Fall 2019 Orientation Schedule and Texts

• Orientation schedule for fall 2019
• Short texts to read for orientation 

Syllabus, Assignments and Schedule 

• Sample Tue/Thurs syllabus and schedule for RWS100 
• Sample Assignment sequence for RWS100 fall 2019
• Archive of RWS syllabi from SDSU's database of syllabi

Where To Find RWS100 Teaching Resources

This page is the main resource for RWS100 in fall 2019. It contains a lot of teaching material, so you may want to focus on the
sections in each unit below titled "Main Teaching Materials." 

There is also a "Contribution" page that contains past teaching resources created by TAs, and a Homework page where TAs have published
a lot of 100 materials.  You can also take a look at the wiki sites created by several 100 teachers.  These contain teaching material and homework.

• Andrew Testa's Teaching Materials for RWS100 and 200 from 2018,  and from 2017 
• RWS100: Scott Bruner's class, Andrea Kade's class, Caro Raedeker's class, and Chris Werry's class

Main Teaching Materials for Weeks 1-3 

• Overview of first two weeks and unit 1 (Chris). This is a fairly simple, "traditional" plan that moves quickly to unit 1 (it 
  spends 2 weeks introducing rhetoric and argument analysis.)
• First class checklist, plus some activities and handouts for the first few classes 
• A big list of first week activities and texts many teachers have shared. 
• Short texts often used in the first two weeks to introduce students to rhetorical reading and argument analysis. There are 
  teaching materials for many of these texts on this page, "First Weeks: Introducing Concepts and Applying to Short Texts."  

If you are interested in using video texts to introduce course concepts you could consider these: 

• This 4 minute video op-ed, "We either Buy Insulin or We Die" could be shown in class and you could ask students to 
  identify, analyze and discuss the claims, evidence, and persuasive strategies. You could then ask students to read
  this short, 2 page text on the same topic, by Smith-Holt, “I Had to Bury My 26-Year-Old Son Because He Couldn’t Afford Insulin.”  
  Compare the way claims, evidence, and persuasive strategies are presented.
• Colin Stokes, How Movies Teach Manhood. TED talk, 20 minutes. This video argues that the stories that surround us in popular 
  culture have a subtle but powerful persuasive force, influencing the way we think about gender roles and identity. This could 
  be used early in the semester with passages in the textbook that consider how small personal narratives and large cultural narratives
  are used to persuade.  At the start of the semester this video could be put in conversation with short texts about how we use stories to make sense of the world
  and ourselves. Coffin's "My Father, Out to Sea," and May's "The Stories We Tell Ourselves." Both consider how stories make arguments
  and are used to persuade.

More Materials for Weeks 1-3 

• A more ambitious set of opening teaching activities that makes use of multimodal exercises (by the very talented and experienced 
  Jenny Sheppard). This is from a semester where we had more time at the start, so If you use this you should aim to reduce 
  the number of activities so you can still get to the first unit in the third week of class.  
• First day notes for myself
• Parker's materials for teaching the first week of the semester (w/ icebreaker activities and how to use them to introduce key rhetorical concepts) My first few weeks of the 100 semester.docx and for working with single and multimodal arguments about being successful in college Working with Single and Multimodal Texts During the First Few Weeks.docx.
• A pdf presentation that introduces the idea of close reading, rhetorical situation, argument analysis, and appeals. Based on Bean et al's 
  text Reading Rhetorically, this follows the work we do fairly closely and so could be useful.
• A powerpoint explaining key concepts in Graff and Birkenstein's They Say/I Say, and introducing students to academic discourse. 
• Textbook selections that provide background for teachers and/or extra teaching ideas for activities such as close reading, annotation, "say-do" 
  charting, identifying the rhetorical situation, locating claims and evidence.  
  Bean et al on annotation, say-do charts, and composing a rhetorical precis.
  Bean et al on the rhetorical situation, and identifying claims, evidence and appeals
  Parfitt on annotation, claims and evidence, the rhetorical situation and into to argument, say-do exercises, and argument analysis.
• Here are the two critical reading strategies Karen Koss likes to use: SOAPSTone (powerpoint explanation) & rhetorical situation (the triangle
  visual that incorporates SOAPSTone elements & helps them organize their strategies)
   

Unit 1: Thompson's "Public Thinking"

Main Teaching Materials for Unit 1

• Collection of Teaching Materials for unit 1 and Thompson

Text and Author Background

• Excerpts from Clive Thompson's "Public Thinking," chapter 1 of Smarter Than You Think (Penguin Press, 2013.) The excerpts are 
  pages 45 - 61, 66-68, and 77-82. If you are feeling ambitious and would like to use the complete chapter for assignment 1 you can do so.
• Clive Thompson's bio (from the site for his book, Smarter Than You Think.)  Thompson's wikipedia page, twitter feed and a new blog and  old blog 
• Video of Thompson discussing some of the claims in his book with Andrew Keen of TechCrunch TV (10 minutes).  Video interview about the book 
  on Huffington Post (12 minutes).  Thompson giving TED type talk. Best account of his overall argument. 22 mins. Start at 5.00 for main claims.
• Video of Thompson from CBS This Morning show. Short (3.45) 
• IQ Squared debate "Is Smart Media Making us Dumb?" Carr, Keen, Weinberger and Bell. This debate could be used to introduce the "conversation" 
  Thompson is part of. Carr and Keen are deeply critical of social media, claiming it is damaging literacy, reasoning, deliberation and democracy. The other two participants 
  present positions that are in tune with Thompson.      
• Animated Book Review--Synopsis of the Argument (7:36), but the bit for "Public Thinking" is approximately a minute long starting around 2 minutes 

Examples of Public Thinking

• If you wish you can show students some contemporary examples of tools and publishing experiments that embody Thompson's ideas. These may help
  understand what Thompson is on about, but also evaluate the extent to which his claims are plausible.
• This page contains some examples of public thinking - of social annotation, commenting, and reading. 

Unit 2 Strategies & Sources: McNamee, Tufecki, and Golumbia 

Main Teaching Materials for Unit 2

• Teaching notes for McNamee, Tufecki, and Golumbia 
• Teaching notes for Hughes text and video with connections to other authors in the unit (Jason Parker and Ruben Mendoza). Assignment prompt, discussion questions, classroom activities.
• An overview of classroom activities for unit 2
• A collection of teaching materials for unit 2. Includes handouts, sample prompts, teaching ideas, classroom activities, templates, sample papers. 
• Powerpoint slides to help teach Golumbia (by Louie Centanni) 
• Parker's Prompt for Writing Project 2 (the one with a group multimodal analysis of two arguments combined with an individual written text that evaluates source use) Parker_RWS 200, Fall 2019, Writing Project # 2 Prompt_ Analyzing Strategies and Sources.pdf

Texts for Unit 2

• Three short texts about campus smoking policies you can use to introduce the analysis of stategies (Miller, Shieh and Shelbourne)
• Three short texts about the impact of social media on thought, politics and social life (McNamee, Tufecki, and Golumbia. We will use these 
  for assignment 2.  
• PDF version of Chris Hughes' "It's Time to Break up Facebook" Chris Hughes_It's Time to Break Up Facebook.docx.
• Here is a video version of Hughes' argument that could be used instead or in addition to the print text. 
• Optional: you could use Carr's "Is Google making Us Stupid?" instead of/in addition to the three short texts on social media. 

Videos for Unit 2 and/or to Introduce the Topic

• A video version of Hughes' argument that could be used instead or in addition to the print text. 
• To introduce Tufecki, consider this great, short text. It's about how YouTube encourages radical views. By a Wall St Journal investigative journalist,it is called
  "How Youtube drives viewers  to the darkest corners of the web." His work is cited by Tufecki.
• The Miseducation of Dylann Roof https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB6A45tA6mE. Five minutes long. Show to illustrate Tufecki. Very powerul short video. 
• Tufecki interview - CBC Canadian Broadcasting Company, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_0lITgn8pE 
• Tufecki, TED Talk, “We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads” https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_we_re_building_a_dystopia_just_to_make_people_click_on_ads?language=en   
• Eli Pariser and the Filter Bubble, http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles. This TED talk is quite famous and supports and illustrates many of the arguments made in the unit 2 texts, 
  particularly Tufecki, McNamee, and Golumbia.
• Carole Cadwalladr on social media, democracy, and the politics of algorithms - TED talk https://www.ted.com/talks/carole_cadwalladr_facebook_s_role_in_brexit_and_the_threat_to_democracy?language=en
  This is a very powerful video that could be used to introduce or illustrate Tufecki, Hughes, and Golumbia.  It is also one of several you could allow students to focus on, examining the rhetorical strategies.
• Tristan Harris (mentioned a lot by McNamee), "How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day" https://www.ted.com/talks/tristan_harris_the_manipulative_tricks_tech_companies_use_to_capture_your_attention#t-326810 
• Tristan Harris on "Brain Hacking" - 60 Mnutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awAMTQZmvPE Harris's ideas are a big part of MacNamee's 
  argument (one of the unit 2 texts).  
• 'Fiction is outperforming reality': how YouTube's algorithm distorts truth. (3 minutes long.) Guardian. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=62&v=aTxUetlqWmU
• IQ Squared debate - Carr, Keen, Weinberger and Bell. This debate could be used to introduce the larger "conversation."  Carr and Keen are deeply 
  critical of social media, claiming it is damaging literacy, reasoning, deliberation and democracy (they thus echo some claims of unit 2 writers). The other two participants present optimistic positions more in tune with Thompson.  http://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/smart-technology-making-us-dumb  

More Teaching Materials for Unit 2

• Material for teaching assumptions and implications. Uses examples from Miller and Shieh and includes classroom exercises.  
• Evaluating sources - a checklist. Excerpt from Bean et al, Reading Rhetorically 
• Powerpoint on strategies (contains more than you will likely want to use) 
• You can use material on the wiki introducing and teaching rhetorical strategies . You can also use material in the course reader, and excerpts on appeals 
  from Bean et al (Reading Rhetorically, pdf), Weeks and Longaker (Rhetorical Analysis) or chapter 6 on rhetorical analysis in Everything’s an Argument if you wish. 
• A handout on appeals 
• Criteria for evaluating arguments - powerpoint 

Fun with Online Sources

1. Examine these two sites. Can you quickly determine if they are credible? Gateway Pundit  Natural News
2. Compare the web sites for two organizations, the American College of Pediatricians, https://www.acpeds.org/, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, 
   https://www.aap.org/  Before looking these up, start by examining  the two sites. Which seems more reliable, credible or authoritative, or do 
   they both seem reliable, credible and authoritative?
3. Now use your search skills to determine which source seems more reliable. What do you find?  How did you make your determination?
4. National Vaccine Information Center 

Unit 3 Options

Option 1: Boyd and Critical Digital Literacy 

We have a large collection of teaching materials you could use to teach Boyd's "Literacy: Are Today's youth Digital Natives?"

You are welcome to select materials from this collection, or select a different text and topic.  In the past, teachers have used
Boyd's text to explore the related issues of critical digital literacy or fake news. That is, students have worked on extending, 
updating, illustrating, or challenging Boyd's text by reading related texts on critical digital literacy or fake news.

An alternative approach might be to have students read Boyd, then write a review of the McChesney documentary, 
Digital Disconnect: the Internet & Democracy.  

Option 2: The Codes of Gender 

The Codes of Gender: Identity and Performance in Pop Culture. This documentary provides viewers with a "lens" for understanding
patterns in advertisements. It argues that advertisements use a small set of cultural "codes" to represent men and women, and this 
shapes the way we think about gender. The documentary suggests male and female bodies are portrayed very differently, and 
these differences reveal important cultural norms.

The documentary is from 2009, and looks at traditional broadcast and print media. It does not consider recent online media or online 
advertisements.  But since 2009 we have seen huge changes in the way people consume media. This video could be used as a 
"lens" to look at online media - for example, at male and female instagram stars, or at the ads in online men's/women's magazines
(Students could examine the poses of Instagram model and celebrity Alahna Ly, and compare these to the poses shown in Gentleman
Quarterly's "20 hottest male models on Instagram") At the same time, students could see if today's advertisements have changed in 
ways that challenge the framework, and suggest the analysis needs to be updated or revised.

Students could also draw on some recent research to help with their projects. For example, "Advertising Stereotypes and Gender 
Representation in Social Networking Sites" might be a helpful text. 

There are 2 versions of the video, the full version, which is 1 hour and 13 minutes, and the abridged version which is 46 minutes.

A pdf transcript of the video is available for students to use. 

Option 3: "We Buy or We Die"

"We either Buy Insulin or We Die"is a short, 4 minute video op-ed makes a remarkable argument about inequities in access to insulin. 

Students could analyze the strategies in this video, and compare them to strategies in two or three print texts on the same topic (see below).
The video includes comments by New York Times readers. Some are doctors, some are patients, some are researchers, etc.  The comments
could be used for a synthesis exercise, as there are very clear patterns. 

Also, a Diabetes Association has tips on writing an op ed on the subject.  The tips are awful. I can imagine an assignment in which students try
to help the group write better advice for more effective op eds (perhaps by looking at model ones). 

Sample op eds on the topic

• Ofri, The Insulin Wars
• Mith-Holt,  I Had to Bury My 26-Year-Old Son Because He Couldn’t Afford Insulin 
• Rep. Tina Smith, Senator's View: Lowering insulin prices a matter of life, death for Minnesotans
• Tridgell, Insulin is too expensive for many of my patients. It doesn’t have to be

Option 4: The College Admissions Debate 

A collection of short texts that make a variety of arguments about the 2019 college admissions scandals. You could ask students to 

synthesize these texts, mapping some major points of similarity, connection, and difference, then select their own texts in order 
to "enter the conversation" and make their own argument.

WPA Teaching Materials 2019

• The WPA prompt, the WPA rubric, and sample readings used in WPA placement tests in 2018 and 2019.
• A powerpoint on the WPA, handout on the the difference between 8 and 10 (and how to get a 10). You may wish to use this in the final two weeks. It explains why the WPA exists, what is expected,
  how it works, etc.  It also includes some light PR in order to address some of the misinformation that has come to be associated with the WPA. If you use it you will likely want to edit it down to whatever you are comfortable with (and perhaps change the slide design, which is hideous).
• Main WPA site  contains an explanation of the test, sample texts, the scoring criteria, a powerpoint that dissects the WPA, and some instructional videos.  Here's a file of information that I've used for a final unit on the WPA that could work for 100 or 200. It includes info on the WPA, an outline on the lesson plan, sample article, essay and WPA evaluation. Here's an evaluation assignment (students respond to a classmate's essay) that partners with the unit.    
•  More End of Semester Resources & WPA material