RHET 1010-25 Freshman Writing (3 credit hours)

“Heroes and Demons”

Fall 2021

The American University in Cairo

The Department of Rhetoric and Composition

Course information

Instructor: Michelle Henry

Class Time: UW 11:30-12:45

Campus location: Hatem C207

Office: Waleed P081, inside the main RHET Department office

Telephone: 2-615-2067

Office Hours: 10-11:15, or by appointment

Conference Hours: TBA

Zoom https://aucegypt.zoom.us/j/2707124337

Course Site: Sp 22 RHET 1010 Heroes and Demons

Prerequisite: Taken concurrently with CORE 1010

Turnitin.com:

Class ID #:33212776

Enrollment Key: rhetoric (all in lowercase letters)

Note regarding instructor contact:

The instructor will respond to all questions via email usually within 48 hours. Students should use their official AUC email for communication.

Please refer regularly to the course site and look for weekly announcements sent to your AUC email to keep up to date with class tasks.

Technology requirements:

If we are required to go online at any point in the semester, students will need good Internet access, a PC computer or a Macintosh with the latest version of a web browser, a working camera, and a microphone. Students can access Google Sites, Google Hangout, Zoom, and AUC Webmail anywhere Internet access is available. There are some guidelines to follow that will make the learning experience much more productive:

• Firefox Web or Google Chrome browser are the browsers that work best with Blackboard and Moodle.

• If wireless connectivity problems are encountered, it is best to switch to a hardwired connection.

Course Description

RHET 1010 is designed to help first year students improve their analytical and argumentative skills. This involves reading texts analytically and critically within various disciplines, considering the rhetorical situations in which they are working, organizing, and supporting ideas to make a convincing argument while maintaining their voice as writers. The course also provides training in the use and integration of sources, library and online research and fosters a more discriminating attitude to academically acceptable sources. Ultimately, the course provides opportunities for students to develop effective and coherent communication skills.

Course Theme

Of Heroes & Demons inquires into the qualities that set humans apart and express their aspirations to ‘reach the stars’ recognizing heroism as the individual’s attempt to rise to the challenges of the moment and take one’s destiny in hand to overcome the insurmountable and be remembered for having tried.

The course also traverses the various ways individuals and societies have expressed their values and beliefs in humanity through tales of heroes and their feats as well as the tragic fall of those who succumbed to temptations, noting the shift in emphasis from the extraordinary to the ordinary; the god-like to the human; the exclusive masculinity to inclusion of the feminine.

Together we will look into films, folktales, myths in conjunction with texts which explore the mythical, literary, historical to formulate concepts of the heroes and villains in the conviction that heroism can be learned, encouraged, modeled, and achievable by both men and women, young and old at any point in their lives.

Exposure to such feats will make students more aware of the complexities of the human endeavor as they themselves start to weave their own destinies and pursue their dreams.

Working in collaborative groups and independent study, students will be able to form and express their own opinions on the issues discussed and will be encouraged to respond in reflective and purely creative expressions to folktales, fiction and nonfiction, music, and film that record the deeds of these heroes.

Learning Outcomes

To fulfill the requirements of RHET 1010, by the end of the course, one should be able to demonstrate the ability to:

1. Recognize, interpret, and analyze (through class discussions and in writing) the strategies employed by selected writers and speakers in various rhetorical modes of communication.

2. Construct, by applying various critical thinking skills, (a) analysis that demonstrates recognition of a writer’s or speaker’s reasons or assumptions, and (b) position papers that assert and support a thesis, argue a position, and address and refute counter positions.

3. Engage in the writing process, including drafting, revising, and considering feedback while working on assignments.

4. Research and integrate relevant sources into one’s writing as a part of developing ideas and substantiating claims.

5. Acknowledge others’ intellectual contributions by citing and documenting secondary sources.

The Class

This course is designed as an inquiry-based learning writing course to complement and practice the critical reading and thinking work performed in the CORE 1010 class. Based on students’ individual questions and interests about the subject, they will explore three major inquiries through the writing process (from invention to final editing).

While there will be instruction about the writing strategies and process, the course will be structured primarily as an interactive writing workshop: students write at home and in class, share their writing in groups with their peers and instructors in class, and revise their work based on meaningful engagement with feedback. The assignments are scaffolded so that each week, students will perform smaller writing tasks leading up to the production of longer and more in-depth pieces of writing. Students will also have the opportunity to work one-on-one with the instructor to review these larger pieces of work for critical reflection and further revision.

A former online class group--Happy together!