Instructor: Hannah Dickinson Course: WRRH 200 Location: Napier Hall 101 Office: 213 Smith Hall Office

hours: Tuesday 10:30-12:30; Wednesday 10:00- 3:00 Email: dickinson@hws.edu Phone: 781-3352 WRITERS SEMINAR II: WRITING IN COMMON This intermediate writing course offers students the chance to develop writing and research skills with an emphasis on increased responsibility for engaging in critical analysis and argument and for developing research projects. Students become more familiar with academic standards and conventions, particularly with the ever-widening variety of research tools available to them. Invention strategies, multiple drafts and revision, peer responses, and editing are stressed. In this particular section of Writers Seminar II we will focus on the rhetorics and representations of the commons. The commons can refer to a range of social, political, or environmental events and debates including resources like water, fish, or air; contested spaces like community gardens, the internet, or fisheries; and political movements like Occupy Wall Street or the Arab Spring. One way to understand the commons is as a way of referring to what is collectively shared, felt, and held. To consider something common is immediately to make a series of rhetorical choices: What is held in common? Who is included in the commons? What language, tropes, or images are used to represent commonality and to what end? Ive selected this theme because it speaks to a wide range of disciplinary, cultural, and personal interests, including the environment, economics, public health, and politics. Rhetorics of collectivity and the commons are also a compelling site for investigating the limits and possibilities of language, power relations, and public discourses in a range of mediums. Thinkers like Aristotle and Cicero recognized that individuals needed tools to craft logical and compelling arguments, so they taught their students rhetoricthe practice of discovering the appropriate argument for any situation. Rhetoric, as contemporary rhetoricians Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee have noted, helped people to choose the best course of action when they disagreed about important political, religious, or social issues. In this course, we will study the theories that ancient and contemporary rhetoricians have developed in an attempt to learn how to analyze contemporary arguments about commons past, present and future. We will also use our knowledge of rhetoric to craft effective arguments of our own, not simply as a means of confronting opponents but also as a means of inquirya means of discovering and building knowledge about ourselves, the local communities in which we participate, and the world at large. We will begin by studying the ancient theory of rhetoric in order to build the scaffolding for the ideas well discuss and the writing well do in this course. From there, we will move on to contemporary arguments, considering how these ancient theories of rhetoric apply to our world today. Ultimately, you will choose to investigate a single common and craft a series of arguments culminating in an effective intervention into public debates.

Course texts 1) DIY-Textbook: You are not required to buy a textbook for this course. However, you are
expected to carefully complete reading assignments for each class. Much of our course reading is made up of the writing you and your peers produce. You will also complete readings some of which will be quite challenging in rhetorical theory and theories of the commons. These readings will be posted to on Blackboard or distributed in class. You must print out each days

reading (including your peers essays) and bring them to class with you. We simply cannot have meaningful conversations about language and rhetoric if you do not have the text before you. Please collect these readings in a binder, folder, or other organizational system, so you will have collected a DIY-Textbook by the end of the course.

Important Note on Printing: For most of your classes your textbooks will cost at least $100. The cost of printing course materials will cost you significantly less than that. Because of this, I expect you to add enough money to your print credits or purchase ink, so that you can keep up with readings and be prepared for class. This also means that you may not attempt to access readings on your computer, iPad, or Smartphone in class. They must be printed. Additional course texts and requirements 1) Access to a grammar handbook. The bookstore has many copies of The Everyday Writer by Andrea Lunsford. You can also order used copies of this text or others online. 2) Peers Drafts. We will treat each others writing like a course text (as important as the books you buy from the bookstore). Please make sure to have them with you in class. 3) An Effective Organizational System: Please develop a system with which to organize 1) old drafts, 2) prewriting, 3) peer review responses, 4) printed reading assignments, 5) in class activities, 6) class notes, and 7) returned drafts and response papers. You will be required to include many of these items in your portfolios and they will be useful reference points throughout the semester.
Assignments and Grade Breakdown: Assignment Description Guidelines Writing Project 1 Argument Analysis 4-5 pages Writing Project 2 Critical Engagement 4-5 pages Writing Project 3 Synthesis Essay 8-10 pages Writing Project 4 Proposal Argument 3-5 pages Writing Project 5 Portfolio variable Reading Reflections See below Workshop responses (small group) See below Participation See below Points out of 1000 150 points 150 points 200 points 150 points 100 points 100 points 50 points 100 points

(650 points) Four Arguments on a Sustained Investigation of a Topic: Instead of writing brief, surface-level arguments on many different topics, I am asking you to write about one topic for the entire term. Your ultimate task will be to develop a full, complex story about the comon you are examining and offer a concrete intervention into the rhetoric surrounding this common. You will write at least two drafts of Writing Projects 1, 2, 3, &4. (Your drafts should look substantially different from week to week because you have considered your audiences response as well as your own revision ideas. Your final grade for each Argument will reflect the strength of each draft as well as your revision efforts.) The Argument Analysis, Critical Engagement, and Synthesis Essays will each address a different aspect of the topic you have chosen, with the goal of building toward a fully researched and supported Proposal Argument.

(10 points) Reading Reflections: In addition to the major essays, you will submit reflections in response to the assigned readings. Reflections must respond to the response to the prompt I have provided. Your reading reflections should be brief (approximately one double-spaced page), but also intellectually rigorous and engaging and certainly not something written at the last minute. You should respond to the prompt I provide by using specific quotations/examples from the text. These reflections are meant to help you connect the course reading to your own writing projects. They will also serve as jumping off points for our discussions in class. Reflections are graded out of 10 points according to the following scale: * 10 points = Responds thoughtfully to the prompt; includes specific quotations from the reading; is written in clear, grammatically correct prose; is at least one page long * 6 points = Missing one of the requirements listed above * 3 points = Missing two of the requirements listed above * 0 points = Missing three or more of the requirements listed above (50 points) Small Group Workshop Responses: For each paper, you will meet in a small group to workshop paper drafts. You are expected to be fully prepared for and engaged in these workshops; therefore, you will submit workshop responses to me and your peers on each workshop day. Each response will be slightly different. You will receive ten points for your responses if you respond thoughtfully to the task, respond respectfully to your peers, and demonstrate significant effort. (100 points) Participation: Participation comes in various forms, and below Ive listed three important ways I expect you to participate. Failure to complete a peer response, prewriting activity, or participate actively in workshop and discussion will result in the loss of 10 participation points. 1. Class Discussions: This class involves primarily discussions and workshops, which means that I will expect you to come to class ready to contribute your ideas and to actively participate in the days activities. Some of you are shy, and you might find contributing to class discussions difficult. Please talk to me early on in the semester if this is the case so we can find ways to ensure that your voice is being heard. 2. Prewriting Activities: Each writing assignment is accompanied by one or more prewriting activity. Some prewriting activities will be completed in class and some out of class. I expect that you will complete all of these assignments on time and with care; doing so will ensure that you are prepared for class activities and improve the quality of your essays. 3. Whole Class Workshop Responses: Every few weeks we will devote class time to writing workshops. I ask you to take these workshops seriously: Carefully read one anothers arguments and, in your responses to the writers, offer productive and critical feedback. (We are not here to slam one another, nor are we here to offer hollow praise.) Your responses should respond to the workshop prompt assigned for that class. As a general rule, however, I ask that you push yourself to move beyond commenting on local issues like grammar and style to focus primarily on global issues like pathos, logos, ethos, organization, and the strength of claims. Occasionally, I will collect these responses. Both your written responses and verbal participation in workshop contribute to your whole class workshop grade. Conferences: We will meet for conferences twice during the semester. Conferences are opportunities for us to discuss our ideas about the assignments youre working on at that moment and for you to talk with me about both specific and general concerns or questions you might have. As these meetings replace class time, they are not optional. Office Hours: I encourage you to attend my office hours. Be sure to make arrangements with me if you have a time conflict during any of my office hours; Im happy to accommodate as much as I can. Attendance: Our class work will be centered on workshopping and helping each other engage texts, ideas, and our own writing; therefore, class contributions are strongly valued. After two absences, each absence will lower the final grade one half point, and more than four absences will result in failure. Absence does not excuse you from handing in assignments. If you know you will have to be absent,

discuss the absence in advance with me and I will ensure that you keep up with the work. If you are absent unexpectedly, you are expected to email any written work due for that class. A pattern of lateness will also impact your grade. Late work: Managing your time as a writer is an important writing skill in college and beyond. Therefore, you may take no more than one extension. If you must take an extension, it may not be on an essay that we are workshopping the following day. Handing in more than one assignment (each stage of an essay counts as an assignment) late will lower the final grade one half-point and continue to lower the grade until the assignment is submitted. Given this, I encourage you to begin your writing assignments early, back-up your work, and print the night before.

Cell Phones, Laptops, iPads, Oh My! Please remember that it is common courtesy to silence (and ignore) electronic devices as soon as you walk into any classroom. While I am an enthusiastic advocate for advances in technology, I do not want them disrupting the short time we spend together. There may be a few classes in which Ill allow laptops, iPads, etc. in class (like when were working on a digital project); however, please do not use these items at any other time. Of course, if you have a documented need for electronic accommodations, that is permissible just talk to me about it.) Academic Honesty Plagiarism will result in an automatic failing grade for the course. Plagiarism is submitting a piece of work (for example, an essay research paper, work of art, assignment, laboratory report) which in part or in whole is not entirely the students own work without attributing those same portions to their correct source.1 Please also note that submitting work that you have already completed for one course (in either high school or college) is also considered plagiarism. I encourage you to use outside sources in your research and writing; I will be impressed if you find an interesting and relevant source to inform your writing. Therefore, there is no reason to attempt to pass such ideas off as your own. We will discuss how to correctly cite sources, but do not hesitate to contact me if you have a question about citations or other plagiarism related concerns. Students with Disabilities I am happy to provide accommodations to students with disabilities. Please email me if you would like to set up a meeting to discuss your individual learning needs and accommodations. I will protect each students confidentiality in these matters. If you are a student with a disability for which you may need accommodations, you should self-identify and register for services with the Coordinator of Disability Services at the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), and provide documentation of your disability. Disability
1

Language quoted directly from the University of Michigan plagiarism policy

related accommodations and services generally will not be provided until the registration and documentation process is complete. The guidelines for documenting disabilities can be found at the following website: http://www.hws.edu/disabilities. Religious/Academic Conflicts If a class session or due date conflicts with your religious holidays, please notify me immediately so we can make alternative arrangements. In most cases, I will ask you to turn in your assignment ahead of time of your scheduled absence, but your absence will not affect your grade in the course. Athletic and other Extracurricular/Academic Conflicts If a class session or due date conflicts with a game, conference, or field trip, please notify me immediately so we can make alternative arrangements. I will expect you to produce documentation from your coach or teacher. In most cases, I will ask you to turn in your assignment ahead of time of your scheduled absence, but, your absence will not affect your grade in the course. Helpful Resources The CTL offers a variety of resources that can help students achieve academic success. For more information on these resources, visit the CTL webpage at http://www.hws.edu/academics/ctl/index.aspx, or visit the CTL Blackboard site.

COURSE SCHEDULE
*Schedule subject to changes* Week 1: What is Common? 8.28: Introductions; discussing terms In class: 1) Introductions 2) Considering the Commons 3) Linebaugh & Williams 8.30: Defining the Commons Reading due: 1) Federici (Handout in class) Writing due: 1) Syllabus letter 2) Reading Reflection #1 Reflection Prompt: a) How does Federici define the Commons? b) Identify which of her examples are most interesting to you and explain why. In class: 1) Federici Discussion 2) Kairos 3) Introduce Exigence Assignment Week 2: Generating Research Topics 9.4: Defining the Commons Reading due: 1) Hardt (Handout in class) Writing due: 1) Reading Reflection #2 6

Reflection Prompt: a) Using specific examples, analyze how Hardt incorporates kairos into his argument. b) Comment on whether you find Hardts use of kairos to be persuasive and/or effective. In class: 1) Hardt Discussion 2) Inquiry activity 9.6: Selecting Good Topics Reading due: 1) Explore Reviews in Cultural Theory, "On the Commons," found at http://reviewsinculture.com/special-issue/. You are not required to read any article completely. Take note, however, of the kinds of topics represented in this journal, the various issues the authors focus on, and their use of Kairos. Be prepared to share three meaningful observations based on your exploration. Writing due: 1) Prewriting #1 In class: 1) Topic workshop 2) Discussion of findings from Reviews in Cultural Theory

Week 3: Argument Analysis 1.18: No Class: MLK Day 1.20: Style; Integrating quotations Reading due: 1) Style: Composition and Ornament (Read pages 278-286; 306313) Writing due: 1) Reading reflection #2 (Find the prompt under Assignments tool and respond via Assignments tool.) 2) Argument analysis prewriting activity - Bring a hard copy to 8

class and submit an electronic copy via CTools Assignments tool. In class: 1) Discuss Style: Composition and Ornament 2) Workshop prewriting activity 3) Practice integrating sources Week 4: Workshops ** ARGUMENT ANALYSIS DRAFT DUE SUNDAY, 1.24 AT 1 PM CTOOLS (Place your draft in the folder with your name on it.) 1.25: Whole class workshop Reading due: Workshop Essays Writing due: Workshop Responses In class: Workshop Essays 1, 2, 3 1.27: Small group workshop Reading due: Workshop Essays Writing due: Workshop Responses In class: Small group workshop Week 5: Critical Engagement 2.1: Whole class workshop Reading due: Workshop Essays Writing due: Workshop Responses In class: Workshop Essays 4, 5, 6, 7 2.3: Critical Engagement Reading due: 1) SuperFreakonomics and Climate Change Writing due: 1) Reading Reflection In class: 1) Grammar lesson #1 2) Discussion of Reading 3) Introduce Critical Engagement Essay FRIDAY, 2.5
AT DRAFT FOLDER **

**

ARGUMENT ANALYSIS FINAL DUE

5 PM CTOOLS

ASSIGNMENTS

FOLDER *

Week 6: Critical Engagement 2.8: Critical Engagement Reading due: 1) Hosed Writing due: 1) Reading Reflection #3 (post via assignments) 2) Prewriting Assignment (post via assignments & print out) In class: 9

1) Discuss reading 2) Workshop arguments 3) What is critical engagement? 2.10: Strong Introductions Writing due: 1) Draft the beginning of your Critical Engagement essay (you must go onto the second page). Post via Ctools and print a copy. In class: 1) What makes a strong introduction? 2) Revise first pages/discuss intro 3) Logical fallacies Week 7: Workshop ** CRITICAL ENGAGMENT DRAFT DUE SUNDAY, 2.14 2.15: Whole class workshop Reading due: Workshop Essays Writing due: Workshop Responses In class: Workshop Essays 8, 9, 10 2.17: Small group workshop Reading due: Workshop Essays Writing due: Workshop Responses In class: Small group workshop Week 8: Public Arguments 2.22: Whole class workshop Reading due: Workshop Essays Writing due: Workshop Responses In class: Workshop Essays 11, 12, 13, 14 2.24: Publics and Counterpublics Reading due: 1) Publics and Counterpublics Writing due: 1) Reading Reflection In class: 1) Grammar lesson 2) Discussion of Reading: What makes a public conversation? 3) Introduce Synthesis Essay **
CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT FINAL DUE

AT

1 PM CTOOLS

DRAFT FOLDER **

FRIDAY, 2.26

AT

5 PM CTOOLS

ASSIGNMENTS

FOLDER **

----Break---10

Week 9: Synthesis 3.8: What is synthesis? Reading due: 1) Its Spreading Writing due: 1) Reading Reflection (due 10am) 2) Prewriting (post via assignments and bring a copy to class) In class: 1) Discuss Reading 2) Workshop Prewriting 3.10: Practicing Synthesis Writing due: 1) Prewriting 2 (post via assignments and bring a copy to class) In class: 1) Synthesis activity 2) Thesis activity **
SYNTHESIS DRAFT DUE SUNDAY ,

3.14

AT

1 PM or 9PM CTOOLS DRAFT

FOLDER **

Week 10: Workshop 3.15: Whole class workshop Reading due: Workshop Essays Writing due: Workshop Responses In class: Workshop Essays 15, 16, 17 3.17: Small group workshop Reading due: Workshop Essays Writing due: Workshop Responses In class: Small group workshops Week 11: Proposal Arguments Conferences 3.19, 3.22, & 3.23 Submit a substantially revised draft to CTools Assignments 24 hours before your scheduled conference 3.22: Class cancelled for conferences 3.24: Proposals Reading due: 1) Its Spreading Writing due: 1) Reading Reflection In class: 1) Grammar lesson 2) Discussion of Reading 3) Introduce Proposal Essay 11

**

SYNTHESIS FINAL DUE

FRIDAY, 3.26

AT

5 PM CTOOLS

ASSIGNMENTS

FOLDER **

Week 12: Proposal Arguments 3.29: Proposing a rhetorical change Reading due: 1) Toward a Civil Discourse Writing due: 1) Reading Reflection 5 2) Proposal Prewriting 1 Please post a copy and print a copy In class: 1) Discuss Reading: How do you make a proposal about a public conversation? 2) Workshop Proposal ideas 3.31: Proposing a rhetorical change Reading due: 1) Ford Hood Articles (2 in CTools folder) Writing due: 1) Reading Reflection 6 2) Proposal Prewriting 2 Please post a copy and print a copy In class: 1) Discuss articles: How might you intervene rhetorically into the public debate? 2) Workshop prewriting Week 13: Workshop ** PRPOSAL DRAFT DUE SUNDAY, 4.4 AT 1 PM CTOOLS 4.5: Whole class workshop Reading due: Workshop Essays Writing due: Workshop Responses In class: Workshop Essays 18, 19, 20, 21 4.7: Small group workshop Reading due: Workshop Essays Writing due: Workshop Responses In class: Small group workshop
DRAFT FOLDER **

Week 14: ** PROPOSAL FINAL DUE SUNDAY, 4.11 AT 5 PM CTOOLS ASSIGNMENTS FOLDER** 4.12: Intervention Arguments Reading due: 1) Fox News and Race Find videos and articles in CTools folder Writing due: 1) Reading Reflection In class: 12

1) Grammar lesson 2) Discussion of Reading: What strategies were used to reshape the public conversation? 3) Introduce Intervention Essay 4.14: Intervention Arguments Reading due: 1) Paper 22 Writing due: 1) Intervention Essay Draft In class: 1) Whole class workshop paper 22 2) Small group workshop Week 15: Analyzing Arguments 4.19: Analyzing our own interventions Writing due: 1) Draft analysis of Intervention Essay In class: 1) Workshop Intervention Analysis **
INTERVENTION

&

ANALYSIS DUE

4.28

AT

5 PM CTOOLS

ASSIGNMENTS FOLDER **

Hannah Dickinson hdickins@umich.edu SEB 3010

English 225.006 Office Tisch 3065 Office Hours: Tuesday 12-2

Rhetorics of Dissent
Course Overview All sections of English 225 focus on examining and employing effective academic argumentation. Here academic argumentation refers to the presentation and explanation of claims that through written reasoning utilizes appropriate evidence and writing conventions. The course builds on and refines skills from introductory writing courses English 124 and 125, as well as provides a basic introduction to finding and effectively incorporating research into student writing, all for use in a range of future academic contexts. In this particular section of English 225 we will focus on the rhetorical strategies and arguments used in voicing dissent. By dissent, I do not mean a particular political point of view, rather that we will be looking at a range of views that work to disrupt or change political and societal norms. We will analyze a variety of academic arguments, as well as public discourse in order to identify both the effects and effectiveness of various modes of communication. Because we live in a moment infused with digital media, we will also look closely at genres like webvideo, fake news shows, and blogs, all to uncover whether those are useful forums for voicing dissent.

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While thinking critically about the arguments we encounter every day, you will also be researching and writing your own arguments. One of the texts you will read claims that everything is an argument; I am more inclined to think that everything is research. In order to make convincing academic and public arguments, you must know how to find, analyze, synthesize and thoughtfully present all kinds of evidence. The research skills that you develop in this course will help in all disciplines and real-world writing and speaking scenarios. Office Hours I encourage you to visit me during my office hours to discuss any questions or ideas you have about the reading and writing assignments or the course overall. More importantly, it is one of my goals that you learn to talk about your writing and writing processes with others. I will be glad to discuss your writing with you at any time and at any stage. If your schedule does not permit you to attend the scheduled office hours, please email me to set up an appointment. Conferences Throughout the semester you will meet with me individually to discuss drafts. Conferences usually last about twenty minutes. They are a course requirement and are not optional. Attendance Our class work will be centered on workshopping, student presentations, and helping each other engage texts, ideas, and our own writing; therefore, class contributions are strongly valued. After two absences, each absence will lower the final grade one half point, and more than five absences will result in failure. Absence does not excuse you from handing in assignments. If you know you will be absent, discuss the absence in advance with me and I will ensure that you keep up with the work. If you are absent unexpectedly, you are expected to email any written work due for that class. A pattern of lateness will also impact your grade. Late Work Managing your time as a writer is an important writing skill in both college and beyond. To help you understand this point, you may take no more than one extension. If you must take an extension, it may not be on an essay that we are workshopping. You must also inform me at least twenty-four hours ahead of time. Handing in more than one assignment (each stage of an essay counts as an assignment) late will lower the final grade one half-point and continue to lower the grade with each late assignment. Given this, I encourage you to begin your writing assignments early, back-up your work, and print them each the night before. Academic Honesty Plagiarizing is dishonest, lazy, and will result in an automatic failing grade for the course. The University of Michigan defines plagiarism as submitting a piece of work (for example, an essay research paper, work of art, assignment, laboratory report) which in part or in whole is not entirely the students own work without attributing those same portions to their correct source. Please note also that submitting work that you have already completed for one course (in either high school or college) is also a violation of the universitys policy. I encourage you to use outside sources in your research and writing. I will be impressed if you find an interesting and relevant source to inform your writing so please document these occurrences appropriately and do not try to pass such ideas off as your own. We will discuss how to correctly cite sources, but do not hesitate to contact me if you have a question about these or other plagiarism related concerns. For more information about plagiarism, visit http://www.lsa.umich.edu/english/unergraduate/plagNote.asp.

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Students with Disabilities I am happy to provide accommodations to students with disabilities. Please email me if you would like to set up a meeting to discuss your individual learning needs and accommodations. I will protect each students confidentiality in these matters. Religious/Academic Conflicts If a class session or due date conflicts with your religious holidays, please notify me immediately so we can make alternative arrangements. In most cases, I will ask you to turn in your assignment ahead of time of your scheduled absence, but, in accordance with U-M policy, your absence will not affect your grade in the course. Grading Your final grade will be based on the following components: (80%) Essays: You will do three writing projects over the course of the semester. Your grade for each project will be based on a grading rubric that I will familiarize you with beforehand. Research Paper 30% Parody and Analysis 20% Genre Project and Analysis 30% (10%) Presentation of Reading: Beginning in the fourth week of class you will be responsible for selecting the primary source texts for the course. In groups of two you will select 2-3 texts and post them to C-Tools at least 1 week before the class in which we will discuss them. With your partner you will be responsible for starting off our discussion of these texts in class. (10%) Participation: There are several ways that you are expected to participate in this course: 1. Be prepared for class and workshop. In order to have a meaningful discussion, you must have the course texts (textbook and primary source) in front of you in class. For texts that are difficult to print (videos, speeches, etc.), you are expected to have thorough notes. 2. Class Discussion: Discussing course texts is one of the ways that you will practice analysis, synthesis, comprehension, and argument. This does not mean you will be graded on how often you speak, but whether you are consistently and thoughtfully contributing to our growth as a class. 3. Workshop: Throughout this course, you will workshop at every stage of the writing process. This means that you might workshop a claim, a note taking technique, or a final draft. Your peers essays and ideas are also considered reading assignments in this course. You are expected to read their work carefully and respond thoroughly. For the same reason, you are also expected to be prepared with your own work for each workshop. Required Texts and Materials: You are not required to buy a textbook for this course. However, you are required to have the texts we discuss in front of you during each class. With the textbook readings, you may accomplish this in one of three ways 1) print out readings from CTools before class 2) buy a course pack (Excel Test Preparation on 1117 S. University) 3) bring a laptop to class. You may also choose to buy the textbook that many of our readings (though not all of them) come from. Everythings an Argument. Andrea Lunsford and John Ruszkiewicz. Fourth Edition. (The small version without readings.) With the primary sources texts (posted by student pairs or myself) you are expected to either bring a laptop to class or print everything you can. For texts that cannot be reasonably printed (video, speeches, etc.) you are expected to have thorough notes.

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ENGLISH 125: COLLEGE WRITING WRITING PROJECT ONE: LANGUAGE NARRATIVE Compose an approximately 4 page [1.5 spaced and 12 pt. font] essay narrating a memory in which language or literacy plays a significant role and connect it to our course readings (Didion, Alexie, Tan, Douglass, Rodriguez, Baldwin, or Sedaris).You might choose a memory in which you wrote a misinterpreted email, helped a sibling revise a paper for school, read something embarrassing/satisfying/cruel in the school paper, had someone love your writing for all the wrong reasons, or learned how to graffiti. I encourage you to think broadly about what might constitute a language/literacy memory. This essay should be in the form of a narrative like the essays we have read so far this term. In these essays the authors used narration to recreate a single moment or to retell a series of events. However, the authors did not stop there. They use their narrations for a specific purpose: to argue a point, to create a mood, or to provide an example. Alexie describes encountering paragraphs and Superman comics as a vehicle to say something about Indian literacy and culture; Didion uses examples from her own notebooks to say something about memory, writing, and truth telling. Whatever your purpose, you should choose specific and relevant examples to support it. Your essay does not need to describe every aspect of the memory; rather you should use the memory you have chosen to say something interesting about the writing process, your experience with language, the way we remember language experiences, or any other language related theme you uncover by exploring your memory. Your next step will be to connect aspects of your memory to a reading of one of the texts we have read so far this semester (Didion, Alexie, Tan, Douglass, Rodriguez, Baldwin, or Sedaris). You should not try to connect your memory to every aspect of the text; rather, you should decide on a critical lens through which you connect your memory with a course text. You might want to discuss the way gender, class, education, language, or literacy is talked about in the text. You might want to focus on issues of teacher-student relationships, family, culture, or identity. An excellent essay will have a clear theme or purpose, supported with a selection of specific and relevant examples; it will use specific examples and quotations from course readings. The writing memory will be narrated in a way that is both interesting and clear. Be careful not to simply summarize your memory; your essay must say something that matters to a wide audience. Finally, dont try to tell the Hero story I learned how to read and write and the world is now a better place. Also dont worry about being dramatic or traumatic. Sometimes the best stories are in the ordinary everyday things (for example, reading with friends, buying your weekly comic book, etc.).

Teaching Portfolio: Writing Assignment Sequences

ENGLISH 125: COLLEGE WRITING PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIES FOR A LANGUAGE NARRATIVE ASSIGNMENT Multiple Englishes This activity works well with Amy Tans Mother Tongue; however, it could supplement any writing or reading assignment that asks students to consider the legitimacy and use of multiple Englishes. Ask students to think about the different types of English they use on a regular basis (tell them that it might be easiest to think about different groups of people they communicate with regularly). Have them write about how their semester is going in three different Englishes (one or two sentences). After students have written their sentences, have them read their responses aloud to the class. Talk about the features of the Englishes. Consider how the content might have changed between the three versions. Discuss how students felt writing in school in those Englishes. Compare that to the experience of speaking them out loud. Finally, ask students if believe any of the Englishes they chose is "better" than the other and why. Invention Activity: Beginning a Language Narrative 1) Ask students to take out a blank piece of paper. Explain that you will be reading out loud a series of freewriting prompts. Students should write continuously and with as little selfconsciousness as possible in response to each prompt. Ask students to write about an experience with language that they have had since being in college. After three minutes read off the next prompt: Describe an experience with language at age 17. After three more minutes: Describe a single experience with language from ages 15-16. Continue counting down until birth. Increments of two years seem to work best, but other spans of time may work, as well. 2) Ask students to silently read over their list of experiences with language. Have them circle any experiences that tell a story of uplift (we have discussed the literacy myth at this point in the course). Have students underline any experiences that call into question the literacy myth or in other ways disrupt traditional notions of literacy. 3) Discuss the experiences students described. Begin by asking students to look for patterns: Did they describe stories of uplift for the most part? Disruptive stories? Is it hard to tell the differences? Did they describe school language experiences? Mostly written? Mostly verbal? Any technological or visual experiences? 4) For homework, have students pick out one experience that challenges traditional notions of literacy and one experience of uplift. Ask them to write a page about each experience in vivid detail and with no analysis. One of these descriptions may become the starting point for a longer, more analytical, language narrative. In class the next day discuss which experience students plan to write about and why. Allow them to explain why they might choose a story of uplift, or how that story turns out to really be much more complicated.

Teaching Portfolio: Writing Assignment Sequences

Teaching Portfolio: Writing Assignment Sequences

English 225.020 Writing Project #1: Argument Analysis For this assignment, you will compose a 4 page essay in which you analyze how key features of a source about your catastrophe work together to build an argument. This means you will have to: 1) Choose a source that is complex enough to support a compelling and relevant analytical essay. This source can come from print media, visual media, online media, academia, promotional materials, or the political arena. 2) Determine what argument(s) this source is making. The argument may be explicit or implicit, obvious or subtle, but every source takes some sort of position. 3) Make a claim about how key features of the source work together (or are at odds with one another ) to make a particular argument. An excellent essay will make a well-supported claim about how your source makes an argument. To do so, you will have to carefully select and analyze specific quotations and examples from your source in order to support your claim. This is a short paper, requiring focus rather than excess. You should make sure that analysis makes up the bulk of your essay. Here are some questions you may want to consider as you craft your analysis, though you should not feel compelled to answer them all:
1. What is the argument? What is the main claim? How is the argument organized? What are the component parts, and why are the parts presented in that order? 2. What is the medium and genre? What is the medium? A newspaper? A scholarly journal? A Website? What is the genre? An editorial? An essay? A speech? An advertisement? What impact do the medium and genre have on the argument? 3. What rhetorical appeals are used? Analyze the ethos: How does the writer represent him/herself? What is the relationship between the authors style and his/her ethos? Do you trust the writer? Why or why not? Analyze the logos: Where do you find facts and evidence in the argument? What kinds of facts and evidence does the writer present? How does the logos relate to the argument? Analyze the pathos: Are there any places where the writer attempts to invoke an emotional response? What sort of responses is s/he invoking? Where do you find appeals to shared values with the audience? What values might not be shared? 4. How would you characterize the style? What roles do correctness, clarity, appropriateness and ornament play in supporting this sources argument?

t The first draft of your Argument Analysis is due 1.24 at 1 pm

Teaching Portfolio: Writing Assignment Sequences

(CTools drafts)

t The final draft of your Argument Analysis is due 2.5 (CTools

assignments) Writing Project #2: Critically Engaging an Argument First Draft due: 2.14 at 1 PM & Final Draft due: 2.26 at 5 PM For this assignment, you will compose an approximately 4 page essay in which you critically engage the source you have analyzed. Critically engaging a source does not mean slamming the author or argument, but it also doesnt mean agreeing with every point the piece makes. Instead, you should think of this paper as a conversation with your source one in which you take its stance seriously, but also identify a way the argument could be complicated, amplified, clarified, refuted, added to, or otherwise enhanced. An excellent essay will make a well-supported claim about how your sources argument might be enhanced. To do so, you will have to carefully select and analyze specific quotations and examples from your source in order to support your claim. You will also for critically engaging a source. A focused paper Here are a few strategies have to construct your own ethos, pathos, and logos will in order to be as persuasive as possible. This means you may have to conduct not attempt more than one of these arguments: some independent research to enhance your ethos and logos. Suggest the argument ought to be further complicated:

Brian Williams argues that the victims of Katrina are receiving inadequate treatment from the government; however, by focusing his argument solely on the governments response to the hurricane, he doesnt acknowledge New Orleanss long history with government neglect.

Suggest that the argument ought to be amplified:

Brian Williams argues that the victims of Katrina received inadequate treatment from the government; however, by not explicitly acknowledging the role racism played in the governments poor response, he diminishes the power of his societal critique.

Suggest that the argument ought to be clarified:

Brian Williams argues that the victims of Katrina received inadequate treatment from the government, yet we never learn who the target of his critique is. Without clarifying whether he is criticizing the President, Congress, Louisianas governor, or the National Guard, Williamss argument irresponsibly leaves the viewer with feelings of anger, fear, and concern, but no one to direct them at.

Critique the evidentiary supports of the argument:

Brian Williams argues that the victims of Katrina received inadequate treatment from the government, but his argument is limited to the evidence of his personal experience of dire conditions in the Superdome. Wider governmental and structural failures, as well as experiences elsewhere in the city and region, are ignored.

Argue that there is an aspect of a situation or a perspective that the argument doesnt account for:
Brian Williams accurately argues that the victims of Katrina were discriminated against Teaching Portfolio: Writing Assignment Sequences based on race and class, yet his descriptions of the Superdome only feed prejudice against Katrina victims. He narrates one disgraceful scene after another, but never mentions the ways New Orleanians looked out for and took care of one another under

t The first draft of your Argument Analysis is due 9.21 at 1 pm

(CTools drafts)

t The final draft of your Argument Analysis is due 10.1 (CTools

assignments) English 225.020 Paper #3: Synthesis Essay English 225: Synthesis Essay First Draft due: 3.14 at 1 pm Final Draft due: 3.26 at 5 pm For this assignment, you will compose an approximately 8 page essay in which you synthesize a key public conversation surrounding the catastrophe youve chosen. Rather than trying to address every public conversation connected to your catastrophe, your job is to select a well-defined debate about a specific topic. In synthesizing this conversation, you will do more than identify and summarize important viewpoints; you will also need to find a way to describe how different viewpoints relate to one another. Put anther way, what is the hidden story about these perspectives that your synthesis reveals? Ultimately, your paper will offer an analysis that shows the stakes of a public conversation both what is explicitly debated and the stakes, issues, problems, or ideologies that underlie that debate. This means that before you begin writing you will want to: 1) Choose a public conversation provoked by your catastrophe. 2) Find 4 sources that are participating in this public conversation, but have distinct perspectives. These sources should represent the major positions in the public conversation. 3) Conduct a small amount of background research to help fill in any gaps in your knowledge: Do you need to know more history? More about the political culture? More about the players in the debate? Questions to consider as you write your essay. These answers are for brainstorming purposes only, please do not try to answer them all about the terms and An excellent essay will make a well-supported claim in your essay. stakes of a public debate To do so, you will have to select appropriate sources What are the terms them effectively. You will also have to construct define them and synthesize of the conversation and how do different actors your own differently? ethos, pathos, and logos in order to be as persuasive as possible. What political positions, ideas, or ideologies is the conversation organized around? How would you characterize the spectrum across which ideas differ in your conversation? Are there characteristic and/or differing rhetorical choices across your sources? What perspectives command a lot of attention and resources, occupy a central position, or exert an ideological dominance? Teaching Portfolio: Writing Assignment Sequences What kinds of terms or metaphors are used in this debate?

English 225.020 Paper #4: The Proposal Argument First Draft due: 4.4 at 1 pm Final Draft due: 4.11 and 5 pm The work that youve done in this course thus far will inform this fourth argument: a 5-page proposal argument. Youve defined a public conversation and identified some underlying causes for this debate. The proposal argument requires that you draw on that material in order to construct an argument that identifies a problem in the public debate, proposes a solution to that problem, and considers the feasibility of that solution. There are two points here that are worth emphasizing. First, in order to craft the proposal argument, you will need to draw on your synthesis essay (and possibly your other three essays). Its perfectly acceptableand even encouragedto utilize your previous essays to construct your proposal argument. Second, this is not to say that you slap together paragraphs from your previous papers and call it day. You must present your argument in a new way since you are writing for a new purpose. Here are the components of a successful proposal argument: 1. Identifying the problem: Dont assume that your audience knows anything about the problem youve identified. Youll need to argue that a problem even exists before you can argue for a solution. Your peer conferencing partners and I are familiar with your topic, but the public audience you are trying to reach with this proposal is not. 2. Stating your proposed solution: Your proposal should come in the form of a clear, definite statement. You may choose whether to state this solution up front or later. If you choose later, youll want hint at the solution and then develop it at the end of the paper, as you are exploring (and rejecting) alternatives. 3. Convincing your readers with good reasons that your proposed solution is fitting and feasible: After you have identified your problem, you will need to focus on suggesting a solution. You will have to demonstrate a) that your solution can work, b) that it is feasible to implement, and c) that you have considered the reasons this problem has not been solved in the past. Youll want to demonstrate that you have done your research, considered all sides, and have been otherwise responsible in your proposal of this solution to the problem at hand.

Teaching Portfolio: Writing Assignment Sequences

Example 1: Inspired by Amy Example 2: Inspired by Matt Paper 3 Paper 3 Public Debate: What is the best way to educate children Public Debate: What is chronic stress? displaced by Katrina? Claim: The term chronic stress has evolved to include any Claim: Underlying this debate is the unquestioned premise sort of prolonged stress faced by any social group. that children from New Orleans deserve second-rate treatment. Paper 4 Paper 4 Problem: The term chronic stress has evolved to include any Problem: In considering the best way to educate children sort of prolonged stress faced by any social group; the displaced by Katrina, the media communicated that children overuse of this term weakens its meaning and does not with lower socioeconomic statuses deserve second-rate acknowledge the severity of chronic stress in lower classes. educations. Solution: When writers and filmmakers use the term Solution: The Associated Press should hire education experts chronic stress they should refer to the DSM-IV definitions. to write the articles that deal with education and schools, in In all other scenarios, they should simply use the terms Englishstress. 225.020 an attempt to avoid communicating irresponsible messages to Paper #5: Argument Intervention the public.

First draft (of intervention only) due: 4.14 in class 4.28 at 5 pm

Final draft and analysis due:

Part One: Creating Your Real-World Intervention Your task in this final project is to put some aspect of your proposal into action. This means using a real-world genre to convince a specific person or audience to consider your solution Youll want to call on the rhetorical strategies weve discussed this term (rhetorical appeals, tropes, identification, constitutive rhetoric, publics, and kairos) to produce the most persuasive argument. At the same time, it will be important not to overreach in this assignment. You will probably not be able to persuade the president of FOX to fire Glenn Beck; however, you may be able to convince the Anti-Defamation League to lead a campaign against his discriminatory comments. It will be essential that you choose the appropriate audience and genre for your argument intervention. As with the last assignment, it is perfectly acceptable to utilize your previous essays to construct your argument intervention. However, you must keep in mind that this argument is intended for a new and specific audience. Depending on your audience and argument genre, you may have to limit your quoting, use more accessible vocabulary, incorporate pathos, etc. An excellent project will make a reasonable and persuasive intervention, demonstrate a keen awareness of audience and genre, and effectively incorporate rhetorical strategies.
A few example genres feel free to be creative (as long as you are also being persuasive) Letter to the editor Letter to an individual Newspaper article Pamphlet/Flyer Blog post Letter to an organization Video Podcast

Teaching Portfolio: Writing Assignment Sequences

Part Two: Analysis of Your Argument Write a 2-3 page analysis of your argument intervention. This piece should simultaneously explain why you made the rhetorical choices you did and comment on their effectiveness. A successful analysis will have a clear claim, rather than simply being a list of observations. It will also reflect critically on your argument intervention, rather than trying prove that youve written the greatest letter to the editor of all time. On the back of this page, I have listed some questions you might consider in your analysis. Do not answer them all, simply use them to help you jumpstart your analysis.

Questions to consider before your write your analysis a) Who is the intended audience of your argument? Does your argument effectively reach that audience? b) Does your argument constitute your intended audience in new or different ways? c) Are there secondary or tertiary audiences or publics for this argument? How might these audiences respond to your argument? d) Analyze your rhetorical appeals. Do use ethos, pathos, and/or logos? How? Are these choices effective? Why did you make these particular choices? e) Analyze your use of style. How has your style changed and/or remained the same in this new genre? Why did you make these changes? f) Do you use tropes? Why or why not? Which ones? g) How do the different pieces fit together? Do they make the same argument? Are they for the same audience? How does the shift in genre change your audience, context, purpose, and/or rhetorical strategies? h) What genre did you choose to write in? Why? Was this genre the most effective for persuading your audience? i) What new things did you learn about the genre you chose to write in?

Teaching Portfolio: Writing Assignment Sequences

j) How did doing this project change your understanding of rhetorical strategies, genre, persuasion, or audience? k) Is it more comfortable for you to be a creator (like you are in this project) or a person who critiques like you were in the first several writing projects? l) What would you do differently if you had one more chance to revise? m) How might the skills you practiced in this project be useful to you in the future?

Teaching Portfolio: Writing Assignment Sequences

Dickinson 27 INTRODUCTORY ASSIGNMENT FOR WRITING CLASSES Winter 2010 Dear Students, Please write a letter to me that analyzes your response to this syllabus. Just start with the date, "Dear Hannah" and then say what you think after reading this syllabus carefully. Are there particular points or policies that are not as clear as you would like? In what ways do your own reading, writing, and thinking goals match those of the course? Do you have goals that are not outlined in this syllabus? What about this syllabus seems challenging? After you have reviewed the syllabus and reflected on the course, please continue your letter by describing your previous writing instruction at the U of M or elsewhere. How do previous policies and practices compare with those in this syllabus? What happened in your previous experience that seemed most beneficial or most hurtful? How does your previous experience fit into the goals and expectations of this class? Next, please talk about yourself as a writer. What are your individual strengths and weaknesses? What do you like to write? What dont you like to write? Why? What are your particular interests? This letter writing assignment is structured to make you carefully consider our class and then think about how you, as a writer, fit into it. All letters should be word processed, carefully written, and 1- 2 pages (double spaced) in length. You should post a copy of your letter via CTools assignments. I will use your letter as a sample of your writing. It will help me know who you are as a reader, thinker, and writer. Sincerely,

Hannah

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Peer Review Guidelines for Small Group Workshop 1) As youre reading, place a plus next to sentences or paragraphs that are effective and a minus next to sections that are ineffective, unclear or confusing. Write some notes in the margins to remind yourself of the reason you marked a particular passage. 2) Write a [1 page double spaced] letter to the author of the essay. You should address what is working and needs improvement for the area you have been assigned. You can refer to the questions listed below to help guide your responses. Please include quotations and specific examples in your responses; this is essential since you are the only person addressing a particular. Finally, remember that you should a) describe what you are observing in the authors essay, b) comment on what you are observing, and c) provide suggestions for improvement.

Areas to focus on as you review the Critical Engagement Essay

Argument: Does this essay have an interesting, complex claim that matters to the audience? Is the claim flawlessly supported and convincing? Does the claim anticipate counterarguments? What are the stakes of the claim? Are they clear? Examples: Does the essay include specific examples and quotes? Are these examples effectively chosen, integrated, and developed? Is each example or quotation analyzed? Are all references properly cited? Did this author bring in additional sources? Was this an effective strategy? Analysis/Explanation: Is the analysis of the source insightful and original? Does it gracefully connect each example to the essays argument? Does it avoid summary and generalizations? Does it correctly and effectively use rhetorical terminology like ethos, pathos, logos, trope, etc.? Rhetorical Appeals: How does the author appeal to ethos, pathos and logos? What might further enhance their appeals to authority, logic, and emotion? How about style? Would the essay benefit from more tropes? Teaching Portfolio: Handouts Organization: Does the argument progress smoothly, logically, and

Dickinson 29

Peer Review Guidelines for Full Class Writing Workshop Peer Review Guidelines for Full Class Workshop 1) As youre reading, place a plus next to sentences or paragraphs that are effective and a minus next to sections that are ineffective, unclear or confusing. Write some notes in the margins to remind yourself of the reason you marked a particular passage. 2) On the back of the essay, summarize (in one sentence) what you believe the writer is arguing. Now, describe what you think the stakes of the argument are. (If the stakes arent clear in the paper, make a suggestion about what the stakes might be.) 3) On the back of the essay, explain in complete sentences: a) the element of the essay the author should make sure to keep b) the two elements of the essay you believe are the most important to focus on in revision and suggestions for how to revise.

Teaching Portfolio: Handouts

Dickinson 30

IN-CLASS ARGUMENT BRAINSTORM & REVISION EXERCISES

PHASE ONE: BRAINSTORMING

ARGUMENTS

t CREATE

Use the Critical Engagement Essay assignment as a guide. Create an argument for your source for each of the suggested arguments (amplification, clarification, etc.) Some of them will seem silly or incorrect, but thats okay. RANK YOUR ARGUMENTS : Go through your list of arguments. Write an E next to the arguments that will be easiest to prove; write an O next to the arguments that seem most complex and original; write a B next to the arguments you believe most in.
ARGUMENTS : Select three arguments that received the highest ranking (the most categories).

MULTIPLE ARGUMENTS :

t SELECT THREE

t PEER RESPONSE: Find a partner and switch arguments. Mark the areas where
you were confused about their arguments. Discuss which of their three arguments is most compelling to you.

___________________________________________
PHASE TWO: REVISING

ARGUMENTS

t PEER

RESPONSE: Now that youve written your statement of argument, switch arguments with a partner. Ask your peer to fill out the worksheet on the other side of this sheet.

t DISCUSS

YOUR WORKSHEETS :

Explain your worksheet responses to one another.

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t REVISE: Revise your argument based on the worksheet and the conversation
with your partner.

REVISING ARGUMENTS

1) Is this argument debatable? What would be a reasonable counterargument? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 2) Does the argument seem to be engaging a specific aspect of the sources argument that ought to be enhanced? What is this aspect? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 3) Does the author suggest a specific way that this aspect could be enhanced? What is his/her suggestion? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 4) Does this argument seem sufficiently focused, clear, and
Teaching Portfolio: Handouts

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complex? What suggestions do you have for enhancing one or more of these qualities? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 5) Underline any words in the argument that seem vague or unclear. Suggest some more specific terms.

Teaching Portfolio: Handouts

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Teaching Portfolio: Administrative Materials