Notes on a typical syllabus

I think the formatting of the syllabus is a little dense. I feel like replacing the long and descriptive paragraphs with bullet points (and perhaps italicize or bold the most important points) could make this syllabus easier for students to glance at and pull out the important information.

I truly appreciate the section on "Student Responsibilities" because it sets the students up as accountable members of the classroom community.

The "Course Objectives" section is my absolutely favorite part. I wish all course syllabus so clearly stated their pedagogical philosophy and what goals the teacher has set for students to achieve by the end of the semester.

I approve of the attempt at balance between daily topics of grammar, writing strategies, and reading. However, an emphasis on critical reading is not obvious, so I would make rhetorical reading strategies a stated focus in some of the daily topics.

I also find it problematic to assign mid-term and final exams. I attended a college where testing in literature and composition courses was not as common as mid-term papers and final papers, even "take-home tests" were more common than an in-class test. I do see some value in teaching students to write in-class, answering exam questions that they will see in other college course work. However, I would not count the tests as a mid-term or final. Rather, I would re-title them and assign them less weight on the total course grading scale.