Rhetorics of Crisis in Times of Disaster

Schedule

Day 1: Tues, Aug 28

  • Prior to class:
    • Set up your personal course blog
  • In class:
    • Introductions to each other and the course

 

  • Due before 10am Thursday (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 a couple prompts about these (short) readings our course blog (*not* your personal blog; I know—confusing). Your personal blog is where you’ll post your major assignments for the term to give you a digital platform for your final project and to form a digital portfolio of your work).

 

Day 2: Thurs, Aug 30

  • 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 Tuesday, Sept 4 (next class meeting):

 

  • Read the following from JTC:
    • “Tools for Analyzing Texts,” pgs 17-23
  • Respond to a prompt about the reading on our course blog.
  • Find an image, music video, or article headline that relates to a crisis from the past year and post it to our class blog.

Day 3: Tues, Sept 4

  • Discuss reading and responses
  • Practice analyzing rhetorical artifacts we post
  • Watch “The Dangers of a Single Story,” by Chimamande Adichie (18:33)
  • Introduce Thread 2 of class (Course Thematic Focus for Unit 1): Narrating Modern Plague

 

Due before 10am Thursday, 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
  • Respond to prompts about the readings on our course blog.

 

Day 4: Thurs, Sept 6

 

  • Discuss readings and responses
  • Watch first half of How to Survive A Plague
  • Apply readings to a cultural artifact (practicing for your Rhetorical Analysis project) such as How to Survive a Plague

 

Due before 10am Thurs:

  • Review collection of ACT UP iconography, choose one work of graphic design from the collection, and write a 250-word rhetorical analysis of your chosen work

 

Day 5: Thurs, Sept 13 (no classes 9/11)

 

  • Discuss responses
  • Watch second half of How to Survive A Plague
  • Discuss the rhetorical structures of the film and discuss handout by Sarah Schulman

 

Due before 10am Tues:

  • Watch five clips from ACT UP Oral History Project
  • Respond to prompts about the reading on course blog

 

Day 5: Tues, Sept 20

 

  • Discuss responses
  • Watch first half of UNITED IN ANGER
  • Discussion

 

Due before 10am Thurs:

  • Read articles posted on the blog (covering the aftermath of ACT UP and AIDS/HIV in other contexts)
  • Respond to prompts about the readings our course blog.

 

Day 6: Thurs, Sept 22

 

  • Discuss readings and responses
  • Watch second half of UNITED IN ANGER
  • Discuss

 

Due before 10am Tues:

  • 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
  • Respond to prompts about the readings our course blog.
  • Draft your Project Proposal and Zero Draft (notes toward a paper)
    • See, Re-See, and Describe the text/artifact first
    • Interpret using a lens or lenses you choose

 

Day 6: Tues, Sept 27

 

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

 

Due before 10am Thurs:

  • 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
  • Respond to prompts about the readings on our course blog.

 

Day 7: Thurs, Sept 29

 

  • Discuss readings
  • Peer Review Workshop (practice reviewing student papers from previous semesters)
  • In class studio time for writing
  • Conferences with Prof. Frisbie

 

Due before 10am Tues:

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

 

 

Day 8: Tues, Oct 2

 

  • Be a reader for (and provide feedback on) your Writing Group members’ drafts

 

Homework:

  • Revise your draft.

 

Day 9: Thurs, Oct 4

 

  • 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).

 

Due before 11:30pm Sun, Oct 7:

  • Rhetorical Analysis project due (with revisions described in your Writer’s Letter) on your personal blog and in your password protected Google Drive folder.

 

Due before 10am Tues,:

 

  • Read the Introduction to Gentrification of the Mind
  • Read the following from JTC:
    • “Introduction to (re)Making Language,” Seth Graves, pgs 39-40
    • “Language, Discourse, and Literacy,” Seth Graves, pgs 41-42

_______________________________________________________________________

 

Day 10: Tues, Oct 9

 

  • Discuss readings and relate to the Literacy Narrative project
  • Work with your Writing Group to generate ideas and begin forming a plan for your project

 

Due before 10am Thur:

  • Read excerpts from Gentrification of the Mind
  • Read the following from JTC:
    • “Translingualism,” Kamal Belmihoub and Lucas Corcoran, pgs 43-48
    • “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa, pgs 142-151
  • Respond to prompts about the readings on our course blog.

 

Day 11: Thurs, Oct 11

 

  • Discuss readings and your responses
  • Tie readings to your own experience and the Literacy Narrative project

Due before 10am Tues:

  • Read the following from JTC:
    • “The Meanings of a Word,” Gloria Naylor, pgs 155-157
  • Read short articles on the New York City Housing crisis
  • Respond to prompts about the readings on our course blog.

 

Day 12: Tues, Oct 16

 

  • Discuss readings and your responses
  • In class studio time for writing
  • Conferences with Prof. Frisbie

 

Due before 10am Thur:

  • Read excerpts from Citizen, poem “Dinosaurs in the Hood” by Danez Smith
  • Read the following from JTC:
    • “The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts,” Donald Murray, pgs 100-103

 

 

Day 13: Thurs, Oct 18

 

  • Discuss readings and your responses
  • In class studio time for writing
  • Conferences with Prof. Frisbie

 

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

 

Day 14: Tues, Oct 22

 

  • Peer Review

 

Due before 10am Thur:

  • Read the following from JTC:
    • “Revising Attitudes,” Brock Dethier, pgs 115-128
  • Revise your manuscript (due Sun, Oct 28, 11:30pm)

 

Day 15 (Mid-Term): Thurs, Oct 25

 

  • Discuss articles in groups and readings
  • Practice reviewing Literacy Narrative assignments from previous classes
  • Practice revising sentences together, paying attention to grammar and usage

 

Due before 11:30pm Sun:

  • Literacy Narrative project due (with revisions described in your Writer’s Letter) on your personal blog and in your password protected Google Drive folder.

 

Day 16: Tues, Oct 30

 

  • Introduce Research-Based, Narrative Argument project

Due before 10am Thurs:

  • 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?)
  • Respond to prompts about the readings on our course blog.

 

Day 17: Thurs, Nov 1

 

  • Discuss readings
  • Look at samples in media of how various groups are represented (immigrants, for example)
  • Work in groups to find other examples, analyze, and share with the rest of us (focus on playing to or resisting stereotypes with nuance and context)

Due before 10am Tues:

  • Readings TBD

 

Day 18: Tues, Nov 6

 

  • Discuss readings and your responses

Due before 10am Thurs:

  • Read in JTC: “Finding Evidence,” by Andrea A. Lunsford & John J. Ruszkiewicz (hereafter AL & JR), pgs 53-62
  • Read sample Reflective Annotative Bibliography (RefAnnBib) as prep for doing yours

 

Day 19: Thurs, Nov 8

 

  • Discuss readings
  • Exploring the world of databases / librarian visit
  • Go over RefAnnBib
  • Work with your Writing Group to help generate ideas and approaches to your project

Due before 10am Tues:

  • Prospectus due to your Google Drive folder
  • 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 and respond to prompts on the course blog.

 

Day 20: Tues, Nov 13

 

  • Discuss credible sources
  • Look at examples of actual “fake news” and take the quiz: Can you identify a credible source from a deceptive one?
  • Begin creating a RefAnnBib for one of your sources

Due before 10am Thurs:

  • Read in JTC: “Using Sources,” AL and JR, pgs 71-84, and “When Should I Quote, Paraphrase, or Summarize?” by Lisa Ede, pg 85
  • Finish RefAnnBib for one source and submit to your Google Drive folder
  • Read in JTC: “Plagiarism and Academic Integrity,” AL and JR, pgs 86-92, and “Introduction to Refining Your Writing Style,” Lisa Frisbie, pgs 129-131 and respond to prompts on course blog.

 

Day 21: Thurs, Nov 15

 

  • Discuss readings and your responses
  • In class studio time on project
  • Conferences with Prof. Frisbie

Due before 10am Tues:

  • Read in JTC: “Clutter,” William Zizsser, pgs 132-134, and “Words That Do Little,” handout based on Richard Lanham’s Revising Prose

 

Day 22: Tues, Nov 20

 

  • 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 before 10am Thur:

  • Work on draft and post it with your Writer’s Cover Letter to class Google Drive folder for feedback Monday

 

Day 23: Tues, Nov 27 (Thursday off)

 

  • Peer Review

Due before 10am Thur:

  • Read in JTC: “Grammar as a Rhetorical Choice,” Frank Cioffi, pgs 135-140 and post your response to course blog.

 

Day 24: Thurs, Nov 29

 

  • Discuss reading and your response
  • Grammar/revision exercise using your last paper (identify patterns / reflective writing / revise sentences together on board/projector)

Due before 10am Tues:

  • Research-Based Narrative Argument project due (with revisions described in your Writer’s Letter) on your personal blog and in your password protected Google Drive folder.

 

Day 25: Tues, Dec 4

 

  • Introduce final multimodal presentation assignment
  • Studio time on project
  • Conferences with Prof. Frisbie as needed

 

Day 26: Thurs, Dec 6

 

  • Studio time on project
  • Conferences with Prof. Frisbie as needed

Due before 10am Tues:

  • Finalize your presentation
  • Post your final Writer’s Reflective Letter on your course blog as an introduction to your digital portfolio and final project

 

Day 27: Tues, Dec 11

 

  • Final Project Screenings

 

Day 28: Thurs, Dec 13

 

  • Final Project Screenings