Rhetoric
& Composition 2: Public Sphere Literacy
Unit
Three: Civic Literacy (Weeks 7-11)
Inquiry
Theme: Using Writing to Pursue
Social Justice Locally, Nationally
and/or Globally
Literacy
& Rhetoric Goals: Students will
• Define terms related to Civil Literacy
•
Define and identify differences between argument and
persuasion
•
Define a social issue as a rhetorical problem—i.e., a problem
that can be
addressed
•
Identify a rhetorical audience—i.e., social institutions and/or
people who have
power to change
things
•
Analyze a social problem in term of a rhetorical audience
•
Analyze causes & consequences related to a social problem
•
Analyze a social problem in terms of solutions: action, change
in attitude, and/or
understanding
•
Identify and employ discourse conventions (i.e., ideas, genres
& sentence style) of
public
documents (e.g., letters to the editor and creative non-fiction
essays)
•
Identify how genre and sentence style informs textual ethos
in public documents
•
Identify and employ elements of persuasive writing and speaking
•
Work collaboratively with a group
Writing
Goals: Students will
•
Define a social issue as a rhetorical problem
•
State purpose and thesis
•
Address audience effectively
•
Given purpose and audience, effectively employ genre conventions
of public
documents
•
Given purpose and audience, effectively employ classical persuasion
strategies
•
Given purpose and audience, effectively employ particular details
as evidence
•
Given purpose, audience and genre, organize their texts effectively
in terms of the
whole and in terms
of individual paragraphs
•
Given purpose, audience and genre, employ effective sentence style
•
Construct an effective public ethos
•
Effectively introduce and conclude texts
•
Employ citation practices appropriate for public documents
Speaking
Goals:
•
Employ oral presentations (OPs) for inventio/revision of their
final written projects
•
Adapt final written project into a 5-minute summary for a listening
audience
Suggested
Readings:
•Thomas
Jefferson, “The Declaration of Independence” (1776)
•
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions”
(1848)
•
Frederick Douglass, “The Meaning of the Fourth of July to the
Negro” (1858 )
•
Ida B. Wells, “The Law of Lynching” (1900)
•
Jackie Robinson, “Letter to the President” (1958)
•
Clergymen's letter to Martin Luther King (1963)
•
Martin Luther King, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963)
•
Lorna Dee Cervantes, “Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me
How I, An
Intelligent, Well-Read
Person Could Believe in the War Between the Races” (1981)
•
Amina Wadud, “Gender, Culture and Religion: An Islamic Perspective
(1990)
• David
Cowles, “The Price of Smoking” (1999 My Turn)
•
Carolyn Turk, “A Woman Can Learn Anything a Man Can” (2004 My
Turn)
Web
resources:
• American Friends Service Committee: http:www.afsc.org
• Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org/
•
Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/about/
Suggested
Writings:
Short
Writing 1: Pick one social issue & tell about your involvement
with it (1p)
Short
Writing 2: Write letter to the editor on your issue (identify
media outlet) (1p.)
Short
Writing 3: Profile “My Turn” audience's values/beliefs about
your topic (1¶)
Paper
3:
Write creative non-fiction essay for Newsweek's “My Turn” column
(5 pp.)
Suggested
Oral Presentations:
Presentation
1: Read SW #1 to small group
Presentation
2: Present SW #2 letter info to class (10 people, 2
minutes each)
Presentation
3: Present briefing of final paper
to class (5 people, 5 minutes each)
Unit
Grade: 25% of final course grade
The
unit grade will be awarded to the final essay; however ,
short writings must be completed on due dates AND turned in with
Portfolio Three; likewise, oral reports must be performed. Otherwise,
students may lose 1/4 percentage point for each SW or oral report
not completed on time or not included in the unit portfolio (cf.
Course Policy Statement).
