Reading Response 17; Intro/Conversation for Project 3

Hi Everyone, 

Assignments for this week include a Reading Response due before class Wednesday on the Wardle article (Note: this is a change in the schedule, we are not reading Malinowitz for that day) and an Intro/Conversation draft due for Friday. 

For the Reading Response- Before Class Wednesday

We'll working on answering some of the specific questions in the textbook in class. What I'd really like you to focus on here is:

• A summary of the article
• A synthesis of the article with ALL of the readings we've done so far on discourse community in this unit (Swales, Gee, Devitt et al). How does Wardle add to or depart from these authors' takes on the concept of discourse community? What does she do that's different.

Doing some extensive work on this synthesis will help you with the Intro/Conversation draft due Thursday night 9pm.  

Intro/Conversation Draft- Thursday night 9pm

This is an informal writing assignment, but a very important one as it will go directly into your Project 3 essay. For this draft, I'd like you to 

• introduce the concept of discourse community. What is a discourse community? How does it help us understand how writing/language are always wrapped up in social relationship/groups?
  
• trace and summarize the conversation between the different authors we've read this far: Swales, Gee, Devitt et al, Wardle. For an example of this, check out Course Documents in Blackboard. After your review of the conversation, try to imagine some possible ways that your ethnography might add to the ongoing conversation.

500-600 words to your blogs. 

 

Reading Response and Project 3 Proposal for Monday 10/29

Reading Response: 

I'll put up the apparatus in Blackboard, but you only need to do a shorter response for this since you have the proposal as well. Please do the following for the Devitt et al.

• Summary
• Synthesis
• Personal Response. 

Project 3 Proposal Assignment

 In your proposal, I'd like you to:

• demonstrate how the community you've chosen to study qualifies as a discourse community using Swales' 6 characteristics.

• discuss your interest or involvement in studying this discourse community. What would you like to find out about this group? What are you curious about in terms of language/writing?

•  pinpoint one or two individuals you might interview for the project

• locate a set of texts you can analyze (these can be oral transcriptions, emails, blog, discussion boards, memos, menus- anything that is used to further the groups goals

600 words to your blog - Carefully proofread and formal

Extra Credit Assignment - Analyzing Political Rhetoric

*Completing this optional assignment will allow you to erase 2 minor violations (either absences or missed reading responses) but you'll need to do a thorough and engaged job with it.

For this assignment, I'd like you to write an 800-900 word essay in which you examine the political rhetoric of a recent debate or stump speech. As we're in the heat of an election season, it shouldn't be too difficult to find something on Youtube that you can watch and re-watch in order to perform careful analysis. Before you watch the event, however, you need to read an essay over at Writing Spaces called "Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis." Reading this will provide you with the language you'll need to perform rhetorical analysis, and I'll expect that you show an understanding of the various concepts discussed in this article, especially these key terms: exigence, audience, rhetor, constraints. You might also refer to the Aristotelian appeals: ethos, pathos, logos.

Keep in mind that this essay should not simply be a summary of the debate/speech but needs to be a well developed argument about the speech/debate that summary could play a role in. You need to come up with an original argument about what makes a particular candidates speech effective from a rhetorical standpoint. What is the candidate trying to accomplish? What is s/he trying to make us believe, think or do after hearing their speech/talking points? You should also have specific points of evidence that supports your claim. For instance, quotes from the speech and analysis of those quotes.

To get credit, you'll need to meet the following criteria

• An original argument regarding the rhetorical effectiveness of the candidate's speech
• Familiarity/understanding of concepts from the reading 
• Use of concepts from the reading to illustrate and analyze certain features of the speech/debate 
• Realization and illustration of the candidate's argument. What s/he wants us to think, do, believe after hearing. 
• Works Cited page that cites the speech (you might have to look this up on Purdue's OWL or other resource) and the Writing Spaces article

If you're not meeting these criteria, I may send your essay back to you and ask you to revise.

Due Date: I will accept these any time before the course final (8am on 12/12) 

Reading Response for Gee- Due Wednesday 10/24

For the Gee reading, please do the following:

• The second bullet under "Getting Ready to Read" that begins "Consider two or three activities"
• A summary of the article
• Synthesis
• Personal Response
• Question #1 under "Questions for Discussion and Journaling"

Project 2 Peer Review Instructions / Readings for Monday

Peer Review Instructions

As we've discussed in class, my absence on this coming Friday necessitates a few changes to the schedule. I'm going to try, below, to explain these as clearly as possible so that you know what's expected of you in terms of the peer review. It is your responsibility, however, to contact me if you have questions. 

• Instead of us meeting in Gordy or Ellis on Friday during class, I would like you all to meet on the second floor in the library and continue working in groups on your projects. I'm going to try to put up a sign-in sheet somewhere, so stay tuned for details about that. I will be in Louisville, Kentucky that day for an academic conference so I'm trusting you guys to meet with your groups without me that day. Please don't disappoint your group's expectations.
  
• Instead of exchanging drafts of your projects to each other by Thursday night, they are now due Friday by 3pm. To exchange drafts, all you need to do is elect one person in your group to send the project link to all of the members of another group. However, I also want you to draft a cover letter collaboratively and then include this cover letter in the email where you send out the link. We will assign partner groups on Wednesday

• Once you receive the link to another group's project, you are responsible for your own, individual peer review of that project. Like the peer review for Project 1, you'll need to follow the guidelines in the "Responding to Peer Writing" sheet (on Blackboard). This time, however, you'll want to compose the peer review in a separate Word document-since you can't comment in the actual project space. You'll also have to be creative with how you  identify certain passages and problems. So if you notice that something isn't effective, you'll have to be sure to identify where the passage is in the project. 

Reading and Reading Response for Monday

• You also have a reading response due to your blogs before class Monday morning. Please note that I have removed the Glenn readings. You are only responsible for the Chapter 4 Intro and the article by Swales. Do the reading response over Swales. Here's what I'm expecting:
  
• The second prompt under "Getting Ready to Read" that starts "Write a brief description of a time..."
• A summary of the article. 
• Synthesis-What connections can you make to other things we've read this semester?
• Personal Response
• Question #5 under "Questions for Discussion and Journaling."  

Upcoming Readings on Design

Hi Everyone,


Please note the "design handouts" listed on the schedule can actually be accessed online and should be read online. For Monday, please read "Hyperlinks are the 'Tubes' of the Internet," and "Page Titles, Headlines, and Subheaders, OH MY!"

For Wednesday, read "Damnit, Jim, I'm a Writer, Not a Graphic Designer! (Or, Who Gives a CRAP?)," and "It's Not Plagiarism If It's on the Web, Right?"

Each of these readings is made up of multiple small sections, so make sure you go through everything. You'll also want to click on some of the links, especially examples of poor or successful design. No reading response on these, But you still need to read through these thoroughly and apply what you've learned to the work you're doing on Project 2.

By the way, all of these readings are from an open-source, free writing textbook called Writing Spaces. It has helpful chapters on a lot of topics. So you might save a link to it for future writing questions, just as you should also remember the Purdue OWL as a great resource.

We also have a specific milestone to meet by Monday for Project 2. The schedule asks for a "text of each group member's contribution & summary of the argument." You don't have to turn in anything formal/or post to your blog but I do want each of you to be able to show me what you've accomplished so far. Your individual literacy history should be very well developed at this point, and you should have 2-3 paragraphs in which you try to synthesize each group member's history, connect it all with the conversation already in progress (literacy in flux/literacIES/brandt, baron, wysocki, etc.), and try to make an overall claim about literacy-how you define it, how it works, etc. I think most of you are on target for meeting this milestone. But please come and talk to me if you need help.



Have a good weekend!

Project 1 Due Dates, Groups for Project 2, and Post for Monday

Hi Everyone,

A couple of things.

Project 1 is due to my email inbox in the following 3 stages: 


Friday 5pm: Cy, Jack W, Jennifer, Kate, Patrick

Saturday 4pm: Jessica, Megan, Roland, Evan, Holly

Sunday 3pm: Chase, Jack C, Luciana, Courtney, Alicia, Jada, Sierra


When you send it to me, make sure that your revise your cover letter to reflect the work you've put in since the peer review. In particular, you need to explain what changes you made after peer feedback and why, and if you did not make recommended changes, why not.


Reading Responses for Monday

The assignment for Wysocki is questions 2 and 3 in Questions For Discussion and Journaling and question 2 in Applying and Exploring Ideas and the Meta Moment. Do these in addition to the pre-reading, summary, synthesis and personal response. 



We also assigned groups for Project 2 today

Group 1: Jack W., Jada, Courney
Group 2: Evan, Megan, Chase
Group 3: Luciana, Cy, Alicia
Group 4: Jack C., Patrick, Jessica, Cierra
Group 5: Roland, Holly, Jennifer, Alicia

Everyone needs to begin thinking about a specific theme of focus for these projects. We're all looking at literacy, but what in particular interests you? Sponsorship? Technology? Access? (Mis)appropriation? I've also made discussion forums on Blackboard for each group. Feel free to use these to toss ideas off each other. They're under the "Discussion" Tab. 

Have a good weekend, 

Mr. V