Tools for Analysis (30 min)

Review “Tools for Analysis,” especially the part about lenses. Read each other’s and my annotations, as well. We are going to get some practice in rhetorical analysis, but before doing so, I want you to refresh your memories.

While you do that, also have out your writing journals so I can give you credit for your writing this week.

On page 105, Blankenship et al. recommend looking at two news sources covering the same news stories to see how rhetoric shapes reality. And, to go a step further, that rhetoric is a way of seeing reality–the only way–because it is hard to even parse what we mean by “reality” without using symbols to make meaning. I like one of your descriptions of authenticity to this point:

It is like being in a room with no doors or windows, with only small gaps that allow you to look at the space outside the room. To be authentic is striving to access the “outside”…

The idea of “never really getting there” is caught in this metaphor of authenticity. For reality, something similar might work. That it is so, so vast at scale (to include depth and perspective) that one view of anything can never capture everything.

So, while people may be lying, it is also the case in truth: conflicting accounts can occur due to how perspectives are framing interpretation of an event.

Let’s try this out. Recently there was a strike by the International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA), a union representing dock workers who handle shipments at ports. The Teamsters, a union originally focused on drivers but now encompasses a few industries, released a statement in support of the ILA. Additionally, President Joe Biden released a statement about this strike, Donald Trump spoke about it, and the Associated Press covered the potential strike in September. Let’s look at each of these statements together to think more about analyzing rhetoric.

Read each one and answer the questions.

Teamsters’ Statement on ILA Strike (Oct 2)

Joe Biden’s Statement on the ILA strike (Oct 1)

Coverage of Donald Trump’s response to ILA strike (Oct 1)

Associated Press Coverage of Threat of Strike (Sep 18)

Answer these questions:

• What were the headlines or titles of these statements? What’s the focus of the story through that headline?
• How is the ILA described? What words are used?
• What are the stated reasons for striking?
• What “lens” or “lenses” could you use from “Tools for Analysis” to analyze all, some, or one of these texts? How would you go about analyzing using that lens or lenses?

Write your responses to these questions in this Google Doc.

In your paper due in early November, you’ll be analyzing texts in similar ways. We will talk in more detail next week.

The Pencil Wasn’t Just a Tool, It Was My Lifeline (20-30 min)

I want to push you all toward thematically and narratively cohering your literacy narratives. In other words: what is this paper about for you?

Read this paper that I am passing out. One that I admired.

What’s it about? How do all the paragraphs fit together? How could they fit together even better?

Take notes in response to those questions but also other things you just happen to notice as you read.

Revision Check-in (15-20 min)

Open back up your Revision Tables document that we worked on from last class. Let’s check in on how that’s going. I’ll come around for questions.

Commas! (15 min)

If time, let’s talk about commas.

Saving the best for last! Closing with commas.

A common comma thing is using a comma to do more than it can. It’s just a practical thing. There are many punctuation marks and they do different things to try to make reading easier. Though, it also can make writing harder!

So, the one thing I want to key in on here is listing a few of your sentences where commas are doing too much and offering alternatives. This is not an attempt to shame! These are good sentences! But I want to show you how to write them differently so you can use better punctuation for the kinds of things you want to do.

A comma can’t separate two independent clauses. A period, a semi-colon, an em-dash, maybe parentheses, and maybe a colon can do that (different reason for why you might pick any one of them).

So, let’s look at some examples from your writing:

• I would check constantly, first thing in the morning, last thing before I got to sleep.
• Similarly, the internet is a vast interlinked environment curated by the functionality of software and hardware, its nonlinear structure creates a void in which identity, language, and the new form of production and consumption emerges from.
• In my search, I turned to YouTube, before this, YouTube was a form of entertainment, a way for me to avoid doing school work or to just be lazy.

Next Time

-We meet on Tuesday, October 15 and Wednesday, October 16 next week!

-For Tuesday’s class, you will submit your revised literacy narrative, your COVER LETTER, and if you are using AI you must also fill out that survey.

-For Wednesday’s class, you’ll be reading something technical and difficult about “Large Language Models,” which is the essential technology for artificial intelligence. The article is entitled “On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models be Too Big?”. We have talked about this kind of reading before and have done some already with the “What is authenticity?” reading. Review our lesson plan from September 25 about doing difficult reading as well as “Reading and Writing” from our textbook. THIS READING WILL TAKE TIME, IT IS 14 PAGES LONG AND IT CAN BE DENSE. What do you remember about reading difficult texts? Let’s review. Make sure you have enough time to read it; it will take much longer than most of our readings have taken so far this semester.

-For Wednesday’s class, you’ll also make at least 4 annotations for “On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots.”

-Finally, you will do your 10 minutes of private writing with this prompt in mind: This semester is getting close to half way over. What have you learned from being in college at Baruch so far? What really sticks out to you? How are you now different? What have you been confronted with that has shifted the way you see the world? Why? This could be from any class, conversation…anything that has to do with your time at Baruch so far. Finally: what do you want to learn more about still? Why?