Syllabus
WRTG 3020, Topics in Writing: Composing Civic Life
Instructor Matt Sonneborn
Spring 2011, University of Colorado at Boulder
Time: MWF 11:00-11:50
Location: ECCR 108
Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. I am large; I contain multitudes. — Walt
Whitman
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the
ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. — President Barack Obama, February
5th 2008
Instructor Info: Matt Sonneborn, 2nd yr. Ph.D. in Communication at CU-Boulder; M.A. from
Syracuse University, Communication & Rhetorical Studies
E-mail: sonnebor@colorado.edu or matthew.sonneborn@colorado.edu
Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 1-3pm, or by appointment
Office Location: ENVD basement, CR1B office 62C
Required Texts:
J. Krishnamurti, Total Freedom (1996)
D. Lazere, Reading and Writing for Civic Literacy – Brief Edition (2009)
Any basic style guide or Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
Additional supplementary materials (found at wrtg.wordpress.com)
Course Frame
We are all dealing with the problem of what to do at any moment. Consciousness appears in our early
development and becomes a tool for evaluation and response. We use consciousness to learn and
create language that then shapes the foundation for our sense-making, understanding, reasoning, and
other rational exertions. Language gives us a past and a future, a good and a bad, an I and a You. The
key to this class will be to study how we each, and how we all, relate to language and, as such, how
we compose ourselves in response to this problem: what do we do?
As a response to that, this course explores writing as a tool for expression that, if thoughtfully
deployed, can bring about peaceful change in being, knowing and valuing/evaluating in the world.
Deployed carelessly, our writing can (re)inscribe patterns of domination, isolation, silencing, and
detachment. If we do not see ourselves and instead write from habit, we do little service to the
opportunities of our own existence.
Writing and rhetoric influence us in powerful ways, shaping how we experience and interact with the
world. As such, our writing and our understanding are linked. Such a link calls up some important
questions for us to ask ourselves: How do we understand ourselves in this moment (Members?
Participants? Students? Knowledge-bringers or knowledge-receivers? Privileged?)? How do we learn
in this moment, and what role does learning play in our relationships? How do we understand others?
What kinds of things do we find ourselves paying attention to as important? How do we learn?
Language shapes, often even defines, our answers to these questions.
Everything we say, think and do is part of the composition of our selves and our lives. When we work
with ideas, whole possible worlds can blossom in our minds. When we use speech, we tap into our
deepest natures and we can move and inspire each other to do great (and terrible) things. When we
write, we make an important statement about ourselves, that in this one moment I know what I need to
do. The pieces of that moment that you choose to express reflect what you have come to know as
important. For example, if you have learned that writing is the act of producing of reading material,
you are likely to produce writing designed to please an audience. We will spend the first half of the
class exploring how we each relate to the world through this kind of approach.
Course Outline
In this course, you will be responsible for answering the questions posed above thoughtfully,
carefully, and in writing. This means doing the small amount of reading and other work assigned for a
particular week before and after each class. This means participating in class discussions by taking
notes, asking questions and offering your thoughts and ideas. This also means writing two major
papers of 12-15 pages and using those assignments to better understand how you relate to your worlds,
your language, and specifically your writing. These paper assignments will correspond with two
distinct components of the course. In the first component, we will consider writing and rhetoric as
strategic tools for engagement. In the second component, you will develop and enact your own
participatory project working within and beyond the boundaries of formal paper writing. Finally, and
broadly, you will seriously your role as a student.
Each week of the course will bring new ideas and concepts, new strategies, and hopefully new
revelations for you. You should begin to see your work and ideas in this course echoing throughout
your life, and you should seize these opportunities to write something down. These writings will be
compiled into our final journals, which we will present on during the final week of classes.
Important Dates:
First Paper final draft due:
First Paper presentations:
First Meeting deadline:
Second Paper writing stimulant due:
Second Paper project proposal due:
Preliminary project presentations:
Second Paper project & reflection due:
Second Paper presentations:
Journal due:
Journal presentations:
Expectations for Students
As students in this course, we will choose after each class to spend a little time on the work for the
course. We will read and watch the news, (re)read course materials, revisit ideas and explore
possibilities for the material we have encountered. We will bring interesting articles and other
materials that we come across outside of class into the classroom and explore them through
discussion. We will also frame our ideas in a journal that we will add to throughout the semester. We,
the students, are responsible for finding in ourselves the eagerness, curiosity, and open-mindedness to
make as much of this material as we can.
As this is an upper level course, students are expected to turn in writing that demonstrates work.
Formal paper assignments are expected to be written over multiple drafts, and those papers need to
make smart, well-developed and well-supported rhetorical choices. Journal entries can be informally
written but should reflect your serious attempt to make course issues salient for your own thinking,
and even for your own existence, identities, practices, etc.
Grading in this course will be based on your participation in all course activities and the quality and
development of your writing throughout the semester.
For all formatting and style questions I refer you to Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL).
A web search should get you there. At the outset of each paper, please choose a major citation format
(MLA, APA or Chicago) to adhere to for that paper. Other course documents and resources will be
made available at wrtg.wordpress.com, the course blog and website.
Writing Center
If you want additional help with your writing, the Writing Center in Norlin Library is a great place to
go to talk about ideas, improve your thesis or essay organization, or just generally work on your
writing skills. Check the Writing Center website for more information about hours and services, or
request an appointment online at: http://www.colorado.edu/pwr/writingcenter.html.
Disabilities
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to me a letter from Disability
Services in a timely manner so that your needs may be addressed. Disability Services determines
accommodations based on documented disabilities (303-492-8671, Willard 322,
www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices). If you have a temporary medical condition or injury, see the
guidelines at http://www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices/go.cgi?select=temporary.html.
Religious Observances
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to deal
reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with
scheduled exams, assignments, or required attendance. In this class, I ask that you contact me at least
one week ahead of the date(s) that you will be absent so that we can discuss any assignments/class
material that you will miss. See full details athttp://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html.
Classroom Behavior
Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment.
Those who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Professional
courtesy and sensitivity are
especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, culture,
religion, politics, sexual orientation, gender, gender variance, and nationalities. Class rosters are
provided to
the instructor with the student’s legal name. I will gladly honor your request to address you by an
alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I
may make appropriate changes to my records. (See policies at
http://www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html and at
http://www.colorado.edu/studentaffairs/judicialaffairs/code.html#student_code.)
Discrimination and Harassment*
The University of Colorado at Boulder policy on Discrimination and Harassment, the University of
Colorado policy on Sexual Harassment and the University of Colorado policy on Amorous
Relationships apply to all
students, staff and faculty. Any student, staff or faculty member who believes s/he has been the
subject of discrimination or harassment based upon race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability,
creed, religion, sexual
orientation, or veteran status should contact the Office of Discrimination and Harassment (ODH) at
303-492-2127 or the Office of Judicial Affairs at 303-492-5550. Information about the ODH, the
above referenced policies and the campus resources available to assist individuals regarding
discrimination or harassment can be obtained at http://www.colorado.edu/odh.
The Honor Code
All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for knowing and adhering to the
academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating,
plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. All
incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council (honor@colorado.edu;
303-725-2273). Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be
subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including
but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Other information on the Honor
Code can be found at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html and at
http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/
COMPOSING CIVIC LIFE, Matthew Sonneborn
This course will immerse students in various sites and practices of civic engagement with the intent
that we establish and refine our own civic engagement sites and practices. This includes the study of
practices like speech, writing and reading, as well as the study of of civic sites, ranging from mass
media to the everyday conversation, from the collective to the contrived. We will draw on concepts
from rhetoric and composition to study these sites and practices and help develop our own roles as
thoughtful, intentional participants. Course goals include: developing critical awareness of our
personal (civic) sites and practices, drawing from culture and the everyday; situating our own civic
sites and practices within a politics of identifying and making meaningful choices; facilitating student
practices of civic engagement including projects demonstrating each student’s informed & evolving
interpretation of what it means to compose civic life. Students will be expected to participate
continuously via writing and speech, although our frames for making sense of participation will adapt
throughout the semester.