What is the focus of your investigation? Scholar Proposal

What resources / references have you found helpful? Books my colleagues have referred me to: Richard Sagor's *How to Conduct Collaborative Action Research,* Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Patricia Levy's *Approaches to Qualitative Research,* Pat Hutchings' essay, "Approaching the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning," and William Cerbin's "Investigating Student Learning in a Problem-Based Psychology Course." (The last two essays were in a packet, "Open Lines: Approaches to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning" given to us by Jean Mach. Other resources I plan to use are: *Pamphlets of Protest: An Anthology of Early African American Protest Litereature, 1790-1860,* Sitkoff's *King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop,* Hannah Crafts' *The Bondwoman's Narrative,* and *The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.* I also am using Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross's *Classroom Assessment Techniques* and Dannelle Stevens and Antonia Levi's *Introduction to Rubrics.*

Lucia Thomas Olson PhD English Literature, MA Counseling Psychology Adjunct Lecturer in English at the College of San Mateo MFT Intern in CSM's Psychological Services Building 17, room 105 olsonl@smccd.edu Lucia Olson

What results have emerged? Research Journal January 2008 Katie Townsend-Merino helped me develop a pre-test survey to see what role students thought protest literature plays in 3 historical movements (American Revolution, Emancipation Proclamation/Civil War, and Civil Rights movement). She helped me to design numeric ranges(1-5) that ask them to rank the relative impact of various elements (protest lit., geographical factors, political reasons, marches, speeches, etc.) Then she had me ask them the same questions,only with a writing prompt, about each time in history. I distributed these in class, telling the students briefly that I was researching perceptions of protest literature. Research Journal February 2008 I am trying to develop a writing assignment (the first was a summary of one of the pieces read so far) classifying different rhetorical strategies used in protest literature. I want to be able to assess the essays with a rubric that measures their level of understanding of protest literatureand the various persuasive methods it uses. I saw that in their summaries, some students talked about the first three rhetorical methods I had taught so far(use of shock value, appeal to empathy, and call to action). Talking about the three rhetorical methods had not been part of the summary assignment--at least, not a required part of the assignment listed on the assignment handout (maybe it should have been!). I started 'scaffolding' for the classifying assignment by talking about rhetorical methods in general. I want to assess their knowledge of rhetorical strategies, and am thinking of using a "minute paper" assignment about this, one like Angelo and Cross describe in *Classroom Assessment Techniques.* I already have started going over Classical and Rogerian rhetorical methods and how they differ. I was slightly surprised to find that students overall PREFERRED the Classical strategies when asked to compare the effectiveness of each. This finding relates to an article Jean Mach gave us: William Cerbin's "Investigating Student Learning in a Problem-Based Psychology Course." Cerbin cites educational psychologist David Ausbel's idea that "'the most important factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows'"(17). Based upon this principle, I feel like I need to measure what students' perceptions of "effective" and "good" rhetorical strategies are. If they prefer confrontational, win/lose rhetorical strategies, I wonder where this preference comes from? They said they thought Rogerian strategies were "too easygoing." Therefore, I am thinking of using the minute paper and possibly some in-class debate sessions to assess how and why students view rhetorical strategy and persuasion in general. I may also have them read aloud Coker's "An Dialogue Between a Virginian and an African Minister" to show both types of rhetorical strategies and how Coker interweaves them. I also am working on a way to build this assessment into the classification essay and its grading/peer review rubric. I bought Dannelle Stevens' and Antonia Levi's *Introduction to Rubrics,* so I am hoping this will provide some guidance. We plan to talk about rubrics for assessing our research results at the next Scholars' meeting as well.

What was your approach and/or what evidence have you gathered? So far, I have handed out a survey to students that Katie Townsend-Merino of Canada helpe me design. The questions were designed to measure how students view protest literature and its importance in relation to other elements of three historical periods (Revolutionary War, Emancipation Declaration, Civil Rights Movement). *(Link to survey below.)* I have yet to analyze all of the student's responses to the surveys, but student response in taking the survey varied from "this seems like it will be cool to learn about these periods in history" to "I didn't know this was going to be a HISTORY class!!" I have also had students describe and then write about a situation in their own lives that seems unjust or unfair. I am hoping this may turn into the protest pamphlet/essay they write at the end of the semester. Below is the writing assignment I developed that asks students to classify and analyze five different rhetorical styles used in protest literature. They have a second option for the assignment, which is to identify examples of Classical and Rogerian rhetorical strategies in a piece or pieces of protest literature. I have also added below the Minute Paper assignment where I ask students to write about their perceptions of "good/effective" rhetorical styles and what this means. As we have discussed Rogerian and Classical rhetoric in class, I also ask them what they think of each style (so far, I have detected a profound pro-Classical bias; students said in class that Rogerian rhetoric was "too easygoing"). I am curious as to how they have developed this bias, and in light of the current political campaigns, plan to talk about political debates and which strategies are used. Protest Lit. 1st survey classification of rhetorical styles in protest lit. minute paper rhetorical styles

Examples of student work Students wrote comparisons of Malcom X's "The Ballot or the Bullet" and Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Students most often used words and phrases like "peaceful," "call to action," and "made you think." They felt Malcolm X was trying to "shock" readers and "make them think." They felt Martin Luther King was more "peaceful" and trying, in Rogerian fashion, to appeal to multiple audiences without offending any of them. Students also wrote about Obama's race speech (more about this below). Prompt: Students were asked how they felt about protest literature authors using rhetorical strategies to convince audiences. Findings: Overall, students felt that protest literature authors were *not* manipulative, but were entitled to use strategies like appeal to emotion, unifying readers, and shocking readers. They felt "the end justified the means" and also used the First Amendment as another justification for using these strategies. One student likened her experience of reading protest literature to being "at a trial," where the author is presenting his or her case, and the reader gets the chance to decide her own position. Frequently used words: fair, inspiring, powerful, control, non-violent, working together for a common goal. Excerpts from student work: (see link below) Protest Lit. Spring 2008