Evolutionary Calendar

Week 1

August 31 – First day of Class Introductions | Definitions of Civic Writing

Read: “What do Millennials Want?”-

http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/04/29/402885622/what-do-millennials-want

Write a Journal Entry on what *you* want. What kind of social issues do you care about? What

kind of advocacy do you find interesting/necessary?

September 2 – Positionality and What/Who is Civic? | Trump’s Civic Duty VS Jorge Ramos

Notes on Word and Conceptual Choice | Op Eds

Read: Nancy Welch & Edward PJ Corbett

Write 2-3 entries for each text in your Glossary of Terms.

Week 2

September 7 – Labor Day (No Class)

September 9 – Open Hand, Closed Fist Dichotomies | Speaker

Notes on Claim-making – Practice Op Ed on #superbynecessity

Read: Henry David Thoreau- “Civil Disobedience” -

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper2/thoreau/civil.html

Write a Journal Entry about your reading response to Thoreau based on today’s class

discussion. Focus on how Thoreau’s claims to citizenship help him make his argument.

Week 3

September 14 – Law and Citizenship Rights | Speaker

Notes on Genre and Mode

Read: Malcom X- “Bullet or the Ballot” -

http://www.cis.aueb.gr/Besides%20Security/TALKS/TALKS-10-X%20(The%20Ballot%20or

%20the%20Bullet).pdf

Write 2-3 entries in your Glossary of Terms

September 16 – Violence & Respectability Politics |#BlackLivesMatter interrupt Bernie |

Speaker

Notes on Rhetorical Situation

Read: René De los Santos

Write a Journal Entry on De Los Santos' argument. How does it relate to the readings we've

done so far? What have you learned about presidential rhetoric and how does it relate to civic

writing?

Week 4- Financial deadline to drop class*

September 21 – Geopolitics of the Nation State | Visual essay on Cuba’s Hipsters

Listen to (Social) Media Representations of Venezuela Protests

(http://thisrhetoricallife.syr.edu/episode-22-social-media-representations-of-venezuela-

protests/)

Notes on assessing digital information

Read: Jenny Edbauer // Listen to: http://thisrhetoricallife.syr.edu/episode-13-uncivil-rhetoric/

Write 2-3 entries in your Glossary of Terms

September 23 – Rhetorical Ecologies, Networks and Circulation |Transcription // Translation

(http://thisrhetoricallife.syr.edu/episode-28-transcription-translation/)

Notes on Accessibility

Read: Elizabeth Day

Do some research on your social issue of choice and write a Journal Entry on their apparent

rhetorical approaches. Set up an interview with key players in the organization. Attend an

official hearing as soon as possible.

Week 5

September 28 – Citizen Journalism as Civic Writing | Listen to On Ferguson

(http://thisrhetoricallife.syr.edu/episode-24-on-ferguson/)

Notes on Media Platforms (kit) |Practice creating a Media Kit

Read: Michael Warner

Write 2-3 entries in your Glossary of Terms

September 30 – Publics, Counterpublics | Banksy - http://mic.com/articles/29952/11-policy-

issues-banksy-has-addressed-through-art

Notes on Ghost Readers

Read: On Favianna - http://latinousa.org/2013/10/18/favianna-rodriguez/

Write a Journal Entry on the visual art towards social justice examples you can think of. Write a draft of

your Civic Writing in Action research paper