Sample Syllabus 1: Weekly Calendar

By Melissa Texidor

Week 1: Introductions and the Syllabus, Introduction to Course Theme, Mini Introduction to Rhetorical Analysis

Day 1 (technically day 2) is a busy one! As students come into the class for the first time, I hand out index cards and ask them to write down a couple of things for me: their preferred name, their pronouns, their major (or their intended major), and a boring fact about themselves. This is mainly to help me begin to remember who they are, though it’s also useful for grouping up students into groups later on. Before going over the syllabus and class policies, I introduce myself to the students with a silly little slideshow.

First hour (or more) things to consider doing:

• Introduction/Icebreakers
• Go over the syllabus (with an emphasis on policies for participation and late work)
• Introduce Short Assignment 1- Close Reading
• Syllabus and SA1 Q & A through Curipod
• Curipod is a website that allows me to create interactive activities for students. Activities may include Q&As, polls, word clouds, and even drawing!

Second hour:

• Read Cathryn Cabral’s 131 Course Syllabus
• Have a class discussion on language expectations in academia; start with students writing notes on their first impressions on the reading, transition into grouping the students into pairs and discussing their thoughts, and then shift to class discussion with the whole group)

Homework:

• Review the syllabus
• Read/annotate: “There Is One Correct Way of Speaking English” by Anjali Pattanayak (p. 82-87)
  “Official American English is Best” by Steven Alvarez (p. 93-98)
• I have the students read and annotate all the texts I assign through Hypothesis. I provide them with concise instructions of what I would like them to annotate (e.g. “What stood out to you in the reading? Do you have any questions about the author’s argument?”). Since we’re starting off, I usually require only two annotations per student.

• Note: Since we’ll be going over what discourse communities and language communities are in the next following weeks, I use these readings to sort of set a foundation to understand how the interaction of language and culture shapes the world we live in today.

Week 2: Reading Discussions, Intro to Language Communities and Metalinguistic Awareness, Review of Rhetorical Choices/Appeals, SA1

Be aware that your class may go through a lot of shifting this week and last. Some students will drop out, others will add after the first two days. This is a great opportunity to make sure the students make a connection in the class, someone they can reach out to if they have to miss a class. I recommend adopting a collaborative note taking policy in which each class 1-2 students volunteer to write notes for the day. This will be useful for students who may be absent.

Our classes have six assignments parsed out over two assignment sequences. Our first assignments focus mainly on genre, audience, and message. Since the first paper is due this week, we take time to practice our close reading skills within both day 1 and day 2 through reading discussions.

Day 1:

First hour (or more) things to consider doing:

• Reading discussion on the Pattanayak and Alvarez texts
• Lesson on language communities + metalinguistic awareness
  • In this lecture, I touch on the following topics: dialects, registers, multiple Englishes, and connotations associated with certain languages.

Second hour:

• Close reading introduction (rhetorical choices + appeals)
  • I go over what close reading is, the significance of it, and things to look for when we close read. Many students are already familiar with ethos/pathos/logos, so I usually do a quick review of EPL before moving onto explaining other rhetorical choices.
• View: “3 Ways to Speak English” by Jamila Lyiscott
• Read and discuss Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” with Lyiscott’s text
  • This text is a short read, but it’s still helpful to organize students into groups for this to discuss the text. I provide guiding questions such as: how do Tan’s rhetorical choices differ from Lyiscott’s?

Homework:

• Read/annotate: “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua (p. 53-64)
  “Should Writers Use They Own English?” by Vershawn Ashanti Young (p. 61-71)
• Disclaimer: both texts offer very different varieties of English. Before assigning this, I ask them if they are familiar with AAVE, Spanglish, and Chicano English as well as how they approach language variations that they’re not familiar with.

• Note: whenever I do reading discussions with students I more often than not organize the discussion as a Think/Pair/Share exercise. (Essentially, have the students reflect individually for a minute or so, have them pair up to discuss their thoughts on the text, and then share what they talked about in a class-wide discussion.) They’re already coming to class having read and annotated the texts assigned, so the “think” part of Think/Pair/Share is often shorter.

Day 2:

First hour things to consider:

• Close reading introduction (continued from Day 1)
• Reading Discussion of Anzaldua and Young texts
• These texts can be difficult for students who’ve had limited interaction with Chicano English and AAVE, so I try to devote most of the first hour to going over the students’ understanding of these texts.

Second hour:

• Activity with “What Does Your Accent Say About Who You Are?” by Nicole Daniels and NY Times dialect quiz
  • I have students interact with these sources to expose them to the intricate varieties of language, particularly English. This is especially helpful for students who view themselves as “monolingual.”
  • Disclaimer: students will need to have a NY Times account to access the dialect quiz!
• Introduction to Short Assignment 2-Genre Analysis
• Provide time to work on SA1 (if time is available)

Homework:

• Work on SA1

Week 3: Reading Discussions, Introduction to Genre through Discourse Communities, SA2

Week 3 is all about exploring genres and their connections to discourse communities. This week will round out two key concepts for the course: language communities and discourse communities. Since this is the case, make sure to allow the opportunity for students to reflect on these two terms on day 1 and 2 with guiding questions on how these two communities have an effect on genre types.

Day 1:

First hour things to consider:

• Mini lecture about concept of genre’s connection to identity and community
• Lesson on discourse communities
  • I use John Swales’ “Reflections on the concept of discourse community” in the lecture to detail the rules of a discourse community. I also briefly include a paraphrased definition of imagined community by Benedict Anderson, but this is only to emphasize what does/doesn’t constitute as a discourse community.

Second hour:

• Activity that has students create a flyer for their discourse community through Canva
  • I use this activity to get students thinking about the language conventions in their own discourse communities and how that affects the presentation of information
• Brainstorming session for SA2 through free writing and word clouds

Homework:

• Read/annotate: “Here’s a Tip: Receipts are Genres” by Ola Al-Refae (p. 127-136)
  “Tools of Inquiry and Discourses” (pg. 28-36) by James Paul Gee

Day 2:

First hour things to do:

• Reading discussion of Al-Refae and Gee texts with an emphasis on how genre follows and subverts conventions.
• View “The Rise of the ‘Trauma Essay” by Tina Yong
  • This TedTalk offers a different approach to genre conventions. I show students this to have them reflect on the following questions: Why do speakers/writers subvert genre conventions? How can following/not following genre conventions affect you and your message?

Second hour:

• Translate course outcomes with students
  • I often have students in groups for this and ask them to casually present the newly revised course outcomes to the class. Keep it casual!
• Brainstorming/drafting session for SA2

Homework:

• Work on SA2
• Note: Whenever I have sessions for drafting and brainstorming in my class I follow the “I do, We do, They do” process: I provide some general examples of the assignment, the class and I come up with potential ideas together (either through writing it down on the board, creating word clouds through Curipod, etc.), and then I allow students to continue this process on their own for some time.

Week 4: Reading Discussions, Autoethnography as research, Conferences

This week we’ll be introducing two new genres of writing: ethnography and autoethnography. Whenever I’m introducing new concepts, I like to take some time in the beginning of class to poll the students on how much they know about it. I do this through Curipod, but you can use any other polling/survey method to do so. This gives me a good sense of what we as a class should be honing in on throughout the week.

Also, I have students begin to sign up for conferences starting this week. I like to spread the conferences out over the following two weeks to not overwhelm myself.

Day 1:

First hour things to do:

• Introduction to Major Project 1- Autoethnography
• Lesson on ethnography as a research method
  • While doing this, make sure to have opportunities for the students to reflect on their own conceptions of what research is and what they think it should aim to do. Many students are unfamiliar with ethnography, so tackling any misconceptions they may have about this method will be important.
• Drafting a tentative study proposal for autoethnography and interview questions for MP1
  • When I say drafting a proposal for the autoethnography, I mean identifying the community they will be engaging with for their research, including additional information they may need to know to interact with community members and understand the community overall.

Homework:

• Watch/annotate: “The danger of a single story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  “When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own” by Jacqueline Joyce Royster (p. 29-40)

Day 2:

First hour things to do:

• Reading Discussion: Adichie and Royster
• Lesson on autoethnography
• Similar to day 1, I make sure to provide opportunities for the students to reflect on their conceptions of autobiographical writing. (I start this conversation by asking them if they remember the first time they had to do autobiographical writing and how they approached it) We spend the majority of this time identifying the importance of qualitative research and its various methods (interviews, field observation, surveys, etc.)

Second hour:

• Activity: “Ethnography vs Autoethnography
• Using similar guiding questions from SA2 (Genre Analysis), the students will identify key differences between both genres of writing.
• Continue drafting MP1 (if time is available)

Homework:

• Read/annotate: “Beyond Language Difference in Writing: Investigating Complex and Equitable Language Practices” by Cristina Sanchez Martin (p. 269-279)
  “Indigenous Activism and Language Reclamation” by Darcy Allred and Natalie Jipson (p. 69-80)

Week 5: Reading Discussions, Linguistic Justice, Peer Review, MP1

This week we start delving into the concept of linguistic justice and what that may look like inside an institution like academia and in contexts outside of academia. Students will already be familiar with the restrictive ways that they feel compelled to utilize language within a classroom setting, however, it’ll be important to emphasize that these standards are derived from racist and classist origins. Likewise, it’ll be important to guide them in these difficult discussions by providing questions such as: what is lost when abiding by these standards?

Day 1:

First hour things to do:

• Reading discussion of Sanchez-Martin and Allred and Jipson
• Lesson on linguistic justice in academia vs outside of academia

Second hour:

• View: clip from “Do You Speak American?”
  • This is an older documentary, so it’s a good idea to have guiding questions in order to have the students connect the language ideologies of then to now.
• Activity: Rhetorical analysis of “This Ain’t Another Statement! This is a DEMAND for Black Linguistic Justice!” by CCCC

Homework:

• Read/annotate: “Leave Yourself Out of Your Writing” by Rodrigo Joseph Rodríguez (p.131- 133)
  “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott (p. 1-2)
• Post notes/questions for MP1 on peer review discussion board before next class

• Note: I usually assign these two last readings before we do the first peer review session. They’re both quite accessible and they tackle significant misconceptions about what the drafting process should look like and how personable their writing should be.

Day 2:

First hour things to do:

• Reading discussion of Rodriguez and Lamott
• Review peer review guidelines
  • I recommend creating a collaborative document in which students themselves jot down policies that they believe will encourage an effective peer review workshop.

Second hour:

• Peer Review Workshop

Homework:

• Work on MP1

• Note: I try to have days in which we are scheduled to have a peer review workshop only focused on workshopping student work. That being said, these days are kept simple and devote half of class time to the workshop itself.

Week 6: Reading Discussions, Review on Genre Translation and Info Literacy, SA3

This week we hone in on genre translation and its connection to information literacy which refers to the skills that allow a person to identify when they need information and to effectively find, assess, and use that information. Students may need a brief reminder of key features that affect the composition of a genre such as audience, purpose, context, etc. I use this week to have students start to consider what form their major project may take by having them reflect on their own genre translation knowledge and assess what additional information they may need to know about a genre in order to compose it in an effective way.

Day 1:

First hour things to do:

• Introduction to Short Assignment 3- Genre Translation and Written Statement
• Review of genre translation
  • Students are already somewhat familiar with shifting the same information into different genres, so this is more so a refresher for them.
  • During this review, we spend a considerable amount of time informally practicing genre translation as a class. I provide a genre (ex: a newspaper article), ask students what the key features of this genre are, provide a second genre (ex: a podcast), have them define the key features of it again, and then brainstorm with them on how one could possibly translate the information of the first genre into the second genre (ex: a newspaper article into a podcast).
    • I suggest providing examples of genres that are frequently going through translation such as a newspaper article and podcast as this allows me to provide real world examples much more easily.

Second hour:

• Activity: “Shifting Genres, Shifting Styles”
• Begin brainstorming for SA3
  • Here I have students spend most of their time looking into a specific policy or legislation about language that they want to focus on for their assignment. I suggest providing an example (preferably a topical one) of a policy or legislation that they may be familiar with. For example, I showed my class the Executive Order (EO 14224) signed March 2025 which designates English as the official language of the United States.

Homework:

• Read/annotate: Ch. 13 “Language in the Workplace” (285-289) and Ch. 14 “Examining the American judicial system and housing” (302-306) from English with an Accent

Day 2:

First hour things to do:

• Reading Discussion: Chapters from English with an Accent
• Intro to Info. Literacy
  • For this lesson, I try to emphasize that being info. literate is especially important to combat misinformation. I like to pair this lecture with a short activity called the “Stanford Study on Info. Literacy.” You can have students work on this individually, in groups, or as a class as a whole.

Second hour:

• Review on how to evaluate sources
• Activity: “Bad News”
  • I provide reflection questions for the students to answer among themselves once they finish this activity (Example: What are some aspects/strategies about “bad news” that stood out to you? Have you encountered such strategies when you consume information?)

Homework:

• Work on SA3

Week 7: Reading Discussions, Introduction to UW Library and Citation Justice, SA4

Day 1:

First hour things to do:

• Introduction to Short Assignment 4- Annotated Bibliography
• Review UW Library services + research databases
• You can schedule the library faculty to come in and give a lesson on UW library services if you’d like.

Second hour:

• Intro to citation justice + how to develop research questions
• Have students start drafting research questions for SA4

Homework:

• Read/annotate: “Position Statement on Citation Justice in Rhetoric, Composition, and Writing Studies” by CCCC
• “Race, Culture, and Researcher Positionality: Working through Dangers Seen, Unseen, and Unforeseen” by H. Richard Milner IV (p. 388- 397)

Day 2:

First hour things to do:

• Reading Discussion: CCCC and Milner
• Activity: “Genre Analysis: Annotated Bibliography”

Second hour:

• Check in with students on how the research process is going
  • At this point, students may have run into some issues utilizing library databases. This can include not including the appropriate key search terms, difficulty assessing credible information, etc. This is the time to do a quick check in to resolve any of these issues.
• Drafting SA4

Homework:

• Work on SA4

Week 8: Reading Discussions, Review argumentation strategies, Conferences

Day 1:

First hour things to do:

• Introduction to Major Project 2- Persuasive Text + Writer’s Statement
• Review argumentation strategies
• Read: “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr.
  • Make sure to provide the context surrounding this text! You may have students who are not fully familiar with it.

Second hour:

• Activity: “Persuasive Letter”

Homework:

• Watch/annotate: “Why English Class is Silencing Students of Color” by Jamila Lyiscott

• Note: I assign this TedTalk since it provides a callback to the text “3 Ways to Speak English” by the same author, but in a different genre.

Day 2:

First hour things to do:

• Reading discussion: Lyiscott
• MP2 workshop + drafting time
• Here give students the time to brainstorm ideas for the text they want to compose for MP2 in groups first. Within groups, students discuss the logistics of creating such a text before they breakaway and work individually on drafting a game plan for how they’ll be creating the text.

Second hour:

• Activity: “Rhetorical Shark Tank”
• This is a longer activity, so I have students begin it this day and finish it up the first day of Week 9. (I don’t assign this as homework!) For this day specifically, groups work on thinking through a business idea they would be “pitching” and what medium this pitch will take. Some students may have the time to begin the creation of the text on this day.

Homework:

• Work on MP2

Week 9: MP1 Workshop, Review project topics, Intro to Portfolio Instructions, MP1

Day 1:

First hour things to do:

• Activity: “Rhetorical Shark Tank” (cont.)
  • On this day, students begin/continue creating the medium for their pitch. After about 15-20 minutes, groups present their pitch to the “sharks.” (I challenge them to keep their pitch at 5 minutes)

Second hour:

• Outlining genre characteristics and styles
  • Here I like to have a class discussion on the genres the students chose for their projects. I have a list of the genres and as a class we go through what characteristics these genres include and how/when these expectations are subverted.
• Prepare for workshop next class
  • This can include many things. You can have the students do further research to supplement their message for the text, have them continue drafting the text, or do brief check-ins with the student to make sure they’re on track.

Homework:

• Have the draft ready by next class for peer review.
  • I have students post the drafts to their texts on a discussion board. It’s important to communicate at what stage you want the draft to be in when posted. For example: if the student agreed to create a podcast for the project, will you require the student to submit a script, an audio clip, or a transcript of the audio?

Day 2:

First hour things to do:

• Introduction to Final Portfolio
• Q&A Session through Curipod
• Prepare for this to take a bit longer since the final portfolio is quite a hefty project with a lot of instructions.

Second hour:

• Peer review workshop for MP2

Homework:

• Work on MP2

Week 10: Peer Review Workshop for Final Portfolio

Day 1:

First hour things to do:

• Have students complete course evaluations
• I give them about ten minutes to do so and make sure to step out of class while they complete it.
• Final Portfolio Peer Review Workshop

Second hour:

• Continue drafting Final Portfolio

Homework:

• Work on Final Portfolio