200
WELCOME
WELCOME
9.00:
Intro to RWS200 and the lower division
writing program
TA Introductions; photo session
(assimilation and mind control program
revealed)
OVERVIEW OF RWS200

9.30: The program, RWS100,
ITC, Fall students,
expectations, assignments,
and options.
RWS 200 AND THE LOWER
DIVISION WRITING PROGRAM

See the handout for contact info

A lot of material on the wiki (let
us know if you need help finding)

Argument is at the center of the
writing program/100/200.

New emphasis on evaluation
being piloted.
RWS 200 AND THE LOWER
DIVISION WRITING PROGRAM
 We ask students to interpret, analyze, evaluate
and produce written arguments because this is
central to academic literacy, critical thinking,
and civic life
- Lasch: “argument is the essence of
education,” and “central to democratic culture”;
- Norgaard: Universities are “houses of
argument.”
- Graff: “Argument literacy” is key to higher
education.
RWS 200 AND THE LOWER
DIVISION WRITING PROGRAM

We want students to be able to identify
claims, evaluate evidence and
reasons, locate assumptions, identify
argumentative moves, pose critical
questions, produce sophisticated
arguments, etc.

We do this not only because it’s good
for their souls, critical thinking, ability to
reason, deliberate, be engaged
citizens, etc. But also because it’s key
to their professional futures – every
gateway requires it.
WHY WE FIGHT!
(4 YOUR RIGHT TO WRITE,
ARGUE & ANALYZE WELL)

These skills are central to business,
law, professional life, and to
academic study (including graduate
school).

Students tested for these skills in the
WPA, the LSAT, GMAT, and GRE – all
the gateways to professional life.

Consider the LSAT…
SAMPLE LSAT QUESTION

FIND THE MAIN CLAIM
Pediatrician: “Some parents have decided not to have their children receive the
MMR vaccine because they fear that it may cause autism. They cite a study that
found a possible link between the vaccine and the disease. However, two other
much larger studies have found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
These parents have, therefore, willfully put their own children and many others at
risk of catching measles, mumps, and rubella, while failing to do anything to
prevent their children from becoming autistic.” Which most accurately expresses
the main claim of the pediatrician’s argument?
(A) Parents should not pay attention to medical studies because they can’t
understand them; instead, they should get advice from their pediatricians.
(B) The study that found a link between autism and the MMR vaccine was
unsound because the doctor who conducted it was being paid by a group of trial
lawyers who wanted him to find a connection so they could carry out a lawsuit.
(C) Public health needs require that parents have their kids vaccinated regardless
of their fears about the procedure.
(D) Parents’ refusal to have their kids take the vaccine is both medically unjustified
and dangerous, because the vaccine has known disease-preventing benefits and
refusing it will have no effect on whether their kids become autistic.
(E) Despite the results of the two large studies, there is still some possibility that
the MMR vaccine might cause autism.
ANALYTICAL WRITING TASKS

Present Your Views on an Issue (45 minutes,
choice of 2 topics)

Analyze an Argument (30 minutes)

Each essay is scored on a 0-6 scale using
holistic scoring
Two scores for each essay
GRE Website presents directions, actual
topics, scoring guide, and sample essays for
both the Issue and Argument tasks
(www.gre.org/gentest.html)


Argumentation/Justification
•
In Wolfe’s 2010 study, assignments from a broad range of
disciplines were collected and examined. Results?
Argumentation is valued across the curriculum. “Argument is
the key word for good writing and the absence of
argument constitutes the central problem in students’
written work” (Wolfe, p. 50).
•
Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa’s Academically Adrift, a
comprehensive review of undergraduate education –
argument is key.
Argumentation/Justification
•
The Common Core State Standards – argument
and rhetorical analysis are key.
•
The WPA exam students will take after RWS 200
•
These aren’t so much “justifications” of our
approach as points you may want to share with
students, future employers, other academics who
sometimes think teaching writing = comma
placement.
YOU WON’T BE ASSIMILATED (MUCH)…
You
need to work within the course framework and
assignment sequence, but you can be creative and
adapt it – we’re interested in hearing your ideas.
RWS200
represents just one way to design a writing
course – many others are possible (genre, critical
literacy, cultural studies, expressivism, etc.)
Writing
programs often serve many masters, since
general education programs are collaborative
enterprises. Had we world enough and time (and
money and control) I like the idea of a hybrid WIDbased approach.
YOU WILL (NOT) BE ASSIMILATED…

But even so, your experience in this program will
be valuable as a) it’s an influential model, b) the
trend is toward aligning k-12 and higher ed. around
argument, and c) SDSU’s program is regionally
influential.

Our program is fairly “mainstream.” Our mission
statement and learning outcomes are similar to
WPA and NCTE statements on teaching writing.

CSU-wide articulation efforts shaped by work at
SDSU.
ITC: EXPECTATIONS

ITC = an important part of your work. You are
expected to attend. You get credit for it.
Wednesdays @ 1.00 – 1.50 in SH-216

More importantly, it’s part of collaboration,
professional development, and networking.

Modest home work is assigned but it’s all to prepare
for your class. Meetings are 50 minutes.

Your contribution is important and most welcome.
We provide a lot of support, but you are welcome to
adapt & remix, or add your own materials. TA
contributions have improved courses a lot – many
TA ideas are on the wiki.
COLLABORATION IS IMPORTANT

Class sizes lower, but still big – 25.

We will be teaching 4 major assignments
this semester – an increase from the past.

We may want to “jigsaw” the work of
preparing class plans, etc.

In the future you will teach on your own. Use
ITC to prepare and find collaborators, and
for professional development.
MEET YOUR AUDIENCE

Spring semester 200 students are often quite well
prepared. Some may be fairly sophisticated writers,
but you’ll be (re)presenting them with a new,
challenging way of approaching texts

It’s a good idea to get a writing sample in the first or
second class to gauge the level of your students,
and identify ESL/international students (can refer to
LING200 if you think they’ll struggle.)

Spring 200 students are a little more “independent”
than 100 students – a bit more classroom
management, and a slightly firmer hand can be
required.
MAIN TEXTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
Haydar and Abu-Lugodh; LaPierre (& Harris optional); a collection of readings on digital
citizenship and civility.
RWS 200 Reader
Short texts in the Reader: Kristof, Rifkin, Parry,
etc. You can select your own, and other short texts
on the wiki. Use to introduce the course/key
concepts
Wiki materials
STUDENT WRITING AS KEY
TEXT
•
Student writing is the key text, and
teaching them how to read their own
writing practices (reflexivity) is
important
•
“The ability to reflect on what is being
written seems to be the essence of the
difference between able and not so able
writers from their initial writing experience
onward”(Yancey 4)
100 AND 200
RWS 100: Rhetorical analysis of argument
RWS 200: Contextually-sensitive analysis, plus
more attention to evaluation of strengths and
weaknesses.
ASSIGNMENT SEQUENCE
1.
Construct an account of an argument, identify elements
of context embedded in it, and evaluate the text’s
strengths and weaknesses (relative to audience/context)
(Haydar/Abu-Lughod)
2.
“Lens” assignment - use concepts and arguments from
one text as a context for understanding and writing about
another (LaPierre/Demagoguery)
3.
Map (or synthesize) major points of similarity, difference,
contrast and connection between texts that address an
issue. (Digital citizenship and civility)
4.
Synthesize and evaluate texts in order to “enter the
conversation” and advance your own claims. (Digital
citizenship and civility)
OTHER POSSIBLE ASSIGNMENTS
•
Portfolio or Reading Responses: Students have
done small writing assignments over the semester.
You can assign further short writing assignments
(or reading responses) and give students an
aggregate grade for the completed work. Can use
blogs.
•
Reflection essays – have students compose one
long or several short papers that ask them to reflect
on the writing work they have done, what they have
learned, the way they approach writing, the things
they still need to work on, etc.
10.15 THE FIRST WEEK:
CLASS MANAGEMENT
• The first day: crashers,
• scheduling, class
management
• (Jamie)
10.45-12.00
• Overview common classroom
activities
• Introducing rhetoric &
working with short texts
OVERVIEW
•
The units build on each other, but all begin with
consideration of the rhetorical situation. Who is the author,
what is her purpose, what kind of audience is she
addressing, what is the context in which she writes, what
conversation is the text part of?
•
All units also begin with analysis of the text’s project,
argument, claims, evidence and strategies – referred to with
the acronym “PACES.”
•
Much of the work of the course involves working with these
concepts AND using them as a lens to interpret, analyze and
evaluate texts.
•
We use a set of guides, models, and templates. These
teaching materials are on the wiki, and some samples are in
the handout.
Common Class Activities
[SEE P. 3 OF HANDOUT]

“Jig saw” work (students share researching key parts of text and share
in class). Working out the rhetorical situation.

Class discussion, group work

Critical reading/rhetorical reading – posing questions, interrogating
assumptions, reading actively and critically (modeling qns to ask)

Charting – what is the text doing; what/how/why moves are made

(P)ACES (project, argument, claims, evidence, strategies)

Pre-writing exercises + templates, outlines, reading responses,
metadiscourse, transitions, quotations, mechanics

Drafting, peer review, student “read alouds,” conferencing

Assessment and response

Synthesis, analysis and evaluation (single argument, relationship
between texts, strategies, “lens” work, evaluation of arguments) and
presentation of student arguments

Reflection and reflective practice (applying concepts to students own
writing – e.g. charting, analyzing students’ moves, revision plans, etc.)
Pre-reading, Jigsaw work, Rhetorical
Situation
Examining titles and section headings carefully: Chua
- Chua’s article “A World on the Edge” is part of her book World on Fire: How Exporting Free
Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability. Harcourt, 2003.
Consider the Source:
Thompson’s “Public Thinking” is a chapter from his book Smarter Than You
Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better. Penguin
Press, 2013.
Haydar, “Veiled Intentions: Don’t Judge a Muslim Girl
by Her Covering,” in Body Outlaws: Rewriting the Rules of
Beauty and Body Image. Seal Press, 2003.
2.
Modeling close reading strategies –
annotating, posing questions, reading
actively and critically.
(For full text see
page 7 of handout)
Unit 1: Common Activities Cont.
3.
Charting – what is the text doing (what,
how, why moves are made).
COMMON ACTIVITIES CONT.
4.
PACES (project, argument, claims, evidence,
strategies)
Identifying claims – a good rule of thumb is to look for the following
cues:
- question/answer pattern
- problem/solution pattern
- self-identification (“my point here is that…”)
- emphasis/repetition (“it must be stressed that…”)
- approval (“Olson makes some important and long overdue
amendments to work on …”)
- metalanguage that explicitly uses the language of argument
(“My argument consists of three main claims. First, that…”)
IDENTIFYING AND
SORTING CLAIMS
CRITICAL QUESTIONS & EVALUATION
COMMON ACTIVITIES CONT.
Drafting: models, outlines, templates,
rhetorical precis; metadiscourse,
quotations
6. Drafting: peer review, workshops, review
plans, student “read-alouds,”
conferencing
7. Assessment and response
8. Reflection and reflective practice
(applying concepts to students own
writing – e.g. charting, analyzing
students’ moves and strategies, etc.)
5.
Templates – verbs for talking about arguments
TEMPLATES:
The Graff & B Template
One of our templates
There
are handouts, class exercises, and
class plans based on each of these key
activities (see wiki or Blackboard).
NUDGING STUDENTS TOWARD A
RHETORICAL STANCE…

In the first week of class we’d like you to re-introduce key
concepts through the analysis of some short texts. Lots of
material on wiki for this. Op-eds, ads, videos, etc.

Focusing on strategies and what texts do = good ways of
introducing rhetoric.

We want to move students from a focus on what texts say
(content) to what they do and how they do it (rhetoric).
Rhetorical self consciousness = achieving a kind of double
vision – of looking “at” as well as through language.
BASIC RHETORICAL STRATEGIES

How do texts position readers?

What point of view do they adopt?

From what perspective do they invite us to view the world?
Consider these chewing gum ads:
RHETORIC IS “EVERYWHERE” & AN “EVERYDAY”
THING





When a politician tries to get you to vote for them, they are using
rhetoric.
When a lawyer tries to move a jury, they are using rhetoric.
When a government produces propaganda, they are using rhetoric.
When an advertisement tries to get you to buy something, it is using
rhetoric.
When the president gives a speech, he is using rhetoric.
But rhetoric can be much subtler (and quite positive) as well:
 When someone writes an office memo, they are using rhetoric.
 When a newspaper offers their depiction of what happened last night,
they are using rhetoric.
 When a scientist presents theories or results, they are using rhetoric.
 When you write your mom or dad an email, you are using rhetoric.
 Thought itself is rhetorical - when you think, you engage in “inner
argument,” or “inner persuasion” in order to reach a decision or act.
HEADLINES DESCRIBING MEDICAL MARIJUANA DECISION
Salon
Magazine “Court rules against pot for sick people”
New
York Times: “High Court Allows Prosecution of Medical
Marijuana Users”
USA
San
Today: “MEDICAL MARIJUANA BAN UPHELD”
Diego Union Tribune: “Court OKs Marijuana Crackdown”
L.A.
Times: “Justices Give Feds Last Word on Medical
Marijuana”
Christian
Science Monitor: “US Court Rules Against Pot For
Sick People”
Christian
News Source: “Medical Marijuana Laws Don't Shield
Users From Prosecution”
EVERYDAY WORDS, NAMES, DEFINITIONS,
CATEGORIES – HOW THEY ARE SELECTED OR
CONSTRUCTED = RHETORICAL. CONSIDER:
Cash advance (vs. high interest loan)
 Second Mortgage vs. Home equity loan
 “War on terror,” vs. “war against Islamic extremists,” vs. “fight against Al
Queda” (scope, agents involved, action)
 “The 1%,” “job creators”
 Military contractors, mercenaries
 “War on drugs”’ “Axis of Evil”;
 “Body bags” vs. “transfer tubes”
 “Doctor assisted suicide” vs. “death with dignity”
 “Defense of marriage” vs. “marriage equality”
 “French Fries/Freedom fries”
 “Death Tax/Estate Tax”
 “Habit forming” vs. “addictive”
 “Erectile dysfunction” vs. “impotence”
 “Halitosis” vs. “bad breath”
 “Male pattern baldness” vs. “losing your hair”
 “Viagra!”

TELEMARKETING STRATEGIES
SCRIPT

Pre-introduction: (Ask to speak to the decision-maker)
Introduction: (Introduce yourself and the reason for your call)
Attention Getter: (Mention the key features of the offer and qualify
them for eligibility)
Probing Questions: (Always ask for information that will be useful
for rebuttals)
Offer: (Explain the product/service and terms of commitment)
Close: (ALWAYS ASK FOR THE SALE)
Rebuttal (deal with objections)
Sales Continuation: (Agree, use rebuttals, sell benefits, CLOSE)
Up/down/cross-sell: (If there is another product of less-price this is
the time to sell it.)
Confirmation Close: (Review the terms of the offer to reduce buyer
remorse)
Final Close: (End on a positive note. Thank the customer and leave
a dial free number for customer support)
(RE)INTRODUCING RHETORIC

You may wish to use short texts, visual
texts, advertisements, op-eds and other
texts that students are probably familiar
with in order to introduce rhetoric.
 Email communication is a good place to
start – students are familiar with the genre,
and may find it easier to recognize
strategies, acts of persuasion, positioning,
performance, etc.
 This YouTube animation is a good text to
start a discussion about rhetoric – about
audience, purpose, persuasion, strategies,
genre, ethos, rhetorical situation, etc.
USING A YOUTUBE ANIMATION TO
INTRODUCE RHETORICAL CONCEPTS

Examine how this trivial act is full of
rhetorical issues. The character is asking, how
does this language present me? What persona
does it construct? What tactic will be most
effective? What moves should I make, how will
this make me seem? How should I think of my
audience? What is my purpose? How do I avoid
embarrassment?

Give students a new context and ask to
compose an email or text message.

See pages 13-17 of handout for class plan
that uses the email exercise (could use on 1st
or 2nd day of class).
REWRITE THESE RHETORICALLY TONE
DEAF STUDENT EMAILS
“Hey prof, sorry I didn’t turn in my paper yesterday in class. I had
a science test to study for that was really important. Is there any
way I can turn it in late just this once? Let me know by tonight that
way I don’t waste my time doing it if you won’t.”
“Dear professor,
I am writing you cuz unfortunately I won’t be able to make it to our
appointment today. yesterday was my 21st bday and I’m still
hangover and don’t think I should drive. let me know when you
can make another appointment.”
Homework Exercise:
The syllabus clearly says the instructor does not accept
late work and if you miss class you will be penalized.
Nonetheless, you miss five classes and try to hand in the
second major assignment 8 days late.
If the instructor does not accept your work you will fail
the class.
Write an email to the instructor….
LIST STRATEGIES
Introduce self
Apologize
Take responsibility
Establish ethos
Elicit sympathy/pathos
Build a defense
Present evidence (doctor’s note, note from
coach, etc.)
Initiate action/repair
Etc.
We often use texts that are “self-reflexive,” that self
consciously reveal rhetorical devices and persuasive
strategies. Advertising and marketing that does this can be
fun to examine, and a good way to introduce rhetoric.
• Vince Parry, “Branding a Condition”
• Tales of Mere Existence
• Kotex advertisements So Obnoxious and “How Do I Feel
About My Period?
Charting
& Analyzing Sample
Short Text.
Kristof’s “Do We Have the
Courage?”
12.00-12.30 Admin
12.30 – 1.30 LUNCH
1.30 Rhetorical Reading of
Haydar’s “Veiled Intentions”
Glen McClish
2.30 – 2.45 BREAK
2.45-4.30 Technology Session
The hosted wiki option
SYLLABUS DESIGN
 Designing your syllabus, dealing with
challenges; difficult students.
 Accessibility and SDS
 Student Athletes
 Sexual Harassment
LEARNING OUTCOMES: WHAT THEY ARE,
WHY THEY MATTER, HOW TO USE THEM TO
YOUR ADVANTAGE.

If things get ugly, the outcomes and syllabus provide
you with backup. In disputes, they matter.

Our outcomes are now explicitly framed in terms of the
general education program and its “capacities” and
goals (meta-outcomes)

This language adds a certain amount of institutional
authority to your course. You can point students to the
section that states how important our courses and
outcomes are to the educational mission of the
university
(i.e. the university’s carefully researched conclusion as
to what constitutes “essential undergraduate academic
skills.”)
DISCUSSION & PARTICIPATION

Prime with a questionnaire, survey or questions
 Call by name
 Put in groups and assign responsibility
 Jig saw work
 “Pyramids” (alone, in pairs, 4s, etc.)
 Freewrite (give students time to assemble
thoughts, so they feel more confidant contributing
 Wait….at least 7 seconds. Try not to get stuck in
the habit of answering your own questions.
 Have students post responses and homework to
Blackboard, so you can bring to class and use to
get discussion going.
Author
Interview, Panel or Role-Playing
One student assumes the role of the writer and answers
question from the audience about the article’s main claim,
choices regarding supporting evidence, and the writer’s view of
his/her audience at the time of writing.
Students
assigned to play role of author for 10-15 minutes.
You may choose to let that student greet the class “in
character,” and provide a brief summary of the argument that
he/she wrote, which everyone else in class has read. After that,
the exercise consists of class members asking the “writer”
questions about the argument itself.
CAN ALSO
be used with assignment 2 (sources) in which
students are responsible to assume the role of different
authors, and you can set up a debate with Pinker.
SETH TAYLOR’S SEVEN TIPS FOR
DISCUSSION
1) Beware of cold starts. Consider directed freewriting,
journaling, or the
“Brain Dump” at the start of class.
Quick responses can both kickstart
discussions, and
eventually help
students question where their
responses come from.
2)
Be wary of asking the BIG questions first:
“So… what do you think about the
“So what’s the point of the chapter?”
reading?”
ACTIVE LEARNING: SEVEN
TIPS FOR DISCUSSION
3) Let your first question be easy, possibly about
their reading process:
“How long did it take to read this?”
“Where does it get interesting (or boring)?”
Were there any passages you found difficult,
interesting or unusual?
4) Open-ended questions will require students to
think. Yes/No questions require very little of them,
and can often shut down discussion before it starts.
ACTIVE LEARNING: SEVEN
TIPS FOR DISCUSSION
5) Encourage students to explain,
support, their responses
to a text.
Almost every answer can be followed
up with a “Why?” question from the
instructor.
ACTIVE LEARNING: SEVEN
TIPS FOR DISCUSSION
6)
Encourage students to talk to each other, rather than
simply fire answers back to you:

Re-directing students to respond to each others ideas

Group breakout exercises

Let students teach
ACTIVE LEARNING: SEVEN
TIPS FOR DISCUSSION
7) At the end of class, try to re-cap or
summarize the
ground that was
covered. You do not need the
discussion to come to a grand
conclusion, but some sort
of review
will help increase retention.
4.00 Surviving the First Day
•Classroom Dynamics
•What to do on the First Day
•The inside scoop from your fellow TAs
INTRODUCING RHETORIC

We ask that you tell students that RWS 100 is a rhetoric
class. Some may base their expectations on high school
English classes/literary analysis.

You may find “Content is king” - locate, remember and
deliver content. You may encounter a “textbook
mentality” in the reading practices of many of your
students, and an “information processor” model of
writing.

Textbooks are often “anti-rhetorical” - presenting
knowledge in terms of a decontextualized, disembodied
voice of authority, a “view from nowhere,” and of
knowledge as “settled,” unified and authoritative

The contested, contingent, contextual, communitycentered, argument-driven…in short, the RHETORICAL
dimensions of knowledge – of academic discourse, are
largely absent.
WE CAN READ MATERIAL CULTURE
RHETORICALLY

“By reading…we mean something more than
simply lifting information out of books and
articles. To read a text or event is to do something
to it, to make sense out of its signals and
clues…Reading is thus not something we do to
books alone. Or, to put it another way, books and
other printed surfaces are not the only texts we
read. Rather, a ‘text’ is anything that can be
interpreted, that we can make meaning out of or
assign value to. In this sense, all culture is a text
and all culture can be read.” Joseph Harris and
Jay Rosen.
STRATEGIES IN SCULPTURE: MAYA
LIN’S VIETNAM WAR MEMORIAL
WHY THESE CHOICES FOR A MEMORIAL –
WHAT STRATEGIES MIGHT THEY
REPRESENT?






The Vietnam war memorial is black
It is made of reflective black granite. When a visitor looks at
the wall, she will see the engraved names and her own
reflection
The monument is built along a pathway that requires people
to move along the small corridor of space
Unlike many monuments, it lists all the names of U.S.
soldiers who died, and it does so in chronological rather
than alphabetic order (Lin has she wanted the wall to read
“‘like an epic Greek poem’ and ‘return the vets to the time
frame of the war’)
Information about rank, unit, and decorations are not given
The wall is V-shaped, with one side pointing to the Lincoln
Memorial and the other to the Washington Monument. Lin's
conception was to create an opening or a wound in the earth
to symbolize the gravity of the loss of the soldiers
THE RISE OF THE “BUM-PROOF”
BENCH IN LOS ANGELES
"One
of the most common, but mindnumbing, of these deterrents is the [L.A.]
Rapid Transit District’s new barrelshaped
bus bench that offers a minimal surface for
uncomfortable sitting, while making
sleeping utterly impossible. Such
‘bumproof’ benches are being widely
introduced on the periphery of Skid Row.
Another invention...is the aggressive
deployment of outdoor sprinklers. Several
years ago the city opened a ‘Skid Row Park’
along lower Fifth Street, on a corner of Hell.
To ensure that the park was not used for
sleeping--that is, to guarantee that it was
mainly utilized for drug dealing and
prostitution--the city installed an elaborate
overhead sprinkler system programmed to
drench unsuspecting sleepers at random
times during the night. The system was
immediately copied by some local
businessmen in order to drive the
homeless away from adjacent public
sidewalks.“Mike Davis, City of Quartz:
Excavating the Future in Los Angeles, p.
233.