CRS 225: Public Advocacy
Public Advocacy is a mandatory class for undergraduates majoring in Communication and Rhetorical Studies. The class exposes students to introductory rhetorical concepts, public speaking, and how they can be used for advocacy purposes. The class primarily revolves around four major projects in which students learn to decode and encode mediated messages. When I taught it, the class had approximately 130 students, with around 22 students in each recitation session. I was responsible for teaching three twice-weekly recitations, preparing students for their projects and helping them to apply the concepts they learned in the larger recitation.
Because this class primarily revolved around the projects, my teaching style was heavier on lectures than I would generally prefer. Every week, I gave a presentation, with class discussion and projects and supplementing the materials to break up the frequent lectures. I tried to integrate workshops and games as frequently as possible, while also making sure students were as prepared as possible. I have included my recitations PowerPoints below, as well as the presentation I gave when I guest lectured the full class. I have also provided the project descriptions for each assignment, as well as the supplementary materials I created when students were unclear on what the assignment was asking. Finally, I have included my course evaluations.
When I taught this class, we missed several recitations due to weather and bias incidents on campus, which distorted the last few weeks’ presentations and is referenced in some of my evaluations. I did the best that I could to make sure that students still received all the information they needed while also handling extreme circumstances.
Project Two
Project Two required students to take the same topic from Project One and develop a hypothetical multi-media campaign supporting one side of the issue, using music and visuals. Students then had to pitch their ideas in short speeches for the class. This assignment was intended to help students consider all of the elements of public advocacy campaigns, and how rhetorical theory plays into them.
Project Four
Project Four required students to analyze their own blog posts from Project Three, considering their persuasive choices and how they applied to rhetorical theories discussed in the lecture. This assignment was intended to help students think about why they made the decisions they did, and how they are participating in rhetoric and advocacy practices in their regular lives.
Lecture Slides
For this class, I prepared two lectures for each week, unless we had an exam. Included below are the weekly Powerpoints, as well as the lecture I presented for the entire class of approximately 130 students.
Student Evaluations
During the Fall 2019 semester, I was the TA for three recitation sections of CRS 225. Attached below are the student evaluations that I received from that semester. Students were asked to address how completely course objectives were met, what skills and expertise they gained, and what activities were the most helpful toward achieving these goals.