COURSE CALENDAR (subject to minor changes)
Writing About Social and Ethical
Issues
Distribute: Syllabus, Course Calendar,
Writer’s Letter assignment
Exercise 1.1 ; Essay Assignment #1
Thurs.
2/7 Reasons to
Believe: The Roots of
Ethical and Social Values
READ/DISCUSS: In Writing
for Change
Marion Wright Edelman, “A Family Legacy,”, p.24-29.
Due:: Exercise 1.1, Notebook Exercise
Introducing Personal Essays
DISCUSS: sample student essay
Tues.
2/12 - Reasons to Believe and Act:
READ/DISCUSS: In Writing
For Change
Address,” p. 89-92.
William F. Buckley, “A Call to Arms,”
p.125-133.
Martin Luther King,Jr.,”A Letter From
Birmingham Jail,” p.285-299.
P.W. Alexander, “Christmas
At Home,” p.100-103.
Jeremy Taylor, “Service Learning:
Education with a Purpose”, p.193-199.
Due:2 Notebook Exercises; Writer’s Letter (2/12)
21W.
730 :Expository Writing – Writing About Social and Ethical Issues – Spring
2002
Discuss:Assigned Readings
Bring in Introductions, Essay 1
Fri.
2/22 Draft Essay 1 (2
copies + cover letter) due at my office (14N-214)
by
noon.
Tues.
2/26 Writing Workshop, Draft Essay
1;The Craft of Revision
In Different Perspectives in
Fiction and Nonfiction:
Attitudes Toward and Images of
Poverty
Selection, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
Film Clip, A Christmas Carol
READ/DISCUSS:
In Writing For Change:
Homeless…”, p. 270-283.
Jonathan Kozol, “Are the Homeless Crazy?”
(handout)
Due: Notebook Exercise: comment on the power of
Marin’s and Kozol’s essays (1 pg.).
Distribute: Essay #2 assignment
Tues.
3/5 The Writer as Witness, Participant and
Investigator:
Probing the Faces of Social
Problems--
Poverty and Low-wage Labor
Film Clip: America and Lewis Hine
READ/DISCUSS: Excerpt, Barbara Ehrenreich,
Nickel and Dimed: On Not
Getting By In America
(handout)
Due: Topic proposals for Essay #2 with bibliography- bring 5 copies
21W. 730 :Expository Writing
– Writing About Social
and Ethical Issues – Spring 2002
Tues.3/5(cont.) Notebook assignment : how does Ehrenreich’s
approach to her topic influence(a) her style of writing
(b) your response as a reader?
Introduction to Community Research
Thurs.
3/7 The Writer as Interpreter
of Social Issues: The Value
Of Comparative
Analysis: Research Strategies
READ/DISCUSS: In Writing for Change :
James Q. Wilson, “The Family Values Debate,”p.59-72
Elizabeth Marek, “The Lives of Teenage Mothers,”
p.335-345.
Small Group Workshops: Proposals #2
Due: Notebook Exercise: Marek
Handouts: Comparative Analysis;Interviewing
Fri.
3/8 Revision, Essay
#1(2 copies, cover letter and marked-up
draft) due at my office (14N-214)
Tues.
3/12 Writers Engage
with Contemporary Debates:
Race, Ethnicity and
Issues of Equality
READ/DISCUSS: In Writing For Change
Ronald Takaki, “Breaking Silences:
Community of Memory,” p. 219-232.
Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue,”p.144-149,
Due: Notebook Assignment:Takaki
Approaches to
Comparative Analysis
Thurs. 3/14 Writers Address Contemporary Issues: Gender Equality
READ/DISCUSS: In Writing For Change
Susan Faludi, “Blame It on Feminism,”p. 238-250.
Due: Notebook
Assignment :Faludi
Tues
3/19 Writers
Confront Contemporary Issues:
Educational Inequality, Past and Present . Maya Angelou, “Graduation “,p.155-164.
Jonathan Kozol, “Corla Hawkins”, p.176-181.
Mike Rose, “I Just Wanna Be Average,”p.165-175.
Due:Notebook
assignment: Angelou, Kozol ,Rose
21W.
730 :Expository Writing – Writing About Social and Ethical Issues – Spring
2002
Thurs.
3 /21 Draft, Essay
#2 Due; Oral Presentations
Bring
multiple copies for workshop members
*********************************************************************
SPRING BREAK MARCH 25-29
*********************************************************************
Tues.
4/2 Writing
Workshop, Draft, Essay #2
George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language” (online at:
http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/patee.html)
Due:Notebook Exercise on Friedan or Carson
Distribute: Essay #3 Assignment
Tues. 4/9 Writers Define Contemporary
Issues and Advocate Solutions:
Education
READ/DISCUSS: In Writing for Change
E.D. Hirsch, “Cultural Literacy,” p.188-193.
Due: Notebook Assignment : Orwell and Hirsch
Thurs.
4/11 Writers Explore
Contemporary Issues: Mental Health
READ/DISCUSS: In Writing
for Change
Tracy Thompson, “The Wizard of Prozac,”p.347-356.
Due: Notebook Assignment:Thompson
Oral presentations
Fri.
4/12 Revision, Essay
2 due at my office(14N-214) .
READ/DISCUSS: In Writing for Change
Randy Fitzgerald, “Owls Are Not Threatened,
Jobs Are,” p. 419-423.
Cynthia Hamilton, “Women, Home and Community:
The Struggles in an Urban Environment,”p.412-418.
21W.
730 :Expository Writing – Writing About Social and Ethical Issues – Spring
2002
Tues.
4/23 Research and
Writing Strategies for More
READ/DISCUSS: assigned readings
Workshop Proposals, Essay #3
Thurs. 4/25 Writers as
Visionaries: Fiction as a Laboratory for
Utopian Ideas and Dystopian
Critiques
READ/DISCUSS: In Writing for Change
Ernest Callenbach, “Ecotopia”
Notebook Exercise: your own vision of utopia
Callenbach
Fri. 4/26 Drafts, Essay 3 Due
Thurs.
5/2 Writers as Visionaries
and Advocates
Tues. 5/7 READ/DISCUSS:Excerpts,
George Orwell, 1984
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Neil Postman, Amusing
Ourselves to
Death
Margaret Atwood, The
Handmaid’s Tale
Notebook Exercise: Your own vision
Of Dystopia; Comparison to two of the
Above writers
Thurs. 5/9 Advanced Revision/Publication
Workshop
Course Evaluations
Tues. 5/14 Course Overview: Oral
Presentations
Thurs. 5/16 Last Class:
Celebration;Oral Presentations
Final Portfolios
due by 5 to my office with
Revision,
Essay #3.