6-25-2019 Lesson Plan (WPC)

Intros (10-15 min)

Name

Major / Disciplinary or Professional interests

What was your earliest memory of what you wanted to be when you grew up?

What is the industry you want to work in now (or one you are interested in)?

Course Intro: Professional Writing, Activity, Rhetoric (10-15 min)

Slides are on CourseWeb if you want to follow along there.

Review Syllabus (15 min)

Models/Templates and Rhetoric (10-15 min)

Take a look at the below image. What is the rough “shape” of them all, if you could name it? Can you draw the “universal” that these individual pieces are tokens of? Take 5 minutes to try to name the shape and draw the “universal.” When done, share with a partner.

So that is for the image (or, rather, document design). What about two pieces of text? Here are two examples of writing you might be familiar with.

First:

Enjoying Your Camping Trip

Each year, thousands of people throughout the United States choose to spend their vacations camping in the great outdoors. Depending on an individual’s sense of adventure, there are various types of camping to choose from, including log cabin camping, recreational vehicle camping, and tent camping. Of these, tent camping involves “roughing it” the most, and with proper planning the experience can be gratifying. Even with the best planning, however, tent camping can be an extremely frustrating experience due to uncontrolled factors such as bad weather, wildlife encounters, and equipment failures.

Nothing can dampen the excited anticipation of camping more than a dark, rainy day. Even the most adventurous campers can lose some of their enthusiasm on the drive to the campsite if the skies are dreary and damp. After reaching their destination, campers must then “set up camp” in the downpour. This includes keeping the inside of the tent dry and free from mud, getting the sleeping bags situated dryly, and protecting food from the downpour. If the sleeping bags happen to get wet, the cold also becomes a major factor. A sleeping bag usually provides warmth on a camping trip; a wet sleeping bag provides none. Combining wind with rain can cause frigid temperatures, causing any outside activities to be delayed. Even inside the tent problems may arise due to heavy winds. More than a few campers have had their tents blown down because of the wind, which once again begins the frustrating task of “setting up camp” in the downpour. It is wise to check the weather forecast before embarking on camping trips; however, mother nature is often unpredictable and there is no guarantee bad weather will be eluded.

Another problem likely to be faced during a camping trip is run-ins with wildlife, which can range from mildly annoying to dangerous. Minor inconveniences include mosquitoes and ants. The swarming of mosquitoes can literally drive annoyed campers indoors. If an effective repellant is not used, the camper can spend an interminable night scratching, which will only worsen the itch. Ants do not usually attack campers, but keeping them out of the food can be quite an inconvenience. Extreme care must be taken not to leave food out before or after meals. If food is stored inside the tent, the tent must never be left open. In addition to swarming the food, ants inside a tent can crawl into sleeping bags and clothing. Although these insects cause minor discomfort, some wildlife encounters are potentially dangerous. There are many poisonous snakes in the United States, such as the water moccasin and the diamond-back rattlesnake. When hiking in the woods, the camper must be careful where he steps. Also, the tent must never be left open. Snakes, searching for either shade from the sun or shelter from the rain, can enter a tent. An encounter between an unwary camper and a surprised snake can prove to be fatal. Run-ins can range from unpleasant to dangerous, but the camper must realize that they are sometimes inevitable.

Perhaps the least serious camping troubles are equipment failures; these troubles often plague families camping for the first time. They arrive at the campsite at night and haphazardly set up their nine-person tent. They then settle down for a peaceful night’s rest. Sometime during the night the family is awakened by a huge crash. The tent has fallen down. Sleepily, they awake and proceed to set up the tent in the rain. In the morning, everyone emerges from the tent, except for two. Their sleeping bag zippers have gotten caught. Finally, after fifteen minutes of struggling, they free themselves, only to realize another problem. Each family member’s sleeping bag has been touching the sides of the tent. A tent is only waterproof if the sides are not touched. The sleeping bags and clothing are all drenched. Totally disillusioned with the “vacation,” the frustrated family packs up immediately and drives home. Equipment failures may not seem very serious, but after campers encounter bad weather and annoying pests or wild animals, these failures can end any remaining hope for a peaceful vacation.

These three types of camping troubles can strike campers almost anywhere. Until some brilliant scientist invents a weather machine to control bad weather or a kind of wildlife repellant, unlucky campers will continue to shake their fists in frustration. More than likely, equipment will continue to malfunction. Even so, camping continues to be a favorite pastime of people all across the United States. If you want camping to be a happy experience for you, learn to laugh at leaky tents, bad weather, and bugs, or you will find yourself frustrated and unhappy.

What are you made of?

Rarely are people born heroes, you don’t have the ability yet to be one, and you can choose not to be; likewise, you can choose to be a hero no matter who you are. Illustrating these facts, we have three people who will teach us about heroes, namely, Vin, Henry and Anson. Some of these stories will tell about how you can be thrust into a position to be a hero, how you can be destined to be a great hero and fall short, and finally, how you can have it in mind to be a hero, but then falter and rise again.

First, we’ll take a look at Henry; Henry was alive during the Civil War and had enlisted to fight for the Union, he went into his first battle questioning whether or not he would flee, and his self-induced fears came true and once his legs would move he was gone in a flash! After a couple more experiences where he had to face his fears and stop running he was finally able to return to his patrol for their greatest battle, he became the standard bearer after the previous one had fallen, and he proved to himself that he was stronger than his fears and could be the hero that he had envisioned when he first enlisted. Some counterparts to Henry that you might find today include those who let their worries bury their dreams and desire to be their own heroes, such as a person who has a dream of them going and doing humanitarian work in a third world country. To help themselves get ready, the person decides to help out locally first to try and make a small difference before their big trip. But once they start planning their trip to help out, they become more than discouraged by the logistics and cost of the trip, they find that they don’t really like the work that they’ve been doing locally, but they keep pushing forward because they’ve said that they’re going to go help, but after months and months of planning and working to put their trip together, they finally quit and say that they’ve had enough and can’t do anymore. All without ever having done anything besides a little bit locally. Then, after a few years they see a friend in the situation that they would be helping people out of, and they find their flame of passion again, they revise their previous plans and finally go on their trip, thus becoming heroes for themselves and for others.

Next, we will look at Anson; Anson was born into a wealthy family and even before he was born, family, friends and people that knew about the family’s business said that we would do great things for him and his family, but when he was finally old enough to take over the affairs of the family, he already had lesser ones of his own. This obviously came as a shock to the family and those that knew them, they had such a grand vision in mind for him and couldn’t believe that he had fallen so low. Anson would not change, despite the constant behest of his family and peers, he had chosen a low lifestyle for himself and wasn’t about to change just because some people told him to, family or not. We see many more Ansons today than actual heroes, people that are destined for great things, but then fall short, why is this? It might have something to do with constantly being told that you’ll be great and knowing that right now you aren’t and being unable to see what you’ll need to do to become great. That is probably one of the biggest reasons, too many are given the final idea of what they should be, and never shown what is in between them now and the great person they need to become. Along with the constant nagging that usually accompanies people who are destined for greatness, they never catch the vision of what they can become for themselves, or another route is that they do catch a vision, it’s just not the one everyone else wants. As long as you are without a vision, you won’t be able to shape your life as you should, and as long as you are told what you should be without believing it, it will be that much harder; but if you can catch the vision yourself of what you want to become and decide to go for it, then don’t let anyone stop you, while it may not be the grand idea that others have, you need to start somewhere and can continue onto greater things once you’ve started the path to becoming your best self, your hero self.

Finishing up with Vin’s story, she had been your average street thief, not ever hoping to amount to anything besides remaining alive; but then partly because of her and partly because of others, she was thrust into the role that befits a hero. So, much like Vin, people commonly find themselves in situations where partly because of themselves and partly because of others, they are able to become heroes and do something that no one else at that time would be able to do. These people are just like you and me, but perhaps this day they took the alternate route from home and ended up being able to be a hero to someone, or maybe they went on that walk they’d been meaning to and bumped right up to the opportunity to become a hero, or maybe even, they didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, but something else did and now they are able to choose to be a hero or not. This happens all the time, but how does it happen? Because contrary to popular belief, heroes don’t have to save the world, they merely have to help it or someone in it in some way; and all the time people are put into these situations where they may choose to rise above the normal and become a hero for somebody.

You may start out with an idea in mind to become a hero and then fall short, but you can pick yourself up again and keep going. You may be destined for greatness but never catch the vision of what you’re to become, thus losing the opportunities themselves and your choice to choose. And you may be willing to be a hero as long as you are given a situation, although you may have to consciously decide to become one. In the end, all it takes to be a hero, is an opportunity, a vision for what kind of hero you will be, and to make the decision to become a hero.

First piece on camping link, second piece on herosim

*So, if you were to name this, what would you call it? What similarities does it have? Take a couple minutes to do the same thing you did for the image above (description + picture). Then share with a partner.

Additionally, go back to the image and to the two pieces of writing: what are the differences? Are any “rules” violated? Where?

Let’s come back for large group discussion. How are models helpful? Are there dangers to formulas? Like what?

In this class, we will be definitely using models and templates (and we’ll talk much more about this idea in Unit 2 on genre). But, despite their usefulness as recurring answers to recurring rhetorical situations, they are always incomplete answers you must grapple with as a writer.

Intro to Unit 1 (15 min)

See schedule on syllabus. See Assignment Prompts on CourseWeb.

Break (10 min)

The Professional Biography (30-45 min)

What is the professional biography for?

It might be used for social media, it could be provided with job materials, it could be something you offer as a writer or as a guest speaker. Perhaps most usefully, though, is that it can be a great foundational document that can be remolded for several other professionalizing documents like the resume or cover letter.

Take 5 minutes and read through one of the following two brief articles on templates for professional biographies for different situations and lengths. Note what you think the key take-aways are and also note some times where the author mentions how you might write a professional bio differently for a different situation.

Brief Article on Professional Biography 1

Brief Article on Professional Biography 2

Compare notes with a partner. What are the similarities? What are the different emphases? What do you prefer do you think? Has anyone written one of these before? What was important in those situations?

For our first writing assignment due for Thursday, you’ll be writing three versions of the same professional biography: the micro, the short, and the long. Let’s go over the assignment prompt together (see CourseWeb, Course Documents, Assignment Prompts).

Let’s get started (depending on time)

Finding Contacts / Email Template (20-30 min)

What do you want to do, do you think? What companies do that thing? Let’s try to find some contacts. Once you have a few companies thought of, go through their contact pages to find any and all potential contacts with someone who does a similar job.

Once finished, let’s start drafting an email. Here is the template I want you to follow:

Dear X:
My name is ________ and I am a __________ at the University of Pittsburgh. I hope you won’t mind my contacting you out of the blue to introduce myself. For a class project in my Written Professional Communication class, we are emailing people in the field we would like to work in to ask some questions about the sort of writing they do.
Would it be okay to ask you some questions?
If you have the time, here they are:
What is the sort of writing you commonly do on a given day?
What sorts of writing is less common, but something you usually do at some point in the year?
If you are willing to share, can you name one writing scenario on the job that you find memorable? What was memorable about it? (e.g., once my supervisor asked me to revise a policy related to X, and one thing that stood about that experience was…)
What do you recommend as important to learn about writing for your field for any people just starting out?
Thank you, and all the best,
NAME