Week 1
INTRODUCTIONS |
8/19 |
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Introductions; syllabus; course terms; Review website; discuss the nature of power in the Information Age.
I AM the choices I make.
Making decisions. Knowing yourself.
"Where I Stand" exercise.
Democracy/Adulthood/College |
8/21 |
Buy textbooks
Get a Gmail account
In a couple of paragraphs, analyze the Hilfiger ad (on homepage) and the War Bonds poster (on homepage).
Each is designed to shape your thinking about something, to make an argument for what you should do. Explain how the arguments work. What do the creators of these ads want you to do and how to attempt to get you to do it?
Print out one copy of analysis and turn it in to me. (I will use this to recommend Writing Center tutorials) |
Bring textbooks to class. (10 points)
"The Critical Attitude"
Reading strategies
Explain WASPS
Intro to Writing Center
In-class Discussion :
Analyze Hilfiger ad and War Bonds ad. |
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8/26 |
Read:
Campbell (94), Walker (280)
Write:
Blog:
Sign in to BLOG by accepting my invitation (e-mailed to you) and post a response to this prompt:
"What is my 'bliss' and am I following it? If not, why not?" Write one or two full paragraphs. |
Quiz on reading
Discussion: What is my "bliss" and am I following it? If not, why not?
How much of ME is my own identity and how much is what I allow others to shape?
Lecture: narrative, metaphor, using one's own experience to understand and illustrate ideas. Telling by Showing.
The Idea of Beauty. How does Walker’s essay work to define the abstract concept of Beauty? |
8/28 |
Read:
White (344), Jefferson (338), Guinier (handout)
Write:
Why will you or won't you vote in the next election? Provide your reasons. And then, respond to at least TWO others on the blog, agree or disagreeing.
Write: Following 12-Step Program, begin work on Essay 1, Post to BLOG |
Democracy=Freedom?
Defining
War Bonds ad
Discuss readings.
Assign Essay 1
Escaping the Five-Paragraph Prison
12-Step Program
.
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9/2 |
Read: Malcom X (16)
Write: In your journals, explain how Malcolm X finds freedom while in prison.
Begin work on Essay 1 (Steps 1-4) |
Freedom through reading/writing
The complex thesis (Don't simplify, complexify)
Replacing the Five-Paragraph Prison with new structures.
Narrative organization. |
9/4 |
Read: Turkle (453)
Write: Keep working on Essay 1.1 |
Free to Be Me (when I log on)
Surfing the Internet/Developing MySpace pages
The Paragraph
Form Media Groups/Explain Media Project
Receive Media Project Packet |
Week 4
GOT FREEDOM? |
9/9 |
Write: Develop a thesis statement and working outline. Make three copies for Peer Review in class.
Go to Writing Center this week. |
Thesis workshop
Explore the nature of peer workshop.
Lecture on writing concisely.
Subordination and Coordination review.
Media Groups meet to consider story focus |
9/11 |
Write: Complete Essay 1.1 (1st draft of Essay 1); bring three copies to class.
Read: Media excerpt (handout) |
Essay 1.1 due, bring 3 copies to class.
Peer workshop.
Assign reflective essay
Discuss summarization expectations
Strategies for Revising, Editing, Proofreading. |
Week 5
LANGUAGE AND POWER
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9/16 |
Read: Naylor (61), Rodriguez (9)
Write:
Complete Revisions, Editing, and Proofreading of Essay 1, then write reflective essay.
and
One-paragraph summaries of Naylor's and Rodrigruez's essays. |
Essay 1.2 due (with Reflective Essay)
Bilingual, Bi-Identities
Discuss Language, Political Correctness
The Problem of Gender-Specific Language
Media Groups meet |
9/18 |
Write:
Check in with Blog
Read:
Anzaldua (54) |
Discuss “Borders” and Pratt’s “Contact Zone”
Sample paragraphs
Quoting, Paraphrasing, Summarizing |
Week 6 LANGUAGE AND POWER |
9/23 |
Read: Tan (link to page)
Write:
Blog:
Substantial BLOG participation REQUIRED
(note that prompts are waiting for you to respond to with seriousness and fully developed paragraphs. |
Hierarchies, exercise
Discuss Tan Edit the President for conciseness
Passive and Active Voice, wordiness,
Sentence focus |
9/25 |
Read: Orwell (72)
Write:
Begin developing a response to the Essay 2 assignment using prewriting. Begin by analyzing how each essay you were assigned develops the relationship between power, identity, and language, noting general assertions and supporting points.
Blog: Continue the conversation |
Discuss "Politics and the English Language"
Charting a course toward analysis. |
Week 7 LANGUAGE AND POWER
|
9/30 |
Read: Reread/review each of the readings in the Language, Power, and Identity section.
Write: Make a chart as discussed in class. For each essay, create a column in which you provide brief summaries and quotations from the text that show how the writers develop their ideas on language, power, and identity. |
Quoting, Summarizing, and Paraphrasing
Analysis, the Paragraph, the complex thesis
Introduction to MLA style.
Noun phrase appositives.
Discuss charts; devise questions
Introduce Outline handout |
10/2 |
Read: Handout on outlining.
Write: Develop a sentence outline for Essay 2 following the guidelines for Question, Thesis, and Development. Make three copies for peer workshop. |
Essay 2 Sentence Outline Peer Workshop
Bring three copies.
Media Groups meet |
Week 8 Propaganda and Persuasion |
10/7 |
Read: Check out Vice Presidential debate either on TV or on the internet.
View PBS Frontline documentary "The Persuaders" by clicking on this link and watching the documentary film on-line. This will take about an hour. Next, from the Frontline Homepage link to "Forum" and read through the experts' answers to Question #1, noting the difference between their responses. On the blog, respond to the same question yourself, arguing with or against at least one of the experts' point of view.
Your Blog must be completed before 8:00 pm Monday 10/6 at 5:00 PM. Please review others' responses before coming to class on Tuesdat.
Write: Develop Essay 2.1 from outline. You should have a good draft by Tuesday. |
View Propaganda short in class.
Discuss "The Persuaders"
Discuss VP Debate
WASPS
Where is POWER in the Information Age?
Make reference to hierarchies.
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10/9 |
Write: Revise Essay 2.1, complete reflective essay, and prepare essay and all drafts and prewriting for submission in a manila folder. |
Essay 2.2 due with Reflective Essay
(Include all prewriting, outline, drafts, and copies of internet sources in a manila folder)
Discuss Media Project (finally)
Establishing Questions at Issue (and answering them). |
Week 9 Propaganda and Persuasion |
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Read: Frank Rich NYT column (Link here.) Read
the handout on Reading the Media and, after reading, prepare for class by spending at least 1/2 hour consuming news critically, either by reading the paper, watching the news on TV, listening to a news station on the radio, or reading the news on-line.
Write: Blog about how you respond to presidential politcs, political ads, and the campaign season. Try not to make this a argument for or against an individual candidate but rather about the whole scene. How effective is the system as it is for getting the truth across to the voter?
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Discuss Rich opinion piece. Is he persuasive about pervasive propaganda or just another partisan with a beef?
Assign Essay 3
Discuss Media Handout
Media Groups meet
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| 10/16 |
Read: Swift (384); Check out the Daily Propaganda, a propaganda newsletter.
Write: Blog about his argument. |
Discuss Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and the kind of solutions that define barberous times.
Media Groups meet
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Week 10 Propaganda and Persuasion |
Monday 10/20: Last Day to Register to VOTE!  |
10/21 |
Read: King, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (366) AND Clergymen’s Letter
You'll find King's letter in your textbook, but you won't find the Clergymen's Letter there. Please print out the Clergymen's Letter for class and check out my MLK web page.
Write: In journals, write about the part of King's argument you find most persuasive. |
Quiz
Assign Essay 3
The problems with logical appeals.
Ethos, Pathos, Logos.
Discuss the Clergymen’s letter,
“Letter from Birmingham Jail”
and the rhetorical situation.
Images from Civil Rights era.
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| 10/23 |
Read: Link here for Michael Levin's "The Case for Torture,"here for Charles Krauthammer's for torture.and here for Amy Chua's case against torture. For additional reading, link here for more arguments against torture (read at least one or two of these).
Write: After reading these essays, blog about what you consider torture and whether you think it should be an instrument available to our government. Also write about torture you see in mainstream media portrayals. |
Debate torture
View waterboarding video
Media Groups meet |
Week 11 Propaganda and Persuasion |
10/28 |
Read: Review for Midterm by review notes you've taken in class, essays we read so far, and the latest election developments from reliable media sources.
Write: Organize your notes. |
Analysis of specific Political ads
Media Groups meet
Essay 3.1 due to my INBOX (timmax@gmail.com) by 5:00 AND essay must be CCed to two of your classmates. |
10/30 |
Read:
Review for Midterm by review notes you've taken in class, essays we read so far, and the latest election developments through reliable media sources.
Read and critique two of your peers' papers by next Sunday evening. Schedule time to meet someone in Writing Center.
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Meet in CAC (TBA)
Midterm: In-class Essay, the persuasive essay. (Details about the specific situation in which you will be writing shall be provided in class.) 1 hour. (open notes)
Review and Prepare for the reading of the novel.
Reading fiction
Journal techniques, how to read a novel.
Interpretive Analysis, Monarch Notes (and why they must not substitute for reading) |
Week 12 Propaganda and Authoritarianism |
11/4
E
L
E
C
T
I
O
N
D
A
Y
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Read: Read 1984 1-30 and use split-page notetaking method to keep track of the reading.
Read up on California Propositions in Voter Pamphlet, review multiple media sources' discussions on each item on the ballot. Pick your President with conviction and knowledge.
Read and critique two of your peers' papers by Sunday 11/2 (two days ago).
Meet with someone in Writing Center about paper this week. |
Head to the Polls!
Discuss 1984 and Power of Fiction
The Prophet Orwell?
Form reading groups |
11/6 |
Read: 1984 31-66
Use split-page journal entry method as you read.
Write: Work on Essay 3 Assignment. Meet with someone in Writing Center about paper. |
Media Groups meet
Quiz
Continue discussing the novel.
Discuss the tools for interpretive analysis
.
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Week 13 Propaganda and Authoritarianism |
11/11 |
Read: 125-190 1984
309-323 1984 |
Discuss 1984
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11/13 |
Read:
191-236 1984
Write: Essay 3.2 with Reflective Essay |
Essay 3.2 due, write reflection.
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Week 14 Propaganda and Authoritarianism |
11/18 |
237-267 1984 |
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11/20 |
Read: Keep reading 1984
Familiarize yourself with e-portfolios. Link here for a FAQ. Make some decisions
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Visit computer lab
Work on e-portfolios
When you come, be sure that all of your written work for this class is available to your electronically, either on CD, memory stick, e-mail, Googledocs, or other device. |
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11/25 |
268-end |
Discuss 1984 |
11/27 |
Thanksgiving (No Class) |
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12/2 |
Read:
Continue Media Monitoring
Revise
Write: Work on Essay 4.1
Get e-portolio together |
Media Presentations
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12/4 |
Write: Essay 4.1
Blog Away!
Get e-portolio together Prepare for Media Monitoring |
Essay 4.1 due
More Essay 4 discussion
When would you hit the streets and for what? |
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12/9 |
Monitoring Work. |
Introduce E-Portfolio Assignment, Final Essay
Essay 4.2 due with reflective Essay |
12/11 |
Continue Media Monitoring/Revisions of Earlier Essays |
Media Monitoring (Day 1) |
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12/12 |
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12/18 |
Save Revised Essays to GoogleDocs for easy transfer to E-Portolio pages. Continue Work on Essay 4 and Revisions of Essays for E-Portfolio. |
Meet in Computer-Assisted Classroom for discussion of E-Portfolios Final Exam Review |
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TBA |
Final Exam 8:10-10:40 am/In-class Essay (one hour) for electronic submission as part of E-Porfolio. |
12/16 |
Complete e-portfolio including final draft of Final Essay.
Submit link to E-Portfolio Page to timmax@gmail.com by 5:00 pm. Late submissions will be downgraded by one full grade for each hour beyond the deadline. |
