LA 101H: Rhetoric and Civic Life
Spring 2012 Syllabus
Downloadable version available here.
Course Description
This honors course offers comprehensive training in oral, written, visual, and digital communication for the twenty-first century. It unites these various modes under the flexible art of rhetoric and uses rhetoric both to strengthen communication skills and to sharpen awareness of the challenges and advantages presented by oral, written, visual, and digital modes. Students will read about and discuss rhetorical concepts and situations and put their knowledge immediately to use by 1) analyzing civic rhetoric on campus and in their communities (including their networked communities), 2) researching current issues, and 3) developing and presenting arguments in oral, written, visual, and digital form.
Required Course Materials: Custom LA 101H textbook, Revised Second Edition
Course Website: http://la101h-2012.blogspot.com/
Assignments
Specific details on the following assignments will be discussed during class and available on the course website. All major assignments must be completed in order to pass this class.
Unit One: Introductions: Rhetoric and Civic Life
Students will compose a statement of personal belief in light of NPR’s long running “This I Believe” series. To practice both effective writing and speaking, these pieces will be written as an essay, performed as an ungraded live speech during class, and recorded as a podcast.
Unit Two: Situating Rhetoric
During this unit, students will prepare two rhetorical analyses. The first will be presented as a speech and conduct a textual analysis of an advertisement. The second analysis will contextually explore a particular rhetorical situation of something other than an advertisement, and will be written as an essay.
Unit Three: History of a Controversy
This multi-media project will use media editing technology. In order to draw on the talents, creativity, and decision-making of classmates, it will be designed, composed, performed, and produced in small groups.
Unit Four: Communicating Persuasively
This unit will involve one essay (advocacy for a policy) and one speech (a motivational presentation). To streamline research and heighten cohesion between these assignments, students will select one significant social problem as their topic, and both the essay and speech will stem from this selection.
Unit Five: Revising and Self-Presenting
As a capstone requirement, each student will create an e-portfolio and select, revise, and arrange the best sampling of their coursework into a digital portfolio.
Blogs
Early in the semester, students will set up two blogs, and will post to both blogs on a weekly basis.
Participation
Active engagement in this class is required, and it has several dimensions, not the least of which is presence in class. This doesn't simply mean bodily presence, but actually attuning to the class discussions, demonstrating knowledge of the assigned readings, contributing thoughtful comments, asking relevant and engaged questions, and providing helpful feedback to peers during workshop sessions. Also valuable is recognizing when it is time for other students to contribute, as well as avoiding behaviors such as texting, reading the paper, etc. Other factors affecting participation grades include in-class writing, occasional brief reading quizzes, engagement with other students via blogs, and interaction with group members while preparing the multi-media project.
Grading
Unit One (“This I Believe” Podcast) 5%
Unit One (“This I Believe” Essay) 5%
Unit Two (Rhetorical Analysis Speech) 10%
Unit Two (Rhetorical Situation Essay) 10%
Unit Three (Group Multi-Media Text) 20%
Unit Four (Persuasive Speech) 10%
Unit Four (Persuasive Essay) 10%
Unit Five (Final E-Portfolio) 10%
Blogging Assignments 15%
Participation 5%
A 4.00 Superior achievement
A- 3.67 Excellent, some room for improvement
B+ 3.33 Very good
B 3.00 Good
B- 2.67 Not quite as good
C+ 2.33 Somewhat above average
C 2.00 Average or satisfactory competence
D 1.00 Minimally competent, but still passing
Course Policies
Attendance and Lateness
Consistent attendance is expected. In most situations, more than three absences over the semester, whether excused or unexcused, will result in a lower final grade for the course (typically 1/3 of a letter grade for each additional absence, down to and including an "F"). Please see me in advance if you have atypical outside commitments you’d like me to consider when evaluating attendance.
Three late arrivals equal one absence. You’ll need to bring the reading material to class on the day it is assigned or risk being counted absent for that day. Coming to class without having completed the assigned reading or writing may also count as an absence.
Academic Integrity
Penn State defines academic integrity as the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest, and responsible manner. All students should act with personal integrity, respect other students' dignity, rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their efforts (Faculty Senate Policy 49-20). Dishonesty of any kind will not be tolerated in this course. Dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating information or citations, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students. Students who are found to be dishonest will receive academic sanctions and will be reported to the University's Judicial Affairs office for possible further disciplinary sanction.
We will discuss proper citation practices in class, and I welcome questions on this issue at any time before assignments are due. I'd like to stress too that plagiarism is not to be confused with the sharing of ideas—all writers get advice from friends and colleagues. For the purposes of this course, the element that distinguishes such productive collaborative moments from plagiarism is that of willful deception.
Written Assignment Guidelines
• Assignments will be collected at the beginning of class the day that they are due. Barring legitimate emergencies, even if you are absent on the day that an assignment is due, it is your responsibility to arrange to submit the assignment on time.
• At my discretion, extensions may be granted if arranged in advance. However, a penalty of one full letter grade per day will be applied. Late work for which no such arrangements have been made will not be accepted.
• All assignments should be typed using an easily readable font. Please use one inch margins and a font size between 10-12 point. Please double-space your work (1.5 spacing is also fine.)
• Handwritten work will not be accepted (with the exception of informal, in-class writings).
• Staple all work that is more than one page. Printing on both sides of a page is fine.
• Carefully proofread all assignments before submitting.
