Course Syllabus
Syllabus Composition, Thinking, and Study Skills
Welcome
Welcome to Composition, Thinking, and Study Skills! We’re so glad you’re here.
Every lesson is designed to help you grow as a thinker, problem solver, and global learner. As a Mizzou Academy global student, you will complete lessons and assignments on your own schedule, interacting with course content, participating in interactives, and completing practice activities, as well as drafting and revising assignments, preparing for quizzes and assessments, and taking exams.
To stay on track, we recommend using a pacing guide. You can find more information about pacing in the Course Resources section, along with helpful tools, technology support, and tips for online learning success.
As you begin, remember that online learning requires both independence and communication. Be curious, stay organized, and don’t hesitate to reach out to your teacher if you need support.
We’re excited to learn with you, and we’re happy you’re part of our Mizzou Academy community!
Pacing
This course can be completed in as few as six weeks or take up to 6 months (180 calendar days). The six weeks are counted from the date of the first lesson submission and not the date of enrollment.
This course is asynchronous, meaning you can complete lessons and assignments at your own pace.
Most students spend approximately 10 hours per lesson interacting with course content, participating in interactive activities, and completing practice exercises, as well as drafting and revising assignments, preparing for quizzes and assessments, and taking exams. Your time may vary depending on your goals and learning style.
We encourage you to work at a consistent pace, allowing time to absorb new ideas, build skills, and reflect on what you’ve learned. Use a pacing guide to plan ahead, stay organized, and finish strong.
Course Description
Every day, you're surrounded by messages. You read articles, watch videos, scroll through social media, listen to music, talk with friends, and make decisions based on information. This course will help you both understand those messages and create meaningful ones of your own.
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In the first half of the course, you’ll learn to wisely evaluate the messages you receive–in everyday communication and academic settings. You'll discover your strengths, develop a growth mindset, set goals, manage your time, use Mizzou Academy resources, read actively, analyze fiction and nonfiction, and interpret poetry. Along the way, you'll practice thinking critically, finding evidence, and making thoughtful connections. In the second half of the course, you'll become the communicator. You'll discover your unique voice, learn how to adapt your communication for different audiences and purposes, support your ideas with examples and details, and create messages in a variety of formats. Through practice, feedback, and revision, you'll grow into a more confident and effective communicator. |
You'll also learn how to use digital tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), responsibly and ethically. You'll practice deciding when technology can support your learning and when your own independent thinking is most important.
By the end of this course, you'll be better prepared to think critically, evaluate information, and communicate with purpose. You'll know how to develop and support meaningful messages, choose effective ways to share them, and use feedback and digital tools responsibly to strengthen your work.
Course Essential Questions
Lessons 1-5
How do my choices shape my success?
What makes reading worth my time?
Lessons 6-10
How can I use my voice with purpose?
How can I communicate so that others understand?
Course Overview
Lessons |
Objectives |
Workshops |
Quizzes & Assignments |
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1 - Goal Setting & |
1.1 Demonstrate understanding of key ideas, vocabulary, and supporting details from the lesson's texts, videos, and learning resources. 1.2 Explain how personal strengths can help overcome obstacles. 1.3 Differentiate between fixed mindset and growth mindset statements. 1.4 Divide long-term goals into stepping-stone goals. 1.5 Analyze a goal to determine how it can be right-sized. 1.6 Design a pacing plan and a meaningful SMART Goal. |
Lesson 1 Writing Workshop: Develop a Pacing Plan
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Lesson 1 Quiz |
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2 - Canvas Resources & Academic Integrity |
2.1 Demonstrate understanding of key ideas, vocabulary, and supporting details from the lesson's texts, examples, and learning resources. 2.2 Select the most appropriate Mizzou Academy resource to complete a task honestly and effectively. 2.3 Analyze assignment prompts, guidelines, and rubrics to determine assignment expectations. 2.4 Evaluate feedback to determine meaningful revisions that improve future work. 2.5 Determine when digital tools support learning and when independent thinking is more appropriate. 2.6 Select effective study strategies for objective exams and performance tasks. |
Lesson 2 Writing Workshop: Design a SMART Goal
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Lesson 2 Quiz Lesson 2 Assignment: |
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3 - Read With Purpose: Active Reading Strategies |
3.1 Demonstrate understanding of key ideas, vocabulary, and supporting details from the lesson's texts, videos, and learning resources. 3.2 Apply chunking and summarizing strategies to improve reading comprehension. 3.3 Select appropriate SQ4R strategies to improve understanding and memory while reading. 3.4 Distinguish between main ideas and supporting details in nonfiction texts. 3.5 Select the strongest evidence that best supports an idea or interpretation. 3.6 Determine an author's purpose using evidence from the text. |
No Lesson 3 Workshop. |
Lesson 3 Quiz No Assignment |
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4 - Discover Meaning in Stories: Literary Elements |
4.1 Demonstrate understanding of key ideas, vocabulary, and supporting details from the lesson's texts, videos, and learning resources. 4.2 Apply active reading strategies to analyze fiction. 4.3 Distinguish between plot, topic, main idea, and theme. 4.4 Analyze key literary elements, including plot, character, setting, conflict, point of view, and theme. 4.5 Select evidence that supports main ideas and themes. |
Lesson 4 Planning Workshop: Create a Character Discovery Portfolio
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Lesson 4 Quiz Lesson 4 Assignment: Character Discovery Portfolio (75 points)
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5 - Make Connections: Figurative Language |
5.1 Demonstrate understanding of key ideas, vocabulary, and supporting details from the lesson's texts, videos, and learning resources. 5.2 Recognize the difference between literal and figurative language. 5.3 Interpret figurative language to discover deeper meaning. 5.4 Analyze how poets use form, sound, and language to communicate meaning. 5.5 Connect poems to your own life, other texts, and the world around you. |
Move forward to the Midterm Exam Performance Task Planning Workshop |
Lesson 5 Quiz No Assignment. Begin preparing for your midterm exam |
Prepare for the Midterm Exam
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Midterm Exam (200 points)—50 multiple-choice questions (100 points) |
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In Lessons 6–10, you'll develop a communication step by step. Your workshops will help you explore ideas, make decisions, develop your message, and prepare your final communication. Some workshops are ungraded, but the work you complete will help you with later assignments and your final exam project. |
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6 - Discover Your Voice |
6.1 Demonstrate understanding of key ideas, vocabulary, and supporting details from the lesson's texts, videos, and learning resources. 6.2 Analyze how a communicator's word choice, details, tone, and style contribute to an authentic voice. 6.3 Analyze how communicators adjust their choices to fit different audiences while maintaining an authentic voice. 6.4 Analyze how communication choices reveal and support a communicator's main purpose. 6.5 Distinguish among topic, main idea, theme, and message in communication. 6.6 Develop a clear message using the Say It, Show It, Explain It, Relate It Communication Framework. |
Lesson 6 Communication Workshop: Practice Building Your Message
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Lesson 6 Quiz No Assignment |
| 7 - Choose Your Purpose |
7.1 Demonstrate understanding of key ideas, vocabulary, and supporting details from the lesson's texts, videos, and learning resources. 7.2 Compare how different formats shape how an audience connects to a message. 7.3 Analyze how words, visuals, sound, and movement shape a message. 7.4 Evaluate communication choices based on audience, purpose, and message. 7.5 Design a message using a format, structure, and communication choices appropriate to a specific audience and purpose. |
Lesson 7 Message Design Workshop: Shape Your Message
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Lesson 7 Quiz Lesson 7 Assignment: Message Design Challenge (75 Points) |
| 8 - Strengthen Your Message |
8.1 Demonstrate understanding of key ideas, vocabulary, and supporting details from the lesson's texts, videos, and learning resources. 8.2 Choose relevant support based on the message and what the audience needs. 8.3 Develop an explanation that connects support to a message. 8.4 Evaluate sources for relevance, purpose, and credibility. 8.5 Use quotations and paraphrases accurately while preserving the source's meaning. 8.6 Credit source information appropriately using attribution and citations. |
Lesson 8 Communication Workshop: Strengthen Your Message
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Lesson 8 Quiz No Assignment |
| 9 - Develop Your Message |
9.1 Develop a message with meaningful support and clear explanations. 9.2 Create cohesion by organizing, grouping, linking, and signaling relationships among ideas. 9.3 Analyze qualities of your writer’s voice. 9.4 Revise a message to strengthen its ideas, meaning, clarity, and connections. 9.5 Develop a complete written message for a specific audience and purpose. |
Lesson 9 Message Development Workshop
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Lesson 9 Quiz Lesson 9 Assignment: Message Development Challenge (75 points) |
| 10 - Communicate With Purpose |
10.1 Adapt a developed message into a communication that fits a specific audience, purpose, and format. 10.2 Apply modes, features, support, organization, and accessibility choices to strengthen the audience’s experience of a message. 10.3 Evaluate a communication using your own observations and feedback from another perspective. 10.4 Revise a communication to improve its effectiveness for an intended audience and purpose. 10.5 Reflect on the choices, challenges, feedback, and learning that shaped a communication. |
Throughout Lesson 10: Final Exam Communication Build Workshop, Graded. Submit this workshop as part of your Final Exam Assignment. |
Lesson 10 Quiz No Assignment |
Prepare for the Final Exam
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Final Exam (200 points)—25 multiple-choice questions (50 points) |
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AI Use and Acknowledgment
This course was developed through collaboration by instructors, instructional designers, content experts, and academic leaders at Mizzou Academy. Artificial intelligence tools were used to support brainstorming, outlining, and revision of this course and its accompanying resources. Final decisions and content reflect the authors’ expertise and judgment.
Grades
Your final grade will be based on the number of points you earn on submitted work and exams. The available points are distributed as follows:
| Source | Available Points |
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| Acceptable Use and Handbook Quizzes | 2 |
| Lesson Assignments | 300 |
| Lesson Quizzes | 100 |
| Midterm Exam | 200 (Multiple Choice Questions: 100 points Assignment: 100 points) |
| Final Exam |
200 (Multiple Choice Questions: 50 points |
| Total | 802 |
Textbook & Technology Requirements
To fully participate, make sure you have:
- A computer that meets our Mizzou Academy technology requirements
- A microphone and webcam for recording audio and video assignments
- Any other required materials for the course
Accessibility
If you anticipate barriers related to the format or requirements of this course, please let us know as soon as possible. If disability-related accommodations are necessary (for example, a scribe, reader, extended time on exams, captioning), please contact Mizzou Academy.Canvas Technical Support
Canvas will be used as the primary platform for accessing course materials and assignments for this class.
- Access Canvas through the Tiger Portal https://mizzouacademy.missouri.edu/
- For assistance with Canvas, passwords, or other technical issues, submit a ticket by selecting Help from the Global Navigation menu on the left in Canvas. Additional information is provided in the following Canvas Guide: How do I get help with Canvas as a student?
- For questions about enrollment, access to courses, exam proctoring, or billing, contact our Support Services Team at (855) 256-4975 or mizzouacademy@missouri.edu.
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
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