Course Website (10 min)
Let’s all get on the same page for this.
-Registration
-Logging in
-Posting
-Commenting
Next week and beyond (Blog Schedule)
Rhetorical Stance and Public Writing (15-20 min)
-Consider what a “rhetorical balance” means (see page 145 where he uses this phrase over and over).
-Which of the three “perversions” of the rhetorical stance might be most worrisome when writing for the public? Why?
-Booth is primarily talking about writing in freshman composition and not public writing in the wider world (though he certainly is drawing connections between both). Think back to your own experiences in Seminar in Composition or a similar course: how might public writing be similar to and/or different from the kind of writing Booth is drawing from? Look to the anecdotes and examples and compare them with some of the things we looked at during the first class.
Rhetoric, the study of…the practice of…is defined as… (25-40 min)
From Booth’s perspective, how might he define rhetoric, especially when considering the three aspects of his rhetorical stance?
Consider these questions as we watch this video:
Who’s the public for this video? How do you know? What kinds of “moves” are made? How is sound, image, speech, and writing all deployed? What do you think the video-author is going for here?
What is rhetoric???
Here are some sources of definition of rhetoric. Group up, and each group will count the numbers of definitions. Independently, pick one (skim through, don’t have to thoroughly pick one out here) and be ready to explain why you liked it.
For Group 4, you will read through the short article and answer what you think think is useful about the definition there but also what you think the definition might be missing out on (how is it limited? how does it leave unexplained certain elements of how people interact “rhetorically”?):
Group 1:
http://davidbeard.efoliomn.com/Uploads/Master%20Definitions%20of%20rhetoric.pdf
Group 2:
http://enculturation.net/5_1/rhetdef.html
Group 3:
http://rhetoric.sdsu.edu/resources/what_is_rhetoric.htm
Group 4:
https://edurhetor.wordpress.com/about/rhetoric/
What differences and similarities did you come across in your groups? How many definitions were there?
What about Group 4?
So, how is rhetoric helpful? Or is it not? What are our concerns in the context of writing for a public?
How is rhetoric involved in our campaigns going forward?
Break (15 min)
Campaign and Service Learning (10 min)
Let’s go through what the campaign workflow will look like throughout the term, and start talking about next steps to get set up.
Service Learning Component Information:
See handout.
Below is the first “major” assignment due on February 6th.
Letter to Classmate on Public Interest. 1000-1250 words. This is an independent assignment. In class, we talked about writing privately, to one’s self, compared to varying degrees of writing outward, to other readers. In this assignment, we will have a concrete audience (one classmate) that you will write to. You’ll write them a letter about the topic you will be building a campaign for. You can take this in a number of directions, but the essential items in this letter are these:
- Describing the problem (what exists), and supporting that with the work of experts on that problem (make sure that your reader has a way to look into those sources either by some kind of citation or hyperlink). Having at least 4 sources would make sense here.
- What should be done ideally to address this issue (what is good). Feel free to be honest here. You can be uncertain, but start to talk about what you think would be best.
- What can be done (what is possible)? Based on your sense of what can realistically be done, start to work through some possibilities of what different actors (e.g., organized citizens, government agencies) can do to remedy the situation.
At the end of the semester, after you’ve had time to think more about your issue, you’ll return to this letter and try to revise it into something that can be designed for a wider public than that of your classmate. The goal is to think about longer-form alphanumeric writing and its potential usefulness to persuade and inform wider publics. In my feedback to you on this, I’ll press you on how to take the letter outward toward a larger public.
Public Interest Showcase (15-25 min)
Take a piece of paper or notecard, and write down three issues that you would be interested in working on for your campaign this semester, and then sign your name to it. To help you get started, read through your blog post (don’t feel obligated to put stuff from there on your list, but a lot of you had some good ideas so I’d be surprised if you didn’t have it there!).
Take 5-10 minutes to do this. When finished, you’ll hold up your card and check out what other people have. Note people who have the same issue or similar ones. Do some mingling and “networking”.
Forming a team (10-15 min)
Meet with your team and start drafting up some ideas on what you might work on. Consider these questions:
- What is the issue and why?
- What is the goal of the campaign? What attitudes do you want to change? Actions you want people to take? Why?
- Who do you want to reach with your messaging? Why?
- What sorts of writing might you produce? Why?
- How will you reach your audience?
See the “collaborative proposal” prompt in the syllabus. It will be due by 4pm next week on 1/23. Start working on it now, and find some times to meet up this week to talk it over.
Admin. (5-15 min)
Everyone reads Bowdon and Scott (2003) on BB. Some comment, some write blog posts (see BB for blog post schedule).
Blog posts are due Monday at 10am (always due the Monday before class, always at 10am)
Comments always due by 4pm the day of class.
Collaborative Campaign Proposal due 1/23 by 4pm. Only one of you has to submit it, make sure you work that out between the two of you. Be sure to have your names on it.