ENC 4353Writing for Social Change

Writing and RhetoricCollege of Arts and Humanities

University of Central Florida

Instructor: Leslie WolcottOffice: CNH (Colbourn) 305FContact: Leslie.Wolcott@ucf.eduClass Meeting times: MoWeFr 12:30-1:20 p.m. Class Meeting Location: HPA 207

Office Hours: 11:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m. Mon, Wed, Fri, and Mon 2:30-5:45

Course Objective

This class will ask students to consider the ways in which writing might effect change. The course will consider both the kinds of writing done within the academy that might effect change, and writing that you and others might do apart from an academic setting. Students will learn the ways that writers analyze situations rhetorically in order to write most effectively. The course will also ask students to consider the implications and complications of group and community writing in small to medium sized nonprofits and other activist groups.

Course DescriptionFirst, we will talk about the role of the writer in change, from multiple perspectives, including academic, community/ coalition member, and employee. Students will read a number of texts that have effected social change. As we read, we will study organizations’ and writers’ philosophies and how those affect the way that they write. We’ll also consider the effects of different kinds of collaboration on writing projects. Students will examine examples of writing for social change in specific topic areas, and will choose one of those to study more extensively and teach to the rest of the class. Finally, students will enact their writing in the community through partnerships with local organizations (where possible, this will be a partnership in the same area in which the student presented).

Required Texts and class readings

You should purchase the following texts for the class:Grabill, Jeffrey T. Writing Community Change: Designing Technologies for Citizen

Action. Hampton Press, 2007. Print.Hogan, Linda. Solar Storms. Kristoff and Wudunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women

Worldwide

We also may read selections from the following, but you do NOT need to purchase these:

Abbey, Edward. The MonkeyWrench GangAdler, Frances Payne, Debra Busman and Diana Garcia, eds. Fire and Ink: An

Anthology of Social Action WritingCarson, Rachel. Silent SpringCorrie, Rachel. Letters. excerpted in The Guardian.Cushman, Ellen. The Struggle and the Tools Oral and Literate Strategies in an

Inner City Community. Albany, N.Y: State University of New York Press, 1998. Print.

Cushman, Ellen. “The Rhetorician as an Agent of Social Change.” College Composition and Communication 47.1 (1996): 7-28. Print.

Gibbons, Michael. "Science's New Social Contract with Society." Nature 402 (1999): C81-C84.

Roy, Arundhati. “The Greater Common Good,” in OutlookSteingraber, Sandra. Living DownstreamWaddell, Craig, ed. And No Birds Sing: Rhetorical Analyses of Rachel Carson’s

Silent Spring.Weaver, Jace Defending Mother Earth: Native American Perspectives on

Environmental JusticeWilliams, Terry Tempest. Refuge, and selected Essays

Websites: I may ask you to visit and take notes about the following websites as well as others that will be announced later in the course: Human Rights Watch http :// www . hrw . org / Friends Committee on National Legistlation http :// fcnl . org / splash / s 1/ c 2/ p 1/ Democracy Now http :// www . democracynow . org / Orlando Food Not Bombs http :// orlandofoodnotbombs . org /

Assignments and Grading

1. 30% Reading and Community Partnership Journal (students keep an ongoing journal first of their reading experiences and log notes about their partnership experience)

2. 10% Genre study (students individually study one kind of activist writing, and write a paper about it)

3. 10% Topic-specific presentation (students select one or more of the readings from one of the topic areas, analyze the text rhetorically, then make a presentation about it to the class)

4. 40% Partnership project for partner organization. This consists of several parts, including:

5. Proposal in response to community partner's RFP.6. Written product/ Deliverable (may be a fundraising letter, blog post,

speech, or another project collaboratively produced with the organization)7. Reflective paper on partnership experience

8. 10% Portfolio piece and final reflection

Grading Scale:

Grading Scale (%)

94-100 A

90-93 A-

87-89 B+

84-86 B

80-83 B-

77-79 C+

74-76 C

70-73 C-

0 - 69 F

No credit NC

Grade Dissemination

Graded materials in this course will be returned to you in person, during class periods. Grades will also be posted to the grade book in canvas.

Course Policies: Grades

Grades of "Incomplete":Incompletes will not be given in this course.

Course Policies: Technology and Media

Email: You are required by the university to activate, and regularly check your knights mail email account. If I send messages by email, they will be sent to your address @knights.ucf.edu.

Laptop Usage: In some situations, I am happy for you to use laptops. In others, I will ask you to put them away. For example, for most workshops I will expect you to work with pen and paper. When performing research in class, a laptop would certainly be acceptable.

Course Policies: Student Expectations

Disability Access: The University of Central Florida is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all persons with disabilities. This syllabus is available in alternate formats upon request. Students with disabilities who need accommodations in this course must contact the professor at the beginning of the semester to discuss needed accommodations. No accommodations will be provided until the student has met with the professor to request accommodations. Students who need accommodations must be registered with Student Disability Services, Student Resource Center Room 132, phone (407) 823-2371, TTY/TDD only phone (407) 823-2116, before requesting accommodations from the professor.

Attendance Policy: Attendance is required for success in this course. You may not make up in-class work, quizzes or workshops unless you have notified me beforehand of an emergency situation that requires you to miss.

Professionalism PolicyPer university policy and classroom etiquette; mobile phones, iPods, etc. must be silenced during all classroom and lab lectures. Those not heeding this rule will be asked to leave the classroom/lab immediately so as to not disrupt the learning environment. Please arrive on time for all class meetings. Students who habitually disturb the class by talking, arriving late, etc., and have been warned may suffer a reduction in their final class grade.

Academic Conduct Policy: We will talk extensively in class about what plagiarism is, how it is defined (differently by different cultures), and what the implications of plagiarism are. However, you should know that if you turn in work as your own that is not your own, or if you fail to attribute the work of others in your papers, that you could be subjected to a grade penalty according to UCF's Golden Rule Rules of Conduct.See http://www.goldenrule.sdes.ucf.edu/ for further details.

Violations of these rules will result in a record of the infraction being placed in your file and receiving a zero on the work in question AT A MINIMUM. At the instructor’s discretion, you may also receive a failing grade for the course. Confirmation of such incidents can also result in expulsion from the University

University Writing Center: The University Writing Center (UWC) is a free resource for UCF undergraduates and graduates. At the UWC, a trained writing consultant will work individually with you on anything you're writing (in or out of class), at any point in the writing process from brainstorming to editing. Appointments are recommended, but not required. For more information or to make an appointment, visit the UWC website at http://www.uwc.ucf.edu, stop by the Writing Center, or call 407.823.2197.

Important Dates to RememberClasses begin Monday, Jan. 7, 2013Last Day to Add/Drop Classes: Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013Last Day for Full Refund: Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013

Grade Forgiveness Deadline: Monday, March 11, 2013Withdrawal Deadline: Monday, March 11, 2013Final Examination Period: April 24 - 30, 2013

Semester Schedule

The semester schedule (distributed on the first day of class) gives you a rough idea of what we will be doing this semester, what you will be reading, and when major papers and projects will be due. This schedule is subject to change.

Note: Reading/ partnership journal is an ongoing assignment that accompanies every reading you do in the course.