Additional course description from the syllabus
The course will primarily emphasize public oratory: how to find one’s voice; employ standard elements of persuasion; speak eloquently, passionately, and with authority; and express cultural identities and values. Along the way, the course will also address other aspects of public communication: writing op-eds; framing political issues; storytelling; ceremonial speaking; and arts and leadership. Over the course of the term, lectures and class discussions will highlight various rhetorical strategies like empathy, emotion, narrative, and humor. All assignments will require students to develop clear, substantive public messages that exhibit passion, intellect, and commitment. During the last week of class, each student will deliver a final original speech.
Required and recommended reading:
George Lakoff, Don’t Think of an Elephant! (Chelsea Green, 2004)
Jay Heinrichs, Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson
What Aristotle, Lincoln and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us about the Art of Persuasion (Three Rivers, 2007)
William Safire, ed. Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History (Norton, 2004)
Jay Allison and Dan Gediman, ed. This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women (Henry Holt, 2007)
Andras Szanto, ed. What Orwell Didn’t Know: Propaganda and the New Face of American Politics (Public Affairs, 2007)
Peggy Noonan, On Speaking Well (ReganBooks, 1999)
Jack Valenti, Speak Up with Confidence (Hyperion, 2002)
Roger Ailes, You Are The Message: Getting What you Want by Being Who You Are, (Currency Dover, 1999.)
Jay Heinrichs, Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion (Three Rivers Press, 2007)
Lewis Copeland, The World’s Great Speeches, 4th Edition (Dover, 2000)
V. A. Howard and J. H. Baron, Thinking on Paper (Quill, 1986)
Strunk & White, The Elements of Style, 4th Edition (Allyn & Bacon, 1999) (Also available online at http://www.bartleby.com/141/)
Commentary by the Atlas editors: The class titles provide an excellent list of teaching topics for the Communication for Public Management subject. The titles are similar in the Danziger and and McCarthy syllabi. Where they differ, both are included below:
Elements of Rhetoric: Logos, Ethos, Pathos
Making Your Voice Heard: Writing and Publishing an Op-Ed
Five Secrets of Powerful Communicators
Making Meaning with Mental Models
Speaking On the Spot: What to Say—and How to Say It
From the Page to the Podium: Mastery Over Memorization
Rhetoric, Persuasion and Public Deliberation
Don’t Think of an Elephant: Metaphors, Messaging, and Mobilization
Connecting with your Audience
Facing a Skeptical or Hostile Audience
Crisis Communication: Public Leadership in Difficult Times
Generating Emotional Impact: Storytelling
Empathy: Your Personal Credibility and Trustworthiness
Keeping It Real: Identity, Integrity, Inspiration
Expressing Identity: Acknowledging the Color of Your Lens
Framing the Argument: Debates and Dialogues
Ceremonial Speaking: Toasts, Tributes and Eulogies
Thinking on your Feet: Handling Questions and Answers
Dealing with the Media
Communicating through the Media
Communicating through Arts and Culture
Vision and Values: Brevity, Levity, Clarity, Charity
Page created by: Ian Clark, last updated 22 February 2013. The content presented on this page, except in the Commentary, is drawn directly from the source(s) cited above, and consists of direct quotations or close paraphrases.