187 RIVERS AND WEBER / ECOLOGICAL, PEDAGOGICAL, PUBLIC RHETORIC CCC 63:2 / DECEMBER 2011 Nathaniel A. Rivers and Ryan P. Weber Ecological, Pedagogical, Public Rhetoric Public rhetoric pedagogy can benefit from an ecological perspective that sees change as advocated not through a single document but through multiple mundane and monu- mental texts. This article summarizes various approaches to rhetorical ecology, offers an ecological read of the Montgomery bus boycotts, and concludes with pedagogical insights on a first-year composition project emphasizing rhetorical ecologies. In her article on teaching public rhetoric, Nancy Welch mentions a student who “faced possible academic sanctions for her decision to go public by hoist- ing an antiwar flag on the campus green without first applying for a permit and also without seeking permission to remove the American flag that had been flying there” (476). Though Welch describes students who are engaged, passionate, and creative when producing texts that may invigorate public discourse, the permit incident raises a question that public rhetoric pedagogy has not yet addressed. In the public rhetoric classroom, why shouldn’t students be taught how to complete the institutional documents necessary for their public rhetoric displays? 1 Why shouldn’t they see their public advocacy as the interaction of several texts, aimed at various audiences, instead of focusing on only the most visible manifestations of public rhetoric? Although the permit application has a smaller audience, it is just as vital to public advocacy as the antiwar flag. So too are all documents that cultivate public deliberation, prepare groups for public rhetorical action, and sustain the momentum of advocacy Copyright © 2011 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved.