This essay describes how an honors classroom introduces public speaking and active listening to encourage heroism and social justice among students. Asserting that people often look for a hero in times of crises, the author suggests that honors programs can become safe places where students learn the skills necessary to advocate for those in need…

Courses: Introduction to Rhetoric and Communication, Basic Course, Public Speaking, Classical Rhetoric. Objectives: To re-establish disciplinary commitment to civic education in perilous democratic times through "imitatio."

Anchored on Foucauldian Discourse Analysis, this study traced and analyzed evidence of "dominance construction" in spoken corpus, wherein the subject corpora are political speeches of Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (PRRD). Discourse segments from the speeches were extracted using content analysis meant to isolate those…

Online activism is a space of opportunity for students to encounter social justice issues, explore the possibilities of visual rhetoric, practice persuasive speaking skills, and actively contribute to the momentum of social movements. At the same time, digital activism raises concerns about "slacktivism," limiting the necessary…

As a communication educator, the author's goal is to help students examine and understand how communication addresses--or, in this case, fails to address--public problems such as gun violence. Communication concepts can provide insight about America's bewildering debates about gun violence, and in turn, these debates can help illustrate and refine…

In this interview, Susan Wells discusses the teaching of public writing and the work of public rhetoric as they respond to both shifting and recurring political and social contexts. Drawing on insights from her extensive and current work on public rhetoric, including her foundational essay "Rogue Cops and Health Care: What Do We Want from…

The activity described in this paper was developed in response to the experience of teaching a large lecture introduction course to freshman and sophomore undergraduates called "The Rhetorical Tradition." This course covers, roughly, the last 2500 years of rhetoric. One of the issues faced in this course is that students struggle to…

Readers can explore 13 teaching innovations presented at the 2019 Association for Business Communication annual international conference in Detroit, Michigan. These assignments are designed to add fuel to oral and written persuasion, including the practical use of rhetorical tools. Ideas to advance learners' professional development are presented.…

Teaching about elocution in the 21st century classroom has the potential to aid students in learning about not only strategic rhetorical delivery, but also rhetorical empowerment. Normative, stereotypical gender roles still constrain women's performances in the public sphere. Thus elocution informs present day classrooms in at least a couple of…

This article, the second of a two-part series, features 13 "My Favorite Assignments" that were introduced at the Association for Business Communication's 82nd annual conference held in Dublin, Ireland, in 2017. The pedagogical innovations include assignments that teach students how to conduct primary research, present their findings,…

In this article, the author describes a project designed to take the dread out of discussion in a first-year interdisciplinary humanities course at Sewanee: The University of the South, a private liberal arts college in Tennessee. The Responsible Intellectual Discussion project, known as RID, was created in conjunction with the college's Eloquence…

Describes a device, the speaker resume, which provides students with biographical information on an orator's education, achievements, historical impact, rhetorical skills, and personal data. Includes a sample resume of Daniel O'Connell, Irish orator. Useful to teachers and students for class discussion and further investigation. (PD)

Describes an upper level course on rhetoric of women and its effects. Covers (1) criteria for selecting prominent women speakers; (2) course content and structure; (3) course materials; (4) classroom procedures; (5) assignments and evaluations; and (6) concerns and caveat. (PD)

Describes a public address curriculum based upon a different way of conceptualizing public address. (Author)

Presents exercises to teach critical thinking skills based on the divisions of classic rhetoric. (PD)