Course Description
English 103: Accelerated Composition

University Course Catalog
English 103: Accelerated Composition focuses on writing and critical thinking by using an integrated approach to writing that teaches various rhetorical strategies for reading and constructing arguments (written and visual) in both print and digital environments. The students learn to read texts critically according to key components in argumentative discourse (i.e., claims, grounds, explicit and implicit assumptions, fallacies, etc.) and to recognize the different purposes of argument. The course works through four course strands of Rhetoric and Argumentation, Information Design and Technology, Research, and Collaboration.

Assignment Description
Video Adaptation Project

This group assignment really was simply to “Create a video adaptation of a poem with an argument.” There were many discussions around this central idea, but there was also significant value in beginning with that simple requirement. I think that simple directions can allow students to own their projects, and guidance from the instructor can help those projects become something really interesting. We looked at examples of nice cinematic poetry adaptations and shared them as a class. We talked about what worked and what didn’t work. We developed a rubric together that measured aspects of the work, such as the presence of the argument, effective editing, creativity, and audience awareness. I emphasize the process of the assignment as we developed them in class much more than the instructor handout because the class cultivated the assignment as we went along. The process of the video adaptations became a kind of class processional.