Syllabus

Texts | Description | Assignments | Grading | Calendar

Prof. Ruth E. Ray

51 W. Warren, Rm. 1111

313-577-3326

ruth.ray@wayne.edu

Office Hours:  Mondays, 3-5; Wednesdays, 11:30-12:30

Course Texts:  Back to Top

Michael Berndt and Amy Muse, Composing a Civic Life:  A Rhetoric and Readings for Inquiry and Action.  New York:  Longman, 2004.

  James Hoopes, Oral History:  An Introduction for Students.  Chapel Hill, NC:  University of North Carolina Press, 1979.

Course Description:  Back to Top

            In this course we will explore various issues of “civic life,” particularly as these relate to the city of  Detroit.  Our methods of inquiry will include researching and writing about social problems, participating in a specific urban community, and conducting an oral history of one member of that community.  Besides becoming a better writer, you will also develop a number of “citizenship skills,” and, hopefully, the desire to become an “engaged citizen” in the communities where you live.  Some of the key terms we will be dealing with this semester include the following:

Civic -- Having to do with cities and their people. 

Civic Engagement -- Being interested and involved in city affairs -- politics, business and economics, city neighborhoods and organizations, systems of reform -- and the lives of people in the city.

Civic Responsibility -- Making the choice to address social issues in an informed, committed and positive manner. 

Citizenship skills -- These are necessary to assuming social responsibility.  They include intellectual , participatory, and communication skills:

            Intellectual skills

            -- Gathering, interpreting, analyzing, summarizing, evaluating and presenting                             information;

            -- Categorizing information;

            -- Establishing cause and effect relationships;

            -- Understanding issues, their history and contemporary relevance;

            -- Identifying and distinguishing positions;

            -- Identifying criteria for making judgments;

            -- Identifying implications for behaviors, identifying rights and responsibilities.

Participatory skills

            -- Cooperative learning:  listening to others, working with diversity in race, sex,             culture, ethnicity, age and ideology;

            -- Clarifying values;

            -- Building coalitions;

            -- Negotiating, compromising, seeking consensus, agreeing-to-disagree;

            -- Making decisions;

            -- Balancing rights and responsibilities;

            -- Solving problems and taking action;

            Communication skills

            -- Interacting with groups, organizations;

            -- Participating in town meetings and hearings;

            -- Writing letters to members of government;

            -- Writing for radio broadcast or print media;

            -- Developing a community-based web site;

            -- Effectively arguing one's point of view.

Community-based Learning:  Learning citizenship skills through active participation with groups and organizations outside the classroom.  Community-based learning helps students:

            -- describe and understand communities;

            -- describe local issues and their connection to state, national, and international                  issues;

            -- recognize characteristics and actions of effective citizens;

            -- learn how individuals address community problems;

            -- develop speaking and writing strategies that are effective with community                              members;

            -- acquire information from community members;

            -- use this information to help address social issues;

            -- work cooperatively with others;

            -- recognize and respect human diversity;

            -- establish an interest in continued civic involvement..

Course Assignments:  Back to Top

            You will be required to keep a Course Notebook, which includes entries that we will complete in class (to be determined at the time), entries that are assigned as homework, and general entries on your experiences and observations as a participant at the Hannan House.  To receive full credit for your Notebook, you must include all 12 of the assigned entries, plus several pages of notes on your Hannan House experiences.

You will also write five essays in two or more drafts.  These include:

Assignment #1 – Due January 28 -- An explanation of a current social issue or problem in the city of Detroit

Assignment #2 – Due March 3 -- An analysis of the historical roots of the social problem you identified in Assignment #1

Assignment #3 – Due March 24 -- An argumentative paper on an issue of interest at the Hannan House

Assignment #4 – Due April 14 -- An oral history that reveals or illuminates a larger social issue

Assignment #5 – Due April 21 -- An analytical/reflective paper on your experiences as an “engaged citizen”

All essays must be typed and double-spaced in 12-point type and 4-6 pages in length.  You will present each of your essays first in class for peer review before you present them to me for my comments.  I will comment on any essay at any time in the semester after it has been revised once on the basis of peer review.  I will assign final grades to the essays at the end of the class.  Prior to that time, all grades I assign on your essays are to be considered “temporary.”

Course Grading:  Back to Top

           Your grade will be based on your class participation (including your group report on the Sugrue text), your presence and participation at the Hannan House in the area/class for which you have volunteered, your completion of the Course Notebook and your completion of the five essays.  Percentages break down as follows:

n      Class and community-site participation:  40%

n      Course Notebook:  20%

n      Five essays:  40%

Course Calendar:  Back to Top

Week 1 – January 14 -- Course introduction

Notebook Entry #1

Homework for next week:  Read 22-46 in Composing

Consider for class discussion:  Questions for further inquiry, pp. 30-31, 35-36, 44-45 and Narrative Strategies, p. 45

Week 2 – January 21 – Citizenship Narratives

Notebook Entry #2

Discussion of Assignment #1

Homework:  Read pp. 49-82 in Composing

 Write Assignment #1

Week 3 – January 28 –Critical Literacy

Peer review of Assignment #1

Notebook Entry #3

 Homework for next week:  Read 61-80, 92-114 in Composing

Using at least three search engines and the Purdy/Kresge Library online catalogue, do some preliminary research on a current social issue or problem in the city of Detroit. 

Write Notebook Entry #4 – 2 pages of source-based notes on the problem you have identified and titles of relevant books available through the WSU library

Week 4 – February 4 – Critical Literacy and Information Gathering

Notebook Entry #5

Homework for next week:  Read parts One and Two in Oral History, pp. 3-58

Consider for class discussion:  What are some possible connections between oral history and citizenship? 

Week 5 – February 11 – Oral History and Information Gathering

Notebook Entry #6

Group assignments for Sugrue readings/presentations

Homework for next week: Read Parts Three and Four in Oral History, pp. 61-147

 Research the historical roots of the social problem you identified in Assignment #1.  Include at least one oral history in your research base.

Write Notebook Entry #7:  2-3 pages of notes on the historical background of the problem, with follow-up sources for future reference

Week 6 – February 18 – Historical Perspectives on Oral History

<Guest speaker>

Homework for next week:  Complete assigned readings in Thomas Sugrue’s The Origins of the Urban Crisis and prepare for group presentation to class.

Week 7 – February 25 – Historical Perspectives on Detroit

Group presentations on chapters from Sugrue

Homework for next week:  Write Assignment #2

Write 20 questions for your first oral history interview.  Make sure a few of them ask  the respondent to address  the social issue you have been researching.

Week 8 – March 3 – Historical Perspectives on Oral History

Peer review of Assignment #2

Group presentations on chapters from Sugrue

Preparing for oral history interviews (be prepared to discuss sample oral histories, guest speaker, and all assigned chapters in Oral History)

Notebook Entry #8 (in class)

Homework for next class:  Read Chap. 4 (115-150) in Composing.

Research the Hannan website, particularly the SeniorVoice webpages for social issues of concern/interest to Detroit seniors. 

Write Notebook  Entry #9:  Make a list of the  issue that have been addressed by SeniorVoice, along with questions you have about them.  Choose one of these issues – or another issue that has arisen in your observations/experiences at Hannan – and do some preliminary research on it by using at least 3 search engines and checking the WSU online catalogue.  Write at least 2 pages of notes on your initial search.

Week 9 – March 10 – Current Issues in Detroit

Discussion of Assignment #3

Group presentations on chapters from Sugrue

Practicing oral history interviews

Homework for next class:  Read 165-187 and 351-394 in Composing and consider the global implications of the local issue you are pursing for Assignment #3. Be prepared to discuss in class.

Conduct your first oral history interview.

Write Assignment #3

Week 10 – March 17 – Spring Break.  No class meeting.

Week 11 – March 24 -- Thinking Globally/Writing Locally

Peer review of Assignment #3

Discussion of homework readings

Notebook Entry #10 (in class)

Homework for next class:  Read sections in Chap. 11 – 439-452, 456-470, 476-484, 485-497 and questions for inquiry and action, p. 501.

Conduct second oral history interview.

Week 12 -- March 31 – Faith Communities and Civic Participation

Notebook Entry #11 (in class)

Discussion of sections from Chapter 11

Homework for next class:  Read sections in Chap. 12 – 503-517, 534-553 and be prepared to discuss this question:  Would you consider the Hannan House an on-line community?  Why or why not?  Should it be?

Conduct third oral history interview, as needed.

Week 13 – April 7 – Virtual Communities

Notebook Entry #12 (in class)

Discussion of sections from Chapter 12

Homework for next class:  Read sections in Chap. 12 – 554-566.

Write Assignment #4.

Prepare Course Notebook for submission.

Week 14 -- April 14 – Virtual Communities

Discussion of sections from Chapter 12

Submit Course Notebook for final grade.

Peer review of Assignment #4

Discussion of Assignment #5

Homework for next class:  Write Assignment #5

Week 15 -- April 21 – Course review and evaluations

Peer review of Assignment #5

Friday, April 23 by 1 p.m. in my office – Turn in Assignment #5 for instructor commentary if you choose.  Comments will be available by Monday at 1 p.m. via email.

Week 16 – April 28 – No class during final exam period.

Friday, April 30 by 1 p.m. in my office – Final drafts of Assignments #1-5 due for final grade.

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