About

Spring 2019: WRD 112:020 Composition & Communication II: Writing Jewish Kentucky
Professor: Janice W. Fernheimer,(jfernheimer [at] uky [dot] edu, www.fernheimer.org)
Class Times: Tues/Thurs., 12:30-1:45 Whitehall Classroom Building 211
Office hours: Patterson Office Tower 1303, Tues/Thurs 11am-12:00 pm and by appointment.
Contacting Dr. Jan:  The best way to reach Dr. Jan is by email. Jfernheimer [at] uky [dot]
Class Website: http://wrd112.fernheimer.org, Class Hashtags:  #jewgrass #wrd112

General Course Description and Goals
WRD 112 is an accelerated version of the Composition & Communication II UK Core requirement. WRD 112 focuses on integrated oral, written, and visual communication skill development and emphasizes critical inquiry and research. Students will sharpen their ability to conduct research; to compose and communicate in written, oral, and visual modalities; and to work collaboratively and effectively in teams.

Writing Jewish Kentucky
Did you know that Kentucky Bourbon, one of the Commonwealth’s signature industries has a long heritage of Jewish distillers, wholesalers, and whiskey men/women? Did you know that Louisville’s Jewish Hospital emerged during a time when it was difficult for Jewish doctors to find jobs and Jewish patients to be treated at regular hospitals? Did you know that Lexington has two synagogues with more than 100 years of history and that at one point, most of Lexington’s downtown merchants included Jewish-owned shops? Did you know that the University of Kentucky was home to a Jewish Fraternity (Zeta Beta Tau) and Jewish sorority (Phi Sigma Sigma) in the early part of the 20th century and that its Jewish Student organization, Hillel, has been active on campus for more than 80 years? Students in this class will learn about these and other aspects of Kentucky’s Jewish heritage. They will explore the multi-ethnic fabric of Lexington’s, past, present, and future by working directly with oral histories in University of Kentucky’s Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History and primary materials in UK’s Special Collections libraries. Students will index and curate materials in the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History using OHMS—the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer, rhetorically analyze oral histories of Kentucky’s Jewish communities, conduct oral history interviews with local Jewish community members, present their research to their peers, and construct  short video documentary or an Omekka exhibit, or a“This American Life”-style podcast to share these valuable cultural resources with the public.

Requirements this Course Fulfills: This special section of WRD 112 can be counted toward requirements for the World Religions minor and/or the Jewish Studies minor.

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • Identify and employ key terms and concepts in classical rhetoric.
  • Identify and employ ethical practices for oral history interviewing/indexing.
  • Compare/contrast/critically analyze culturally-situated oral history narratives.
  • Engage in a recursive, revision-based approach to writing and composition.
  • Develop effective strategies for revision.
  • Practice (and ideally improve!) research and writing skills.
  • Practice (and ideally improve!) public presentation skills.
  • Develop effective strategies for collaborative work.
  • Present a deeper understanding of Kentucky’s multi-cultural past, present, and future in a multi-section radio segment podcast or video aimed at a public audience.

All assignment prompts and course materials are the copyrighted intellectual property of Dr. Janice W. Fernheimer. If you wish to use, build upon them, or revise them please feel free to do so, but be sure to cite Dr. Fernheimer and send her a note sharing the materials you generated (jfernheimer [at] uky [dot] edu).