la 101 syllabus spring 2012

8/3/2019 LA 101 Syllabus Spring 2012

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LA 101H: Rhetoric and Civic LifeSpring 2012 Syllabus

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 NPRs 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.


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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.

ParticipationActive engagement in this class is required, and it has several dimensions, not the least of

which is presencein 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%


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A 95%+ Superior achievement

A- 90-94% Excellent, some room for improvement

B+ 87-89% Very good

B 83-86% Good

B- 80-82% Not quite as good

C+ 75-79% Somewhat above average

C 70-74% Average or satisfactory competence

D 60-69% 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 includingan "F"). Please see me in advance if you have atypical outside commitments youd like

me to consider when evaluating attendance.

Three late arrivals equal one absence. Youll 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, respectother 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 ideasall 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.


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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 anassignment is due, it is your responsibility to arrange to submit the assignmenton time.

At my discretion, extensions may be granted if arranged in advance. However, apenalty of one full letter grade per day will be applied. Late work for which nosuch arrangements have been made will not be accepted.

All assignments should be typed using a standard font. Please use one inchmargins and a font size between 10-12 point.

Handwritten work will not be accepted (with the exception of informal, in-classwritings).

Staple all work that is more than one page. Printing on both sides of a page isfine.

Carefully proofread all assignments before submitting.

la 101 syllabus spring 2012

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