Syllabus Draft.docx

Writing 122A_H: Minority Rhetorics

An Honors Course in Argument, Style, and Research

Spring 2014

CRN: 43207

Tuesday/Thursday 8-9:50am

Center, Room 431

There is a close nexus between language and self-perception, self-awareness, self-identity, and self-esteem.

–Haig Bosmajian from The Language of Oppression

…if language can sustain the body, it can also threaten its existence.

–Judith Butler from Excitable Speech

…a language reflects a people’s culture and their world view, and thus each group’s language is suited to the needs and habits of its users.

--Geneva Smitherman from Talkin’ and Testifyin’

Instructor

Dr. Sarah M. Lushia

(You may call me: Sarah, Dr. Lushia, or Ms. Lushia)

Email: LushiaS@landcc.edu or slushia@yahoo.com

Office: Center Building 439L

Office Phone: 541-463-5482

Office Hours:

Monday: 9am-10am

Tuesday 12:15-1:15pm

Wednesday: 9am-10am

Thursday: 12:15-1:15pm

Friday: 9am-10am

I’m also happy to meet with students by appointment

Access for Students with Disabilities: If you need support or assistance because of a disability, you may be eligible for academic accommodations through Disability Resources. For more information, contact Disability Resources at 541.463.5150 (voice) or 541.463.3079 (TTY). You may also stop by Building 1, Room 218. Please note that I cannot discuss Disability Accommodations in the classroom, due to issues of confidentiality. So if you have a documented disability, please email me to arrange a meeting during office hours as soon as possible so you can provide me with a copy of your letter of accommodations and we can discuss which of these accommodations you will need in this course.

Course Information

Catalog Course Description for WR 122

This course focuses on persuasion and argument supported by external research, including the processes of finding and evaluating sources, citing, documenting, and integrating source material into the student’s own text. Both subjects--argument and research--are presented in the context of critical reading and the writing.

Additions to Course Description for HONORS WR 122

For the honors section students will be focusing on the modifications that Black Americans have made/are making on Western rhetoric to craft their own Black American rhetoric. We will look at how Black Americans have used their own distinctive rhetoric to craft arguments whose aim is to persuade people both within and outside Black American culture. Knowledge of both Western rhetoric and Black American rhetoric will be fostered in the course and will be necessary in order for students to successfully complete the reading and writing assignments in this course. Each of you will also be expected to craft the beginnings of an ePortfolio as part of your experience in this course.

What to Expect in this Course

This course will require you to be dedicated, self-motivated, willing to interact with your peers, willing to engage in the writing process—especially in feedback and revisions, and able to effectively manage your time. This will be an intensive course.

· You will write often and compose multiple drafts as part of your writing process.

· You will focus largely on how to effectively build and support arguments, which will require significant inquiry-based research on your part.

· You will create and use an ePortfolio as a space in which you make an argument for your learning in and beyond this course, enhancing your ability to construct larger arguments that may encompass more than one purpose and may be aimed at more than one audience.

· You will read a variety of texts in this class. It is my belief that a significant way in which we improve our writing skills and abilities is by studying manuscripts and arguments conceived and crafted by other writers in and for a variety of writing situations.

· You should expect to work often in small peer groups on in-class activities, in workshops with drafts, and discussing readings.

· You will be expected to participate in whole class discussions as well.

· Most of all, you should expect to grow as a writer and critical thinker in this course.

· For every hour of time you spend in the classroom in this course you can expect to budge 3 hours of time outside this course to successfully engage materials and complete assignments.

Required Texts

The majority of the readings for this course will be a mixture of PDFs of articles and chapters from a variety of books, as well as Open Educational Resources. Readings/links to them will be posted on our course Moodle page, which you will be able to consistently access throughout the course.

You will also need a writing handbook. We will use the free, on-line handbook found at: http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/

Course Outcomes/Goals

We will spend a significant amount of time discussing the Course Outcomes/Goals. At the end of the course, each of you will be required to provide specific evidence which proves that you’ve met all of the Course Outcomes/Goals listed below.

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

1. Engage in and value a respectful and free exchange of ideas

· This goal includes respectfully engaging in in-class discussions in small and large groups as well as having respectful, constructive conversations during peer response workshops. It also includes genuinely engaging in conversations with other members of the classroom who may not agree with your ideas.

2. Demonstrate effective critical thinking and reading skills of college-level texts

· This includes the ability to read college level texts—both assigned readings and the pieces of research you find for your projects—deeply and critically. To read deeply and critically means to read beyond the basic, surface meaning of texts and to consider how their meaning is affected by elements such as: who wrote texts, why texts were written, where they were published or became public, how they are structured/organized, what rhetorical devices and word choices are used.

3. Make appropriate and effective rhetorical choices within specific Writing Situations during multiple stages of the writing process, including: invention, drafting, revising, and editing

· This goal asks you to consider how well you are tailoring your writing to the specific framework—audience, genre, and purpose—in which you are writing. For instance, you would not begin an essay with “Dear Sarah” because that would be an inappropriate choice for the essay genre.

4. Employ appropriate methods of development and support within their written arguments

· This goal asks you to consider how well you develop or “unpack” ideas within your writing to support your thesis. It also asks you to consider HOW you develop these ideas—what methods do you use to do this? For example if you’re trying to argue that an event had a wide impact, one of the ways you might support this claim is by providing statistics about how many people it affected from studies done about the event.

5. Engage in an effective research process, demonstrate effective use of quality resources, and accurately and consistently cite sources using appropriate documentation style(s) in accordance with a documentation handbook

· This goal includes the ability to find quality resources (think of the “stuff” Jen teaches you about the research process) as well as the ability to USE these resources effectively to develop and support your claims. It also includes the ability to correctly cite sources.

6. Effectively employ and critically analyze the accepted conventions and formatting of academic writing

· This goal asks to you consider the conventions and formatting used in specific genres. For example to ask questions such as: Why are essays double spaced? Why do I need a Works Cited page at the end of a research essay? Why do I indent paragraphs in an essay? Once you’ve considered and answered these questions, this goal asks you apply what you’ve discovered about the accepted conventions and formatting of specific genres to your own writing.

7. Identify differences in rhetorical strategies and systems and consider why these differences exist

· This goal asks you to identify how rhetorical strategies are different within different rhetorical systems. For instance, in mainstream Western Rhetoric, there’s often a significant focus placed on building the “Ethos” or the “I” in writing, whereas in Black American Rhetoric, the emphasis tends to be more either on a communal voice or on situating your voice within the communal voice.

· Once you’ve identified HOW rhetorical systems differ (previous goal) you are going to want to consider WHY they differ, which is at the heart of this goal. For example, in mainstream Western Rhetoric, argument is often seen through a metaphor of “war.” On the other hand, in minority rhetorics such as Black American Rhetoric, argument is usually seen through another metaphorical lens such as “dance.” WHY? Because within the framework of American history, it has been dangerous and often deadly for Black Americans to approach argument through a framework of “war” because they’ve not been in a position to “beat” or “conquer” those in power—i.e. the government, law, etc.

8. Develop an understanding of the features and uses of Black American rhetoric

· This goal asks you to be able to identify some of the elements of Black American rhetoric and understand how they are used. For example, you might identify indirection in one of the Zora Neal Hurston letters we look at, and see that indirection is used by Hurston to insult her white patrons while seeming to praise and glorify them. The elements of Black American Rhetoric we will focus on in the course will largely come from the Smitherman readings you will engage with as well as our discussion of the Blue Aesthetic.

9. Examine the social, historical, cultural, economic, and legal framework of rhetorical systems

· This goal asks you to consider the many elements that influence the formation of rhetorical systems, as well as how these elements might be influenced by these various rhetorical systems. For example you might point out that many Americans assume (often falsely) that people who speak minority rhetorics come from a lower economic background than those who speak what Smitherman calls the Language of Wider Communication.

10. Create an ePortfolio which demonstrates your ability to think reflectively and critically about your own learning process

· This goal asks you to develop the foundation of an ePortfolio, including “About,” and “Academics” pages and “WR 122H,” “Course Work,” and “Course Goals Reflection” sub-pages in which you post examples of your work and reflections about these examples which demonstrate your ability to think about your own writing and learning process. The “WR122 ePortfolio Expectations” handout gives you specific details about what you should accomplish for this goal.

Lane’s Core Learning Outcomes

In addition to individual Course Goals provided for each course you’ll take at Lane, Lane Community College also has a set of Core Learning Outcomes (CLOs) that are central to the liberal education approach that is the heart of Lane. According to Lane’s Assessment website, “The liberal education approach can empower our students to become global citizens, capable of communicating across borders and critically analyzing the evolving issues and problems they face.” There are five CLOs at Lane which work together to provide the framework for this liberal education; they are as follows: think critically, engage diverse values with civic and ethical awareness, create ideas and solutions, communicate effectively, and apply learning. You may have seen these CLOs displayed on posters like this one like this around campus and the community:

Because the CLOs are central to the liberal education approach at Lane, each course you take here will address one or more of the CLOs. For more detailed information on the CLOs, please visit: http://www.lanecc.edu/assessment/core-learning-outcomes

In this course we’ll be focusing on think critically, communicate effectively, and engage diverse values with civic and ethical awareness.

You can find detailed descriptions of each of these CLOs below:

Think critically

Definition: Critical thinking is an evaluation process that involves questioning, gathering, and analyzing opinions and information relevant to the topic or problem under consideration. Critical thinking can be applied to all subject areas and modes of analysis (historical, mathematical, social, psychological, scientific, aesthetic, literary, etc.). Students who think critically:

· Identify and define key issues

· Determine information need, find and cite relevant information

· Demonstrate knowledge of the context and complexity of the issue

· Integrate other relevant points of view of the issue

· Evaluate supporting information and evidence

· Construct appropriate and defensible reasoning to draw conclusions

Communicate effectively

Definition: To communicate effectively, students must be able to interact with diverse individuals and groups, and in many contexts of communication, from face-to-face to digital. Elements of effective communication vary by speaker, audience, purpose, language, culture, topic, and context. Effective communicators value and practice honesty and respect for others, exerting the effort required to listen and interact productively. Students who communicate effectively:

· Select an effective and appropriate medium (such as face-to-face, written, broadcast, or digital) for conveying the message

· Create and express messages with clear language and nonverbal forms appropriate to the audience and cultural context

· Organize the message to adapt to cultural norms, audience, purpose, and medium

· Support assertions with contextually appropriate and accurate examples, graphics, and quantitative information

· Attend to messages, check for shared meaning, identify sources of misunderstanding, and signal comprehension or non-comprehension

· Demonstrate honesty, openness to alternative views, and respect for others' freedom to dissent

Engage diverse values with civic and ethical awareness

Definition: Engaged students actively participate as citizens of local, global and digital communities. Engaging requires recognizing and evaluating one's own views and the views of others. Engaged students are alert to how views and values impact individuals, circumstances, environments and communities. Students who engage:

· Recognize and clarify personal values and perspectives

· Evaluate diverse values and perspectives of others

· Describe the impact of diverse values and perspectives on individuals, communities, and the world

· Demonstrate knowledge of democratic values and practices

· Collaborate with others to achieve shared goals

Policies

Attendance: This class will function as a discussion-based learning community. As such regular attendance to the class is essential for your success. I expect you to be here, on time, and prepared for whatever we’re doing in class each day. Absences in excess of two and/or being chronically unprepared or late for class will result in a direct lowering of your class participation grade as well as your overall grade in the course. If there is an illness, family emergency, or other such unexpected issue happening in your life, please make me aware of this as soon as possible so we can negotiate absences.

Missing Class: If you miss class, you are FIRST to contact classmates and get notes/handouts you missed. So please be sure you have some form of contact information for a few classmates so you can contact them. You are responsible for any material covered in class you miss—including instructions for assignments. If you want/need clarification of something you missed in class AFTER you have gotten notes/handouts from classmates, I’m happy to provide this information in office hours or via email. However, I will not answer the question: “What did I miss in class?”

Cell Phones: Your cell phone should be off during class. The only exception should be if you have a personal emergency you may need to attend to. We will have a break in the middle of each class period during which you may check your texts/voice mail messages.

Late Work Policy: Only late work that follows this procedure will be accepted for credit. Procedure: 1) If there is a reason you cannot submit an assignment on time, please contact me via email as soon as possible to request an extension on the deadline. In most cases, I expect that you will request this extension no later than the end of the day on which the assignment was due. 2) I will respond to your email and, if granting you an extension, provide you with a new due date. 3) PRINT the email I sent you which includes the new due date. Staple this email to the top of the completed assignment, and submit the assignment by the new due date.

Academic (Dis)Honesty Policy: Quoted directly from LCC’s Policies as listed in the online catalog:

“Students are expected to conduct their academic affairs in a forthright and honest manner. In the event that students are suspected of classroom cheating, plagiarism or otherwise misrepresenting their work, they will be subject to due process as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct.” In plain language, do your own work. Ask for help if you get stuck or need extra support. There’s no valid reason to turn in work that isn’t your own.

Classroom Conduct: Respecting other students, yourself, your instructor, and any guest that may attend class is a fundamental and non-negotiable requirement in this course. I will not tolerate disrespect of any form in this class. This includes but is not limited to: name calling, raising your voice at another individual, using ethnic/racial slurs, homophobic language, or sexist language, disparaging someone’s religion, class, community, or background or attempting to silence someone while they are speaking. Over the course of the quarter we will be talking about many ideas, opinions, and contemporary issues. The only way to facilitate open and constructive conversations about these ideas, opinions, and issues is to create a safe learning environment. This does not mean that you cannot express disagreement with an idea that is raised in class. Without people presenting multiple views of a topic no genuine and constructive conversations will occur. What it does mean is that in all instances, including those in which you are disagreeing with someone else’s ideas, you must be respectful.

Grading and Assessment

Overview

It is possible to earn 1000 total points in this course. Below you will find a chart of how the points/percentages you earn in this course translate into letter grades.

Points Earned Percentage of Possible Points Final Letter Grade

955-1000 96%-100% A+

925-954 93%-95% A

895-924 90%-92% A-

865-894 87%-89% B+

825-864 83%-86% B

795-824 80%-82% B-

765-794 77%-79% C+

725-764 73%-76% C

695-724 70%-72% C-

665-694 67%-69% D+

625-664 63%-66% D

595-624 60%-62% D-

0-594 0%-59% F

Breakdown of Possible Points to be Earned in Course

Peer Response 75pts

Essay 1.0 Packet 125pts

Contact Zone Analysis 75pts

Annotated Bibliography for Project Two 150pts

Essay 2.0 Packet200pts

Class Participation 75pts ePortfolio Evaluation300pts

Total Possible Points 1000pts

Contact Information for Important Places on Campus

Academic Advising Building #1/Room 103 541.463.3200

Academic Learning Skills Building 11/Room 246 541.463.5439

Career and Employment Services Building #1/ Room 102 541.463.5167

Child Care Building #24/Room 114 541.463.5519

Computer Labs Various 541.463.3333

Counseling Building #1/ Room 103 541.463.3200

Disability Resources Building #1/Room 218 541.463.5150

Health Clinic Building #18/Room 101 541.463.5665

Legal Services Building #1/Room 201A 541.463.5365

Library Center/2nd Floor 541.463.5220

Multicultural Center Building #1/Room 201 541.463.5276

Queer/Straight Alliance Building #1/ Room 206 541.463.5331

Student Government Building #1/Room 210 541.463.5290

Student Life/Leadership Development Building #1/Room 206 541.463.5336

Substance Abuse Prevention Building #1/Room 226 541.463.5178

Titan Bookstore Center/ 3rd Floor 541.463.5256

Tutoring Services Center/ Room 210 541.463.5282

Veterans’ Services Building #1/ Room 215 541.463.5497

Women’s Program Building #1/ Room 202 541.463.5353

Course Schedule (with due dates)

Please note:

1. That this schedule may be changed/altered over the quarter for various reasons ranging from the academic needs of the class to inclement weather. Any changes made to the schedule will be announced in class. So please pay careful attention to in-class announcements and be sure you get quality notes from a classmate if you have to miss class for any reason.

2. That you should ALWAYS have access to electronic copies of your most current draft of whatever writing project(s) you are currently working on during class available to you during class

Tuesday 4/1

In Class:Overview and introduction to the course

Introduction to Wordpress

Homework: Read “Reading Games” (posted on Moodle)

Read “Finding the Good Argument” (posted on Moodle)

Thursday 4/3

In Class: Discussion of argument/ watch “For Argument’s Sake”

Homework: Read “The Art of the Contact Zone”  (posted on Moodle)

Complete Active Reading Assignment (posted on Moodle)

Tuesday 4/8

In Class:Discuss Pratt and Contact Zones

     Introduction to Essay 1.0

Homework: Read “I Need You to Say I” (posted on Moodle)

Make final decision on a person/event to focus on during the course

Thursday 4/10

In Class: Intro to Western Rhetoric and Metaphors We Live By                                  Research instruction with Jen

Homework:Begin research for Essay 1.0.  Find at least 3 sources

Tuesday 4/15

In Class:Introduction to Writing Frame Form

                Research Workshop

Homework: Complete First Draft of Essay 1.0, including a Writing Frame Form and Works

Cited Page

DRAFT must be a MINIMUM of 5 FULL pages and should be posted to your

ePortfolio on your WR122 Course Work page as a Word document

Thursday 4/17

In Class: Mini lecture on Overview of African American History

                 Peer Response, Draft 1, Essay 1.0/ Submit Draft 1 for teacher response

Homework: Read “Introduction to Black Talk” (posted on Moodle)

Print/Read Black American Rhetorical Devices Handout (posted on Moodle)

Tuesday 4/22

In Class: Discuss “Black Talk”/Black American Rhetorical Devices

Review Revision Tips   

Homework: Complete Second Draft of Essay 1.0, including a Writing Frame Form and

Works Cited Page

DRAFT must be a MINIMUM of 6 FULL pages and should be posted to your

ePortfolio on your WR122 Course Work page as a Word document

Thursday 4/24

In Class: Peer Response, Draft 2, Essay 2.0

Discuss Essay 1.0 Reflection Guidelines

Homework: Read “How I Got Ovah”

Work on Essay 1.0 Reflection  

Tuesday 4/29

In Class: Negotiate Grading Rubric

Discuss “How I Got Ovah”

Introduce Contact Zone Analysis Assignment

Homework: Complete Final Draft of Essay 1.0 and Essay 1.0 Reflection

Print Submission Form and Grading Rubric to Submit on 5/6

Thursday 5/1

In Class: Essay 1.0 materials due, should be posted on Course Work ePortfolio page, as

instructed in class on 4.29

Mini-Lecture on Black American Language

Zora Neal Hurston Letter Activity

Homework: Compose Contact Zone Analysis Draft

DRAFT must be a MINIMUM of 2 FULL pages and should be posted to your

ePortfolio on your WR122 Course Work page as a Word document

Read “the blues aesthetic”

Tuesday 5/6

In Class: Discuss “the blues aesthetic”

Peer Response on Contact Zone Analysis

Introduce Contact Zone Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Homework: Complete Contact Zone Analysis

Print Grading Rubric for Contact Zone Analysis

Thursday 5/8

In Class: Contact Zone Analysis Due, should be posted on Course Work ePortfolio page,

as instructed in class on 5.6

Annotated Bibliography Workshop with Jen

Homework: Continue Research and begin Annotations

Tuesday 5/13

In Class: Annotated Bibliography Workshop with Jen

Homework: Complete a Draft of Annotated Bibliography

DRAFT must contain a MINIMUM of 5 FULL ANNOTATIONS and should be

posted to your ePortfolio on your WR122 Course Work page as a Word

document

Thursday 5/15

In Class: Peer Response on Annotated Bibliography

Introduce Essay 2.0

Homework:Complete Annotated Bibliography

Complete Annotated Bibliography Reflection

Print Submission Form for Annotated Bibliography Submission

Tuesday 5/20

In Class: Annotated Bibliography Due, should be posted on Course Work ePortfolio

page, as instructed in class on 5.15

ePortfolio Workshop

Homework: Complete Draft One of Essay 2.0, including a Writing Frame Form and Works

Cited Page

DRAFT must be a MINIMUM of 6 FULL pages and should be posted to your

ePortfolio on your WR122 Course Work page as a Word document

Thursday 5/22

In Class: Peer Response, Essay 2.0, Draft One

Submit Draft One Essay 2.0 for Teacher Response

                     ePortfolio Workshop

Homework: Work on Course Goals Page on ePortfolio

Tuesday 5/27

In Class: ePortfolio Workshop

Homework: Compose Second Draft of Essay 2.0, including a Writing Frame Form and

Works Cited Page

DRAFT must be a MINIMUM of 8 FULL pages and should be posted to your

ePortfolio on your WR122 Course Work page as a Word document

Thursday 5/29

In Class:Negotiate Essay 2.0 Grading Rubric

Peer Response, Essay 2.0, Draft Two

Homework: Complete Final Draft of Essay 2.0

Complete Reflection for Essay 2.0

Print Grading Rubric for Essay 2.0

Tuesday 6/3

In Class:Essay 2.0 Due, should be posted on Course Work ePortfolio page, as

instructed in class on 5.29

ePortfolio Peer Feedback

ePortfolio Workshop time

Homework: Work on ePortfolio

Complete Self Evaluation

Complete Peer Evaluations

Print ePortfolio Grading Rubric

Thursday 6/5

In Class: Self- Evaluation Due

Peer Evaluations Due

Submit ePortfolio Grading Rubric

ePortfolio Workshop time

Prep: Complete ePortfolio for evaluation

ePortfolios should be finalized for end-of term evaluation by 9am Monday,

June 9th.

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