Friday, May 15, 2015
Thursday, May 14, 2015
5.15 Turning in the final exam - watching for your grade
After you write your final:
So good job and that's it!
Grades:
I will send you your final grade (with the grades for your analysis unit + the final exam) by the beginning of next week. I will send 2 gradesheets with comments: one for the analysis unit, and one for the grade for the couse. I will post on the blog that I have sent out the gradesheets - so if by chance you don't get one and the blog says I have sent them - you need to write to me and ask why you didn't get yourse.
Take a look at these gradesheets, and if they add up the way you expect - then we are done. If not - send me an email pointing out any errors misunderstandings and we will talk about how to resolve our differences. That way, if I have made a mistake, I can revise the grade without going through the whole grade-change process.
If I do not hear from you within 48 hours of sending the email, I will assume you are OK with your grade. At that point I will post your grade to Keanwise - and if you have further differences with your grade, you will need to appeal your grade.
You have been a great class and it has been my pleasure to be your teacher. Thanks for your good work, and I am wishing you the best in your writing for school - and for anything you hope to accomplish in your life.
- post it to your class portfolio
- paste it in on the "endpoint" page for the College Comp portfolio
- send it to me as an attachment to the class email
So good job and that's it!
Grades:
I will send you your final grade (with the grades for your analysis unit + the final exam) by the beginning of next week. I will send 2 gradesheets with comments: one for the analysis unit, and one for the grade for the couse. I will post on the blog that I have sent out the gradesheets - so if by chance you don't get one and the blog says I have sent them - you need to write to me and ask why you didn't get yourse.
Take a look at these gradesheets, and if they add up the way you expect - then we are done. If not - send me an email pointing out any errors misunderstandings and we will talk about how to resolve our differences. That way, if I have made a mistake, I can revise the grade without going through the whole grade-change process.
If I do not hear from you within 48 hours of sending the email, I will assume you are OK with your grade. At that point I will post your grade to Keanwise - and if you have further differences with your grade, you will need to appeal your grade.
You have been a great class and it has been my pleasure to be your teacher. Thanks for your good work, and I am wishing you the best in your writing for school - and for anything you hope to accomplish in your life.
Prompt for final exam
This semester, we have read the essays by David Zinczenko and Radley Balko. These readings discuss issues associated with obesity, which institutions or individuals are responsible for the increasing numbers unhealthy "eaters," and what should be done to improve US health related to food choices. Plan and write an essay arguing your position on the(se) issue(s). Support your position fully, drawing on your own experience as well as examples taken from the essays.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
5.12 Finishing up analysis unit and preparing for final exam
In class today, we took one more read through the requirements for the analysis unit. We went through item by item to make sure you posted your work. If it is not posted - you will not get credit.
Here is the list. Remember, if you have your work labeled in a way that you are not sure which document corresponds to which assignment - I will have the same problem. Give your documents titles that will ensure that you get credit.
The reason for todays review of what to post for the analysis unit is that lots of you had not posted work which I was pretty sure you had done. So today is the last chance. I will be grading the analysis portfolios beginning tomorrow. Anything posted after today will not receive credit.
Preparing for the in-class final.
During the second part of class we chose the essays for the final exam. I told you that for your final, you will be required to take a position on the issues raised in two essays from one of the units. This means you will be writing a persuasive essay.
For a persuasive essay you need to:
See you on Thursday!
Here is the list. Remember, if you have your work labeled in a way that you are not sure which document corresponds to which assignment - I will have the same problem. Give your documents titles that will ensure that you get credit.
300 points total
Homework/practice for Rhetorical nalysis essay (50 points)
List of zinczenko points 3.31 (10 points)
Group document with Z. analysis + organization (post a link to your group, your name shold be on the group document) (10 points)
Homework analysis of Obama 4.2 (10 points)
Group work for Obama analysis + presentation (10 points)
Map of rhetorical moves + plan for essay on Balko 4.13 (10 points)
Process writing for Rhetorical analysis essay (100 point)
Map of rhetorical moves in Warner or Orbach 4.16 (25 points)
4.21 brainstorming (25 points)
draft analysis 4.23 (25 points)
plan for revision 4.28 (25 points)
Final essays (150 points)
Final rhetorical analysis 4.30 (100)
reflective writing on rhetorical analysis essay 4.30 (50 points)
The reason for todays review of what to post for the analysis unit is that lots of you had not posted work which I was pretty sure you had done. So today is the last chance. I will be grading the analysis portfolios beginning tomorrow. Anything posted after today will not receive credit.
Preparing for the in-class final.
During the second part of class we chose the essays for the final exam. I told you that for your final, you will be required to take a position on the issues raised in two essays from one of the units. This means you will be writing a persuasive essay.
For a persuasive essay you need to:
- provide the context for the argument (present the They Say)
- take a position
- develop a series of points to persuade readers of the correctness of your position
- use evidence from the readings to support /develop those points
- write a conclusion which sums up the main points of your argument and draws discussion to a close
After reviewing the three units and the essays we read for each unit, you chose the Balko + Zinczenko essays as the two readings you would refer to in your final.
We then discussed a process you might use to prepare to write this in-class essay.
- review the essays to establish their main focus + supporting points
- make a list of the overall point + supporting arguments from each essay
- make a list of positions you might take with respect to the overall issues raised by the essay
- go back to the readings and find particular sections in the readings relevant to each of the positions you might argue (depending on the prompt)
- map out one or more of the essays you might write
This is a useful process for studying not just for this exam, but for any essay exam you might be required to take. Anticipate the questions your instructor might ask. Interrogage (question) the readigs to discover what they have to say about the instructor's question(s). Think hard about what you might say that takes what has already been discussed in class to the next level.
For next class:
During the first part of next class you will write your exam. You may use your book. You may not bring notes outside of whatever marks you have made in your textbook.
During the second part of class you will post any remaining work to your portfolio - and then we are finished.
See you on Thursday!
Thursday, May 7, 2015
5.7 Revising refletive essays
At the beginning of class we used the GE writing rubric and the assignment sheet to create a rubric specific to the reflective writing assignment. Our class notes from this exercise were as follows.
Genre/Audience: genre= analysis, with some elements from response writing (in that you are presenting your personal perspective/reflections); writing should be in academic language and it chould draw from the TS/IS templates.
The overall form is:
intro
body paragraphs should present a point by point (one point per paragrph) development of the findings set up in the intro
thelater body paragrapsh should discuss and conflicts/additional points raised by the line of discussion (for exampol, what still needs to be worked on)
concludion
Focus: for this assignment the focus is on what you learned/what you need to work on from the components of the class
the focus should be set up in the introduction, and each paragraph should connect to/develop the focus in a slightly different way
Development: should include evidence from your writing/experience connected to the course.
include examples that are presented and then discussed in terms of how they helped (or not) you with your writing
Organization: see genre expectations
organized as an analytic essay (similar to rhetorical analysis assignment)
We then applied this rubric to two sample reflective essays.
You spent the remainder of class working on your reflective essay
For next class: All writing for ythe final reflective essay:
1. brainstorming for reflective essay
2. draft reflective essay
3. plan for revision for reflective essay
4. final reflective essay
In class you can make any final revisions to your reflective essay and post the final version by the end of class.
We will spend the remaining class time strategizing how to write the endpoint essay, and working on the college comp portfolio.
Have a great weekend!
Genre/Audience: genre= analysis, with some elements from response writing (in that you are presenting your personal perspective/reflections); writing should be in academic language and it chould draw from the TS/IS templates.
The overall form is:
intro
- set up focus
- provide background
- state (generally) the findings of your analysis
body paragraphs should present a point by point (one point per paragrph) development of the findings set up in the intro
thelater body paragrapsh should discuss and conflicts/additional points raised by the line of discussion (for exampol, what still needs to be worked on)
concludion
Focus: for this assignment the focus is on what you learned/what you need to work on from the components of the class
the focus should be set up in the introduction, and each paragraph should connect to/develop the focus in a slightly different way
Development: should include evidence from your writing/experience connected to the course.
include examples that are presented and then discussed in terms of how they helped (or not) you with your writing
Organization: see genre expectations
organized as an analytic essay (similar to rhetorical analysis assignment)
We then applied this rubric to two sample reflective essays.
You spent the remainder of class working on your reflective essay
For next class: All writing for ythe final reflective essay:
1. brainstorming for reflective essay
2. draft reflective essay
3. plan for revision for reflective essay
4. final reflective essay
In class you can make any final revisions to your reflective essay and post the final version by the end of class.
We will spend the remaining class time strategizing how to write the endpoint essay, and working on the college comp portfolio.
Have a great weekend!
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
5.5. Finishing up analysis - writing the reflective essay
Analysis unit
All work for the analysis unit should be posted to your portfolio.
Make sure I have access to all of your work. At this point in the term, I think it is fair that if I cannot access your work, it will be marked as not turned in.
I will provide feedback/grades for the analysis unit by May 12
Reflective essay evaluating your progress as a writer for this course
The focus of the reflective essay is on what you learned as a writer over the course of the semester. You will analyze your experience of the different assignments from the course as a way to provide evidence of what you learned about writing and how you learned it.
process for preparing to write this essat:
do some freewriting about your experience of the course
make a list => write down some of the things =
affter you have a list, do some wrting (short paragraphs) about the points on yur list= how they worked (or not); what they helped (or not) you with in your writing process, etc
Brainstorming - some of the things we did + what you learned for this course
Description of the assignment: your essay should set up a focus on what you learned/struggled with/ still need to learn about writing. You need to state this focus (in specific terms) in the introduction, and to use the body of the essay to develop a series of points (with support from your writing/experiences from the course) that develop that focus.
For next class:
All work for the analysis unit should be posted to your portfolio.
Make sure I have access to all of your work. At this point in the term, I think it is fair that if I cannot access your work, it will be marked as not turned in.
I will provide feedback/grades for the analysis unit by May 12
Reflective essay evaluating your progress as a writer for this course
The focus of the reflective essay is on what you learned as a writer over the course of the semester. You will analyze your experience of the different assignments from the course as a way to provide evidence of what you learned about writing and how you learned it.
process for preparing to write this essat:
do some freewriting about your experience of the course
make a list => write down some of the things =
- that you learned
- that were presented in class and you didn't pay too much attention to
- that were repeated/ gone over in every unit
- that you felt were not relevant to your writing needs
- that you resisted - but later found usefl
- etc
affter you have a list, do some wrting (short paragraphs) about the points on yur list= how they worked (or not); what they helped (or not) you with in your writing process, etc
Brainstorming - some of the things we did + what you learned for this course
- Reading strategies
- TS/IS academic language
- templates = language moves + overall forms for different kinds of essays
- using a rubric to anticipate readers evaluation=> to know what the reader (professor) expects in terms of genre, focus, organization, development and correctness
- summary (summaries are selective!) form (state the overall idea then support with appropriate references to main points; don't get lost in the details,
- process for writing summaries : read the whole article; take notes, do some synthesizing (to integrate your ideas) without looking at the text; write main ideas<=>go back to article (this should be a back & forth process => make sure you have enough distance from the article to synthesize/re-group the ideas, but enough closeness to ensure accuracy)
- persuasion: we learned the rhetorical appeals, the importance of AUDIENCE and PURPOSE for your argument, the importance of connecting to your audience's beliefs
- analysis:
- the puzzle allowed us to identify the analytic moves
- Analyzing M. Obama's speech allowed us to see the rhetorical moves in action, and to name them and descrbie what they did
- the presentations using Obama's moves gave a "feel" for how rhetoric worked
- we then analyzed some more essays together for practice figuring out what to say (identifying a theory for how the essay worked) and deciding on the best organization for writing an analytic essay0
- you worked on practice writing, drafting =>with conferences/feedback + in-class discussions
- what you learned from analysis unit: how to read an essay that you are going to analyzie, how to write/organize an analytic essay, how to use prewriting to write an analytic essay.
During the second part of class we looked at the prompt for the College Composition reflective essay, and you spent the rest of class working on your essays.
Description of the assignment: your essay should set up a focus on what you learned/struggled with/ still need to learn about writing. You need to state this focus (in specific terms) in the introduction, and to use the body of the essay to develop a series of points (with support from your writing/experiences from the course) that develop that focus.
For next class:
Write: 1) post the brainstorming for your reflective essay to your portfolio (paste it in to the reflection on course page); 2. post a draft of your reflective essay to your portfolio
In class we will use a rubric to evaluate some sample reflective essays. Then you will have a peer workshop on your reflective essay draft.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
4.30 Portfolio for college comp + reflective writing for rhetorical analysis essay
During the first part of class you set up the portfolio for the College Composition assessment of your work. You set the permissions to "private" and invited both me and collcomp@kean.edu to view. The template for the portfolio is posted at Sample Portfolio to the right.
This portfolio differs from the portfolio we have been using for class in that:
1. It contains much less of your writing (read the pages in the sample portfolio to see what to post).
2. You will paste your work on the page, rather than attaching it.
I received an invitation from every student present in class, and all the portfolios I checked where formatted correctly.
Reflective writing for analysis essay
We spent the rest of class working on the reflective writing for the rhetorical analysis essay. We looked at the assignment sheet and I emphasized that this should be an essay. The list of questions is a set of prompts to help you think about what you will write. Your essay should have a focus and make a point about what you learned. We did some group brainstomring (made a list on the board) for topics you might work with for a focus.
For next class:
Come to class prepared to work on your reflective essay for the course - where you review and assess all of your writing for the course.
Due: all writing for the rhetorical analysis unit. This writing will include the following.
This portfolio differs from the portfolio we have been using for class in that:
1. It contains much less of your writing (read the pages in the sample portfolio to see what to post).
2. You will paste your work on the page, rather than attaching it.
I received an invitation from every student present in class, and all the portfolios I checked where formatted correctly.
Reflective writing for analysis essay
We spent the rest of class working on the reflective writing for the rhetorical analysis essay. We looked at the assignment sheet and I emphasized that this should be an essay. The list of questions is a set of prompts to help you think about what you will write. Your essay should have a focus and make a point about what you learned. We did some group brainstomring (made a list on the board) for topics you might work with for a focus.
For next class:
Come to class prepared to work on your reflective essay for the course - where you review and assess all of your writing for the course.
Due: all writing for the rhetorical analysis unit. This writing will include the following.
300 points total
Homework/practice for Rhetorical nalysis essay (50 points)
List of zinczenko points 3.31 (10 points)
Group document with Z. analysis + organization (post a link to your group, your name shold be on the group document) (10 points)
Homework analysis of Obama 4.2 (10 points)
Group work for Obama analysis + presentation (10 points)
Map of rhetorical moves + plan for essay on Balko 4.13 (10 points)
Process writing for Rhetorical analysis essay (100 point)
Map of rhetorical moves in Warner or Orbach 4.16 (25 points)
4.21 brainstorming (25 points)
draft analysis 4.23 (25 points)
plan for revision 4.28 (25 points)
Final essays (150 points)
Final rhetorical analysis 4.30 (100)
reflective writing on rhetorical analysis essay 4.30 (50 points)
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
4. 28 workshop and plan to revise for analytic essay
Protocol for the workshop
Tell peer any feedback you would like
Tell peer any feedback you would like
Read draft
aloud )can make notes as you read)
Peer, talk
about each of the points below
After
discussion is complete = take a minute to provide written feedback
Post
feedback to your peer at your portfolio as 4.28 peer feedback= be sure to put
the name of the person you are providing feedback for
Questions to discuss in your peer review:
Does the
draft meet the requirements of the assignment?
· Does the draft focus on the
rhetorical effectiveness of the reading?
· Does it discuss audience, organization,
ethos, pathos, & logos?
· Does it relate each rhetorical
element to the focus?
· Does it point out what could work
better?
Genre expectations;
- the essay discusses the rhetorical elements in terms of how they work (relationships); the rhetorical elements are audience, purpose, form, ethos, pathos, logos, etc.
- uses TS/IS language = attributes points from the essay to the author, uses mostly paraphrase, uses quotations when pointing to partiular language, refers to the author using the forms from the summary unit
- has an introduction which sets up the focus, and a conclusion which pulls the essay's together and draws the discussion to a close
Focus:
- sets up a focus on the rhetorical effectiveness of the essay it is analyzing
- takes a position on the essay's effectiveness
- discusses rhetorical elements and their relationships
Organization:
- TS before IS
- logical order = presents background information before analysis
- effectve use of paragraphing (one developed point per paragraph and each point needs to develop the overall focus in a different way)
Development:
- detailed examples/illustrations from the text under analysis to support claims
Write a plan for revision
After you have finished with your peer review, write a plan for revising your essay. In your previous plans for revisions, you listed the issues you needed to work on. For this plan - write a description of the process you will use to work on each issue, point to parts of the reading you will use to develop your essay, discuss why the organization needs to be changed and what changes you will make, etc. This plan for revision does not need to be a polished essay, but it does need to have some detailed discussion of what you will revise, along with why and how you will revise it.
For next class:
Write: Post your peer feedback + your plan for revision to your portfolio. They should be labeled 4.28 Peer feedback, and 4.28 Plan for revision. analysis
In class on Thursday you will create the portolio for the College Composition coordinator. This is a new portfolio, with a slightly different format fromt he portfolio you created for me. We will walk through this process, step by step, in class.
We will also brainstorm and get started on the reflective writing for the analytic essay. This will be very similar to the writing you have done for all the other units, except that this will be a focused, well developed essay. You will need to make a series of claims about what is working and what needs more work, and those claims should be supported by a discussion of/illustrations from your writing process and from your essay. We will work on this in class.
Good work today, and see you on Thursday.
In class on Thursday you will create the portolio for the College Composition coordinator. This is a new portfolio, with a slightly different format fromt he portfolio you created for me. We will walk through this process, step by step, in class.
We will also brainstorm and get started on the reflective writing for the analytic essay. This will be very similar to the writing you have done for all the other units, except that this will be a focused, well developed essay. You will need to make a series of claims about what is working and what needs more work, and those claims should be supported by a discussion of/illustrations from your writing process and from your essay. We will work on this in class.
Good work today, and see you on Thursday.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
4.23 Workshop on analytic essays
In class, we talked a little more about audience analysis. In some cases, you need to do a little research to figure out who the readers for a particular audience might be. For example, for the essay by Judith Warner, we looked at the Pew study of the audience for NYT. The data in this study gave us picture of the identities for the NYT Magazine readers. With this information, we have a better idea of who Warner was writing to.
You spent the rest of class working on your essays, and talking one-on-one with me about how to complete your essay. You all look like you are on the right track. Good work so far!
For next class:
Write: Rough draft for Analytic essay POST YOUR DRAFT TO YOUR PORTFOLIO.
In class we will workshop your essays, and you will write peer reviews for classmates' essays, and based on the workshop and peer feedback = you will write a plan for revising.
Good work today and see you on Tuesday!
You spent the rest of class working on your essays, and talking one-on-one with me about how to complete your essay. You all look like you are on the right track. Good work so far!
For next class:
Write: Rough draft for Analytic essay POST YOUR DRAFT TO YOUR PORTFOLIO.
In class we will workshop your essays, and you will write peer reviews for classmates' essays, and based on the workshop and peer feedback = you will write a plan for revising.
Good work today and see you on Tuesday!
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
4.21 Brainstorming for analytic essay
To get started with this assignment - you needed to choose which essay you were going to analzye => the Warner or the Orbach. We spent the first part of class talking about how to choose a reading which will allow you to write your best essay. You identified a number of factors relevant to the essay you would choose for this assignment.
1. How well you understood the authors ideas and moves. In order to analyze the effectiveness, you have to understand what the essay does and how it does it. If one essay was more clear to you, or if you had a stronger logical explanation for how one worked as opposed to the other - that might be a reason for choosing that essay.
2. Audience. To write this essay you will need to understand the audience's values, beliefs and assumptions. For eacho of these essays you might want to do a little research to make sure you know where and when the essay was published, and who reads that publication. Depending on who you are, you might know more about one of those audiences. Choosing the essay with the audience you are most familiar with (or have the most connection to) is another basis for choosing one essay over the other.
3. Length. Shorter essays allow you to go deep, and provide less to deal with; longer essays provide more material. So whehter you choose the short or the long essay depends on which way you want to go in terms of your analysis.
4. Which essay interested you the most? Always important.
5. Which essay allows you best to demonstrate what is demanded by the assignment?
After we talked about the assignment sheet, you then did some writing about which essay you would choose and why - and then you reported back to the class on what you wrote.
At that point you divided into groups, by essay, and mapped out the essay you chose to write about. You used the following prompts to guide your writing.
Brainstorming for analytic essay.
This writing is your analysis of the essay you will write about. It is a place to explore ideas. Don't edit ideas out! Put all your speculations/ideas about what is happening in each section (and why) on the page.
Break the essay into sections. Sections should be groups of paragraphs directed at meeting a particular rhetorical purpose (setting up the "mood" for the discussion, characterizing the "other side"; establishing definitions, providing background, making a point, summing up what has been said so far + setting up the next section, etc). We did this for the Obama talk, and for Balko. This will give you a "map" of the essay's overall flow or the sequence of what it does (how it affects the audience).
Note the use of ethos, pathos, and logos, as well as the use of particular words and phrases to effect those moves. (We did this in our discussion of Balko - like when we noted his use of the word "we").
Make sure everyone in your group has a link to this work, and that they can edit it.
More brainstorming - deciding what you will say.
Your essay needs to make a statement about the effectiveness of the essay you analyze. This means you have to say what works (or not) and you must provide evidence for why/how it works (or not).
This brainstorming is the place where make a list of points you might make about your essay, along with the evidence you will use to develop a discussion of how that point works. This is exactly what we did in class last week in our discussion of Balko.
Specifically, you were given time to:
1. Do a 10 minute freewrite about how your essay is effective and why. For this writing - just get ideas out there, don't worry about proving them - go from your feelings for now.
2. Make a list of the ideas/points you raised about how/whether your essay works.
For next class:
Write:
1) Post the brainstorming we did in class to your portfolio; This brainstorming should include: the writing about which essay you chose + why, a copy of the group document you created to analyze the moves in your essay, the freewriting, the list. Paste all of this into a single document, label it 4.21brainstorming analysis, and attach it to your portfolio.
2) post a "draft so far" to your portfolio.
In class we will workshop the drafts-so-far and make a plans for finishing these essays.
1. How well you understood the authors ideas and moves. In order to analyze the effectiveness, you have to understand what the essay does and how it does it. If one essay was more clear to you, or if you had a stronger logical explanation for how one worked as opposed to the other - that might be a reason for choosing that essay.
2. Audience. To write this essay you will need to understand the audience's values, beliefs and assumptions. For eacho of these essays you might want to do a little research to make sure you know where and when the essay was published, and who reads that publication. Depending on who you are, you might know more about one of those audiences. Choosing the essay with the audience you are most familiar with (or have the most connection to) is another basis for choosing one essay over the other.
3. Length. Shorter essays allow you to go deep, and provide less to deal with; longer essays provide more material. So whehter you choose the short or the long essay depends on which way you want to go in terms of your analysis.
4. Which essay interested you the most? Always important.
5. Which essay allows you best to demonstrate what is demanded by the assignment?
After we talked about the assignment sheet, you then did some writing about which essay you would choose and why - and then you reported back to the class on what you wrote.
At that point you divided into groups, by essay, and mapped out the essay you chose to write about. You used the following prompts to guide your writing.
Brainstorming for analytic essay.
This writing is your analysis of the essay you will write about. It is a place to explore ideas. Don't edit ideas out! Put all your speculations/ideas about what is happening in each section (and why) on the page.
Break the essay into sections. Sections should be groups of paragraphs directed at meeting a particular rhetorical purpose (setting up the "mood" for the discussion, characterizing the "other side"; establishing definitions, providing background, making a point, summing up what has been said so far + setting up the next section, etc). We did this for the Obama talk, and for Balko. This will give you a "map" of the essay's overall flow or the sequence of what it does (how it affects the audience).
Note the use of ethos, pathos, and logos, as well as the use of particular words and phrases to effect those moves. (We did this in our discussion of Balko - like when we noted his use of the word "we").
Make sure everyone in your group has a link to this work, and that they can edit it.
More brainstorming - deciding what you will say.
Your essay needs to make a statement about the effectiveness of the essay you analyze. This means you have to say what works (or not) and you must provide evidence for why/how it works (or not).
This brainstorming is the place where make a list of points you might make about your essay, along with the evidence you will use to develop a discussion of how that point works. This is exactly what we did in class last week in our discussion of Balko.
Specifically, you were given time to:
1. Do a 10 minute freewrite about how your essay is effective and why. For this writing - just get ideas out there, don't worry about proving them - go from your feelings for now.
2. Make a list of the ideas/points you raised about how/whether your essay works.
For next class:
Write:
1) Post the brainstorming we did in class to your portfolio; This brainstorming should include: the writing about which essay you chose + why, a copy of the group document you created to analyze the moves in your essay, the freewriting, the list. Paste all of this into a single document, label it 4.21brainstorming analysis, and attach it to your portfolio.
2) post a "draft so far" to your portfolio.
In class we will workshop the drafts-so-far and make a plans for finishing these essays.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
4.16 Planning an essay for the Rhetorical Analysis assignment
Overview of moves in Balko
audience + purpose: rallying readers of cato.org (group that already agrees with him) to the cause of defeating health care legislation
presents the other side’s arugment +> we need to have voverernment regulation of food
his side: no one between you and your waistline (this is not really what he argues = his real argument is directed toward health care, not regulating food choices)
use of the term “pep rally”
2. facts - about what the other side has done/tried to do
this information is presented more neutrally
ethos = I am objective
3. states his position in detail
on the surface this is logical, presents himself as the logical analyst
4.point: too much responsiility by government for our own health weight
logos based paragraph , again, “objective report on government
5. we’re becoming less responsible
examples in terms of “you” and “me” - pathos=> this is making us behave this way
6. logic -if 4+5 then we will be OK with “socialistic” healthcare => sets us up to go along with laws to restrict other consumer choices (but none of the examples have anything to do with healthcare)
7. All these initiat ives are about taking responsibility away from the individual
8 his soultion = no “public” restrictions on what we ead (? gov has not proposed this
use of words “ownership /privacy socialism = pathos move
9 sum up his argument = about healthcare!
10 return to use of “we” = pathos move =>enlists audience in his position
Plan for a rhetorical analysis essay on Balko (to meet the requirements of this unit's assignment)
Each numbered point may take one or more paragraphs. The numbers are to indicate the overall organization.
1. Introduction
name the essay + author
present the They Say=> an overview of the the author's focus /purpose
identify the audience
state your assessement of the essay's rhetorical effectiveness + indication of points to support this assessment (your thesis)
2. In-depth development of features of the audience = their values, expectations and how they connect to the author's purpose
(Body of the essay = your argument for why Balko's essay is successful - or not- with his audience)
3. He argues an issue which is important to his audience
4. he uses pathos successfully (couples moves which connect to readers' values wth his logos, uses words which his readers will react to : individual, socialism, pep rally, ownership etc
5. uses logos to give the audience a logical frame for the connections between increased gov regulation, personal responsiblity, and funding for healthcare
6. ethos
cites facts/demonstrates awareness of current issues to establish himself as an authority
uses "we" to establish himself as an insider
7. critical evaluation = points about what does not work so well
this argument may not be so effective with outsiders because of the distance between of the examples in the argument (about market control) and the point he is arguing (about healthcare)
8. conclusion = sum up what works, what doesn't work + why
Here is the list of criteria we made for assessing how well essays for the assignment were doing:
Genre expectations;
Focus:
Organization:
Development:
Here is the list of criteria we made for assessing how well essays for the assignment were doing:
Genre expectations;
- the essay discusses the rhetorical elements in terms of how they work (relationships); the rhetorical elements are audience, purpose, form, ethos, pathos, logos, etc.
- uses TS/IS language = attributes points from the essay to the author, uses mostly paraphrase, uses quotations when pointing to partiular language, refers to the author using the forms from the summary unit
- has an introduction which sets up the focus, and a conclusion which pulls the essay's together and draws the discussion to a close
Focus:
- sets up a focus on the rhetorical effectiveness of the essay it is analyzing
- takes a position on the essay's effectiveness
- discusses rhetorical elements and their relationships
Organization:
- TS before IS
- logical order = presents background information before analysis
- effectve use of paragraphing (one developed point per paragraph and each point needs to develop the overall focus in a different way)
Development:
- detailed examples/illustrations from the text under analysis to support claims
For next class:
Read: choose either Warner or Orbach for the focus of your rhetorical analysis
Write: Map of your essay's argument (as we did for Obama + Balko)
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
4.14.15 Presentation + analysis if Balko
Obama presentations: You gave your panel presentations on Obama - and they were great! We gave feedback in class. Overall observations: the personal stories were what stood out as most convincing; Obama's order => connecting to audience (identifying with the group); presenting a story-based version of the problem and identifying it as a SHARED problem, followed by a logos/information centered presentation of the problem's solution, followed by a ethos-pathos based conclusion= a good strategy for convincing an audience who may not necessarily connect to your values/position at the outset.
Analysis of Balko. The second half of class was devoted to analyzing Balko's essay, which takes on a very different kind of a rhetorical task. His essay is directed toward an audience who already shares his belief in minimizing government regulation, and his task is to rally that audience around an argument to establish the truth of their position.
We analyzed the first two paragraphs of Balko's essay together. We noted the content of the paragraph, the purpose that content served in his overall argumet, and what language or "moves" he made to accomplish that purpose.
After analyzing the first two paragraphs, we looked at the assignment sheet and noted the list of features you needed to discuss in your essay. The assignment sheet requires you to develop a rhetorical analysis which
Analysis of Balko. The second half of class was devoted to analyzing Balko's essay, which takes on a very different kind of a rhetorical task. His essay is directed toward an audience who already shares his belief in minimizing government regulation, and his task is to rally that audience around an argument to establish the truth of their position.
We analyzed the first two paragraphs of Balko's essay together. We noted the content of the paragraph, the purpose that content served in his overall argumet, and what language or "moves" he made to accomplish that purpose.
After analyzing the first two paragraphs, we looked at the assignment sheet and noted the list of features you needed to discuss in your essay. The assignment sheet requires you to develop a rhetorical analysis which
- characterizes the reading’s audience (who will read/respond to it);
- describes the reading’s purpose (what it was written to accomplish);
- characterizes how the reading’s overall form works to achieve its purpose;
- characterizes how the author uses ethos, pathos, and logos to achieve the reading’s purpose;
- evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the reading (how well it achieves its purpose);
- and suggests how the reading might be improved
- describes the reading’s purpose (what it was written to accomplish);
- characterizes how the reading’s overall form works to achieve its purpose;
- characterizes how the author uses ethos, pathos, and logos to achieve the reading’s purpose;
- evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the reading (how well it achieves its purpose);
- and suggests how the reading might be improved
During the rest of class, you worked on analyzing all 10 paragraphs of Balko's essay using the approach we used together for the first two paragraphs, and doing some writing based on that analysis to answer the questions required by the essay.
For next class:
Write: 1) map out the order for an rhetorical analysis of Balko which meets the criteria for the assignmet sheet; 2) using your invention writing for the 6 points listed above, map out a rough draft for a rhetorical analysis of Balko
In our next class - we will look at sample rhetorical analysis essays and evaluate them, and you write a discussion of what you would need to do to "finish" the rough draft you mapped out for homework.
Thursday, April 9, 2015
4.9 Work on rhetorical analysis presentations
You spent class today working on your rhetorical analysis of Obama's speech, and developing your presentation to your target group where you will make moves which parallel the rhetoric of Obama's talk.
We started class by reviewing the rhetorical structure of Obama's talk (check out the previous blog post). You then added the following to the google.doc where you posted this analysis:
You then spent the remainder of class working on the script for your presentation. MAKE SURE TO PARALLEL THE MOVES FROM OBAMA's TALK. That is the point of this assignment.
For next class:
Write: Complete your script, come to class prepared to "perform" your presentation.
We started class by reviewing the rhetorical structure of Obama's talk (check out the previous blog post). You then added the following to the google.doc where you posted this analysis:
- a detailed description of the group you will talk to. For example, not just "high school students" => name the High School, and write down some of the features of the students. Are the serious students or more interested in socializing, having a good time? What kinds of careers do they expect? What kinds of families do they come from? What do they think is "cool" and what is not? This description will help you plan the parts of your script where you appeal to your audience's values.
- a detailed description of your purpose. What are you going to persuade this audience of? Obama had particular programs she was promoting. What is your program? How does it connect to your audience's values
- a description of your group. Who will each of you be? What is your role in the presentation.
You then spent the remainder of class working on the script for your presentation. MAKE SURE TO PARALLEL THE MOVES FROM OBAMA's TALK. That is the point of this assignment.
For next class:
Write: Complete your script, come to class prepared to "perform" your presentation.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
4.7 Rhetorical Analysis Presentations
Today we reviewed the assignment sheet for the rhetorical analysis assignment, and then we spent the rest of class working on a working on a detailed analysis of Obama's speech to the NAACP in terms of the content, the rhetorical moves she made, and the function of each move - paragraph by paragraph, and move by move.
Overview of the moves + functions of the moves in Obama's speech to the NAACP
1. opening
thanks (par1-6) thanks individuals (members of organization=> =connect to her target audience, first)
building connections to the audience (par 7-10) discusses history of organization + its audience; pay attention to her use of "we" and "you" => "we" emphasizes connection, "you" acknowledges the work + accomplishments of the group
setting up focus in general (11-14) charges the group with "more to do" to achieve equality + good lives => for our children (introduces focus on children)
setting up focus in terms of health + obesity + kids(15-19) problem with obsesity for kids = important the way they feel = health risks
re-state focus in terms of organization's interests (20-21) African American community + the work of the NAACP
2. body of argument
i. first point of argument (25-42)= the culture of activity and eating is different for kids today than it was for us
her generation/ AA culture in terms of activity (25-30) use of "we" => connects to group
her generation/ culture of eating (31-36) use of "we"
what it is like for kids (then AA kids) in terms of activity and eating (37-42)
ii. second point (43 -47 ) these changes are resulting in health issues, connects to NAACP's agenda
iii. Obama's agenda => (48-74) what she proposes to do about these problems (her agenda)
Let's move program
(48-50) defines objectives
(51) identifies partners/stakeholders (interested parties)
(53-74) sets up the 4 components of the program (orients the audience to what she will say) and then discusses them one by one : the general pattern she uses to discuss each component is to state what the component does, give an example, describe the legislation associated with the component's objectives, identify partners, and transition to the next component.
For the fourth component, she gave much more background material (proof) that this last component was necessary (so if you have a point that your audience won't understand or connect to => give background)
(75-86) sets forward ways to change at the individual level, she moves from general statements to specific examples, then a transition . covers let's cook, breast feeding + WIC (3 ways individuals can act + government helps)
87 need to look at our own habits
88 set examples
89-91 community examples
92 transition to conclusion
iv Conclusion
94-104 connects back to NAACp history (you can do this because you have done this kind of work many times before => a series of examples)
105 Final appeal for Obama's agenda
Map of Obama's moves
1. Opening: connects to audience through thanking group for their attention to her, using we, acknowledging group's accomplishments, setting up focus in general way, connecting general focus to the group's agenda. Comparison of "us" (generation/group seeking to address the problem) and "them" (generation with the problem) as transition to set up her agenda for solving the problem.
2. Body: sets up her agenda in a general way, then in a specific way.
i. Let's Move.
defines plan, breaks into components (sets up overall argument => tells how many points)
in the description of individual components, she describes each component in terms of what it does, how it connects to her actions (government), how to and who can support her actions; transition to next component. She gives history (additional persuasive facts/context) for any point that might be difficult for the audience to understand.
ii. individual and community actions.
3. Conclusion
connects back to group's agenda, identity + history
restates her request for action.
Assignment for next class.
For the last part of class, you chose an audience and a purpose for an argument you would make to the class in the form of a presentation. Your argument's purpose + audience should be chosen so that they "fit" with the form of Obama's argument.
Groups + their (so far) audience + argument:
1. Yun, Esther, Erika, Steven
2. Selena, Diego, Samir, Tajanik
3. Rana, Aguida, Isaiah, Haley
4. Jasmin, Natalie, Ashton, Darian, Bryan
For next class: Each group will write a script for a speech, addressed to their chosen audience, to persuade them of their "agenda", using the form or moves in the order set forward in Michelle Obama's talk to the NAACP.
For sample presentations, see Rhetorical Analysis Presentations from last semester
During the first part of class, you will be able to "polish"/go over the script. During the second part of class, you will "perform" your scripts. All group members should have a role for the performance (we will talk about this in class).
Overview of the moves + functions of the moves in Obama's speech to the NAACP
1. opening
thanks (par1-6) thanks individuals (members of organization=> =connect to her target audience, first)
building connections to the audience (par 7-10) discusses history of organization + its audience; pay attention to her use of "we" and "you" => "we" emphasizes connection, "you" acknowledges the work + accomplishments of the group
setting up focus in general (11-14) charges the group with "more to do" to achieve equality + good lives => for our children (introduces focus on children)
setting up focus in terms of health + obesity + kids(15-19) problem with obsesity for kids = important the way they feel = health risks
re-state focus in terms of organization's interests (20-21) African American community + the work of the NAACP
2. body of argument
i. first point of argument (25-42)= the culture of activity and eating is different for kids today than it was for us
her generation/ AA culture in terms of activity (25-30) use of "we" => connects to group
her generation/ culture of eating (31-36) use of "we"
what it is like for kids (then AA kids) in terms of activity and eating (37-42)
ii. second point (43 -47 ) these changes are resulting in health issues, connects to NAACP's agenda
iii. Obama's agenda => (48-74) what she proposes to do about these problems (her agenda)
Let's move program
(48-50) defines objectives
(51) identifies partners/stakeholders (interested parties)
(53-74) sets up the 4 components of the program (orients the audience to what she will say) and then discusses them one by one : the general pattern she uses to discuss each component is to state what the component does, give an example, describe the legislation associated with the component's objectives, identify partners, and transition to the next component.
For the fourth component, she gave much more background material (proof) that this last component was necessary (so if you have a point that your audience won't understand or connect to => give background)
(75-86) sets forward ways to change at the individual level, she moves from general statements to specific examples, then a transition . covers let's cook, breast feeding + WIC (3 ways individuals can act + government helps)
87 need to look at our own habits
88 set examples
89-91 community examples
92 transition to conclusion
iv Conclusion
94-104 connects back to NAACp history (you can do this because you have done this kind of work many times before => a series of examples)
105 Final appeal for Obama's agenda
Map of Obama's moves
1. Opening: connects to audience through thanking group for their attention to her, using we, acknowledging group's accomplishments, setting up focus in general way, connecting general focus to the group's agenda. Comparison of "us" (generation/group seeking to address the problem) and "them" (generation with the problem) as transition to set up her agenda for solving the problem.
2. Body: sets up her agenda in a general way, then in a specific way.
i. Let's Move.
defines plan, breaks into components (sets up overall argument => tells how many points)
in the description of individual components, she describes each component in terms of what it does, how it connects to her actions (government), how to and who can support her actions; transition to next component. She gives history (additional persuasive facts/context) for any point that might be difficult for the audience to understand.
ii. individual and community actions.
3. Conclusion
connects back to group's agenda, identity + history
restates her request for action.
Assignment for next class.
For the last part of class, you chose an audience and a purpose for an argument you would make to the class in the form of a presentation. Your argument's purpose + audience should be chosen so that they "fit" with the form of Obama's argument.
Groups + their (so far) audience + argument:
1. Yun, Esther, Erika, Steven
2. Selena, Diego, Samir, Tajanik
3. Rana, Aguida, Isaiah, Haley
4. Jasmin, Natalie, Ashton, Darian, Bryan
For next class: Each group will write a script for a speech, addressed to their chosen audience, to persuade them of their "agenda", using the form or moves in the order set forward in Michelle Obama's talk to the NAACP.
For sample presentations, see Rhetorical Analysis Presentations from last semester
During the first part of class, you will be able to "polish"/go over the script. During the second part of class, you will "perform" your scripts. All group members should have a role for the performance (we will talk about this in class).
Thursday, April 2, 2015
4.2 Planning for the rhetorical analysis assignment
In class today you worked in groups to analyze and plan an essay David Zinczenko's "Don't Blame the Eater."
You started by working in groups to confer on the characterization of the rhetorical moves you wrote for homework. After you had a list of what moves Z. made, paragraph by paragraph, you answered 3 questions.
1. What moves does Zinczenko make and where (characterize the pattern for his use of ethos, pathos, and logos)?
2. Which moves are effective and why?
3. Is Zinczenko's essay effective for its audience and purpose?
After talking trhough your analyses of Z's essay and your assessment of its effectiveness- we noted that the way to "prove" that the essay was effective (or not) was to describe how he used ethos, pathos, and logos - and to state why and how each of those moves was effective. If the essay makes effective use of ethos, pathos, and logos for its audience & purpose => then it is effective.
Assignment sheet for the Rhetorical Analysis project. We then looked at the rhetorical analysis assignment and notices that this assignment asks writers to do exactly the kind of evaluation /analysis that we have just done. Because you cannot write the essay until after you have spent considerable time analyzing the essay, and because there are so many demands/criteria stated on the assignment sheet - we suggested the following process of writing this assignment.
1. read the essay
2. write a paragraph by paragraph analysis of how the essay uses the rhetorical elements (see list from last class)
3. do some drafty writing (answer the 3 questions above in some detail) to develop your ideas about how the essay uses the rhetorical elements
4. create a map for your essay (list the order of the points you will make in the intro, body, and conclusion of your essay)
5. draft your essay
6. workshop/make a plan for revising/revise your essay
7. revise again if necessary
8. turn in final draft
You spent the last part of class working in groups to create a "map" for an essay on Zinczenko. This map should list the points you will cover, in the order you will cover them. We talked in some detail about the points you could make in the introduction. And we suggested that the organization of the body might be in terms of a paragraph by pargraphy or section by section discussion of the essay's use of ethos, pathos, and logos; or it could be a point by point discussion of how (and where) the author uses the 3 rhetorical elements. As we noted, there were lots of choices for how to organize an essay that would cover all of the requirements listed on the assignment sheet => and that is why it is important to map out a plan before starting to write. You might not use the exact plan you come up with, but your plan will be a point of reference - so you can make sure you are writing to the assignment.
Good work today!
For next class:
Read: Michelle Obama's essay, p. 417.
Write: make a list (briefly and in some cases by section) of the order of Obama's rhetorical moves
I will be reviewing the persuasive writing portfolios over the weekened. Make sure all documents, portfolios etc are set so that "anyone with a link" can access the materials. Material which is not accessible to me will be marked as not turned in.
You started by working in groups to confer on the characterization of the rhetorical moves you wrote for homework. After you had a list of what moves Z. made, paragraph by paragraph, you answered 3 questions.
1. What moves does Zinczenko make and where (characterize the pattern for his use of ethos, pathos, and logos)?
2. Which moves are effective and why?
3. Is Zinczenko's essay effective for its audience and purpose?
After talking trhough your analyses of Z's essay and your assessment of its effectiveness- we noted that the way to "prove" that the essay was effective (or not) was to describe how he used ethos, pathos, and logos - and to state why and how each of those moves was effective. If the essay makes effective use of ethos, pathos, and logos for its audience & purpose => then it is effective.
Assignment sheet for the Rhetorical Analysis project. We then looked at the rhetorical analysis assignment and notices that this assignment asks writers to do exactly the kind of evaluation /analysis that we have just done. Because you cannot write the essay until after you have spent considerable time analyzing the essay, and because there are so many demands/criteria stated on the assignment sheet - we suggested the following process of writing this assignment.
1. read the essay
2. write a paragraph by paragraph analysis of how the essay uses the rhetorical elements (see list from last class)
3. do some drafty writing (answer the 3 questions above in some detail) to develop your ideas about how the essay uses the rhetorical elements
4. create a map for your essay (list the order of the points you will make in the intro, body, and conclusion of your essay)
5. draft your essay
6. workshop/make a plan for revising/revise your essay
7. revise again if necessary
8. turn in final draft
You spent the last part of class working in groups to create a "map" for an essay on Zinczenko. This map should list the points you will cover, in the order you will cover them. We talked in some detail about the points you could make in the introduction. And we suggested that the organization of the body might be in terms of a paragraph by pargraphy or section by section discussion of the essay's use of ethos, pathos, and logos; or it could be a point by point discussion of how (and where) the author uses the 3 rhetorical elements. As we noted, there were lots of choices for how to organize an essay that would cover all of the requirements listed on the assignment sheet => and that is why it is important to map out a plan before starting to write. You might not use the exact plan you come up with, but your plan will be a point of reference - so you can make sure you are writing to the assignment.
Good work today!
For next class:
Read: Michelle Obama's essay, p. 417.
Write: make a list (briefly and in some cases by section) of the order of Obama's rhetorical moves
I will be reviewing the persuasive writing portfolios over the weekened. Make sure all documents, portfolios etc are set so that "anyone with a link" can access the materials. Material which is not accessible to me will be marked as not turned in.
"maps" for rhetorical analysis of Zinczenko
Group 1
Planning :
● summarize essay
● introduction
● who is the audience (urban professionals and middle age men)
● purpose
● give statement about if essay is effective
● where he uses pathos ( give example )
● where he uses ethos ( give example )
● where he uses logos ( give example )
Group 2
Planning :
● summarize essay
● introduction
● who is the audience (urban professionals and middle age men)
● purpose
● give statement about if essay is effective
● where he uses pathos ( give example )
● where he uses ethos ( give example )
● where he uses logos ( give example )
Group 2
- Based on David Zinczenko text “Don’t Blame the Eater” he discusses his belief how its the fast food industry fault for the numerous health hazards and obesity. He argues that nobody takes personal responsibility for theses accounts. His audience relates to a more adult audience for these are facts and factors adults will take into consideration rather than children.
- Throughout the passage of his text he mentions his own personal experience and discusses his own struggles. Such as growing up dealing with childhood obesity and he does his best to connect to the reader. as well state facts how fast food industry can be harmful makes his readers be alarmed.
- David Zinczenko says- page- 392 “ By age 15, i had packed 212 pounds of torpid teenage tallow on my once lanky 5-foot 10 frame.
- David Zinczenko says-page-393 “ prepares aren’t covered under food and drug Administration labeling laws. Some fast-food purveyors will provide calorie information on request, but even that can be hard to understand.
- In summation David Zinczenko allows his readers to understand their struggle with the food industry with in own struggle. As well gives insight how the food industry is to blame for health hazards gives examples and facts on how and why.
Rhetorical analysis
Group 1
1 pathos : he is being sarcastic , joking around, trying to get the readers attention in a
way that is not serious and drastic.
2 pathos : he is giving his personal story.
3 logos : he is talking about logistics of diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
4 logos : he is talking about the cost of diabetes.
5 ethos : he is being knowledgeable about the location and marketing of fast food and
healthy food and where their stores are located.
6 ethos : he is giving information about false advertising and how some places don't
show calorie count .
7 ethos : he is giving information about food and how much calories they contain.
8 pathos : he is making fast food restaurants look bad and trying to get the audience on
his side.
9 ethos : he is giving information and warning his audience from fast food restaurant
and how they don't put labels.
*It is borderline effective because the targeted audience has mixed views.
*He uses pathos in the first paragraph, by being sarcastic to grab his audiences
attention.
*His ethos and logos moves were the most effective because he gives more information
and is a lot more appealing to his audience.
Group 2
1 pathos : he is being sarcastic , joking around, trying to get the readers attention in a
way that is not serious and drastic.
2 pathos : he is giving his personal story.
3 logos : he is talking about logistics of diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
4 logos : he is talking about the cost of diabetes.
5 ethos : he is being knowledgeable about the location and marketing of fast food and
healthy food and where their stores are located.
6 ethos : he is giving information about false advertising and how some places don't
show calorie count .
7 ethos : he is giving information about food and how much calories they contain.
8 pathos : he is making fast food restaurants look bad and trying to get the audience on
his side.
9 ethos : he is giving information and warning his audience from fast food restaurant
and how they don't put labels.
*It is borderline effective because the targeted audience has mixed views.
*He uses pathos in the first paragraph, by being sarcastic to grab his audiences
attention.
*His ethos and logos moves were the most effective because he gives more information
and is a lot more appealing to his audience.
Group 2
1.Ethos-establishes credibility with reader using Porshe argument
2.Ethos-tells the reader he understands because he was one of them
3.Pathos-gives background on his story
4.Pathos-more info on his back story
5.Logos-gives facts, stamtements
6.Logos-more facts
7.Logos/Ethos-gives logical reasoning and also tries to convince reader
8.Log0s-Gives logical reasoning behind advertisement of fast food
9.Logos-Facts on calorie intake
10.Ethos-tries to get you to sympathize with people making lawsuits
11.Ethos-makes reader think more about the issue being written
Is this essay effective for its audience and purpose?
Yes, because it can help parents, as example, to realize what it going on in fast-food business. Yes, because he uses vertain examples to get the reader to sympathize and think about the issue. He tries to persuade the reader to maybe think about helping promote better health.
What moves does he make? Where?
He utilizes both pathos and ethos to help convince reader and bring emotion out of reader. He also uses logos to help elaborate what he says with ethos/pathos. For example, paragraph 9 he gives examples about the calorie intake and warnings as to convince the reader.
Which moves do you think are most effective?
The moves that are most effective, in our opinion, is ethos. The use of ethos helps convince the reader and get them, in the least, interested.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
3.31 Rhetorical analysis!
Rhetorical elements
focus organization development position
ethos pathos logos
audience
purpose
TS/IS academic language
Analytic process
1. Identify the problem you are trying to solve.
2. Identify and classify (describe what they do) the elements of the problem
3. orientation of the problem = how to look at, understand the relationships among the elements. For the puzzle, we had to decide what direction to "read" the patterns.
3. Look for local patterns (relationships among the elements)
4. test/try out local patters to see if the "fit" into the larger pattern presented by the problem as a whole, and whether they will "work" to generate additional cases in the larger pattern
5. compare/look for existing patterns or models which might "explain" your problem (for example - we used relationships among the counting numbers, 1,2, 3. . as a model for the problem presented in the puzzle)
6. pose and test a global pattern or theory to answer the problem
Rhetorical analysis.
For rhetorical analysis, the problem you are trying to "solve" is located in the question: how does this essay work? how does the author use each of the rhetorical elements to achieve his/her focus ? which elements are successful? How do all the elements work together?
To answer this question, you must first identify the audience and purpose of the writing. This corresponds to understanding the "orientation" of the piece. Who will be reading this essay? What are their values and believes? We need to know the audience and purpose of an essay so we can understand how the author's ideas, language and rhetorical moves will be received.
For next class:
Read: Zinczenko's essay "Don't Blame the Eater"
Write: 1) Finish your reflective essay and post it to the portfolio. All writing for the persuasive writing unit is due on Thursday.
2) Write a paragraph by paragraph rhetorical analysis of "Don't Blame the Eater" and post it to your blog.
You did a great job on the analysis puzzle! Good class today and see you on Thursday.
focus organization development position
ethos pathos logos
audience
purpose
TS/IS academic language
Analytic process
1. Identify the problem you are trying to solve.
2. Identify and classify (describe what they do) the elements of the problem
3. orientation of the problem = how to look at, understand the relationships among the elements. For the puzzle, we had to decide what direction to "read" the patterns.
3. Look for local patterns (relationships among the elements)
4. test/try out local patters to see if the "fit" into the larger pattern presented by the problem as a whole, and whether they will "work" to generate additional cases in the larger pattern
5. compare/look for existing patterns or models which might "explain" your problem (for example - we used relationships among the counting numbers, 1,2, 3. . as a model for the problem presented in the puzzle)
6. pose and test a global pattern or theory to answer the problem
Rhetorical analysis.
For rhetorical analysis, the problem you are trying to "solve" is located in the question: how does this essay work? how does the author use each of the rhetorical elements to achieve his/her focus ? which elements are successful? How do all the elements work together?
To answer this question, you must first identify the audience and purpose of the writing. This corresponds to understanding the "orientation" of the piece. Who will be reading this essay? What are their values and believes? We need to know the audience and purpose of an essay so we can understand how the author's ideas, language and rhetorical moves will be received.
For next class:
Read: Zinczenko's essay "Don't Blame the Eater"
Write: 1) Finish your reflective essay and post it to the portfolio. All writing for the persuasive writing unit is due on Thursday.
2) Write a paragraph by paragraph rhetorical analysis of "Don't Blame the Eater" and post it to your blog.
You did a great job on the analysis puzzle! Good class today and see you on Thursday.
Writing due for persuasive essay unit
practice argument for King 2.26
practice argument (2 page minimum) 3.3
brainstorm persuasive essay 3.12
draft persuasive essay 3.24
plan to revise persuasive essay (3.26)
final persuasive essay 3.31
reflection on persuasive essay 4.2
Thursday, March 26, 2015
3.26 Essays for Analysis Unit + Workshop on persuasive writing
We took a quick look at the assignment for the analysis unit - so that you had an idea what you would be writing about. The assignment is a rhetorical analysis = where you characterize the audience, purpose and form of a text, and assess its effectiveness in terms of how well it "works."
We chose the following essays:
Zinczenko
Balko
Warner
Obama
Orbach
The rest of class was spent on your drafts for the persuasive essay.
Last class we reviewed the drafts in terms of focus, organization, and development. For today's conferences we checked in on how focus, organization and development were working, and then considered your use of ethos, pathos, and logos; and made sure you met the particular requirements for this assignment.
I didn't spend much time talking to you about your use of academic language (there were enough other issues going on in your essays it seemed like it would be too much), so you should do a final read for language before you turn in your final essays. Those of you who have developed your work through drafts are doing great work! I can see improvement with every revision.
For next class:
Write: Post the final persuasive essay to your portfolio
Come to class prepared to write your reflective essay for the persuasive unit, and we will get started on rhetorical analysis.
We chose the following essays:
Zinczenko
Balko
Warner
Obama
Orbach
The rest of class was spent on your drafts for the persuasive essay.
Last class we reviewed the drafts in terms of focus, organization, and development. For today's conferences we checked in on how focus, organization and development were working, and then considered your use of ethos, pathos, and logos; and made sure you met the particular requirements for this assignment.
I didn't spend much time talking to you about your use of academic language (there were enough other issues going on in your essays it seemed like it would be too much), so you should do a final read for language before you turn in your final essays. Those of you who have developed your work through drafts are doing great work! I can see improvement with every revision.
For next class:
Write: Post the final persuasive essay to your portfolio
Come to class prepared to write your reflective essay for the persuasive unit, and we will get started on rhetorical analysis.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
3.24 Revision Workshop
We started class by talking through a revision strategy for Sample Persuasive essay 1 (posted to the right). This discussion included taking a look at Ch. 7 in TS/IS where the authors point out the importance of presenting your argument in a way which answers the "who cares?" question. After talking through the sample essay, we made a list of our general approach (listed below), and you spent the rest of class working on your essay.
Revision for focus
Revision for focus
Establish the
focus (by reading through entire essay with attention to the set up + conclusion)
Make focus
more detailed => turn it into a thesis
Work on
introductory paragraph
- Make sure set up answers the “so what” question
- Use TS /IS format (TS first= give background before thesis)
- Structure set up so that it maps out (sets up the points in the order you will make them) the essay in a general way
- Conclude set up with a clear state,ment of what you will argue
Go through
the essay paragraph by paragraph to make sure each paragraph makes a point to
develop the focus; if necessary:
- Revise/change focus of existing paragraphs
- Add material (to develop or show how connects to fgocus)
- Break one paragraph into two or more paragraphs
- Change order of the paragraphs
Revision for organization:
Go through
essay again to make sure points are in the same order as the set up and that the set up provides the BEST order
Revision for development:
Go through
to make sure you have evidence for each point
Check with
the assignment sheet to make sure you hit all the requirements (Ethos pathos logos,
etc)
For next class:
Read: review the essays in the fast food unit so we can choose which ones to read for this unit
Write: post to your portfolio 1) plan to revise project 1; 2) any revisions you have made so far (so we can conference on your work for final revision in class on Thursday)
In class on Thursday we will choose essays for the analysis unit, and spend the rest of class on one-on-one conferences so you can finish your persuasive essays (project 1).
For next class:
Read: review the essays in the fast food unit so we can choose which ones to read for this unit
Write: post to your portfolio 1) plan to revise project 1; 2) any revisions you have made so far (so we can conference on your work for final revision in class on Thursday)
In class on Thursday we will choose essays for the analysis unit, and spend the rest of class on one-on-one conferences so you can finish your persuasive essays (project 1).
Thursday, March 12, 2015
3.12 Organization + persuasion
During the first part of class we took a close look at the way Obama organized his argument to soothe the "white" outrage over his connections to Rev. Wright. We noticed that he approached his topic by emphasizing the points of connection with his audience BEFORE dealing with the very conflicted material regarding his pastor's remarks. As in any argument, his target audience was the people who disagreed with him = the people who were angry that Obama would not renounce the Rev. Wright.
As we analyzed the organization and movement of Obama's moves, we noticed that he moved back and forth: from stories, illustrations, examples => to logical, straight forward discussions of how that material connected to his argument. We also noticed that he used transitions when he moved from one focus to the following focus (as when he gave the story about the constitution, and then related it to what he would argue, and then pointed out how his personal story connected to what he would argume and so on).
After the break, we reviewed the overall organization of a persuasive essay, and I spoke with each of you one-on-one about your plans for creating the draft.
For next class:
Read: TS/IS Chapter Seven
Write: Draft for your Persuasive essay. 4 pages minimum.
If you did not post your brainstorming (written to the prompts posted on the 3.10 blog), you were assigned to post that work by the end of class.
As you write your draft, do not worry about correctness or using the right language. The most important thing for you to do is to get your ideas on the page. If you find yourself repeating yourself => do some more freewriting, or go back to the readings for more ideas.
Have a great break and see you on March 24.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
3.10 Preparing to write the persuasive essay
Today's class was focuse on moving us forward so you are ready to write your persuasive essay. Your persuasive essay will focus on the American Dream as it has been discussed by at least one of the 4 authors in your text: King, Thomas, Herbert, & Obama. I previewed the Obama essay, drawing your attention to the different kinds of moves he made (ethos, pathos + logos) and the order in which he made them. I did this in a general way - and you will be reading the essay more carefully and noting the order of his moves in more detail for homework.
Before we got into today's work, we had some general talk about how the form each of the authors used for their argument connected to the genre they were writing for, and the identities of their audience. We noted that King's essay was the most like an academic argument, that Herbert + Thomas were journalists and journalists often write for an audience who is mostly onboard with their views (readers/listerners often choose radio/newspaper/online site that match their views), and that Obama's piece was a talk to the American people as a whole. These are 4 essays in the textbook were produced for very different audiences = and the form each essay took reflects the expectations of those different audiences. One way to thinkabout how best to persuade a particular audience is to analyze the rhetoric (the moves the author needs to make to be convincing) that will get them to "hear" your points. This is called rhetorical analysis - and we will talk about it more in the next unit.
Reading and assessing the assignment.
We officially started class by taking a look at the assignment sheet. We paid particular attention to the description of the assignment + the list of criteria (requirements) for the essay. We then grouped these requirements under the criteria for the writing rubric. Our list of features for assessing this essay was as follows.
1. Genre (30%)
focus is set up in terms of the TS, and presented after a discussion of context
effective use if paraphrase and quotation
each supporting point connects to the overall focus and the TS
language choices from TS/IS text
uses academic moves in terms of referring to TS (other authors) for authority
uses ethos, pathos + logos
2. Focus (25%)
clear statemtn of position
claims which related to that position also clearly stated => each paragraph develops the focus in a different way
the organization (logic of the discussion) develops the fous
the author states the connections between the claims (points to develop the focus) and the development (references to research, personal experience etc which illustrate the points)
3. Organization (20%)
establish context/background FIRST (TS first)
then state focus
then develop a series of points, each of which connects to the focus
naysayer/counter argument, if appropriate (after point countered is presented)
conclusion
4. Development (25%)
connect to at least 3 readings
show/illustrate points
You then looked at the sample argument (posted to the right) and used the criteria above both to evaluate the essay, and to formulate some feedback for what the writer would need to work on to write a stronger essay. You did a great job on this - and your reasoning for why you took points off and what you would suggest the author to work on was excellent. In general, I took off more points off for focus and for organization that did most of the groups - and we had some discussion about why,
After we talked about how to give feedback to this essay, we talked about using Writing rubric categories as a guide for revising draft essays. In general, it is a good idea not to evaluate/or work too hard on "improving" your writing while you are in the drafting stage. After all, it is hard enough to get ideas on the page! So for the draft - just get your ideas out there Once they are on the page, I suggested that you revise for focus, [development, organization] & finally for the language moves/features that will make your essay into "academic writing" = in THAT ORDER, [the brackets suggest that you can switch around development and organization - or go back and forth].
I strongly recommend reading through the entire essay in terms of each category (focus, organization, development, genre) one by one. This will allow you to work on the specific issues in each category without getting overwhelmed. I suggest focus first = because you can't work on much of anything else until you know what you are writing about. It is true that you might go back and do some more work of focus after you have spent some time on development - and that is OK. This is not a rigid list, but rather a kind of general plan.
After you have a clear statement of your focus in the set up, in the conclusion - and as the "frame" for the discussion of your points, you can work on organization and development. For development you will want to do some more brainstorming and drafting, and for organization try out different sequences for your supporting points, look at the internal organization of paragraphs, check for transitions, and so on. Finally, after you have the flesh (development) and bones (organization) of your essay in place => you can make sure they have on the right clothing (genre => language moves etc). We will work more on this as you begin to revise your essays.
Quotation + paraphrasing
We read quickly through the handout (posted to the right) on Quotation & Paraphrase. The important thing to remember is to use quotes sparingly and for a particular focus. The handout identifies the appropriate uses of quotation. For everything else = you should paraphrase. I didn't spend much time on formatting (we didn't have much time!) but fortunately, The Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) has the answers to just about any question you could ask. If you can't find what you want to know there - the Kean University Writing Center has some excellent writing coaches who can talk you through.
Thomas & Herbert
We didn't get to talk throug/review Thomas - so we will catch up with this on Thursday as you get ready to write your draft.
For next class:
Read: Barak Obama's essay in TS/IS. We talked through the main points and identified some of the major ethos, pathos, & logos moves he makes. As you read, notice: where he makes each ethos, pathos + logos move.
Write: Brainstorm ideas for your persuasive essay. Post your brainstorming to the persuasive essay page on your portfolio.
Suggestions for brainstorming process:
1. Start with freewriting or something to open you up/turn off your editor. Freewrite about the different readings, points from the readings that interested you, anything you think about the american dream, connections between your ideas and the readings, your experiences/observations related to the american dream, and so on. Anything you can think of. You don't need to be coherent or have good punctuation = just get it on the page. If it comes out as a list, that work, but try adding as many details as you can. Don't correct anything and done delete anything.
2. Read through your freewriting and mark anything that looks interesting. Make a list of ideas.
3. Go back to the readings to check what you remembered, see if there is anything else that interests you. Add to your list.
4. Try out some thesis statements for a couple of the ideas on the list. Write them a couple times in different language. See what happens.
5. Identify your favorite ideas and think about which one would be easiest for you to write.
6. List the points you would use to develop one or more of the ideas you have on the lsits from 4 & 5.
You will probably want something close to a page or more of writing in order to get enough material to work with.
In class, we will go over the analysis of Obama, check in on Herbert + Thomas, and review the overall organization for an academic argument.
You will spend the rest of class mapping out /planning your essay, and getting started on your draft.
Before we got into today's work, we had some general talk about how the form each of the authors used for their argument connected to the genre they were writing for, and the identities of their audience. We noted that King's essay was the most like an academic argument, that Herbert + Thomas were journalists and journalists often write for an audience who is mostly onboard with their views (readers/listerners often choose radio/newspaper/online site that match their views), and that Obama's piece was a talk to the American people as a whole. These are 4 essays in the textbook were produced for very different audiences = and the form each essay took reflects the expectations of those different audiences. One way to thinkabout how best to persuade a particular audience is to analyze the rhetoric (the moves the author needs to make to be convincing) that will get them to "hear" your points. This is called rhetorical analysis - and we will talk about it more in the next unit.
Reading and assessing the assignment.
We officially started class by taking a look at the assignment sheet. We paid particular attention to the description of the assignment + the list of criteria (requirements) for the essay. We then grouped these requirements under the criteria for the writing rubric. Our list of features for assessing this essay was as follows.
1. Genre (30%)
focus is set up in terms of the TS, and presented after a discussion of context
effective use if paraphrase and quotation
each supporting point connects to the overall focus and the TS
language choices from TS/IS text
uses academic moves in terms of referring to TS (other authors) for authority
uses ethos, pathos + logos
2. Focus (25%)
clear statemtn of position
claims which related to that position also clearly stated => each paragraph develops the focus in a different way
the organization (logic of the discussion) develops the fous
the author states the connections between the claims (points to develop the focus) and the development (references to research, personal experience etc which illustrate the points)
3. Organization (20%)
establish context/background FIRST (TS first)
then state focus
then develop a series of points, each of which connects to the focus
naysayer/counter argument, if appropriate (after point countered is presented)
conclusion
4. Development (25%)
connect to at least 3 readings
show/illustrate points
You then looked at the sample argument (posted to the right) and used the criteria above both to evaluate the essay, and to formulate some feedback for what the writer would need to work on to write a stronger essay. You did a great job on this - and your reasoning for why you took points off and what you would suggest the author to work on was excellent. In general, I took off more points off for focus and for organization that did most of the groups - and we had some discussion about why,
After we talked about how to give feedback to this essay, we talked about using Writing rubric categories as a guide for revising draft essays. In general, it is a good idea not to evaluate/or work too hard on "improving" your writing while you are in the drafting stage. After all, it is hard enough to get ideas on the page! So for the draft - just get your ideas out there Once they are on the page, I suggested that you revise for focus, [development, organization] & finally for the language moves/features that will make your essay into "academic writing" = in THAT ORDER, [the brackets suggest that you can switch around development and organization - or go back and forth].
I strongly recommend reading through the entire essay in terms of each category (focus, organization, development, genre) one by one. This will allow you to work on the specific issues in each category without getting overwhelmed. I suggest focus first = because you can't work on much of anything else until you know what you are writing about. It is true that you might go back and do some more work of focus after you have spent some time on development - and that is OK. This is not a rigid list, but rather a kind of general plan.
After you have a clear statement of your focus in the set up, in the conclusion - and as the "frame" for the discussion of your points, you can work on organization and development. For development you will want to do some more brainstorming and drafting, and for organization try out different sequences for your supporting points, look at the internal organization of paragraphs, check for transitions, and so on. Finally, after you have the flesh (development) and bones (organization) of your essay in place => you can make sure they have on the right clothing (genre => language moves etc). We will work more on this as you begin to revise your essays.
Quotation + paraphrasing
We read quickly through the handout (posted to the right) on Quotation & Paraphrase. The important thing to remember is to use quotes sparingly and for a particular focus. The handout identifies the appropriate uses of quotation. For everything else = you should paraphrase. I didn't spend much time on formatting (we didn't have much time!) but fortunately, The Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) has the answers to just about any question you could ask. If you can't find what you want to know there - the Kean University Writing Center has some excellent writing coaches who can talk you through.
Thomas & Herbert
We didn't get to talk throug/review Thomas - so we will catch up with this on Thursday as you get ready to write your draft.
For next class:
Read: Barak Obama's essay in TS/IS. We talked through the main points and identified some of the major ethos, pathos, & logos moves he makes. As you read, notice: where he makes each ethos, pathos + logos move.
Write: Brainstorm ideas for your persuasive essay. Post your brainstorming to the persuasive essay page on your portfolio.
Suggestions for brainstorming process:
1. Start with freewriting or something to open you up/turn off your editor. Freewrite about the different readings, points from the readings that interested you, anything you think about the american dream, connections between your ideas and the readings, your experiences/observations related to the american dream, and so on. Anything you can think of. You don't need to be coherent or have good punctuation = just get it on the page. If it comes out as a list, that work, but try adding as many details as you can. Don't correct anything and done delete anything.
2. Read through your freewriting and mark anything that looks interesting. Make a list of ideas.
3. Go back to the readings to check what you remembered, see if there is anything else that interests you. Add to your list.
4. Try out some thesis statements for a couple of the ideas on the list. Write them a couple times in different language. See what happens.
5. Identify your favorite ideas and think about which one would be easiest for you to write.
6. List the points you would use to develop one or more of the ideas you have on the lsits from 4 & 5.
You will probably want something close to a page or more of writing in order to get enough material to work with.
In class, we will go over the analysis of Obama, check in on Herbert + Thomas, and review the overall organization for an academic argument.
You will spend the rest of class mapping out /planning your essay, and getting started on your draft.
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