Assignment Sequence, Sample Prompts & Sample Syllabus
- The assignment sequence and prompts for assignment one through 4
- A sample syllabus, schedule and assignment sequence
- Course notes, assignment directions, and handouts for the first 5 weeks- from Jenny
- Readings on syllabus design:
- Summary notes
- Slattery, Jeanne M. and Janet F. Carlson. "Preparing an Effective Syllabus." College Teaching 53.4 (2004): 159-164.
- Sinor, Jennifer and Matt Kaplan “Creating Your Syllabus” University of Michigan GSI Handbook.
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Matejka, Ken and Lance B. Kurke. “Designing a Great Syllabus.” College Teaching 42.3 (1994): 115-122.
Major Texts Used in Assignments
- Unit 1: Kevin Carey's "Why Do You Think They're Called 'For-Profit Colleges?'" and the video College Inc.
- Unit 2: Patricia Roberts-Miller's article, "Democracy, Demagoguery, and Critical Rhetoric" and either Wayne Lapierre's Speech after Sandyhook, or George Wallace's Inaugural Address as governor.
- Units 3 and 4: a selection of short texts on the topic of incivility and extremist discourse online (students and teachers can select other texts as part of both assignments)
Draft Course Reader for RWS200
- Draft RWS200 Course Reader for Spring 2016. Contains some teaching materials, class handouts and major texts.
Short texts and teaching materials to use in the first two weeks of class
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"Compared to what? One thing I know is that contexts matter." By Claude S. Fischer Contexts, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 84 This short text can be used to introduce why context matters.
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Article on the meaning of the word "jihad" by SDSU professor of Religious Studies Khaleel Mohammed. The article insists on the importance of context when examining how "jihad" should be understood.
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Collection of short texts that could be used in the first 1-2 weeks to introduce the course, (re)introduce analyzing argument, an rhetorical analysis (Word document)
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Collection of short texts, exercises, and teaching materials from RWS100. These can be used in 200, as the first few weeks of class (plus parts of unit 1) are a review of RWS100.
- "When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?" could be used at the start of the semester to begin discussion of the importance of context. It takes a look at how color and dress are used in the construction of gender norms. The text begins with a picture of FDR wearing a dress as an infant, and points out that for centuries young boys wore dresses. It also looks at the way pink only recently became associated with femininity.
Unit 1: Analyzing & Evaluating Kevin Carey's "Why Do You Think They're Called For-Profit Colleges?"
- Kevin Carey's "Why Do You Think They're Called 'For-Profit Colleges?'" See also the comments and responses at the bottom of the page.
- Some background on Carey: his Wikipedia page, his page at the New American foundation, his twitter feed, and facebook page.
Pre-reading
- There is a collection of marketing documents (from the senate inquiry into for profits) and links to advertisements by for-profit
companies like UPhoenix in this folder. You could ask students to examine some of these as part of their analysis of the context for Carey's text, along with evaluation of it. - Have students look up Carey, Clifford and some of the companies referred to - for example, Carey mentions Corinthian College.
This company has been in the news recently.
Situating the Text
- If you search "for profit universities" on Google News from mid 2009 to mid 2010 you get results that help situate Carey's text.
- Image of the search results from "for profit universities" on Google News from mid 2009 to mid 2010 (results vary according to search history of user)
- You can use archive.org to search back in time to when the text was first written and access a version of the text that includes reader comments. These comments could be used to help evaluate the text. For example, one could examine the comments made by students currently at for profit universities, or people teaching in them, and look for patterns.
College Inc - introducing the arguments and issues
- The College Inc. documentary web site, plus teaching guide & discussion questions
- The video of College Inc. is available here (no longer seems to work at the PBS site). There is also a transcript of the video.
- You can buy (and stream) the video from amazon for $1.99, and if you have a netflix account you should be able to stream it from there if you select the dvd collection (requires that you be the primary account holder).
- Groupwork handout for students to use for College Inc.
- Paper by Chris Werry about some aspects of the rhetoric of for profit institutions. This paper was originally written for a civic group in New Zealand concerned about the introduction of for-profit universities to the country. There is also a powerpoint presentation for the paper.
Teaching Materials for Carey
- Sample Teaching Materials for Carey
- Texts/Tools that can be used to situate, analyze and evaluate Carey, plus a set of readings that could be used to help evaluate Carey
- Overview of activities for unit 1 and teaching Carey
Unit 2: The Rhetoric of Demagoguery (Lens Assignment)
- Roberts-Miller on Characteristics of Demagoguery - a short, edited version of her argument, and a handout that summarizes her main claims.
- Roberts-Miller's full article, "Democracy, Demagoguery, and Critical Rhetoric."
- Video of LaPierre Speech and text of Lapierre Speech
- Short 3 minute introduction to Wallace from the History channel. One minute video excerpt from Wallace speech ("segregation today..." section) VIDEO OF FULL WALLACE SPEECH (prepared remarks begin about 4.14 minutes in)
- Wallace Inaugural Address (Word document) and as .pdf
- Collected Teaching notes for LaPierre and Wallace
- Teaching Notes - strategies in Wallace
Unit 3: Argument, Citizenship & Civility in a Digital Age
- Handout with texts and class activities for unit 3
- A collection of readings that explore citizenship and civility in online contexts. These can be used for units 3 and 4.
- Louis CK on Conan joking about online bullying and why he won't buy his kids cellphones and celebrities read mean tweets
- Resources for exploring online civility, anonymity, and hate speech through the case of YikYak.
Cameron found this NPR story about YikYak on campuses across the country. Could be helpful in providing an overview of unit 3 issues and possible case studies/projects.
These two podcasts from NPR's Reply All series could be a fun, interesting way to explore the issue.
There is a story called "The Writing on the Wall," and "YikYak Returns." Both provide transcripts with the audio, and so could be used in student essays easily. - There is a moving story from This American Life on a woman's experience of being attacked by a troll. The story is called "Ask Not For Whom The Bell Trolls; It Trolls for Thee."
The transcript is here. The story is 21 minutes long, and contains strong, possibly disturbing language.
Resources for Unit 3 & 4
- Unit 3 prompt plus advice on how to structure your introduction, and two ways of structuring the paper's organization
- Some initial links on online (in)civility and class activities
- Handout with big collection of resources - examples of how synthesis works, sample texts and positions, prompt, etc.
- 1 page excerpt from Obama speech in which he talks about (in)civility - causes, definitions, solutions. Could be used in the introduction of your paper. Full speech is here.
- Pdf of more readings on the topic.
- Opening questions
- Powerpoint: overview of the assignment and options
- Guidelines for Paper 4, plus rubric (for peer review and checklist)
- They Say templates - use for help making your argument.
- Some angles to consider when drafting paper 4