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200Spring2018

Page history last edited by Chris Werry 4 years, 6 months ago

 


 

RWS200 Course Reader Spring 2018

The reader contains commonly used handouts, teaching materials, and the main texts for the semester. 

 

Sample Syllabi, Schedule and Assignments

 

Syllabi, Schedules and Assignments from Spring 2017 

 

Overview and Descriptions of Teaching Activities from Spring 2017

 

First Weeks: Introducing the Course & Applying Concepts to Short texts

 

Evaluating a text 
Evaluation exercise: play Elbow's "doubting and believing" game, where you interpret one of the short texts above generously vs. playing devil's advocate.

There is some useful material in the reader on evaluation. As a quick rule of thumb, you may want to direct students to the following areas:

  • Reasoning - how are claims organized and constructed? (chains of reasoning; GASCAP) 
  • Support - how are claims supported? 
  • Source selection, representation and fact-checking 
  • How are strategies used?  (For example, how effectively and fairly are opposing views represented? How well are appeals - ethos, pathos, logos - established given the rhetorical situation?)
  • Frames - how are definitions, categories, narratives and metaphors used to establish a frame
  • Assumptions and implications
  • Vulnerability to counterexamples, counterarguments and objections
  • What is left out of the argument? 

These criteria (and others) should  be analyzed in relation to the author's audience, context and purpose. 

 

 

Unit 1: Arguments about Civil War Monuments

 

Teaching Materials

 

Background

 

Texts Students Will Analyze

Students will select texts from the following list and compare the way they persuade their audiences. They may choose to compare how two different 
texts argue for the same (or similar) position, or they may examine opposing texts.

  1. Transcript of Mitch Landrieu’s Speech on the Removal of Confederate Monuments in New Orleans, May 23, 2017
    1. Notes on remembering and memorializing (general cultural purposes of commemoration)
    2. Some questions for analzying Landrieu's speech
  2.  Brophy, By Alfred L. “Why Northerners should support Confederate monuments.” Washington Post, July 14, 2015. 
  3. Kytle, Ethan, and Blain Roberts. “Take Down the Confederate Flags, but Not the Monuments” The Atlantic Monthly, June 25, 2015.  https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/-confederate-monuments-flags-south-carolina/396836/ “Instead of sanitizing the past, communities need to strike a balance between confronting history and respecting the needs of the present.”
  4. Davidson, John Daniel. "Why We Should Keep The Confederate Monuments Right Where They Are." The Federalist, August 18, 2017. http://thefederalist.com/2017/08/18/in-defense-of-the-monuments/
  5. Applebaum, Yoni. “Take the Statues Down.” The Atlantic, Aug 13, 2017. “A multi-ethnic democracy requires grappling honestly with the past—and recognizing the symbols of the Confederacy for what they are.”  https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/take-the-statues-down/536727/ 
  6. Christian, Jack, and Warren Christian. “The Monuments Must Go: An open letter from the great-great-grandsons of Stonewall Jackson.” Slate, August 16, 2017. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/08/stonewall_jackson_s_grandsons_the_monuments_must_go.html 
  7. Levin, Kevin. “Why I Changed My Mind About Confederate Monuments.” The Atlantic Monthly August 19, 2017.) 

 

Additional Texts for consideration

  1. Sarah Vowell, "America’s Statue Wars Are a Family Feud." New York Times, November 16, 2017.
  2. Gerald Warner, "Hoist It High And Proud: The Confederate Flag Proclaims A Glorious Heritage." Breitbart News, July 1, 2015. 

 

 

Unit 2: The Rhetoric of Demagoguery (Lens Assignment)

 

Unit 2 Main Teaching Materials


Unit 2 Assignments

 

Unit 2 Texts

 

Using Roberts Miller to Explore Contemporary Figures

 

 

Other Target Texts for Unit 2

 

 

Unit 3 Anger, Outrage and Civility in the Age of Twitter

 

Videos to Introduce the Topic, Positions and Authors  

 

 

 

Class Materials for Unit 3

 

 

Ending the Semester 

 

1.       Brophy

 

 

, By Alfred L. “Why Northerners should support Confederate monuments.” Washington Post, July 14, 2015. https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/07/14/why-northerners-should-support-the-preservation-of-conferederate-monuments/?utm_term=.09110e77f020

 

2.       Kytle, Ethan, and Blain Roberts. “Take Down the Confederate Flags, but Not the Monuments”
The Atlantic Monthly, June 25, 2015. 
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/-confederate-monuments-flags-south-carolina/396836/ “Instead of sanitizing the past, communities need to strike a balance between confronting history and respecting the needs of the present.”

 

3.       Davidson, John Daniel. "Why We Should Keep The Confederate Monuments Right Where They Are." The Federalist, August 18, 2017. http://thefederalist.com/2017/08/18/in-defense-of-the-monuments/

 

4.       Applebaum, Yoni. “Take the Statues Down.” The Atlantic, Aug 13, 2017. “A multi-ethnic democracy requires grappling honestly with the past—and recognizing the symbols of the Confederacy for what they are.”  https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/take-the-statues-down/536727/ 

 

5.       Christian, Jack, and Warren Christian. “The Monuments Must Go: An open letter from the great-great-grandsons of Stonewall Jackson.” Slate, August 16, 2017. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/08/stonewall_jackson_s_grandsons_the_monuments_must_go.html 

 

6.       Levin, Kevin. “Why I Changed My Mind About Confederate Monuments.The Atlantic Monthly August 19, 2017.) 

·         VIDEO: Robert Reich, "Political Civility Should Not Be an Oxymoron.”   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqKh6IGXCv4  I plan on using just 10 – 20 minutes, from minutes 9.00-11.00 and 17.00 – 35.00, or 17-40 (this includes

 

 

his “solutions).

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