WRPR 121A001, WRPR 121A002 Literacy & Society
M. Stratford
This course is an Individualized (WSI) Writing Seminar that offers students additional academic writing instruction and practice before they take a Writing Seminar (WST) in the spring. The primary goal of this course is to prepare students for a second semester writing seminar and build a foundation for further developing their written work throughout their undergraduate studies and beyond. More specifically, this course aims to contribute to the growth of each student as an academic writer, close reader, analytical thinker, and confident speaker. In order to achieve these goals, we will read a variety of texts, discuss them in class, and respond to the texts and class discussion through a variety of writing projects. Students will approach writing as a cyclical process of thinking, drafting, and revising. We will also emphasize the development of a realistic, productive writing process for each student. Additional assignments and class activities will provide opportunities for students to further develop their close reading, critical thinking, and public speaking skills. Based on the premise that reading, writing, and analytical skills are best practiced by engagement with multifaceted topics that are both interesting and relevant to students, this seminar explores a variety of ideas within the field of literacy studies. Literacy studies is the study of reading, writing, and written text in a social and cultural context. As we discuss the major themes of this field, we will ask questions like, Where did literacy come from, and how is it different from orality (speaking and listening)? How do communities of individuals engage with literacy? How can literacy be a tool for coercion as well as empowerment? and What does the future of literacy look like? Course texts will include scholarly articles from a variety of contexts, as well as podcast episodes and video clips (transcripts will be provided for all audio material).
WRPR 101A 01,02 Finding A Voice: Identity, Environment, and Intellectual Inquiry
N. Lavda
The three units in this course--identity, environment, and intellectual inquiry--examine the student’s role as a self with a voice in various contexts. By the end of this course, students will have further developed their own voice as a speakers, writers, and critical thinkers who can participate more fully in the work of intellectual inquiry required here at Haverford and in their lives beyond college. They will be aided by a classroom that is supportive, challenging, and, yes, fun!
At the beginning of the term, the self is considered as an “identity” impacted by social and cultural forces, like race, class, ethnicity, and gender. Next, the self is considered in relationship to an “environment,” where environment is considered broadly, i.e. physical and/or social and/or political, to enable an examination of a particular topic together as a class. Topics can vary from term to term and might include environmental degradation, immigration, or globalization, to name a few. Lastly, students are asked to consider themselves as intellectual agents whose participation in scholarly work through self-designed research projects can contribute to, understand, and help shape the world. In this later stage of the course, students try on the identity of a major and examine how to think and write like someone in that prospective major. This course involves significant reading, writing, research, and speaking. Students will learn how to write for and speak to an audience, make arguments and counter-arguments, and learn research, interview, and presentation skills.