Kai Fikentscher on: “The Underground Music Scene of
Greenwich Village” (Please bring a portable CD player) (Assignment:
submit Cheap Bastard’s Guide paper)
Tuesday, October 21,
Saturday, October 25,
Professors
Edward Saiff and Roger O. Johnson on “The
Saturday, November 1,
Dean
Henry Davis on “The
Tuesday, November 11,
Saturday, November 15,
Professor Marhsall Harth a “Tour of
Wednesday, December 3 FIRST YEAR SEMINAR SPECTACULAR
Saturday,
December 6.
Tuesday, December 2,
Important Dates (The following are important dates for you to be
aware of, and, although we will not take attendance at these events, they would
be to your benefit to attend.)
Tuesday, September 9, Last day
for schedule adjustments:
Tuesday, September 9, Last day
to withdraw with 100% tuition refund
Thursday, September 11, all day, September 11 Commemoration Events
Saturday, September 13,
RSVP at Roadrunner Central)
Tuesday, September 23Last day to
withdraw with 50% tuition and/or housing refund
Wednesday, September 24,
Wednesday, November 12. Last day
to withdraw from courses with “W” grade
Saturday, November 1
Registration for Winter session
Registration
for Spring session: Click on ‘Spring’ under
Registration Schedule on Web for Students page
First Year Spectacular
On
Wednesday, December 3rd, all FYS sections will exhibit aspects of
their seminars to members of the Ramapo community. These exhibits can consist
of poster presentations that include photos, examples of class work and final
projects, multimedia presentations, student performances and other forms of
exposition that are representative of the individual seminar. All FYS students
must represent their seminar by participating in the Spectacular.
Student With Disabilities
Ramapo College of New Jersey
supports the protections available to students with disabilities under Section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act
of 1990.
The Office of Specialized
Services facilitates equal access to the programs and activities at
Any student with a
disability who believes that he or she has been discriminated against should
refer to the Ramapo College Anti-Discrimination Policy Statement and Discrimination
Complaint Procedures published in the Student Handbook for resolution of the
grievance.
Policy on Academic Integrity
Every member of the Ramapo
community is expected to be honest and forthright in their academic endeavors.
Since violations of academic integrity erode community confidence and undermine
the pursuit of truth and knowledge at the College; academic dishonesty must be
avoided. There are four broad forms of academic dishonesty:
- Cheating is an act of deception by which a
student misrepresents his or her mastery of material on a test or other
academic exercise.
- Plagiarism occurs when
a person represents someone else’s words, ideas, phrases, sentences, or
data as one’s own work. When a student submits work that includes such
material, the source of that information must be acknowledged through
complete, accurate, and specific footnote references; verbatim statements
must be acknowledged through quotation marks.
To avoid a charge of plagiarism, a student should be sure to include an acknowledgment of indebtedness. - Academic Misconduct
includes the alteration of grades, involvement in the acquisition or
distribution of unadministered tests, and the
unauthorized submission of student work in more than one class.
- Fabrication refers to the
deliberate use of invented information or the falsification of research or
other findings with the intent to deceive.
Instances of academic dishonesty will result in a failing grade for the course and possible disciplinary action.
Practical Travel Matters
We want you to become savvy
New Yorkers, to that end, we will provide bus
transportation into NYC for the first four trips. After that, you will be expected to get into
NYC on your own, meeting us at a predetermined location in
For bus trips, departures
will be promptly at the time specified.
If you fail to catch the bus, it is your responsibility to meet us at
our destination, or you will be considered absent. You should be certain to eat before
departing, as only dinner will be provided in the city. If, for some reason, you are unable to
continue on during one of our city visits, it will be your responsibility to
get back to campus on your own. ALWAYS
bring extra money for purchasing water, snacks, or other incidentals you might
need while in NYC. Unfortunately,
because of budgetary constraints and also because this is a course like any
other college course, we cannot accommodate guests not enrolled in the course.
Please realize that whenever
you are off-campus, you are representing