Schedule 2019
SCHEDULE
(included here are the first few days of the schedule.)
Please follow the complete schedule on this class Google site: https://sites.google.com/umich.edu/comp105darling where it will be updated and expanded during the semester
*An important note on reading for class: When you have a particular reading due, that means you should read carefully, take notes, and create “talking points” you can use for class discussion, and BRING THE TEXT WITH YOU TO CLASS. Mark down questions, points of disagreement, points of interest, and notable moments where the writer’s voice is especially audible. Mark passages where the writer uses effective rhetorical techniques (the artful use of sentence fragments, the allusions, etc.). This active reading is a crucial part of preparation for class and a useful intellectual habit too.
SEPTEMBER
5 Introduction to course
Introductions, in-class reading and writing assignments
(humanities article, pronouns)
10 CULTURAL STUDIES AND ACADEMIC WRITING
Read “Active Reading” (PDF posted in Canvas Files)
“How to do Well” (PDF)
hooks “Critical Thinking” (PDF)
on plagiarism: http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/what-is-plagiarism/
*print, highlight, annotate readings and bring to class
Watch:
Active Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N0u8e1ie9E
Rhetoric: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3klMM9BkW5o
Rhetoric and Advertising: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeCz5fy02JE
Cultural Studies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUgb8E7L0DE
Coates’ on Writing: https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/280025/advice-on-writing-from-i-the-atlantic-i-s-ta-nehisi-coates/
*In-class writing assignment on reading and videos
12 NARRATIVE AND IDENTITY
Watch: The Danger of a Single Story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg
Read:
Obama’s Secret to Surviving the White House article
CN Lester “Trans Like Me” excerpt
How Diversity Makes us Smarter: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/
Write, print, bring: reflect on the relationship between the Danger of the Single Story and the other articles. Type up 1-2 paragraphs, include examples, print and bring to class.
Sun 9/15 Due: Relationship to Writing (see Canvas Files Assignments - upload to Canvas Assignments)
17 HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW (OR THINK WE KNOW)?
Read: Soul of Citizen Intro + Chap 1 (PDF)
“Opinions and Persuasive Writing” (PDF Canvas Files)
Write, print, bring: Summarize the main points Loeb is making in these sections. Discuss 1-2 quotes and explain how those relate to his main ideas. What do you find most interesting and why? Where do opinions come from, what are informed opinions? Why is it important to think about how, where, and why our opinions are formed?
19 LITERACY, CULTURE, SOCIAL CHANGE
Read: Douglass (PDF)
History of Slavery excerpt: https://www.aaihs.org/a-history-of-slavery-in-the-united-states/
Slavery Timeline: https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/timeline/slavery.htm
(optional: read From 1619 Project pg. 1-26 (PDF))
Watch: 12 Years a Slave (2013) at the library or rent online on your own (*plan ahead to find a copy to watch); take notes about important examples or anything that seems especially interesting.
Bring: write about 2-3 quotes/examples/passages from the texts that you find most interesting and explain why; print and bring.
groups: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JQvoMpCEUMMCcseWBPd0kvnSlGuq2P4QiylJz8w3fkU/edit?usp=sharing
In-class writing: summary assignment tba
Set up a blog: and bring the URL with you to class. Use wordpress or blogger; links to instructions:
wordpress: https://wordpress.com/ (and start a blog) (make sure to choose a free layout and say no to any questions that ask you if you want to pay for service; just use the free blog service)
https://en.support.wordpress.com/five-step-blog-setup/
blogger: https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/1623800?hl=en
24 LITERACY, ACTIVISM, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Read: MLK’S Letter from Birmingham (PDF in Files)
Watch: Selma (film) at the library or rent online on your own (*plan ahead to find a copy to watch); take notes about important examples or anything that seems especially interesting.
*In-class writing on letter and film
How/why are literacy, education, reading and writing important to these writers (Douglass, MLK, etc)? why is it important that they wrote their stories? what was each writer’s purpose in doing so and who are their audiences? What does Douglass teach us about the importance and power of education, literacy, critical literacy? Include specific quotes/examples.
Look at the Douglass pf, and the response questions 2 & 3 after the end of the essay; how do these relate to MLK's ideas about just/unjust laws, Christian leaders/teachings, etc.?
How does the film, Selma, show some of the ideas presented in the Letter? Did anything surprise you or what did you find most interesting in the film?
In-class Discuss and assign Essay 1
26 LITERACY, ACTIVISM, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Soul of a Citizen ch 2 (PDF in Canvas)
Skloot: "Miracle Woman" Henrietta Lacks excerpt tba
**Sunday 9/ 29 upload your revised Summary Assignment to canvas by 5pm
OCTOBER
1 Watch Black Power Mix Tape
Read: Hogan, "Two Lives" (PDF)
Write + bring: tba
3 Read: Tan "Mother Tongue" (PDF)
Watch Black Power Mix Tape
Essay 1 Peer Review in class: bring a complete draft typed and printed out
Sun 10/6 Blog Post 1 Due by 11 pm: Think about how/why writing can be a kind of activism; why is writing important to those fighting for democracy and civil rights? 4-5 paragraphs. Be specific and include quotes and examples. *Post this on your blog as a post and copy/paste the link in Canvas Assignments: Blog Reflection 1.
8 Bradbury, Farenheit 451 ( Intro + One "The Hearth and the Salamander")
read up to p. 180 : (on personal/autobiographical writing) https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/books/involved/chapter8.pdf
10 Bradbury, Farenheit 451 (Two "The Sieve and the Sand")
in-class:
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Catharsis
https://webpages.uidaho.edu/engl257/Classical/tragedy_as_catharsis.htm
Allegory of the cave https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RWOpQXTltA
https://lozierinstitute.org/movie-reviews/fahrenheit-451-1966/
10/11 ** Friday upload your revised Essay 1 to canvas by 5pm
15 NO CLASS FALL BREAK
17 no class meeting – assignments online
Bradbury, Farenheit 451: see Assignment in Canvas to write a reflection/response paper on the whole book (finish reading the book, and then write the reflection)
Watch: Farenheit 451 (2018) ; (Optional watch 1966 version)
22 Read: Bradbury, Farenheit 451 (Three "Burning Bright"); we'll discuss section 3 as well as the reflection papers on the whole book--print and bring reflection/response with you to class.
24 Becoming excerpt ch 15 &19 (PDF)
(chap 17 optional--poor copy quality)
29 Becoming excerpt chap 20 (PDF)
Essay 2 Peer Review in class: bring a complete draft typed and printed out
31 complete assignment in Discussions about Obama, Becoming, ch 19-20
Read: The Rhetorical Power of Pop Culture (PDF )
Read: Two articles analyzing cultural relevance and impact of song, performance, video; make sure to read both and compare the different perspectives/interpretations:
Watch: Beyonce Formation Video and 2016 Superbowl performance video (optional: compare 2016 to Beyonce 2013 Superbowl performance)
BRING: notes about the differences in the arguments in the two essays; specific examples that the essays discuss; importance or significance of these essays when watching the Beyonce videos.
NOVEMBER
5
Watch: Active Citizenship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMdt50_dDAE
Crenshaw on Intersectional Feminism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROwquxC_Gxc
In-class : continue discussion of Beyonce from google doc notes
**Wed 11/6 upload your revised Essay 2 to canvas by 5pm
7
Read: The Awakening of Colin Kaepernick
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/sports/colin-kaepernick-nfl-protests.html
in-class discuss
Ai Wei Wei art tba
and Mind Map and Proposal for Essay 3
10 Sun Blog Post 2 Due on Canvas by 5pm
Blog Reflection: Why analyze/study pop culture (or other examples from contemporary American culture) and what do we learn about society (history, our contemporary world, the relationship between the individual and society, specific issues/topics, etc.) by doing so? Write 4-5 paragraphs and include evidence/quotes from at least one course text as well as your personal response/reflection.
12 *Mind Map and Proposal for Essay 3 ; bring to class to discuss/share
In-class watch Never Sorry or http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/ai-weiwei-without-fear-or-favour/
14 Read: Al Khatahtbeh, Muslim Girl (pages: 1st half of book)
Bring: 3 concrete and thoughtful discussion questions to class.
19 Read: Al Khatahtbeh, Muslim Girl (finish rest of book)
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOX9O_kVPeo + read lyrics: http://www.monahaydar.com/2017/03/27/lyrics-hijabixmona/
Bring: write and reflect tba
21 Complete Draft of Essay 3 – print, bring, peer review in class (graded)
Discuss Essay 3 Web project
26 Essay 3 Final Due on Canvas by 5pm; no class meeting
28 NO CLASS THANKSGIVING
DECEMBER
3 Essay 3 Web project workshop (we'll work on this in class, but if you want to start ahead, see Eportfolio checklist in Files)
see sample sites here and here
5 Web project presentations-sign up here
Upload Web project to Canvas by 5pm