Schedule

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MW 11-12:15 (Enroll Code 49874)

• Shared Google Drive
• Group Membership

MW 3:30-4:45 (Enroll Code 49866)

• Shared Google Drive
• Group Membership

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week One: What is Rhetoric? (1/9 to 1/13)

Content

• Course & Week 1 Overview
• Introductions
• What is Rhetoric?
• Article: Booth, “How Many Rhetorics?”
• Article: Carroll, “Backpacks vs Briefcases – Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis”

Tasks

• Read the Course Website (all of it)
• Select Groups
• Have your first group meeting (check here for the full first week agenda)
  • Do the Icebreaker
  • Discuss Concept Paper Initial Thoughts
  • Discuss this week’s readings and videos
  • Create a Practice Dialectical Journal
• Write your first Participation Notebook

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Week Two: The Greeks (1/16 to 1/20)

Content

• The Greeks: Context
• Excerpt: Plato, “Thamus and Theuth”
• Video: Sokrates on Writing (from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey)
• Excerpt: Aristotle, Rhetoric Book 1 (Read Parts 1, 2, and 3)
• Wikipedia: Overview of Rhetoric Book 1
• Video: Aristotle: Three Minute Philosophy

Tasks

• Group Discussion (readings, videos, and Concept Paper)
• Participation Notebook
• Dialectical Journal
• Concept Paper Proposal Due (in individual folder) by 11:59pm on Sunday, January 22

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Week Three: Finding Common Ground (1/23 to 1/27)

Content

• Article: Edlund, “Stasis Theory: Finding Common Ground And Asking the Right Questions”
• Webpage: OWL at Purdue, “Stasis Theory”
• Article: Chadwick, “I Don’t Know How to Explain to You that You Should Care About Other People”
• Video: Argument Fallacies
• Website: “Rhetological Fallacies”

Tasks

• Group Discussion (Workshop Concept Paper)
• Participation Notebook
• Dialectical Journal
• Optionally, Sign up for Conferences with Kevin for Week 4
• Concept Paper Rough Draft Due (to group folders) by 11:59pm Sunday, January 29

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Week Four: Affective Persuasion (1/30 to 2/3)

Content

• Book Chapter: Ahmed, “Introduction” Cultural Politics of Emotion
• Movie: Watch Inside Out (available for streaming on Disney+; available from $2.99 rental elsewhere)
• Article: “The ‘Untranslatable’ Emotions You Never Knew You Had”
• YouTube Series: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (watch a few)
• Book Excerpt: Langer, from Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling (optional)

Tasks

• Optional Conferences with Kevin
• Group Discussion (Workshop Concept Papers)
• Concept Paper Examples (if you’re interested)
  • Memory
  • Digression
  • Pysma
• Participation Notebook
• Dialectical Journal
• Concept Paper Final Draft Due 11:59pm Sunday, February 5 (in individual folder)

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Week Five: Metaphor, Thought, Rhetoric (2/6 to 2/10)

Content

• Book Excerpt: Lakoff and Johnson, from Metaphors We Live By
• Video: PhilosophyTube, “Logic”
  (*Note: When referencing this, the creator/speaker’s name is Abigail or Abi, and she uses she/her pronouns.)
• Article: Bryan, “Vico on Metaphor: Implications for Rhetorical Criticism”

Tasks

• Initial Thoughts & Example Activity
• Read Rhetorical Context Analysis prompt
• Group Discussion (Rhetorical Context Analysis ideas)
• Participation Notebook
• Dialectical Journal
• Rhetorical Context Analysis Proposal Due 11:59pm Sunday, February 12 (in individual folder)

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Week Six: The Limits of Language (2/13 to 2/17)

Content

• Book Chapter: Elaine Scarry, “Introduction” The Body in Pain
• Article: “Offensive political dog whistles: you know them when you hear them. Or do you?”
• Video: “If Physical Health Problems were Treated Like Mental Health Problems”
• Video: “Brain Model of PTSD”
• Website (for “fun”): Schmidt Pain Index Scale

Tasks

• Group Discussion (Rhetorical Context Analysis Proposals/Drafts)
• Participation Notebook
• Dialectical Journal
• Rhetorical Context Analysis Draft Due 11:59pm Sunday, February 19 (in group folder)
• Optionally Sign up for Conferences with Kevin for Week 7

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Week Seven: Rhetoric, Writing, Consciousness (2/20 to 2/24)

Content

• Book Excerpt: Ong, Orality and Literacy
• TV Episode: Watch “Darmok” from Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 5, Episode 2) (available for streaming almost everywhere)
• Book Excerpt: “Narrative as Rhetoric” from the Intro to Fredal’s The Enthymeme
• Optional Reading: Article: Bogost, “Shaka, When the Walls Fell”

Tasks

• Group Discussion (Rhetorical Context Analysis Drafts)
• Participation Notebook
• Dialectical Journal
• Optional Conferences with Kevin
• Rhetorical Context Analysis Due 11:59pm Sunday, February 26 (to individual folder)
• Example Rhetorical Context Analyses (if you’re interested)
  • Christine Blasey Ford
  • Thirty Meter Telescope
  • Playboy Carti Election Map Meme
  • “A Whisper of AIDS” speech

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Week Eight: What Makes a Good Argument? (2/27 to 3/3)

Content

• Self-selected: You provide the readings this week

Tasks

• Read the Final Project Prompt
• Complete Final Project Initial Thoughts
• Group Discussion (Final Project Initial Thoughts)
• Participation Notebook
• Dialectical Journal

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Week Nine: Rhetoric Beyond Humans (3/6 to 3/10)

Content

• Article: “How Bunny the Dog is Pushing Scientist’s Buttons” and/or “Speech Pathologist Teaches Her Dog How to Use a Soundboard…“
• Video Essay: Nerd Writer, “The Real Danger of ChatGPT”
• Lemoine (and LaMDA?), “Is LaMDA Sentient? – an Interview”
• Article: “Vanderbilt Apologizes for Using ChatGPT in Email on Michigan Shooting” (2/22/23)
• Website/Tool: ChatGPT

Tasks

• Group Discussion (Workshop Final Projects/”Presentations”)
• Participation Notebook
• Dialectical Journal
• Optionally sign up for Conferences with Kevin for Week 10
• WIP Presentations Due 11:59pm Sunday, March 12

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Week Ten: Rhetoric in Action (3/13 to 3/17)

Content

• Videos: Classmates’ Final Presentations
• Web Article: Campbell & Huxman, “Visual Rhetoric: An Introduction…“

Tasks

• Post a link to your “presentation” in the appropriate Dialectical Journal
• Group Discussion (Workshop Final Projects)
• Participation Notebook
• Dialectical Journal
• Online Course Evaluations (by midnight 3/17)
• Optional Conferences with Kevin

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Finals Week (3/20 to 3/24)

Tasks

• Final Project Due Wednesday of Finals Week (to individual folder)

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