Schedule

Day 1: Mon, Aug 27

  • Introductions to each other and the course
  • Intro to using our course blog for reading responses
  • Writing: Create a new post on our blog and:
    • Describe yourself (250 words or less) and in the same post
    • Describe yourself as a writer (250 words or less).

Due before 10am Wed (next class meeting):

  • Read the following from Join the Conversation (hereafter JTC):
    • “Writing at Baruch,” pgs 1-9 (skim)
    • “Introduction to Analyzing Texts,” pg 11
    • “What is Rhetoric?” pgs 12-16
  • Respond to these questions about these (short) readings by creating a post on this course blog (around 250-300 words of writing total, or one page):
    • What’s one new thing you’ve learned about this course or resources at Baruch for writers that you found interesting?
    • Briefly (in a few sentences) summarize the reading from “What is Rhetoric?” (summary)
    • Respond to this reading. (response)
  • To post to our course blog:
    • Select the “+New” at top / select “Post” from dropdown
    • Give it a title; get creative; include your first and last name this first time
    • Write your response
    • In the “Categories” box on the lower right, select “Day 2: What is Rhetoric” (IMPORTANT)
    • Select “Publish”


Day 2: Wed, Aug 29

  • Discuss readings and responses
  • Practice analyzing image
  • Introduce key concepts in “Thread 1” of class (Primary thread): Interpreting and Creating Texts (Rhetoric and Language)
  • Introduce first major project (Rhetorical Analysis)

    Due before 10am Wed, Sept 5 (next class meeting):

    • Read the following from JTC:
      • “Tools for Analyzing Texts,” pgs 17-23
      • Respond to this question about the reading on our course blog, using the same method for creating a new post (IMPORTANT: remember to save it to the category “Day 3: Tools for Analyzing Texts” before you publish your writing or you won’t get credit for the post because I won’t be able to find it; use your name again in the title):
        • Summarize this reading in your own words (150 words).
        • What’s your response to this text? (response)
        • What question do you have after this reading?  (question/connect)
    • Take a picture of an ad you see this week that you want to analyze together in class (billboard, subway, anywhere) and post it to our class blog,
      • To post it to the blog, select +New / Post / “Add Media”
      • Write a short description of where you found the ad and why you chose it
      • Give the post a title and use your name in the title
      • Save it to the category: “Advertisements”
      • Publish
    • Take a few minutes and read about the history of Labor Day (best interesting fact you can find wins bonus points on Wednesday).


Day 3: Wed, Sept 5 (No classes Monday in honor of Labor Day)

  • Vote for best fact about Labor Day history and present
  • Discuss reading and responses
  • Practice analyzing images we post
  • Watch “The Dangers of a Single Story,” by Chimamande Adichie (18:33)
  • Introduce Thread 2 of class (Course Thematic Focus): Identity, Rhetoric, and Propaganda

Due before 10am Wed, Sept 12 (next class meeting): 

  • Read the following from JTC:
    • “Metaphors We Live By,” by George Lakoff & Mark Johnson, pgs 158-164
    • “Strategies for Active Reading,” Maria Plochocki, pgs 34-38
  • Read “The Egg and the Sperm,” (pdf attached) Emily Martin
  • For your blog post, summarize the Layoff and Johnson piece (a foundational piece for the course) and the Emily Martin piece, and write a response to each; I’m especially interested in connections you can make between these readings (one post, ~500 words total).


Day 4: Wed, Sept 12 (No classes Monday in honor of Rosh Hashana)

  • Discuss readings and responses
  • Apply to a cultural artifact (practicing for your Rhetorical Analysis project)
    • Watch “Nanette,” by Hannah Gadsby and do reflective writing / discussion

Due before 10am Mon:

  • Read the following:
  • Respond to this question about the reading on our course blog, using the same method for creating a new post (IMPORTANT: remember to save it to the category “Day 5: Intersectional Readings of Texts”; use your name again in the title):
    • Summarize these pieces in your own words (~100 words for each).
    • What’s your response to them, and how are they connected for you to texts we’ve read thus far in this class? (response/connect)
    • What questions do you have after this reading? (question/connect)

Day 5: Mon, Sept 17

  • Discuss readings
  • Begin idea generation for your project

Due before 10am Mon: 

  • Read the following from JTC:
    • “Introduction to Composing as a Process,” Seth Graves, pg 93
    • “Freewriting,” Peter Elbow, pgs 97-99
    • “Shitty First Drafts,” Anne Lamott, pgs 94-96
  • Summarize each of these (50 words each) and write your response at the end, making connections between them if possible: title your post “Day 6: Writing as a Process”
  • Draft your Project Proposal and Zero Draft (notes toward a paper):
    • Write a post in which you:
      • Identify 3 possible topics for your paper (identify your top pick)
      • Describe why you’ve chosen these (pros and cons of each)
      • Write what your questions are about this assignment at this point
      • Title this post: “Day 6: Project Pitch”

Day 6: Mon, Sept 24 (No classes Wednesday in honor of Yom Kippur)

  • Discuss Proposals with your Writing Group
  • In class studio time for writing (bring ear buds if you’d like)
  • Conferences with Prof. Blankenship

Due before 10am Wed:

  • Read the following in JTC:
    • “What’s the Point?” Daniel Hengel, pgs 28-33
    • “Responding—Really Responding—To Other Students’ Writing,” Richard Straub, pgs 104-114
  • Summarize and respond to each of them: title your post “Day 7: Thesis and Review”


Day 7: Wed, Sept 26

  • Discuss readings
  • Discuss previous student’s Rhetorical Analysis paper

Due before 10am Mon: 

  • Post your draft to Google Drive (folder link here) for review by your Writing Group members and Prof. Blankenship. (Please note: Writer’s Cover Letter should be included as page 1 or your draft will not be reviewed.)


Day 8: Mon, Oct 1

  • No class meeting


Day 9: Wed, Oct 3

  • Online peer reviews (post feedback in Google Drive)

Homework: 

  • Revise your draft.

Day 10: Wed, Oct 10 (No classes Mon, Oct 8, Columbus Day)

  • Discuss drafts and in-class time for revisions / conferences

Due by midnight Sat, Oct 13: 

Due before 10am Mon: 

  • Your next major writing project (“Literacy Narrative”) will ask that you tell a story about the various ways you identify yourself in the world and how others see you (or how you think they see you). What is a misconception or stereotype people may have about you? Think of this project in relation to the analysis you just wrote, except this time you’re writing a story about yourself and doing a rhetorical analysis of the language you use to describe yourself–and the language others have used. In preparation for this project, read the following from JTC:
    • “Introduction to (re)Making Language,” Seth Graves, pgs 39-40
    • “Language, Discourse, and Literacy,” Seth Graves, pgs 41-42
  • Summarize and respond to each reading (in three paragraphs) on our course blog. Title your post: “Day 11: Literacy Narrative” and include your name in the title.


Day 11: Mon, Oct 15

  • Discuss readings and your responses
  • Introduce next project: Literacy Narrative
  • In class writing: Revisit your first day writing, instead this time focusing on describing groups you’re part of and various parts of your identity (using a lens of intersectionality).
  • Tie readings to your own experience and the Literacy Narrative project

Due before 10am Wed:

  • Read the following from JTC:
    • Read “Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie
    • Read “Mother Tongue, “Amy Tan, pgs. 165-170
  • Summarize and respond to each our course blog. Title your post: “Day 12: Alexie and Tan” and include your name in the title.


Day 12: Wed, Oct 17

  • Discuss readings and your responses
  • Work with your Writing Group to generate ideas and begin forming a plan for your project
  • Create and review key terms glossary for course in JTC for quiz on Monday

Due before 10am Mon: 

  • Read the following from JTC:
    • “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa, pgs. 142-151
    • “The Meanings of a Word,” Gloria Naylor, pgs. 155-157
  • Summarize and respond to each our course blog. Title your post: “Day 13: Anzaldúa and Naylor” and include your name in the title.

Day 13: Mon, Oct 22

  • Quiz over key terms (weekly writing grade)
  • Discuss readings and your responses.

Homework:

  • Work on your project.


Day 14 (Mid-Term): Wed, Oct 24

  • Review Literacy Narrative assignments from previous classes
  • Begin getting possible ideas for paper and initial drafting. Post your work here.

Due before 10am Mon:

  • Read the following from JTC:
    • “The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts,” Donald Murray, pgs 100-103
    • “Revising Attitudes,” Brock Dethier, pgs 115-128
    • I’ll ask that you write about these in class on Monday.
    • We’ll also have a guest joining our class for the day, Dr. Shelly Eversley, Professor in the English Department at Baruch.

Day 15: Mon, Oct 29

  • Discuss readings and your responses on revision.
  • In-class studio time for drafting and conferencing with Lisa as needed.

Due before 10am Wed: 

  • Draft due to this Google Drive folder for feedback from your Writer’s Group and Prof. Blankenship. (Must have Writer’s Letter as page one to get feedback.)

Day 16: Wed, Oct 31

  • Peer review of drafts

Homework: 

  • Revise your draft.
  • Due by 10am Wed, Nov 5:
  • Read the following in JTC:
    • “Introduction to Researching and Making Claims,” Seth Graves, pgs 49-50
    • “The Research Process,” Seth Graves, Lucas Corcoran, and Kamal Belmihoub, pgs 51-52
  • Read “Complicating the Narratives” (What if journalists covered controversial issues differently?)
  • Be prepared to write about/discuss all three in class on Monday.

Day 17: Mon, Nov 5

  • Introduce Research-Based Argument project
  • Discuss readings and your responses

Due for Wed:

  • Read for Monday: “Manifesto,” by George Saunders and be ready to discuss/write about it in class 

Day 18: Wed, Nov 7

Due by 11:59pm Saturday, Nov 10:

  • Upload your Literacy Narrative project (be sure to draft a revised writer’s cover letter in letter/paragraph form as usual using these prompts) to your password protected Google Drive folder.

Due before 10am Mon: 

  • Read in JTC: “Finding Evidence,” by Andrea A. Lunsford & John J. Ruszkiewicz (hereafter AL & JR), pgs 53-62
  • Read “Under My Thumb,” by Baruch student Chelsea Booth (Award-winning essay for the Berlfein Contest, Refract, Spring 2018), paying attention to how she incorporates her own story into larger arguments about the #MeToo movement and sexism in the music industry
  • Summarize and respond to each reading on our course blog. Title your post: “Day 19: Research Process” and include your name in the title. 

Day 19: Mon, Nov 12

  • Discuss readings; group responses on stasis theory/analysis of “Under My Thumb”; post to Google Drive here
  • Discuss credible sources and databases / where to find information and for what purpose

Due before 10am Wed:

  • Read in JTC:
    • “Evaluating Sources,” by AL and JR, pgs 63-68, and “Questions to Consider as You Evaluate Sources,” by Lisa Ede, pg 69
    • No post but be ready to respond to the reading in class.

Day 20: Wed, Nov 14

  • Go over the how and why of RefAnnBibs
  • Using the Web and Databases for research
  • Distinguishing between popular and peer-reviewed sources
  • Conferences with professor re: your topic / individual writing time on project pitch/prospectus (due Sunday, end of day)

Due before 11:59pm Sun, Nov 18:

Due before 10am Mon:

  • Read in JTC:
    • “Using Sources,” AL and JR, pgs 71-84
    • “When Should I Quote, Paraphrase, or Summarize?” by Lisa Ede, pg 85
    • “Plagiarism and Academic Integrity,” AL and JR, pgs 86-92
    • “Introduction to Refining Your Writing Style,” Lisa Blankenship, pgs 129-131
    • For “Using Sources” and “Intro to Refining Your Writing Style” (only) summarize and respond to each on our course blog. Title your post: “Day 21: Using Sources / Writing Style.”

Day 21: Mon, Nov 19

  • Discuss readings and your responses
  • Analyze your writing style
  • Style imitation studio workshop

Due before 10am Wed: 

  • Read in JTC: “Clutter,” William Zizsser, pgs 132-134, and “Words That Do Little,” handout based on Richard Lanham’s Revising Prose
  • RefAnnBib #2 due in your personal Google Drive folder (where you submit final papers)


Day 22: Wed, Nov 21

  • Concision Workshop: Practice revising for clutter and words that do little on your last paper (or another paper of your choice you’ve written lately)

Due:

  • Work on research project.


Day 23: Mon, Nov 26

  • Discussion of sample Research-Based Argument paper from previous semester, as well as approaches to writing and organizing your paper
  • Conferences/in-class writing time as needed

Due before 10am Wed:

  • Post your draft with Writer’s Cover Letter to this Google Drive folder for peer review on Wednesday.


Day 24: Wed, Nov 28

  • Peer review of research projects.

Due by 10am Monday (a bit earlier than class time so I can arrange them in folders):


Day 25: Mon, Dec 3

  • Peer review projects; prompts here and also posted in the Google Drive folder where you posted drafts.

Due:  

  • Revise your project.


Day 26: Wed, Dec 5

  • Style Imitation Exercise and Contest
  • Conferences with Prof. Blankenship as needed

Due before 10am Mon:

  • Revise your project.


Day 27: Mon, Dec 10

  • Grammar workshop
  • Conferences with Prof. Blankenship as needed

Due by class time, Wed Dec 12:  

  • Research-Based Narrative Argument project due (VERY IMPORTANT: with revisions described in your Writer’s Letter) in your password protected Google Drive folder.
  • Post one short paragraph summary and one para response on your project (just as you’ve done for texts we’ve read all semester) + a meme that captures your thesis. You will have 3 minutes on Wednesday to stand up front and give the class a sense of what you’ve been working on and what you’ve concluded at this point (you could read but preferably don’t), and show us your meme. (Weekly response grade on this.) Title your post “Final Project <your name>” and save it to the category “Day 28: Final prez + meme.”


Day 28: Wed, Dec 12

  • Final Project Screenings / Pizza / Wrap up, congratulations!