Course Materials
The materials below are the assignment sheets and respective rubrics for students in first-year composition. I've included them in the order that I use them in my own courses, but an instructor could alter the order based on their preferences or their university's standards.
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International LicenseComposition One
Course Materials
Syllabus Reading GuideClass Activities
Collaborative Annotated BibliographyStudents work together collecting sources for their upcoming rhetorical analysis assignment Un/Reliable Sources.
Collaborative EssayStudents break up in groups to produce a single essay using Cicero's six-part structure.
Course Assignments
Personal Essay - Literacy Narrative Personal Essay RubricIn the first assignment of the semester, students write a short narrative essay in which they describe a specific event from their lifetime that has informed their relationship to literacy, language, or learning. Students learn to use concrete examples and descriptive details.
Media Project Media Project RubricStudents construct a meme from their favorite quote and a photo with an open license or one that has entered into the public domain. Students then write a short paper explaining their creative process and the meme's meaning. Students learn about visual rhetoric, genre conventions, and copyright issues.
Rhetorical Analysis: Un/Reliable Sources Rhetorical Analysis RubricStudents produce an analytical paper about a moment of national or global historical significance from their lifetimes that they remember. Students compare three sources: an extremely unreliable media source, an article from a reliable media outlet, and an academic article. Students develop media literacy while applying rhetorical knowledge to a real-world topic.
Reflective Essay Reflective Essay RubricStudents write a reflective essay in which they evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their writing. Students also discuss what they learned throughout the course and topics they still have questions about. Students learn about metacognition, tone, and self-evaluation.
Composition Two
Course Materials
Syllabus Reading GuideCourse Assignments
Movie Review Movie Review RubricStudents write a movie review of a feature-length or short film of their choosing. Students will be analyzing the film for cinematic elements, genre conventions, and rhetorical appeals.
Rhetorical Analysis Rhetorical Analysis RubricStudents identify an historically, socially, or politically significant speech from the 20th or 21st century. Then, they analyze the speech for rhetorical elements.
What's Your Problem?: An Infographic Infographic RubricThis assignment works in conjunction with the Research Paper assignment below. Students identify a social problem and collect data about their topic to produce an infographic.
What's Your Problem?: A Research Paper Research Paper RubricAs part of a larger unit on understanding and sythesizing research, students have identified a social problem they would like to solve. In this assignment, students will write an 8-10 pp. research paper exploring the causes and solutions of a social problem.