ENGL 1101 / HEAR! HEAR! COMPOSITION BY EAR
School of Literature, Media, and Communication
Georgia Tech / Fall 2014
Instructor: Lauren Neefe / 404-894-5011 / laneefe@gatech.edu
Office hours: Hall 009 (downstairs), bell 15 / MWF 3:30–4:30pm or by appt.
blogs.iac.gatech.edu/1101hearhear
Eve’s Ear (Washington, DC) by takomebibelot, licensed under CC BY 2.0 / desaturated and
cropped from the original, a photographed detail of Auguste Rodin’s Eve
Section J5
MWF 10:05–10:55am
Clough 123
Final: Fri., 12/12,
11:30am–2:20pm
Section G1
MWF 12:05–12:55pm
Clough 131
Final: Wed., 12/10,
11:30am–2:20pm
Section P2
MWF 1:05–1:55pm
Hall 106
Final: Fri., 12/12,
2:50–5:40pm
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This introduction to multimodal communication and expression will emphasize the role
of sound and listening in Georgia Tech’s WOVEN (Written, Oral, Visual, Electronic,
Nonverbal) approach to composition and critical thinking. Either taken for granted or
else overshadowed by the visual, what we hear is crucial to understanding,
misunderstanding, and making ourselves understood. Each of three units — on
1 listening, silence, and speaking — will analyze primary (e.g., podcasts, film) and
secondary sources (e.g., essays, blogs) as rhetorical models to be imitated and learned
from as students develop an effective personal writing process as well as skills and
strategies for effective communication across a variety of social milieus. The course
prepares students to succeed in their academic work at Georgia Tech and provides the
foundation for success in careers beyond the university.
THE TEACHER, HER TEACHING PHILOSOPHY, AND HER COURSE
I am a Romanticist by trade. That means I have a Ph.D. in English Literature, and it
means that of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world of English literature, I
chose to specialize my expertise in the culture, ideas, and writing of the Romantic period:
that is, the turbulent, revolutionary, ambitious years between the American and French
Revolutions (1776, 1789) and the institution of the Fugitive Slave Act in the United
States (1850).
I am also a Romanticist in practice. This means that I want to help you cultivate, in
Romantic poet John Keats’s inimitable words, your “negative capability,” that is, your
tolerance for “being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching
after fact and reason.” This is NOT to say that I want you to avoid “reaching after fact
and reason.” Those two friends are essential elements of any successful rhetorical appeal.
It IS to say that I want you to carve out space and time for taking risks in your thinking,
your process, your writing, and your collaboration, because that uncomfortable space of
uncertainty is precisely where you learn. Engineers and product designers like to call this
space of risk taking “tinkering.” In this course, I will encourage you to develop this
capacity for uncertainty both on your own and in your interactions with your peers. It is
as important to me that you learn from one another what I can’t teach you as that you
learn from me those things I absolutely can.
My greatest ambition for the course and for the class, therefore, is that you surprise me,
you surprise yourself, and that we surprise one another with what we didn’t know we
could think and do.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
In addition to those outcomes determined by the Writing and Communication Program
and Georgia Tech more generally (available for public viewing here), the following
learning outcomes may be expected in this course:
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An understanding of the usefulness and value of active listening to a variety of
communication situations
An increased awareness of the rhetorical power of sound (i.e., sound makes
arguments against and alongside images and words)
A developing sense of one’s voice, oral, written, and bodily
The cultural significance of standard, formal, and vernacular registers of a language
2 REQUIRED TEXTS
WOVENText. The official handbook for Georgia Tech’s first-year composition sequence
is available for purchase here or with a registration card through the campus bookstore.
(ebook, $70)
Pascoe, Judith. The Sarah Siddons Audio Files: Romanticism and the Lost Voice. Ann
Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2011. Available at the campus bookstore.
(paper, $26.95)
Dante. De vulgari eloquentia [On Eloquence in the Vernacular]. Trans. by Steven
Botterill. Available free online at the Princeton Dante Project
(http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/pdp/vulgari.html).
Additional readings will be made available on the course T-square site.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
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You should plan to bring your laptop to class.
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You should have access to the Microsoft Office software suite.
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Software and resources for your pantomime slide show and podcast assignment
are available in the media labs around campus.
WOVEN COMMUNICATION
The Writing and Communication Program at Georgia Tech teaches communication as a
multimodal practice. In other words, we want you to develop a sense of communication
as the synergy of several modes, assembled into the acronym “WOVEN,” which stands
for Written, Oral, Visual, Electronic, Nonverbal. You may therefore expect the activities
and assignments in this course to engage you in rhetorical situations by way of several,
but not necessarily all, of these modes. This course highlights the nonverbal and oral
modes.
Written communication. You need to make writing your friend, and you need to learn
how to get good at it. In this course, you’ll do a lot of different kinds of writing, directed
at different kinds of audiences and structured around different purposes: blog posts,
project proposals and abstracts, a sustained interpretive argument, a script for your
podcast, and reflections on your process, strengths, and weaknesses for each. The final
portfolio requires a 1,200- to 1800-word reflection on the work you did over the course of
the semester. Your sense of what counts as “writing” will broaden and diversify.
Oral communication. You need to make speaking your friend, and you need to learn how
to get good at it. In this course, you’ll be asked to speak effectively in a variety of
situations while paying close attention to the way others speak. You’ll record an audio
blog post, conduct peer reviews, participate in class discussion, speak briefly in front of
3 the class to introduce a performance, and create a podcast dialogue about your “personal
vernacular.”
Visual communication. You need to make design your friend, and you need to get good
at making the form and the content of your arguments, in whatever mode or medium,
work together. In this course, you’ll create a storyboard of communicative gestures,
pantomime an argument in front of the class, think about how to tell when someone is
listening, and curate a gallery of images (properly citing their sources if they aren’t
yours) that visually plot your podcast.
Electronic communication. Software is probably already your friend, but you need to
refine and advance your facility with the applications you know and expand your toolkit
of applications. In this course, you will have the opportunity to learn the recording and
editing software that enables you to make a podcast.
Nonverbal communication. You need to make sound and silence your friends, and you
need to start getting comfortable in your body when it’s your turn to speak. You also need
to become aware of your body when it’s your turn to listen to others speak and perform.
In this course, you will perform a silent argument in front of the class, interpret how
images advance arguments independently of words, think about how sounds advance
arguments without words — and actively listen to your instructors and your peers
throughout.
SUMMARY OUTLINE OF MAJOR UNITS AND ASSIGNMENTS
A detailed assignment sheet will be distributed for each.
Title
Project One Video
Value (100%)
50 points (5%)
Due Date
Aug. 25
Unit 1. Listening
Thesis Pantomime
150 points (15%)
Sept. 17, 19, 22, 24
Unit 2. Silence
Analysis of Silenced Music Video
150 points (15%)
Oct. 24
Unit 3. Speaking
Personal Vernaculars Group Podcast 200 points (20%)
Nov. 24
150 points (15%)
Sept. 5, 29; Oct. 27, Nov. 24
Final Portfolio
200 points (20%)
Final exam period
Participation
10 points (10%)
Every class period
4 DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE OF MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS
A customized evaluation rubric will be available for each.
* Project One Reading and Video (5% / 50 points)
Due Monday, August 25.
You will create a 60- to 90-second video response to one of four questions related to your
reading of Ted Chiang’s short story “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling.” WOVEN
modes: brainstorming and scripting (W); speaking for the camera (O); imagining and
executing a visual concept (V); uploading the file to Tsquare or linking to YouTube or
Vimeo (E).
* Project 1: Thesis Pantomime (15% / 150 points)
Sign up for time slots (six per class) on September 17, 19, 22, and 24.
You will translate the argument of an assignment from another class into a series of five
expressive and persuasive gestures and then shape those gestures into a three- to fourminute pantomime performance for the class. To stage the project, you will submit the
thesis of the argument in the form of a single sentence; a PowerPoint slide show of your
five gestures/poses with captions describing the gesture; and the final performance before
the class. In addition, you will be responsible for translating your classmates’
pantomimes into a sentence-length thesis statement in class after each performance.
WOVEN modes: practicing the art of the clear, concise thesis statement and making
captions for your slide show (W); photographing your gestures and assembling them into
a slide show (V); creating the PowerPoint slide show (E); using your body rather than
your voice to communicate with your classmates (N).
* Project 2: Textual Analysis of a Silenced Music Video (15% / 150 points)
Due Monday, October 24.
You will propose, draft, and polish a five-page essay that analyzes the visual elements of
a music video (your choice) without the sound and argues for its success or failure as a
translation of the sound. WOVEN modes: abstract, draft, revise, and polish an aesthetic
argument of substantial length (W); sharpen your awareness of the visual elements of a
moving picture (V, E).
* Project 3: Personal Vernaculars Group Podcast (20% / 200 points)
Due Monday, November 24.
In groups of 3, you will create a short podcast that characterizes the “personal
vernacular” of each member of the group and then makes a case for the significance of
that vernacular in a formal, professional situation. You will delegate responsibilities,
outline, script, rehearse, and record the podcast with dialogue and sound effects.
WOVEN modes: corresponding with group members and scripting the podcast (W);
speaking clearly and compellingly for the audio recording (O); coming up with a single
5 compelling image that brands your podcast and its argument (V); learning the sound
recording software (E).
* Final Portfolio (20% / 200 points)
Due during your scheduled final exam.
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Section J5: Fri., 12/12, 11:30am–2:20pm
Section G1: Wed., 12/10, 11:30am–2:20pm
Section P2: Fri., 12/12, 2:50–5:40pm
At the end of the semester, you will assemble three to four artifacts from among all the
work you did over the course of the semester into a portfolio that demonstrates where
you’ve been and where you want to go as a communicator in the world. The portfolio
will be introduced by 1200- to 1600-word essay that reflects on your strengths and
weaknesses, successes and mistakes. Each artifact will also receive a short introduction.
All of the WOVEN modes should be represented in your portfolio.
* Audio Blog Posts and Comments (15% / 150 points)
Four periodic deadlines throughout the semester.
Throughout the semester, you will participate in four blog discussions. You will compose
two short but substantial blog posts (one written, one aural) in response to prompts
related to readings and activities we do in class. In the other discussions, you will be
responsible for commenting on three of your classmates’ posts. I will give you feedback
on your blogging performance after Blog Discussion 2. WOVEN modes: writing a brief
but substantive argument (W); speaking clearly and compellingly in your audio post (O);
engaging and abiding by the protocols of social media forums (E).
* Participation (10% / 100 points)
Due every class period.
Don’t you dare fall asleep on us. Your success and the success of this class depends on
your active participation in the community we develop. You need to listen generously
and respectfully to others’ ideas, and you need to share your own, generously and
respectfully.
6 POLICIES
Peruse the Writing and Communication Program’s common policies for ENGL1101/1102, including Learning Outcomes, Evaluation Equivalencies, the
Evaluation Rubric,* Attendance, Class Participation, Nondiscrimination, the
Communication Center, Accommodations, Academic Misconduct, Syllabus
Modifications, Dead Week, and the Reflective Portfolio.
*If your grade is important to you, please pay special attention to the Evaluation
Rubric and the Evaluation Equivalencies. They clearly describe the program’s
expectations of its students and the standards you are being held to.
Email
During the week (Mon.–Fri.), I will make every effort to respond to email within 24
hours. If a day passes and you don’t hear from me, feel free to email me again with a
gentle reminder. I likely will not respond to email over the weekend, between Friday
afternoon and Monday morning.
Late work
Late work is penalized in this class. Late work turned in within 72 hours of the deadline
(due date and time) will receive be docked a single letter grade. Late work turned in after
72 hours will receive a 0. I will consider extensions for students who contact me at least
72 hours in advance of the due date with a well-put reason for needing the extension.
Office hours
You are required to come to my office hours for an individual visit at least once during
the semester. If you can’t come during my scheduled hours, please schedule an
appointment with me by email or in person after class. This visit will count toward your
Participation grade.
TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE
The following schedule may alter over the course of the semester.
AUGUST
18 * IN CLASS: Hello! Introductions. Preview of course. * HOMEWORK: Read Ted
Chiang’s “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling.”
20 * IN CLASS: Discuss rhetoric and evidence in “TFTF.” Assign video response to
“TFTF.” * HOMEWORK: Brainstorm video response to “TFTF.”
22 * DUE: Evidence of “TFTF” brainstorm. * IN CLASS: Discuss technology in
“TFTF.” Workshop next steps for making video. Preview WCP Evaluation Rubric. *
HOMEWORK: Upload “TFTF” video response to Tsquare by classtime Monday. Read
WOVENText chapter 1, especially “Critical Concepts.”
25 * DUE: “TFTF” VIDEO RESPONSE. * IN CLASS: Written reflection on video
response. Review syllabus. Introduce Sound and Listening with WOVENText, “Critical
Concepts.” * HOMEWORK: Read Sounding Out! blog posts, “Learning to Listen
7 Beyond Our Ears” and “The Better to Hear You With, My Dear.” Sign and return
syllabus acknowledgement and permissions statement.
27 * DUE: SIGNED SYLLABUS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. * IN CLASS: Discuss
Sounding Out! posts. Listening activity. * HOMEWORK: Listen to RadioLab episode
2.2, “Musical Language” and On the Media segment “Orchestrating Reality.”
29 * IN CLASS: Visit from Communications Center. Introduce course blog. Assign Blog
Post 1. Discuss “Musical Language” and “Orchestrating Reality.” *
HOMEWORK: Read WOVENText chapter 7, especially the sections about blogs and
blogging (104b; 105a; 106b, d, n, q; 107c). Listen to On the Media segment “How to
Create an Engaging Comments Section.”
SEPTEMBER
1 * Labor Day. No class.
3 * IN CLASS: Discuss blogging, comments, and online forums. Introduce Portfolio
requirements. * HOMEWORK: Blog Post 1. Read Michel Chion, “Three Modes of
Listening” (chapter 5 in The Sound Studies Reader, available online through Georgia
Tech’s ebrary).
5 * DUE: BLOG POST 1. * IN CLASS: Blog reflection. Assign Thesis Pantomime.
Introduce Pascoe, Sarah Siddons Audio Files. * HOMEWORK: Read Pascoe, chs. 1–4
(the lost voice). Determine thesis of your pantomime and phrase as a single, complete
sentence. Blog comments 1.
8 * DUE: THESIS SENTENCE. BLOG COMMENTS 1. * IN CLASS: Sign up for
performance time slot. Discuss Pascoe chs. 1–4. Brainstorm pantomime gestures.
HOMEWORK: Read Pascoe, chs. 5–8 (finding the lost voice). Read WOVENText ch.
8. Select 4–5 gestures for your pantomime.
10 * CLASS MEETS IN STEPHEN C. HALL BLDG., RM. 102. IN CLASS:
Pantomime workshop with Brittain Fellow Jon Kotchian. * HOMEWORK: PowerPoint
slide show of selected pantomime gestures. Read Pascoe, chs. 9–12 (body as voice).
12 * DUE: PPT SLIDE SHOW OF PANTOMIME GESTURES. * IN CLASS:
Discuss Pascoe, chs. 5–12. Silence activity. HOMEWORK: Read Pascoe, chs. 13–15
(audiences and listening).
15 * IN CLASS: Conclude Pascoe. Rehearse pantomimes.
17 * DUE: PANTOMIMES (5). * IN CLASS: Five performances. Determine
performed arguments.
19 * DUE: PANTOMIMES (6). * IN CLASS: Six performances. Determine performed
arguments.
8 22 * DUE: PANTOMIMES (6). * IN CLASS: Six performances. Determine performed
argument.
24 * DUE: PANTOMIMES (6). * IN CLASS: Six performances. Determine performed
arguments. Assign Blog Post 2. * HOMEWORK: Attend Poetry@Tech Bourne Poetry
Reading, Richard Blanco and Jericho Brown (location and time TBD).
25 * Poetry@Tech Bourne Poetry Reading, Richard Blanco and Jericho Brown,
time and location TBD.
26 * PROGRESS REPORTS DUE. * IN CLASS: Discuss poetry reading. Pantomime
reflection. * HOMEWORK: Blog post 2.
29 * DUE: BLOG POST 2. * IN CLASS: Introduce unit 2, “Silence.” Silence activity.
* HOMEWORK: Blog comments 2. Read R. Murray Schafer, “The Soundscape.”
OCTOBER
1 * DUE: BLOG COMMENTS 2. * IN CLASS: Discuss “The Soundscape.” Silence
activity. * HOMEWORK: Listen to Atlanta Sounds on WABE 90.1 FM. Read
WOVENText ch. 6. Write abstract of Textual Analysis.
3 * DUE: ABSTRACT OF TEXTUAL ANALYSIS. * IN CLASS: Discuss the sound
of silence. * HOMEWORK: TBD.
6 * IN CLASS: Silence activity. * HOMEWORK: Write 250-word abstract of Textual
Analysis.
8 * DUE: TEXTUAL ANALYSIS ABSTRACT. * IN CLASS: Silence activity. Peer
review of abstracts. * HOMEWORK: Draft Textual Analysis.
10 * IN CLASS: Watch Koyaanisqatsi. * HOMEWORK: Draft Textual Analysis.
13 * Fall recess. No class.
15 * IN CLASS: Watch Koyaanisqatsi. Discuss sound and silence in Koyaanisqatsi. *
HOMEWORK: Draft Textual Analysis.
17 * ALL CLASSES MEET IN THE COMMUNICATIONS CENTER. DUE: Draft
of Textual Analysis. * IN CLASS: Communications Center workshop. *
HOMEWORK: Listen to and watch performances of John Cage’s “4’33″.”
20 * IN CLASS: Discuss “4’33″.” Silence activity. * HOMEWORK: Read Cage’s
“Silence.”
22 * IN CLASS: Discuss “Silence.” Revision activity. Assign Blog post 3. *
HOMEWORK: Complete final draft of Textual Analysis.
24 * SECTION P2 MEETS ELSEWHERE (LOCATION TBD). * DUE: TEXTUAL
ANALYSIS. * IN CLASS: Textual Analysis reflection. * HOMEWORK: Blog post 3.
9 27 * DUE: BLOG POST 3. * IN CLASS: Introduce unit 3, “Vernaculars.” *
HOMEWORK: Read Dante, De vulgari eloquentia, Book I. Blog post 3 comments.
29 * DUE: BLOG POST 3 COMMENTS. * IN CLASS: Discuss DVE, Book I.
Vernaculars activity. Assign Personal Vernaculars Podcast. * HOMEWORK: Read
Dante, De vulgari eloquentia, Book II.
31 * IN CLASS: Discuss DVE, Book II. Vernaculars activity. * HOMEWORK: Read
WOVENText, chs. 2 and 5.
NOVEMBER
3 * IN CLASS: Discuss group dynamics. Group meetings to prepare podcast proposal.
HOMEWORK: Prepare podcast proposal.
5 * DUE: PODCAST PROPOSAL. * IN CLASS: Podcast workshop with Allyson
Valk. * HOMEWORK: Read Geneva Smitherman, “Soul ‘n Style.”
7 * IN CLASS: Discuss Smitherman, “Soul ‘n Style.” Assign Blog post 4. *
HOMEWORK: Prepare podcast outline.
10 * DUE: PODCAST OUTLINE. * IN CLASS: Watch Pina. * HOMEWORK: Blog
post 4.
12 * DUE: BLOG POST 4. * IN CLASS: Watch Pina. * HOMEWORK: Blog post 4
comments.
14 * DUE: BLOG POST 4 COMMENTS. * IN CLASS: Watch Pina. *
HOMEWORK: Prepare podcast script.
17 * DUE: Podcast script due. * IN CLASS: Script workshop. * HOMEWORK:
Listen to podcasts (TBD).
19 * IN CLASS: Discuss assigned podcasts. HOMEWORK: Prepare for podcast studio
day.
21 * IN CLASS: Podcast studio day. HOMEWORK: Finish podcast.
24 * DUE: PERSONAL VERNACULARS PODCAST. * IN CLASS: Podcast debrief.
* HOMEWORK: Podcast reflection and group assessment.
26 * IN CLASS: Small-group Google hangouts to prepare for portfolio preparation. *
HOMEWORK: Enjoy your holiday.
28 * Thanksgiving break. No class.
DECEMBER
1 * DEAD WEEK: Portfolio workshop.
10 3 * DEAD WEEK: Portfolio workshop.
5 * DEAD WEEK: Portfolio workshop.
Portfolios are due on Tsquare by the end of your section’s scheduled final exam
time, as follows:
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J5: Fri., Dec. 12, 11:30am–2:20pm
G1: Wed., Dec. 10, 11:30am–2:20pm
P2: Fri., Dec. 12, 2:50–5:40pm
11 Syllabus/Policy Acknowledgment and Permission Statement
PLEASE READ, SIGN, AND RETURN THESE STATEMENTS BY DAY, DATE.
I affirm that I have read the entire syllabus and policy sheet for ENGL 1101 Section _____ and
understand the information and the responsibilities specified.
____________________________________
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course, as examples in this and other courses, as examples in presentations, and in print and
electronic publications.
o I do NOT give my instructor, LAUREN NEEFE, permission to use copies of the work I do for
this course, as examples in this and other courses, as examples in presentations, and in print and
electronic publications.
Please indicate whether you want to be acknowledged if your work is used:
o Please use my name in association with my work.
o Please use my work, but do NOT acknowledge me.
If your instructor decides to use your work, he//she may wish to contact you. Please provide your
contact information below:
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