Teaching Composition

Joe's Textbook Review

2007-05-13T13:18:00.000-06:00

Joe’s Textbook Reviews

I. Rosenwasser, David and Jill Stephen. Writing Analytically, 4th Edition. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.

Overall, this is a good practical text. Most of what it describes/prescribes agrees with my ideas on writing, critical reading, analysis; its ideas are generally memorable and easy to apply to a variety of texts. The book includes examples of analysis of visual arguments (paintings), poems, movies, history texts, etc. Other topics of writing samples include sports issues and gender inequality; example papers include literary analysis, research analysis, and scientific writing.

The basic elements used by the text (especially its analysis method) are repeated throughout the book; generally there’s a sense of things carrying over, of chapters building on each other, of continued relevance of what you learned earlier. I like this self-reinforcing; for someone learning concepts, repetition is good. The book is structured loosely enough so that one could use the chapters out of order and not suffer unduly; terms are often briefly redefined for the reader. The general applicability of the content would probably allow it to fit with most course designs and paper topics, and it’s short enough that you could use most or all of the text without much problem. I especially admire its focus on analyzing and writing before acquiring a thesis, and letting the thesis grow from what’s learned in early stages of analysis and writing.

Contents: Seeing better: the analytical habit of mind
What is analysis and how does it work?
Putting analysis to work Reading: how to do it and what to do with it
Linking evidence and claims
Making a thesis evolve
Recognizing and fixing weak thesis statements
Introductions and conclusions
Organizations
Style: choosing words
Style: shaping sentences and cutting the fat
Writing the researched paper
Finding and citing sources (includes electronic research)
Nine basic writing errors and how to fix them

Chapter Format:
Quick Take: a preview of major elements from the chapter; some good summary language here. Within each chapter (with one exception) are 2-4 major elements; within each element are several subheadings. Usually there are 4-5 “Try This” sections sprinkled throughout to illustrate and provide practice for the concepts; some of these would work well as in-class activities, and some are more appropriate as homework assignments. There’s usually at least one “assignment” which could be used either as a short, preparatory writing, an element in a paper assignment, or a paper assignment in its own right. The chapter concludes with a “Guidelines” section marked off in green, recapitulating the key points of each section. The highlight boxes, sidebars, and frequent bullet-point outlining make it easy to follow and (comparatively) visually interesting.

Highlights: key points offset in grey; recap of central points at end of chapter; good sample writing in the text; numerous and generally useful “Try This” examples, suggesting practical applications of chapter concepts. Some are best suited for homework, and some work very well in class. “Voices Across the Curriculum” sidebars contain valuable information from non-English professors regarding what they look for in writing. Chapter 8 (Introductions and Conclusions) seems especially useful and practical, as is most of the material on critical analysis, which is very practical and memorable.

Problems: occasionally the language is a little dry, though it’s usually straightforward and memorable; considering the amount of good content, the instructor would probably need to help students prioritize their reading. Some chapters seem a bit large to address in a single 50-minute class, especially if you use the “Try This” sections. To get the most out of the book, you’d need to spend a lot of time on it, but I think it would be very useful to students who aren’t used to analytic writing. The book does not include citation style, though it does include a chapter on common writing errors; if you can find a citation style guide online, you may not need a separate style manual. Sections on argument itself seem rushed and less easy to acquire.

There’s also a version with readings: more fully formed examples of arguments than are presented in the main text.

Price: $45.95, more expensive than I remembered. There are a number of 1000 instructors who use this text, so there should be used copies around for students. Its usefulness for other writing fields makes it more of a keeper for students than Everything’s an Argument. 384 pages.

II. Lunsford, Andrea, John J. Ruskiewicz, Keith Walters. Everything’s an Argument with Readings. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2007.

It’s forward thinking, though maybe not as much as Compose Design Advocate. From my non-hardcore rhet-comp perspective, it looks like a good book for a hardcore rhet-comper.

Includes basic elements of argument (pathos, ethos, logos),
How to write arguments (Toulmin-style, fact, definition, evaluation, causal, proposal),
Style and presentation (writing style, use of humor, visual argument, multimedia and web presentation),
Conventions (evidence, fallacies, intellectual property and plagiarism, use of sources, documentation using MLA and APA style).

The last 400-odd pages contain samples of arguments (visual included) on different topics: body image, ethnic/cultural stereotypes, controversies in sports, bilingual culture and education in the U.S., language and identity, religion and public life, diversity in higher education, how Americans are perceived abroad.
Recurring “Not Just Words” section in each chapter highlights visual argument. Another recurring sidebar is called “If Everything’s an Argument...” and invites students to question the book itself.

Highlights: packed with visual argument, including some very striking, even disturbing images. Content is very timely. I think the book will definitely force students to think outside of their assumptions, and will encourage them to see everything as an argument. The book includes MLA and APA citation style.

Problems: it’s over 1000 pages long. Effort to stay very timely may mean frequent revision of the text. It’s very complete, so it might be difficult to get to everything with additional paper assignments; if you use this book, you’d probably want to structure the entire course around it, especially the version with readings. The sheer amount of content verges on overwhelming. The textual material itself is presented in a straightforward manner and is understandable, though the visual presentation of the text isn’t as easy to follow as Writing Analytically. The book doesn’t really include any nuts-and-bolts stuff; no treatment of introductions or conclusions, for example. Also there’s a lot of white space, though some of you may like that.

Price: $61.95 with readings
Online support: Instructor’s Notes (to print out), Course Management Solutions (online) – suggests for class plans, etc. Packages: can also get i-Cite, a CD-ROM on citing new media texts, evaluating visual sources including TV, websites. The CD also includes tutorials, exercises on evaluating and incorporating sources from new media.

Another Textbook Review

2007-05-09T00:38:00.000-06:00

I think I forgot to post it before. Better late...

The College Writer. A Guide to Thinking, Writing, and Researching, 2/e, 2007 VanderMey, Verne Meyer, John Van Rys, Patrick Sebranek

The textbook has colorful design, which makes easier looking for the different sections in it. It offers a good step-by-step approach to writing based on close reading and analysis of essays. There is a good choice of essays wrote by the authors of ficition, journalisis and students on the different controversial topics such as gender, environment, language, health etc. The chapter called “One Writer’s Process” is very detailed in showing the process of brainstorming, drafting, revision and proofreading, which is very helpful for a student. The textbook has a chapter dedicated to conducting Internet research. It also touches the topic of visual argument in the introduction though, in general, does not go beyond the methods of textual rhetoric.

The weaknesses I see are the confusing grammar reference and too many hyperlinks inside the book. On some pages, there is too much color and the valuable information is not on the brightest part of the page.

The Confident Writer, by Carol C. Canar. 3/e 2006.

This textbook also has an approach of step-by-step following through all the stages of a writing process. Much attention is given to the basics of critical thinking and different strategies of starting he paper (brainstorming, freewriting etc.) The latter one is very helpful because to start an essay is sometimes the most difficult thing to do. The book has clear explanations, and each chapter is based on the analysis of an essay or an article. These materials are quite interesting, and many of them are dedicated to the different kinds of intercultural experience. The handbook is very detailed though it contains some theoretical information that seems to be unnecessary for the mechanics of writing. I also see the disadvantages of The Confident Writer in its lack of attention to any kind of visual rhetoric or new technologies. It is a very traditional approach, and a student may be bored with it.

Writing instruction

2007-05-07T03:30:00.000-06:00

Since you guys heard me complain about the lack of writing instruction in Everything's an Argument, I thought I would would you know that I think I have found a nice supplement for text. Bedford offers a really small, cheap book that focuses on writing and revising, cleverly entitled, you guessed it, Writing and Revising. The latter text retails for $16 new on Amazon and runs as cheap as $3.50 used. New, from the bookstore, the combination of the two texts should be less than $50 all told. And, let's not forget, these books are small. Yay small books.

Just thought you might want to know.

--Bri

The Messy, Glorious Hairball of the Real World

2007-05-03T00:32:00.000-06:00

I saw this blurb for a new book on BoingBoing, and it struck me as somehow relevant to our class. It seems to me that part of the reason so many instructors are wary of technological innovation may be tied to the anxiety of hierarchy. This book (from the blurb at least) seems to suggest that the internet is radically anti-hierarchical (definitely true), which would seem to put it at odds with the traditional structure of academia. Perhaps what we are experiencing when we deal with this anxiety is a kind of "betweenness" (to drop some Heidegger) -- a sense that we are historically between two epistemological frameworks. I think our era may be comparable to the Copernican and Einsteinian epistemological shifts. The internet is teaching us how to know the world differently. But we don't quite understand all that this "new knowing" entails yet. Thus, the anxiety. At least, that's my take. Here's the blurb:

David Weinberger's "Everything is Miscellaneous" is the kind of book that binds together innumerable miscellaneous threads and makes something new, coherent, and incontrovertible out of them. Weinberger's thesis is this: historically, we've divided the world into categories, topics, and hierarchies because physical objects need to be in one place or another, they can't be in all the places they might belong. Computers and the Internet turn this on its head: because a computer can "put things" in as many categories as they need to be in, because individuals can classify knowledge, tasks, and objects idiosyncratically, the hierarchy is revealed for what it always was, a convenient expedient masquerading as the True Shape of the Universe.

It's a powerful idea: from org charts to science, from music to retail theory, from government to education, every field of human endeavor is tinged with hierarchy, and every hierarchy is under assault from the Internet. One impact of this change is that it reveals the biases lurking underneath the editorial carvery of our systems. From the Dewey Decimal system's laughable clunkers (mentalist bunkum gets its own category, but Islam has to share a decimal with a couple competing "Eastern" faiths) to the Britannica's paring away at "old" biographies to make way for the new, Weinberger makes a compelling case for a new kind of knowledge that more faithfully represents the messy, glorious hairball of the real world.

A Hill of Beans

2007-05-02T14:56:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the late post. I agree with most of the comments on the helpful advice of Bean and Curzan and Damour. I think both books will be helpful to revisit from time to time. Something that interested me was Bean's comments on individual conferences, which I think can be tricky and, if done incorrectly can look as if the instructor is just wasting time. I also think they can be incredibly valuable, especially in explaining some of the comments you've written on their papers. Sometimes the notes we give on essays, no matter how clearly expressed we think they are, are not completely understood by the student, and a conference can help to further explain these notes. In the past, I've looked at conferences as an opportunity for the student to show up and have these notes explained to them, and I think there is a certain value to that. However, looking back on it, I realize I wasn't expecting anything from them other than to show up, and receive my pearls of wisdom. I think that a better approach would be for the student to come in with questions, for them to be bringing something to the table, so that they come in already thinking about their essay. I think that the approach I was using made it to where they probably were not thinking about the paper much until the moment they sat down with me. I also like the idea of distinguishing between higher and lower order concerns, and making clear before the conference, in an address to the entire class, that the conference will focus only on higher order concerns.

This blog is full of Beans!

2007-05-01T18:06:00.000-06:00

Like most of you who have blogged so far (even though the syllabus says we don't have to...I'm a fool for peer pressure), I like the idea of front-loading the course. What's more, I think it makes a huge deal of sense for English 1000 with its emphasis on process. Presumably our students are going to develop better writing skills as the semester progresses, so if we force them (yes, Claire, I also like the compulsion factor) to do tough work early on, they will get into the habit of a rigorous work ethic. I remember that one of the most horrifying days of my undergrad career was the first day in a Shakespeare course when the professor expected us to explicate a sonnet and to explain the linguistic roots of Elizabethan English vocabulary words. The second day, half of the class was gone. I stuck it out and today I am an official English Dork. (But to be fair, those people who dropped the class probably took another one that lead them to gainful employment. My bad.)

Maybe cracking down in the first few weeks wouldn't do the trick, but I'm pretty sure if we all demand a lot from our students (C&D's concept of assigning responsibility), they will put in the work. Nothing motivates a kid like realizing that s/he can't just slide by in a class scraping together extra credit points. Honestly though... how many students in the WL have we seen that don't care about their classes because the instructors expect them to do *all* the work without explaining how or why to do it? If the concepts and significance of a topic are explained, the students will be interested. If the concepts are entirely abstract, grounded in "literature of a past generation," and don't seem applicable to the students' lives, forget it.

So I guess this gets at Bean's point of designing good assignments. Well, duh. But that's a lot easier said than done, darling Bean. And obviously all the strategies I'm expounding on here (or at least trying to) are very idealistic and seem like common sense. Maybe it's just that I'd rather be thinking about anything other than seminar papers right now, but I'm feeling particularly excited about where my class is going to go. And I want to talk about it and listen to what everybody else is doing (um, *hello*, syllabus parties!).

Or maybe it's all the caffeine giving me heart arrhythmia.

Blogging in the Bean Fields

2007-05-01T13:03:00.000-06:00

As I blog about Bean for the last time this semester I can't help shedding a small tear. When will I ever find a name better than Bean?

As always, I appreciate the good advice we can always count on from Bean. Like Tim, I'm into the discovery draft idea as an early submission during the writing process (221). It seems like such a good idea to force students to start thinking as early as possible. This is true for me as well. So far in grad school I've written better papers when I was forced to hand in a draft early in the writing process. Hectic as this was, it makes things so much easier in the long run, I think. I like the idea of concept maps or idea maps instead of outlines. Personally I'm a fan of outlines but they've got such a stigma that it seems best to have alternative planning devices to offer students.

Bean's section on peer review was interesting but not very helpful, I felt. I like the idea of peer reviews but it's troubling that they so often wind up being a waste of time. A friend of mine revised her peer review process when she discovered the usual routine wasn't working. Instead of having students exchange drafts, she has students grade each other's papers anonymously. They have to grade as if they are the instructor and they use her rubric in order to grade papers. She tells me that this results in a much more substantive exchange of comments and suggestions, and it also helps students understand why they get the grades they do. She hands back the student-graded paper at the same time she hands back the copy she herself has graded. Apparently this is working well, and I think I'll try it in my own class.

Random Bean Counting

2007-05-01T09:42:00.000-06:00

As Tim says, YES to front-loading. Actually we've done a fair amount in the course so far, but it's all those little details that get you.

I love the idea of students preparing discussion questions; this is a good way to motivate actually reading what they're assigned to read without our having to grade something. I might use the discussion board as part of this.

C&D's suggestion to schedule student assignments around our own is nice, but seems highly impractical unless we wait to make up the full class schedule until _after_ we get syllabi for the classes we're taking. And that would be tricky.

Bean's paired interviews sounds neat for early-process peer review- can help a student see whether they're writing a viable argument. I'm worried about the pairings though- an unmotivated D student may not be very much help to anyone else. I'll still probably try this though.

And I'm big on the idea of discovery drafts, as Jack calls them; I certainly don't want to see a 2-page mess as a 1st submission. For a research paper, a prospectus or abstract (or both) sounds like a good way to keep them on schedule and help them manage research. It definitely worked for me as an undergraduate- helped combat my natural procrastination (my father once bought me a book on fighting procrastination. I haven't read it yet).

While still resisting B&C&D's ideas on abruptly shutting off conferences, I like their ideas on structuring conferences- I think I might adapt their meeting model, and emphasize to students that they need to prepare for conferences too (specific questions etc.).

C&D reassure us that teaching is a process. I like that. I'd like to believe that I'll get better at this, and it will be good to remember that even a lousy class will only last for a semester, and then I'll never have to see them again. Ahhhh.

Balancing the Madness

2007-04-30T21:54:00.000-06:00

I think Chapter 10 of Curzan and Damour, as usual, provides some valuable practical advice for surviving the first year of teaching. I plan to use this summer extensively for the "frontloading" that they suggest. I'm going to read and re-read White Noise, immerse myself in The World is a Text, and polish my syllabus and class notes to an uncanny shine. I think I may even try to get a good deal of my handouts copied and filed before the semester ever begins. I feel that if I go into the semester with organized materials and a really clear idea of what I'm trying to do, then I will succeed (in not making a fool of myself, and wasting my students' time).

I also appreciated the fact that Curzan and Damour took the stigma off "sharing the burden." Personally, I plan to use a lot of activities that will shift the focus away from me as awkward spectacle and towards the group as interactive community. And if I can find anyone foolhardy enough to volunteer as a guest speaker, then I guarantee I will take him/her up on it. Diversity is conducive to learning, and, besides, I can guarantee there will be weeks that I just don't want to lecture for an hour straight. Actually, I hope to very rarely (if ever) rely on the traditional, marathon-lecture format for my classes. Such a structure seems both overly taxing and likely to induce rampant snoring.

Book Reviews

2007-04-30T20:50:00.000-06:00

Brief Book Reviews

#1 Between Worlds, A Reader, Rhetoric, and Handbook. Pearson Longman. Susan Bachmann and Melinda Barth. 2007. Fifth edition. 626 pages. $66.00.

This is a promising textbook that might actually work well in the classroom for me. I have been looking for a text that would allow the students to explore the themes related to cross-cultural/intercultural communication. I wanted to use this topic area as a frame to explore argumentative writing. I think that I would be able to do that with this text in that it offers some specific readings that take up issues involving intercultural communication.

The book is nicely divided – very traditional I suspect – in the following manner:

Part I The Reader

Part II The Rhetoric

Part III The Handbook

There appears to be a substantial amount of cross-referencing going on between all areas of the text which I believe will help to make the book more of a piece to the students. I like the way the reader provides a variety of essays in many different genres in the following categories:

Chapter 1: Between Generations
Chapter 2: Between Genders
Chapter 3: Between Cultures
Chapter 4: Between Perceptions
Chapter 5: Between Values
Chapter 6: Between Screens

Chapter 6 above deals with visual culture – film as text, image as text. This section looks interesting and it looks like it would provide a real material change from the forgoing chapters. The chapters has activities and exercise that deal with six different films.

While this book does pick up and explore some of the topics that I am interested in exploring in the class, I am a little concern that it is really just to much book. It weighs a ton and goes over 600 pages. Do I, do my students, really need such a mighty tome. Physically and visually, I would like to find something a bit more elegant, something along the lines of Bri’s book, Everything Is An Argument.

#2 Frame Work, Culture, Storytelling, and College Writing. Gary Columbo, Bonnie Lisle, Sandra Mano. Bedford Books. Boston. 1997. $56.95

I continue in my adventure of learning what “culture” means in the United States and specifically what it means in English departments. In Japan, they tend think of Cultures as monolithic, i.e. the Japanese culture, the American Culture. When they talk of internationalization, they think of it in terms of learning more about other cultures, learning how to interact with other cultures, learning more about your own culture and what assumptions and values you carry with you – often unknown and un-reflected upon. Cultural anthropologists like Edward Hall speak about the importance of hidden culture – all the stuff below the surface – below our awareness - that informs and shapes much of way we interpret the world – the way we behave in it. Culture of this sort is a deep river baby. OK enough of that..

This book is disappointing, period. So, I really don’t want to say too much about it other than to explain what is disappointing. Culture in this book seems to refer to ethnicity, near as I can tell. I’m not saying that is a bad thing. I think there is a lot of truth to the notion that a classroom of university students brings with it a lot of “cultural” diversity, one hopes. My issue is this, the authors have decided on a “fresh new approach” to writing ( Yeah, like that SOUNDs fresh) and this new approach asks the students to focus on writing narrative stories as a way of developing their writing, and also as a way of social empowerment, I think. Hmm.

Now, I as a guy interested in non-fiction writing, I hope I don’t have a problem with narrative essays. My issue is this, are freshman university students really going to be well served by learning how to write narrative essays instead of argumentative/analytical essays? Apparently, the authors of this text believe so:

“Recent research in anthropology, linguistics, cognitive science, and women’s and ethnic studies suggests that our understanding of the world is mediated by story frames – culturally constructed narrative patterns that filter, organize, and interpret all of our experiences. The concept of the story frame offers a powerful alternative to pedagogies based on personal/academic or narrative/analytic oppositions.”

Well, I dunno, there you go. Maybe we need to dump this academic analytic stuff, especially in light of that “recent research.”

Seriously, I think I follow the argument they are making, and I believe there is something to be said for it. But I am troubled. I am thinking students need to learn “the language of the academy,” in a sense. I know that might sound rough – and I don’t mean to disparage the cultural histories of the students. I am really speaking here about how best we serve them, serve their needs? Don’t they need to develop their argumentive/analytic writing skills to survive in the university and beyond it?

The authors of this text in keeping with their over all purpose and design have included readings primarily from minority writers. “Most of the selections we’ve included are by authors who stand outside the dominant culture, and more than half are by women.” This is not a bad thing. One could easily argue that it is about time such an anthology was used in the class. My concern is with the somewhat implicit message in this i.e. writers outside the dominant culture write in narrative forms. Or, maybe it means that writers outside the dominant culture CAN’T write in academic argumentative form an by implication students outside that dominant form can’t either and therefore we are going to offer this new approach - take it down a notch and teach young writers (who are outside the dominant culture) this empowering narrative way of writing? Am I missing something here?

So you see, I am bothered by the science here and by the presuppositions the authors are making in deliberately privileging the narrative essay over the academic/analytical essay. They are doing all of this in the name of greater cultural sensitivity – diversity.

“Because the idea of cultural diversity lies at the heart of our approach to composition, Frame Work weaves a broad selection of readings into its cultural storytelling approach to college writing.”

What I have been reminded of in looking at textbooks is how political an act it can be to choose any text for class.

In closing, (I wasn’t going to say much about this book) this book bmight work for a different kind of college writing class, but I don’t think it is suitable for a class in argumentative writing. My hunch is that this would be an effective lead-in text to a class like ours.

Bean there, done that.

2007-04-29T12:47:00.000-06:00

Considering that this is the last week of class, I couldn't resist one last pun on Bean's name. This week, I again found Bean's suggestions useful, particularly in his advice on how to make the most of the time we have with our students.

I appreciated his suggestion to use models feedback on some assignments (p. 236); I anticipate using this on some of my shorter assignments. For example, when they write their research paper, I intend to have them do an annotated bibliography beforehand. This seems like a good assignment to do models feedback on.

I thought the idea of group conferences (p. 234) was interesting, but I must admit that I can't really picture how this would work. Does anyone else have ideas? What kinds of "common writing problems" would be useful to work through in this way?

This is unrelated to our readings, but I wanted to mention it anyway, since I found it encouraging. I was talking to a couple of friends earlier today, and they both commented that their freshman writing classes were a couple of the most useful classes they'd ever taken--in preparation for both other classes and for life in general, according to one of them. One of my friends commented that he hated his writing teacher by the end of the semester but that, looking back, he's really grateful for all of the work she made him do. I'm kind of hoping that my students don't hate me, but I guess the moral of the story is that it's okay if they do.

Belated Textbook Reviews

2007-04-28T07:11:00.000-06:00

Rebecca Richardson
EN 8010
Textbook Reviews
Sorry these are so delayed. I completely forgot to post them. Thanks for your understanding you guys. I am also sorry the first one is so long.

Writing in a Visual Age
by Lee Odell and Susan Katz
Bedford/St. Martins

This book is designed to aid students with reading visual texts as well as incorporating their own visuals into their assignments. Because of this claim, I was very excited to review this textbook. However, I was not overly impressed with the textbook itself once I perused it. At first glance, it seems very promising. The layout is colorful (although there seems to be no coding system behind the use of color) and provides many visual examples. The sections are clearly organized from the chapters themselves to the supplemental sections.
Throughout each chapter, a similar format is followed. They explain the topic thoroughly, give examples, and then outline the assignment. The prose has a natural, easy flow and a causal voice, which I think makes it reader friendly. Plus, the vocabulary/diction is well-rounded and strong. Content of each chapter is interesting and varied as well, with chapters on subjects such as profiles, position papers, and research. Also included are a glossary, an index, a quick reference menu, and a contents listing. These sections are very well organized, providing useful information. I especially like the honesty of the contents sections which implicitly emphasizes that one does not have to cover all sections in a single course. Plus, Bedford publishing usually has the option of customizing a textbook, printing only those chapters which an instructor will need for his/her course.
However, despite the positive layout, the overall content leaves much to be desired. In their effort to be visually appealing and contemporary, the designers have gone overboard, bombarding the reader with too many visuals, creating distraction and confusion. I even felt overwhelmed and unable to focus as I read through the book. Another negative for this book is the fact that the assignment section of each chapter is so long and detailed, students are guided through every possible step with so much information that the assignment is practically done for them, teaching them essentially nothing. The questions are leading instead of thought-provoking which does not allow critical thinking to develop. Also, the steps which are glossed over are usually the vital steps about computer programs, even information as to which programs should be used. I feel this neglect assumes too much technological knowledge on the part of both the students and the instructors. In fact, the only chapter I found to be completely useful for an EN 1000 course is chapter 9: Research. It provides much useful and detailed information. However, one chapter does not justify the cost of nearly $70.
I did, however, enjoy the supplements included with the textbook: CD Rom and Handbook. The handbook is well-organized and can be packaged with the textbook for only an additional cost of $2.60. Unfortunately, the packaging would force students to buy only the new text instead of procuring less expensive used copies. The CD Rom can be included at no additional cost. It is extremely user friendly and interesting, but I am not sure how useful it would prove for classroom use. I do not plan to implement this textbook.

Ancient Rhetoric for Contemporary Students
by Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee
Longman Publishing

I honestly looked forward to this textbook. Its title intrigued me, implying a modern approach to very complicated ideas. As a high school teacher, I often included basic rhetoric in my course when explaining persuasive arguments to my juniors. They always had a bit of trouble understanding logical terminology. Unfortunately, when this textbook arrived, I realized it would not serve my purposes.
To begin with, the textbook is extremely large and packed with mostly text. Visually, this type of book is intimidating to students who immediately conclude they will never be able to get through all this information. Plus, the assignments included within are not very creative or stimulating. All of this is unfortunate, though, since the text itself reads very smoothly. It really does explain the complicated rhetorical terminology competently. I found it to be a wealth of information and plan to use the information in lecture in order to help my students better understand the concept of argument. Perhaps this book would prove useful for an advanced class, but not an EN 1000 course.
Overall, as an average student, I would not want or use this textbook. As an instructor, I would utilize its explanations for myself in order to prepare for student questions about the subject of argument.

Everything's An Argument and Writing in the Works

2007-04-26T20:34:00.000-06:00

Everything’s an Argument by Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz, 4^th Edition (2007)

$38 new $23 used (Amazon)

Sections and Chapters:

Part 1: Reading Arguments

Everything Is an Argument

Arguments from the Heart – Pathos

Arguments Based on Character – Ethos

Arguments Based on Facts and Reason – Logos

Thinking Rhetorically

Structuring Arguments

Part 2: Writing Arguments

Structuring Arguments (includes Toulmin section)

Arguments of Fact

Arguments of Definition

Evaluations

Causal Arguments

Proposals

Part 3: Style and Presentation in Arguments

Style in Arguments

Humor in Arguments

Visual Arguments

Presenting Arguments

Part 4: Conventions of Argument

What Counts as Evidence

Fallacies of Argument

Intellectual Property, Academic Integrity, and Avoiding Plagiarism

Evaluating and Using Sources

Documenting Sources

It is relatively inexpensive, given that it is printed in full color. It is a new edition, which means that it is newly updated and relevant to today. It integrates some popular and somewhat recent events and topics (the 2004 elections, info about the Bush administration, Terri Schiavo, Freedom Tower, Lil’ Kim) but balance them with classic and less timely things about body image, patriotism, ML King, etc. It is particularly nice that it is so small and is rather light. I think the smaller the book, the more students will be likely to bring it with them to class (or at least they won’t be able to use its size as an excuse). Because the text claims that everything is an argument, it really emphasizes visual arguments and new media stuff. There are tons of examples, both blunt and subtle, of visual arguments and the text encourages students to grapple with them.

The text does not abandon classic argumentation for visual, however. There is a decent-sized section on Toulmin which includes diagrams of these representations. It is really strong, I think, in presenting argument and has a chapter devoted to fallacies.

Its weakness, however, is with the writing process. There is very little about revision at all. While they briefly talk about revising a warrant, they don’t really talk about revising a whole paper. They especially don’t go so far as to offer side-by-side or sequential student drafts and revisions. That is the one thing that I think is really missing from this text. They do, however, have guides to writing (not unlike our Guide to Revision) that give students things to look for in their own and their peers’ writing. They also show have commentary written in the margins of the essays printed in the book, showing examples of components of argument and summarizing what the paragraphs accomplish in the grand scheme of the argument as a whole.

The “If Everything’s an Argument” sections really encourage students to question even the textbook itself. For example, in the citation section, the authors point out that they have not used any formal citation methods in the text (and they explain what they have done). They then encourage students to consider why they didn’t formally cite their sources and what they (and other textbook authors) gain from that technique. In another of these sections, the authors encourage students to verify their (the authors’) credentials. Are they really from Stanford and University of Austin (respectively)? Is the publisher (Bedford St. Martins) really a reputable publishing company? Etc. These sections seem to really challenge students to think critically. Much of the book, particularly in these sections, uses the same sorts of nondirective strategies that we (ideally) use in the writing lab, getting students to question things they might not have thought of.

The textbook also has a companion website. Many of the resources do not even require signing in. Those that do don’t require an activation code or anything, at least not for students. They only have to input their names and email addresses, meaning that this feature won’t be lost if students purchase used copies of the text. Bedford has a research-based web resource which gives information on evaluating websites, writing theses, refining research questions into theses, and citation assistance. There is even a website design tutorial offered. There are also a few additional readings offered online and supplements to readings from the “with readings” version.

All in all, I think that this textbook rocks. It isn’t perfect, but I think that it is the one that I’m going to use. I think that it might mean sort of restructuring my class a bit to fit into the textbook, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Writing in the Works by Susan Blau and Kathryn Burak, 1^st edition (2007)

$55 new, $22 used (Amazon)

Sections and Chapters:

Part 1: The Writer’s Craft

The Writer’s Process

Reading and Thinking Critically

Part 2: Assignments

Short Articles: Writing Exposition

Application Essays: Writing for a Specific Audience

Memoirs: Writing a Narrative

News Stories: Writing the Public Record

Editorials: Writing Arguments

Proposals: Writing for Your Community

Public Service Messages: Writing Appeals

Websites: Writing for Electronic Media

Film Reviews: Writing Evaluations

Profiles: Writing about Others

Research Articles: Analyzing Trends

Part 3: Research and Documentation

Research

Documentation

Part 4: Grammar Handbook

Grammar Refresher

Punctuation

Common Errors

Trouble Spots for Nonnative Speakers

This text is comprehensive and all encompassing. Including sections on writing narratives, editorials, profiles, etc, it could serve as a nice sourcebook for students’ use throughout their college careers, or, in its words, it provides instruction for “Writing for a Lifetime.” The text includes over 100 readings on everything from Med Schools to Genetics to the movie Whale Rider. It has an introduction for instructors and an introduction for students and comes with an online component and several teaching resources, including their own classroom management software, eduspace, with “more than 2.000 grammar and writing exercises, a series of diagnostic tests, and access to an easy-to-search digital handbook” (xliv).

The text forefronts the idea of writing as a process, a cycle of brainstorming, composing, and revising. It includes details about different types of freewriting activities, including concept mapping to bring in the visual. The text then goes through forming and shaping a thesis, organizing the paper, writing the first draft, and revising. The revising section is particularly nice since it shows several examples of types of revision—refocusing, reordering, adding, cutting, and editing and proofreading. There is also a section on peer editing. The textbook then takes readers through a student’s complete writing process—from freewriting through peer review to final submission. In order to keep its broad focus, however, the text also includes an example of a professional first draft and final draft as well as a visual depiction of revision.

The section on reading is really nice, also. It takes students through active reading, describing and showing examples of underlining, paraphrasing, summarizing, annotation, outlining, analyzing, and synthesizing. Like the chapter above, the reading chapter does not lose sight of visual arguments (no pub intended) and it even brings in ways of understanding irony, metaphors, means of distinguishing opinions from facts, and determining biases presented in texts.

While these two chapters are awesome, however, most of the rest of the text is not necessary for English 1000. I’m not sure that it is worth the price, given how little is actually necessary. Because the first two chapters are a brief section of a pretty long text, however, they make up less than 10% of the work itself. That’s all I will say about that.

...and Textbook Costs

2007-04-26T16:08:00.000-06:00

While I'm at it, here's information from the National Association of College Stores (NACS) on how the "textbook dollar" breaks down (how much of every dollar spent goes where). It's industry-produced (that may or may not be a good thing). The first slice you see is for author income, but as it says, that includes what's used to cover expenses. I went to this presentation at the 2006 NACS conference and they broke it down further and the actual profit that authors make is closer to 5 cents per dollar.

Court

----------------

1. Author Income : 11.8 ¢
Author's royalty payment from which author pays research and writing expenses.

2. Publisher's Paper, Printing & Editorial Costs : 32.8 ¢
All manufacturing costs from editing to paper costs to disctribution, as well as storage, record keeping, billing, publisher's offices, employee's salaries and benefits.

3. Publisher's Income : 7.2 ¢
After-tax income from which the publisher pays for new product development, author advances, market research, and dividend to stockholders.

4. Publisher's General and Administrative : 10.2 ¢
Including federal, state and local taxes, excluding sales tax, paid by the publishers.

5. Publisher's Marketing Costs : 15.6 ¢
Marketing, advertising, promotion, publisher's field staff, professors' free copies.

6. Freight Expense : 1.0 ¢
The cost of getting books from the publisher's warehouse or bindery to the college store. Park of cost of goods sold paid to freight company.

7. College Store Personnel : 11.0 ¢
Store employee's salaries and benefits to handle ordering, receiving, pricing, shelving, cashiers, customer service, refund desk and sending extra textbooks back to the publisher.

8. College Store Operations : 6.3 ¢
Insurance, utilities, building and equipment rent and maintenance, accounting and data processing charges and other overhead paid by college stores.

9. College Store Income (pre-tax*) : 4.1 ¢
* Note: The amount of federal, state and/or local tax, and therefore the amount and use of any after-tax profit, is determined by the store's ownership, and usually depends on whether the college store is owned by an institution of higher education, a contract management company, a cooperative, a foundation, or by private individuals.

Please Note
The statistics in this illustration reflect the most current 2002-2003 financial data gathered by the National Association of College Stores and financial data provided by the Association of American Publishers. These numbers are averages and do not represent a particular publisher or store.

Costs for course packets

2007-04-26T15:58:00.000-06:00

Straight from the horse's mouth....

---------------

Hi Court,

Thanks for thinking about doing a packet. I don't have a brochure with prices necessarily, but here is how my costs breakdown:

Production:
$0.03 per copied page (double sided or single sided doesn't matter I get charged per copy)
$0.14 for front & back cover in cardstock
$0.60-$2.00 depending on binding and size of packet

Royalties:

Average permission is $0.15 per page - there are always differences so what we do is stay in contact with you letting you know the costs of the various items, that way you can add/delete items along the way. Permissions typically take 4-6 weeks to secure and the closer we get to the start of a semester the longer they can take. We won't print a packet until we have the final OK so if you just wanted to create a "wish list" of items for a packet and edit based upon cost as we go along that is entirely OK.

Price Markup/Margin on Packets:
The more a packet costs me the lower the margin added.
$0.00-$7.00 will have a 40% margin
$7.01-$30.00 will have a 30% margin
$30.01 - + will have a 20% margin

I will be happy to meet with you about specifics if you want, just let me know.

Heather Tearney
Mizzou Media - University Bookstore
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia, MO 65211

Ph: 573-882-9547
Fax: 573-882-6422

100% of University Bookstore profits support our MU campus!

Liz's Textbook Reviews

2007-04-26T11:54:00.000-06:00

I'd like to apologize in advance for the length of these reviews. I think I went a little too review-happy (which I suppose is what happens when you drink coffee for the first time in 3 weeks and sit down to write). The first one is actually comparatively short, and my computer mysteriously ate the first draft and I had to compose another one this morning. Sorry guys.

Textbook Review

Rhetorical Visions: Reading and Writing in Visual Culture

Ed. Susan Delagrange, et al.
Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2007

I was initially attracted to this text for one simple reason—I like the cover. Silly as that sounds, the textbook is designed very well. It’s definitely an aesthetically pleasing book, one sure to engage the reader (for a little while, at least). Each page is well crafted, making excellent use of white space, bullets, boxes with quotes or charts/graphs, and a variety of photographs, in color and black and white. Important concepts are always in bold, and usually collected throughout the text in colorful and practical lists.

RV approaches writing by addressing a visual component first, an approach I’m considering now for my own classroom. I like that the textbook jumps right into bridging the connection between visual and written argument. For example, chapter 2 uses the example of a student-made map, and then explains how the student’s essay might evolve from constructing such a map. The chapter incorporates multiple drafts of the thesis and the subsequent paper, something I found particularly useful. Not only does it contain drafts at various stages of completion, there are also instructor’s comments. Thus, students can see how they might use instructor’s comments as an aid in revision. It also demonstrates to the student what I expect of them, and what sorts of comments they might receive in return.

The ensuing chapters address some interesting issues and provide a range of tools for the analysis of visual argument. Each chapter contains key rhetorical concepts, listed initially on the first page and bolded throughout. I was happy to see that the textbook explains each concept thoroughly, drawing on historical background to explain the concept’s significance. Each rhetorical concept is given it’s own explanatory box, moreover, with student exercises for additional practice understanding and implementing the concept. Each chapter also has a variety of texts, both verbal and visual, that address the theme of that particular section. I really like the diverse assortment of texts, from old ads, to contemporary photos, to poetry. Many of the poems are penned by contemporary writers, ones that I think might prove more easily accessible to the incoming freshman (i.e. Denise Duhamel’s “Oriental Barbie” and “Buddhist Barbie”).

There are also a series of questions at the end of each chapter, divided into three sections. The first, “Re-reading/Conversations with the Text”, address the readings in detail. The second, “Re-seeing and Re-writing”, are writing prompts for analyzing written or visual arguments through the framework of personal experience, history, etc. The last, “Intertext”, links concepts across sections. While I think there are many interesting and potentially useful questions, this highlights my major concern with RV: there is almost too much information. The plethora of images, boxes, and colors is sometimes overwhelming. RV is also unfortunately very long, over 600 pages. For example, the student doesn’t encounter the terms logos, pathos, and ethos until Chapter 6, after 369 pages of reading. RV is also quite expensive at $61.33, though there are used copies available on Amazon.com. While the companion website has an incredible amount of intriguing supplementary material, access is limited. Student access is redeemable one time only, so students will have to purchase website access with a used book.

Textbook Review, Numero Dos

Good Reasons With Contemporary Arguments: Reading, Designing, and Writing Effective Arguments (Third Edition)

Lester Faigley and Jack Selzer.
Pearson/Longman, 2007

I chose this text primarily because I was interested in examining a more traditional rhet/comp textbook. While I didn’t expect to be enthused over this textbook (I was more attracted to the other, prettier RV), it actually contains a lot of wonderful, practical material. The book is divided into four sections:

Part 1: Persuading with Good Reasons: What Do We Mean by Argument?
Part 2: Putting Good Reasons into Action: Options for Argument
Part 3: Making Effective Arguments: Designing, Presenting, and Documenting
Part 4: Contemporary Arguments

The textbook begins with the most basic questions and moves forward from there, a strategy that I often employ when tutoring. In fact, this book would have been handy as a WL tutor this year. I’m still not sure if I’ll use it in the classroom as a primary text, but I think excerpts from the book would be very useful (especially from Parts 1 and 2).

Pros:

Some of the more general positive qualities of the text:

o Language: Chapters are set up with common questions about writing and argument in casual language—makes the whole business of composition seem a little less intimidating
o Emphasis on writing as a tool to understand “long-term issues that will affect you after your college years”—good justification why writing matters
o “Argument as a social act”—might spark more interest in writing with this approach
o There are some pictures, little boxes with main points throughout—helps break down text into manageable chunks
o Highlights key words in bold
o Different sorts of examples, from written to oral discussions
o Each chapter has an introduction, samples from professionals, samples from students, then steps to analyzing that particular medium
o Has a wide selection of readings. Each topic, moreover, has specialized articles, poetry, book excerpts, political cartoons, stills from TV shows (like “The Simpsons”) from that that field. There are also charts, others websites to visit on the subject, etc., scattered throughout. There are sections at the end of each chapter titled “From Reading to Writing”, which have writing topics related to or inspired by the readings. Questions vary—students can analyze a particular article, visual argument, etc from the textbook, or write on a related topic, i.e. pick a newspaper article about the environment, or write about something from their personal experiences.
o The readings also explore many of the issues in the field. For example, Chapter 18, “Negotiating the Environment”, contains articles article on conservation, vegetarianism, global warming, and animal extinction.
o Has a helpful and free website for students. My favorite features are the additional web resources and writing activities for each chapter. There are also sample syllabi for instructors.

Here are some more detailed positive aspects of the chapters that concern argument and writing:

(Chapter 1) “What to Argue About”
o Takes a page from Rachel Carson’s book and demonstrates, visually, how the argument works
o Not a lot of jargon (only pathos, ethos, and logos, page 12)
o Begins with tips on becoming a critical reader, which I think is essential an essential component good writing

(Chapter 2) “Finding Arguments”
o Has the “Basics of Arguments”, which breaks argument down, step by step, and offers many sound tips (many of the tips we’re encouraged to use by Bean and C&D)
o i.e. Read assignment carefully, make lists, freewrite, brainstorm, make an idea map, think about your audience, how to evaluate your thesis (with examples)

(Chapter 3) “Finding and Supporting Good Reasons”
o Lists different ways to find good support for your argument, and while these reasons can be slightly vague, it provides a lot of concrete examples, including sample essays.
o Discusses appropriate voice.
o Encourages students to start at the very basic level, something I’ve found works well in the WL.

(Chapter 4) Understanding Written Arguments: Rhetorical Analysis
o Gives a brief explanation of rhetoric, then examples from a reading in book, a student essay, and then step-by-step process of how to go out implementing this.
o While the step-by-step process may seems simplistic, I think it’s a good outline for students to consider

Cons:

o Surprisingly expensive! It’s $67.73, though Amazon.com has used copies starting at a measly $0.01.
o Design: Looks like a pamphlet in the doctor’s office—black and white photos, little to no color, not very visually stimulating

(Chapter 1) “What to Argue About”
o While I like jumping into environmental issues using Rachel Carson as an example, I realize many students just don’t care about the topic. I worry this might disinterest students from the start.

(Chapter 5) “Understanding Visual Arguments
o The pictures are in black and white! Not very effective demonstration of how color can function in a visual argument
o Also, this chapter is only included in this edition, so students with used copies will be without.

(Part 2) Options for Argument
o Found this a bit overwhelming, though I could see how it could be useful to jumpstart the writing process.
o Just seemed like too many options, many of which overlap: Definition Arguments, Causal Arguments, Evaluation Arguments, Narrative Arguments, Rebuttal Arguments, Proposal Arguments

(Chapter 12) Revision: Putting It All Together
o Paltry, esp. since English 1000 puts so much emphasis on revision

(Chapter 13) Effective Visual Design, (Chapter 14) Effective Oral Presentations,
o Both pretty short, probably not applicable to English 1000, but might be handy as a brief overview

(Chapter 15) Effective Research
o Not very substantial, wouldn’t be nearly as helpful as an intro to Ellis Library resources, like the tour we took in 8005

(Chapters 16) MLA Documentation (Chapter 17) APA Documentation
o Both brief, probably need supplementary information. I utilize so many parts of the MLA handbook; I can’t imagine this short chapter would really suffice.

Andrew's textbook reviews

2007-04-26T11:02:00.000-06:00

Ruszkiewicz, John, Daniel Anderson, and Christy Friend. Beyond Words: Reading and Writing in a Visual Age. New York: Pearson, 2006.
New $57.73 (on Amazon)
The majority of Beyond Words, it seems to me, is dedicated to helping students do analysis. The book’s greatest strength is that it gives students tools to analyze visual as well as alphabetic texts. To this end, the book presents a variety of interesting, unconventional examples of traditional and nontraditional texts to be seen, read, and analyzed. The book aims to teach literacy by holding up the ways people talk about themselves, their communities, and their world to scrutiny. Mixing bright, color pictures with fascinating articles, Beyond Words includes hundreds of examples of texts that seem relevant to the experiences of college freshmen in 2007, (hopefully) making reading the book less of a chore. Learning to analyze is meant to be an enjoyable task, as well; throughout each chapter, the book includes questions and activities to lead students to use and develop the analytic skills to compose texts themselves.
The biggest weakness of this book is that it spends only a few pages giving students the tools necessary to compose an English 1000 essay. The last of the book’s eight chapters is the only one to present any kind of direction to students who have already done analysis and wish to compose an argument. Having worked in the writing lab, I know that students need to know how to write a thesis statement, how to organize an argument, and how to develop evidence, as much as they need to know how to analyze a text (if not more so). Therefore, I do not think I will use this textbook in my class because it does not help students as much to develop the fundamental skills that I think are essential for writing the college essay.

Latterell, Catherine G. Remix: Reading + Composing Culture. Boston, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006.
New $53.13 (on Amazon)
I read this book after I completed my work with Beyond Words. At first glance, I appreciated the fact that Remix includes similarly engaging articles that are in-line with the readings in Beyond Words. Like Beyond Words, Remix aims to lead students to develop tools to read and analyze American pop culture, leading me to believe that both books will seem not-as-relevant in a few years unless they each undergo revision. These books differ in the sense that Beyond Words explicitly states that it aims to teach students to analyze visual as well as alphabetic texts; Remix seems more concerned with analyzing culture, without focusing on differences in the medium of a particular text within that culture.
Remix is a less colorful book; while Beyond Words used color on nearly every page, Remix’s page use only black, white, and shades of grey.
Remix even leads students through the same steps as Beyond Words, teaching students to “ask questions,” to “identify cultural assumptions,” to “test assumptions by considering context,” and to “write critically (remix).” The book is divided into seven chapters:
I. Identity
II. Community
III. Tradition
IV. Romance
V. Entertainment
VI. Nature
VII. Technology
Each chapter of Remix begins with a set of assumptions about the topic. Students are encouraged to question these assumptions through analyzing the set of readings following the assumptions. A vast majority of this book is composed of more than 50 engaging, interesting articles that deal with relevant topics to college freshmen. I found that I couldn’t stop reading some of the articles once I started because they were so fascinating. Each chapter concludes with a section of questions and activities, leading students to think and write critically about these topics and about culture in general.
As much as I liked the content of Remix, I can’t see myself using it in my class. I did not find much instruction concerning the composition of an argumentative paper. This book dedicated an even smaller portion to this topic than Beyond Words.
However, I did really like the organization of Remix. For my class, I would like to focus on American college culture instead of American culture in general. In my class, I might teach my students to use the same process as they analyze college culture as the book uses to analyze American culture.

Mindfulness

2007-04-24T19:03:00.000-06:00

The reading for this week was practical and useful. Despite the fact that I have been teaching for some time, I found the tips and advice outlined here to be well worth remembering as I gear up for teaching a freshman writing class. One section I liked in particular was the section in Chapter One called, “What You Should Be Thinking after Class.” I thought it was a nice tie-in to what we were discussing in the mindfulness seminar last week. (You know – don’t get too hung up on the past, nor the future, come back to the present)

Some lessons go well and some lessons don’t - and that seems to be the way things work. I’ve seen fellow instructors get real high emotionally when things worked well, and I’ve seen them cry when they didn't, really cry. I think the advice in the book to sort of roll-with-the-punches is sound and healthy: “a bad class session does not make a bad course.”

This is easy to say but hard really to put into practice. Can you really imagine walking out of a class that went poorly and not being upset by that? Can you have the presence of mind to extract the productive lesson from the experience and not dwell on the negative, destructive, critical, and fault finding side? It is my observation that a lot of teachers are real good at blaming and criticizing themselves in unproductive ways when class plans don’t work out in practice. With this in mind, I think the advice to “be kind to yourself and to remember that you are still learning” to be sound advice. I think it is a mindset that we would all do well to develop through a kind of mindfulness practice.

What's beta than meta?

2007-04-24T18:57:00.000-06:00

Sorry I'm so late, all.

Here are just some random thoughts in response to Chapter 9:

Yay, Meta.

I'm planning on using anonymous feedback. I really wanted to use 1-minute papers as a way to do that, but I really want the feedback to be as anonymous as possible. While I like the idea of getting feedback after every class, I think that I would rather have the feedback be honest and as untraceable as possible. Therefore, I'm going to do something digital. I need to check and see if Blackboard will allow for anonymous feedback and if so, I will use that. Otherwise, I will build something into my course website to allow for that.

I really liked what they said about reading evaluations. I really expected all my writing lab evaluations to be awesome last semester. When I went in to read them, though, I left feeling awful. There were some that praised my services and rated them as excellent, but there were a surprising number that didn't. Similar C&D's example, I got one that said that my services were poor and that I had made her feel stupid and that I was obviously ridiculing her. It's as if that one bad evaluation canceled out all the good ones. Uggh

Anyway, Court's post got me thinking about the Theater of the Oppressed and I thought I would share this with you guys. The troupe came to my College Teaching class last week and did the same skit. Only, this time we picked up from where the instructor left off, rather than replacing the instructor. It was awful! I tried to diffuse the situation by having the students move their chairs into a circle and discuss what had happened. I apologized for my inappropriate behavior and asked that we construct a shared vocabulary to use (trying to get around to discussing the "Indian" vs "Native American" vs "American Indian" vs "Indigenous North American") and the entire thing flopped horribly. The April character was way too upset to want to talk about it, the Davy Joe character still didn't seem to really understand what he said, and the other two really didn't care about it at all. I had said before that in any other class I would have made it a teaching moment but when I actually tried to, the students weren't really interested in it.

This experience has coupled with my attempts to put together a semester's worth of material
to actually make me really scared of teaching. I have been really looking forward to it for a long time, but now I'm really nervous.

The Teaching Persona

2007-04-24T12:28:00.000-06:00

Regarding Liz's comment about our Voice and Persona seminar, I have to say I kept thinking about the advice in Chapter 1 of Curzan & Damour in terms of the literary concept of persona. We have spent a great deal of time looking into the etymological roots of "persona" -- which actually means "mask" and refers back to the dramatic masks of Greek drama (which were used both to conceal the human face and to amplify the voice). In literature, the mask is a fascinating phenomenon:

The mask permits the poet to say things that for various reasons she could not say in her own person or could say only with a loss of artistic detachment; it permits the poet to explore various perspectives without making an ultimate commitment; it is a means for creating, discovering, or defining the self; it prevents the poet from being hurt by self-exposure or being led astray by the limitations of her own vision; it is a means for expressing anxieties and frustrations, or ideals that the poet may not be able to realize in her own life but to which she is committed (class notes).

What happens if we substitute "teacher" in this passage for "poet?"

Except, perhaps, for that first claim regarding "things that for various reasons she could not say in her own person," this seems like a possibly valid definition of the teaching persona. The adoption of a persona is not necessarily an attempt to escape from the self, but can actually be a means of amplifying the self (as the voice of the Greek actor is amplified by the mask). Perhaps we can see the role of teacher (it is a role, after all) as an opportunity "for creating, discovering, or defining the self," rather than an obstacle or an obligation. Ultimately, it seems to me, we are always playing various parts: "All the world's a stage," after all. Given the artificiality of the teaching situation, we may as well play the part to the best of our ability.

Curzan and Damour, the Tenzing Norgays of Teaching

2007-04-24T11:52:00.000-06:00

"Few great accomplishments are achieved single-handedly, Wrigley. Most have their Tenzing Norgays." --Miles Massey, Attorney at Law

Like most everyone else it seems, I found the chapters this week to contain some great practical advice and some needed cheerleading. One thing that I appreciated was the reminder that "your students are not worrying about your class as much as you are" (9). That might seem obvious to us, but teaching tends to skew perceptions about what students actually care about, as the Rebekah Nathan book we've talked about in class (My Freshman Year) details. They're not going to be too worried about how the class is working, per se, and it's up to the instructor to "think about what went right so that you can repeat it" and to resist kicking yourself when things go badly ("just fix it"). I also liked Curzan and Dafour's assertion that "Fundamentally, most of your students assume you are qualified and do not necessarily care too much about your official qualifications as a teacher. What they do care about is your interest in and knowledge of the subject you are teaching" (16). Of course, that begs the question as to whether I'm interested and knowledgeable, but I'm going to hope like hell that I am.

Chapter 9 had some great ideas and like others have said, I plan on incorporating meta-teaching and mid-semester evals (through MoCat) into my courses. I like Curzan and Dafour's assertion that "Feedback always needs to be a two-way street" (166), as well as their comment that meta-teaching puts instructors and students on the "same team in figuring out... what can be done to improve... class dynamics" (168). To me, these techniques do the work of critical pedagogy, helping to level the roles of students and teachers so that the latter take on more of the role of facilitator (Bean uses the word "coach") and gives everyone an investment in how the course is conducted. As they put it, letting students give you feedback is actually conducive to teaching: "This move (and your willingness to make it) will reinforce your authority in the classroom" (ibid). This echoes what good ol' George Justice and ET@MO said at the "What Do You Wish You Had Known about Teaching?" seminar last Thursday. Their point was that using MoCat to do mid-semester evals is great for teachers because students appreciate being able to give feedback when it can affect the course while they themselves are still in it, rather than only after the fact. Claire's comments toward the end of her post are a testimonial to that.

One thing in the reading that kind of bothered me--and this is totally tangential, and it's probably because it came up before with the Theatre of the Oppressed skit, as well--is the example Curzan and Dafour give about potentially offensive behavior (18). They say that "If you suspect that" offensive behavior is "a result of ignorance, use your role as a teacher to provide students with important information. For example, you might try to catch a student after class or write a note on their paper letting them know that most Native Americans prefer not to be referred to as 'Indians.'" My problem is that while it's true "Indians" alone is typically offensive (unless you're talking about people from India), "Native Americans" is problematic, too. The 1996 and 2000 census data reveals that "American Indian" edges out "Native American" as the preferred term among those who identify as having that ethnicity.

A similar problem arises in advocating the use of "African American" over "black," which is what everyone in my neighborhood growing up--a predominantly black neighborhood--used. "Black" was reported as preferred over "African American" by something like 45 to 28%. But I had classes early on in my college career where I was corrected for using "black" and there was an implication that I was being insensitive or even offensive. When I went back and told my friends back home about it, their response was that it was just one more reason why college is overrated. I guess my point is that often our reflexes--while well-intentioned--don't necessarily provide the whole picture. Things are often a lot more complex and that's something I'm going to try and keep in mind when I encounter these "teaching moments."

C & D Continued

2007-04-24T10:18:00.000-06:00

Some nice bits of advice in these chapters. Although the first bit of advice, the quote about erasing the chalkboard vertically to avoid butt wiggling, is intended to illustrate how unprepared most TAs are, it is actually good advice. We tend not to give much thought to the little actions we take in front of a classroom which may undermine our authority. It's a horrible feeling to turn to the class, and see a few faces lit up in amusement, and wonder what the hell they think is so damn funny. You begin to get incredibly self-conscious, you wonder if your fly is undone, or if there is chalk in your hair, and after class you go immediately to the restroom to look yourself in the mirror to solve the mystery of what was causing the students to laugh at you. When you see nothing obvious in the mirror, you think back on the way you were standing, the movements you were making at the time, and then you start to realize that you're being much too self-conscious-- maybe the students were laughing at something else entirely.

You have to learn not to read too much into the expressions on your students' faces. You assume every expression made is in regard to something you are doing or saying, since you are the main focal point in the room. However, in that vast sea of faces, overwhelming the first time you teach, there are people who may look bored but are actually paying close attention, people who look amused but are not laughing at you, and people who look as if they are scrutinizing you but are actually deep in thought. Of course, there are students who are actually bored, laughing at you and scrutinizing you, but sometimes these students are actually good at hiding these feelings, and you may actually believe they like you and love coming to your class.

But there's nothing you can do about this but to get used to it. Tell yourself not to worry so much about what your students think of you. Just do your job, teach them as well as you can, be as prepared as you can be. Some days it will work out, some days it won't.

Teaching as Performance

2007-04-24T10:15:00.000-06:00

I liked Curzan and Damour’s parts about teaching persona. Having little experience of teaching I already thought about it but did not fully realize that teaching as a kind of acting is actually the general situation for any instructor. C&D say, “Your teaching persona may turn out to be an unexpected side of you” (6). Or may not, I would add. I mean you never know in advance how it is going to turn out. And I think with different classes one may be a little different teacher.

This chapter also brought me recollections about the good teachers I had. It is absolutely necessary for a good teacher to be enthusiastic. The problem here may be that you are more enthusiastic about some material of your course than about other, and you have to deal with that. Another thing I remember about good instructors is their …energy, I would say, that lets one person hold the attention of 20 or more other persons.

I found the idea of getting feedback during the semester very useful. It establishes contact with students. I myself as a student always appreciate that.

More C&D

2007-04-24T09:49:00.000-06:00

I appreciated C&D’s list of joys. Especially at this time of year, many current English 1K instructors seem to be utterly burnt out, and not really loving their jobs. It seems like staying positive and remembering to enjoy yourself are key to surviving. The reminder that teaching makes you a better student (7) resonated particularly with me. Since I won’t be teaching next year, I think the most immediately helpful thing about 8010 for me was learning about strategies to help students learn better. I’ve been trying to apply those strategies to my own studies, and I think it’s really been helpful. If I try to practice what I preach, I hope I’ll be able to stay on track and have fun.

I liked the constant reminder to avoid dwelling on the negative. They write, “do not kick yourself about it; just fix it” (9). That’s so hard to put into practice but it really seems to fit in with the mindfulness presentation last week.

Asking students to respond to written comments sounds very effective but emotionally very frightening. I’m not sure how to do this in a way that results in constructive change, but I think I want to try it. When I was a primary tutor for Shelley Ingram’s class last semester I learned a lot about working with students. She had a policy that students were not allowed to talk to her after class on the day she gave them back their graded papers. They could e-mail her the next day, but she required them to sit on their reaction to their grade for 24 hours. I liked that; she said it’s been really effective for managing concerns in a respectful and professional way.

I definitely want to do midterm evals. This semester I’ve been lucky to be in two classes where the instructors asked for midterm feedback, and then made changes to facilitate learning. Not only did the changes help the class dynamic, but the instructors’ respect for the class and flexibility to envision change made me realize how important this is in teaching.

(Insert Clever Title Here)

2007-04-24T09:29:00.000-06:00

So I was a bit perturbed by the teaching persona described in Chapter 1. I don’t know if it’s my frustration stemming from the term (thanks to a seminar class on the topic that I have this semester—Tim, you understand, right?) or my general distrust of personae, period. I really don’t like the idea of adopting a teaching ‘persona’—it seems completely antithetical to any sort of real relationship to my students. The greatest moments I’ve experienced in the WL are those when I feel like I’ve really, truly connected with a tutee. Now I’m not trying to sound too New Agey—you know, spirit animals, healing crystals, find yourself by wandering in the desert sort of thing—but I really think that striving for a genuine connection with students is the best way, in my limited experience, to teach. Now I’ve only really worked with younger children, where bonding over SpongeBob SqarePants and macaroni and cheese was enough, but I nonetheless consistently found that a more intimate, personal rapport was the most effective method of teaching. The adoption of a persona seems to undermine that sort of bond. Maybe I’m just too naïve and need a semester of apathetic freshmen to toughen me up. We’ll see. Stay tuned.

As long as I’m on the sappy notes, I’d like to share what I highlighted and starred this week in Chapter Nine—the advice to turn to ones you care about when you receive a student’s less-than-stellar reviews. I hope that next semester we all still turn to each other with teaching frustrations/problems/questions. I feel that our cohort is an invaluable resource, people. As you all know too well, I’ve been so stinking sick this semester, but it’s been support and encouragement of my cohort and instructors that has made these past months bearable. I hope you all understand that all the get-well wishes, cards, hospital visits, and gentle reminders of due dates have been of tremendous help. I hope that we continue to assist each other next year!

Soon to be teaching

2007-04-23T21:47:00.000-06:00

Here I am, living the final days of my college career as simply a student. When I come back to school in the fall, I will be a student and an instructor—taking classes and leading classes. This is not a particularly insightful revelation on my part; it’s just very exciting (I’ve never taught a class) and very scary (I’ve never taught a class). Even though I think I lack enough experience to teach effectively, I know that I cannot gain that experience without teaching my first class. I also know that I have more teaching experience than any of my English 1000 students (or even than I did at the beginning of this semester), having sat in class meetings for years and having taken English 8010. Therefore, I might perceive my own preparedness more disparagingly than my students will. I appreciate Anne Curzan and Lisa Damour for making this point—that “students will generally respect your authority no matter how you feel about your qualifications as a teacher” (6). I also appreciate Curzan and Damour for suggesting how to improve teaching before the end-of-the-semester evaluations come out—through midterm evaluations. I think this could be a good idea, and I might use it in my section. It might work well if students know the week prior that they should come to class ready to evaluate the course thus far. I question whether students will be comfortable evaluating my performance, knowing I grade their work. Can they be candid in this situation? How can I come closer to ensuring that my students evaluate the course honestly? Any thoughts?

Heavy Meta

2007-04-23T18:13:00.000-06:00

I agree with Katie, anything that starts with "meta" is bound to be fun. I like the idea of a midterm survey; I think Bean mentioned that teachers who use these usually get better results on final evaluations. The midterm conference also is appealing, though I'm resistant to requiring conferences for all students. I think the meta examples foster a sense of collaborative learning- that the students are contributing to the course, that we are teaching with them instead of just at them.

As far as classroom as argument goes: I wonder what argument I'll present in my class? I don't plan to dress too formally (one reason I'm pursuing this career is the dream of never wearing a suit to work). I do plan to present a serious front at the beginning of the course, then slowly break out the Homer Simpson impressions. I think I'll add some levity to the syllabus (pictures, font variation?, streamline some of the legalese). One thing I want to consider seriously is classroom organization. Many of the students who sit in the back row will be those who will refuse to engage with the course, and will sullenly and silently receive their D. The circle formation is inimical to blackboard/projector presentation, but keeps students from hiding in the back. Any thoughts? Also from my management days at the bookstore I understand the importance of projecting authority even when you don't necessarily feel it; preparation is key here. I think I'll probably review class plans this summer if not before, to get some more sennse of what preparation I'll need.

P.S. I blame George Lucas for this - but I can't hear the word "mindful" without immediately hearing the phrase "of the living force" following it, as spoken by Liam Neeson.

everybody's got something to hide 'cept for me and my meta

2007-04-23T11:37:00.000-06:00

I really liked the idea of meta-teaching that C&D introduce in the Feedback chapter. Particularly, I think that written response to your written responses on essays would be really useful to assess what is going well or what isn't. I have been talking with one of my friends in another department who doean't really know what to do with marginal comments because she feels that the students are not addressing her suggestions. It reminds me of (I think it was) Bean's list of really resistant comments to teacher comments: one of them was something along the lines of the teacher said "you need to explain more" and the student responded "no you need to explain more."

Of course, the examples C&D provide of how or how not to use meta-teaching seem like there is a very fine line to tread. I guess the trick is not to use meta-teaching to make value judgments, but to reveal that you recognize something has gone wrong without placing the blame. I have seen this technique used very effectively in undergraduate- and graduate-level courses. (And I'm pretty sure meta-teaching is the reason we're now required to write one blog post per week.)

I don't know about anybody else, but I really plan to use MoCAT in my course. I had been discussing with some of you whether or not I plan to write out my entire schedule for the course, or whether I will hand out a new calendar when we reach a new unit/essay assignment. I see the benefits of waiting being that you can change what is working or not working, but I can also recognize that a student would feel a little apprehensive, like "my teacher doesn't know what we're doing in this course." Is there any way any of you can think of that would involve having a fully developed schedule that still leaves room for change if something isn't working? I'm thinking you could have the assignments and due dates all written out, but the lesson plans (which students wouldn't have to see) could change as needed.

Unsolicited Advice

2007-04-23T11:24:00.000-06:00

I really enjoyed the readings this week, especially since they reiterated a lot of points I have been afraid I've forgotten in the past two years. My biggest fear for next year is that I have forgotten how to teach since I have been out of the classroom for two years. I needed the quick and reassuring overview offered in these chapters. Many of their observations and advice are helpful. The biggest aspect that I highlighted is about the copying. It never fails that the copier in any building anywhere will not work if you wait until the last minute. It is Murphy's law! I also agree with them about remembering student names. I was constantly called by my sister's name through elementary, middle, and high school. Nothing is more frustrating than that! I made a point when teaching high school to never make that mistake (I only did once, which isn't bad for 6 years). But, seriously, it is important to the students to be remembered, especially since this campus is so large and our classes will be so small. I think Bri's idea of using facebook may be very helpful in this respect, especially if you have trouble with names.

Another point with which I agree is the value of student feedback. It really diminishes your authority, in my opinion, if you are unwilling to listen to student concerns and adapt class as necessary. They feel that you are honest and caring if you are willing to budge a little. However, I am not saying that you should be a push-over, only aware of needs. And, like Leta, I want to stress the importance of the fact that you CANNOT PLEASE EVERYONE!! I really struggled with this fact the first couple of years. I had to flunk a senior, who did not graduate ever then (I was not the only one though). Sometimes, students do not make changes and sometimes they do take their own failures out on you. You have to grow some thicker skin and learn to distinguish honest criticism from the angry hate mail. It is hard to deal with, but a necessary fact of teaching. I had a student complain that I had only 5 or 6 dressy outfits. Oh well. I was poor. I just played along and said I would wear them in the same order every week. I don't necessarily suggest sarcasm in every instance. I knew she would react well because I had taught her for two years (junior, senior English). Kids try to make you feel bad, but you can't let them.

Anyway, now that I have rambled advice for a while, I should move on. Basically, I agree with much that C and D had to say. Student feedback is essential and beneficial, dress is important (no matter how many outfits you own), gender plays a role in your classroom even if you don't want it to, and copying must be done in advance!!!! However, I also think it is easy to become overwhelmed the first year or so. They really didn't discuss this aspect and I want to stress relying on your peers. There is not a feeling you will have that they will not either share or understand.

No butt wiggling from now on...

2007-04-22T14:31:00.000-06:00

In accordance with the rest of the blog, this week’s readings did offer some great and rather practical advice, such as the proper way to erase the board. I appreciate the section on maintaining perspective because I already feel that I’m going to be obsessing over if my students got the most that I wanted them to get out of class. Call it self-consciousness, but I can see this becoming a reality for me. Hopefully after the first week I’ll let go and just let it flow… we’ll see.
On another note, the issue of (my) race, class and gender has been on my mind throughout this entire process, and making sure that these aspects don’t become a distraction while I attempt to teach them. I feel like I’ve stated this before on the blog, but I think that C & D offered practical solutions if you aren’t teaching a course surrounding r,c and g but if you are… where does that leave you?
The only solution I’ve reached thus far is emphasizing immediately a learning space that is more like a community. Everyone is entitled to their 1st amendment right as long as they articulate themselves well and have the facts to back up their argument. Any other suggestions let me know ☺

You can't please everyone...

2007-04-22T13:07:00.000-06:00

I found Curzan and Damour's advice for reading students' evaluations of your teaching to ring true to my experiences as a middle school teacher last year, so I imagine that they'll also be applicable for teaching English 1000. Too bad I didn't read this book before I started teaching!

I think feedback about teaching is a valuable tool for improving teaching. At the same time, though, students' evaluations often reveal more about the student than they do about the teacher. I agree that it is good to give students a chance to tell you how they think the class is going and that you should consider those evaluations, but I also agree that it's important not to take evaluations too seriously.

My 8th grade class last year (all 9 of them) presented me with a list of complaints fairly early in the first semester. Some of the other teachers I showed it to didn't think it really merited a response, since some of their demands were rather ridiculous, but I decided that, since they'd presented their complaints in a relatively mature manner, they deserved a respectful reply. So I wrote them a letter in response, and we discussed each of their suggestions as a class. I didn't give in to their demands (being able to use calculators was one of them, I believe), but I spent time explaining why I'd made the choices that I had in structuring the class. Even though they would have preferred that I agreed to all of their suggestions, a couple of them did then say that they now understood my reasoning and were ok with that. Of course, that didn't make the rest of the year go by without problems (they were in middle school!), but I think that it made them realize that I did care about their concerns.

So I think that listening to and responding to students' feedback can be a very useful tool. In some situations, it can help to see things that aren't working and fix them, and, in others, it can show an area where you might want to clarify the reasons for your actions.

But I also think it's important to remember that students (and their parents, in the case of middle school) don't always give accurate evaluations. There will always be students who blame you for their failures, and they are pretty good at finding weak spots in your armor to try to make their comments hurt.

My homeroom class (6th grade) last year had had problems for years and years; when they were in second grade, one set of parents sued another set of parents about something one of the kids had said to the other in class. No one bothered to tell me this, of course, until problems started erupting. On one side of the battle was one of the smartest girls in school who happened to be from an indigenous family; on the other side was one of the smartest, richest, whitest boys in the school (and in the whole country). Basically, through trying to be fair to both parties, I got accused of favoritism by both sides (the parents were involved in this finger-pointing). There was literally no way for me to make everyone happy. Life would have been a lot easier if I had learned sooner that you really can't please everyone.

So, like Curzan and Damour say, listen to what your students say, but, at the same time, be sure you don't over-value negative comments.

Katie Z. book reviews

2007-04-19T22:45:00.000-06:00

Perhaps these will be slightly more comprehensive/coherent than I was in class.

Alfano, Christine L. and Alyssa J. O’Brien. Envision: Writing and Researching Arguments. 2nd ed. New York: Longman, 2008. (368 pp., $40.40)

Alfano and O’Brien’s book has a very helpful structure that seems particularly applicable to the English 1000 goal of teaching the writing process. I really appreciated that they addressed how to analyze texts and how to understand argument and persuasion. This approach seems to lend itself to application of self-critique in the classroom. That is, if the students are not just being told how to argue, but how to read argument, they will learn more about how effectively their own writing is progressing.

One of my favorite things about this book is that it uses not only traditional texts, but visual ones as well. For example, each chapter has excerpts from various essays, but different sections of the book focus on political cartoons, advertisements, magazines, web sites, and films. It seems very necessary to address these concerns, particularly since I intend to structure my class to include a number of nontraditional, nonliterary texts.

I did gravitate to this book based on the authors’ use of visual media as a touchstone for examples of argumentation throughout the book. However, I think it might be difficult early on in the course to convey to my students exactly how “reading” a visual argument can help them craft better written arguments. It also seemed like a conflicted use of these media—that is, the authors do recognize the importance of visual media, but it also seems like they are trying to make their book “sexy” enough for student consumption. Also, some of the visual rhetoric they are using might be difficult to adapt in future editions. For example, many of the political cartoons that have been selected are concerned with September 11th, and this seems very applicable to current students and what is immediately understood as political for them, but ten years from now it might not work. The authors’ decision to juxtapose these images with political posters from World War II seems to be the best way to set the works into a larger context.

Hairston, Maxine and Michael Keene. Successful Writing. 5th ed. New York: Norton, 2002. (310 pp., $37.50)

Hairston and Keene have compiled a comprehensive text on how to craft an argument that seemed to limit the process of writing to the actual time spent composing the essay. There is some information on analyzing source material and brainstorming, but these stages of writing did not seem very important to the authors. My favorite features of this book are the sections near the end of each chapter. The authors have included frequently asked questions that students might have, a few exercises to help the students identify techniques in example writings, and exploratory assignments on that are designed to help students incorporate the information into their own writing.

In ways, I found the organization of this book a little confusing. For example, the chapter on “Drafting” comes before the chapters on “Writing Clearly” and “Crafting Paragraphs.” I guess that is where the burden falls to me as an instructor so I could assign readings in the order I think makes the most sense. Also, the excerpted passages from other works seem like they might be confusing to students. The authors include primarily fiction and non-fiction sources to demonstrate argument, but many of the passages do not present an argument that is immediately apparent. Of course, the analysis of argument is going to be a primary goal of an English 1000 classroom, but this book also does not give a lot of emphasis to analyzing other arguments as much as to the student’s need to create an argument. The opening chapters of the book address “What Makes Writing Successful” and “How Writers Write,” but these seem like pretty standard lists of criteria that do not address how to effectively analyze someone else’s work.

One of the weaknesses I noted in this book was the limited information on nonliterary sources. Of course, this might not matter to someone who does not plan to use a lot of nontraditional texts in a course. I think this may have to do with this being the fifth edition of a book originally published in 1981. The chapters on “Considering Design” and “Sending Electronic Communication” seem as if they were added in recent editions in an attempt to keep up with technological advances and the rise of media studies.

Visual Argument

2007-04-19T11:42:00.000-06:00

I stayed late last night setting up and organizing the EGSA booksale. While doing this I was thinking about the visual argument I wanted to create. About 8pm I realized that I had just created a visual argument--the booksale set up itself. I wanted to take a picture but don't have a camera. Lots and lots of people helped set up and organize the books so it's definitely more of a collaborative effort. Go down and check it out. My argument goes something like: Next year, think critically about dropping off all of your free, out of date composition handbooks, text books, and writing guides, because we have more than we could ever need or sell!

Hey!

2007-04-18T13:15:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to say that I think everyone in this class is great! Seriously.

Another Visual Argument

2007-04-18T09:40:00.000-06:00

Here is my visual argument. I think there is noting complicated about it. Our world is so complex that even the simplest words are connected with various cultural associations. I often feel overwhelmed with the amount of information we have to deal with. Visual arguments seem to express exactly this type of thinking.

There are some questions concerning this kind of arguments. Can any or almost any image be read as a visual argument?

My another interest is the connection between textual and visual modes. Images are very often accompanied with texts. So visual argument is inclusive because it unites different types of messages while text is homogenic. How important are alphabetic texts as a part of visual argumentation? It seems like eventually we cannot get away from them.

Formal Reconnection

2007-04-17T20:08:00.000-06:00

Well, I second Claire's call for more reading on new approaches to reading and "teaching the visual aspects of texts" (Wysocki 149). Actually this is the cluster I'll be researching now, so we'll see what I find. I was hoping Wysocki would have more answers to the questions she raises, but that might be outside the scope of her chapter. I've said this before, but I hope to assign a paper on visual arguments, specifically those involving the body, so I'll need some background material.

I like Wysocki's call to "be generously and questioningly reciprocal in our designings" and address of visual texts. This ties in nicely with my general course theme of challenging texts, of being in dialogue with whatever is being read (visual or otherwise). I'll want my students to be able to see their image in the cold, clinical way, but also to see it in the emotional way Wysocki describes. Just as Ferry (and others) could admire Riefenstahl's aesthetics and deplore the content, I'd like the students to see the effectiveness of an objectionable image - to understand why such images can become prevalent and accepted.

The idea of a "formal reconnection" of concepts of beauty, of reclaiming an idea of "particular beauty" as opposed to that of disembodied bodies, really strikes home to me because of my fiancee (Kelsey)'s work in photography. Her MFA project as a fine art photographer sought to explode the conventional notions of the "beautiful" body, especially in the fashion world, through a series of black-and-white nude self-portraits of her own zaftig shape. Most of the images are cropped to show only fragments of the body, often disorienting the viewer, suggesting landscape or other subjects. Anyway, it's this idea of creating a new idea of "beauty" that she's getting at- Wysocki's argument, particularly at its end, often reminded me of Kelsey's thesis. Tomorrow I'll see if I can get an image uploaded here.

Shaping Relationships

2007-04-17T19:38:00.000-06:00

I liked what Wysocki had to say in this article. It was a stimulating read. I must confess, however, that I did have difficulty following her line of reasoning at times, and I’m not sure I fully grasp fully what she is trying to say as regards the ultimate answer to the problems she puts forward, the answer to how best teach the designing of visual arguments to our students. At the end of the essay for example, she tells us what she does not do in the classroom and what she does do. The second part of the sentence was not very clear to me:

“I do not start my teaching with design principles, then, but … by asking people in classes to collect and sort through and categorize compositions of all kinds, to try to pull “principles” out of those compositions and their experiences.”

***

In general, however, I got the drift of what she was saying, and the essay gave me a greater appreciation for the complexities involved in teaching visual argument. Wysocki argues for a visual argument that achieves genuine communication between the composer and audience. She calls for a “shaping relationship,” and is concerned with how this might be taught in the classroom. Clearly she feels it must be – needs be taught – in order to help the students from falling into serious pitfalls that have far reaching implications for the student composer, the viewer (audience), society, and culture. Wysocki is at great pains to outline the consequence of visuals that fail in this way, referring to them as one-sided, sterile, and ultimately untrue because they lack the complexity of life:

“The desire for abstract formality we have learned – the Kantian universal formalism embodied in the layout of the Peek ad as well as in the vocabularies of Williams, Arnheim, and Ban – separate us from our histories and places, and hence from each other. If we believe that to be human is to be tied to place and time and messiness and complexity, then, by so abstracting us, this desire dehumanizes us an dour work and how we see each other. This is dangerous.”

***

Her exploration of Kant and its limiting interpretations of the world also made for some instructive reading.

standing visual argument on its head

2007-04-17T19:30:00.000-06:00

This may be familiar to those of you who were West Wing fans. We sold these maps at my old bookstore in California.

My Pathetic Attempt at Visual Argument

2007-04-17T15:40:00.000-06:00

My argument is in reaction to the poor treatment for wounded soldiers from Iraq. In my visual, the Pentagon, inspired by the chick with the gun-leg from the Grindhouse movie, has decided to send all the wounded soldiers back into action.

Textbook Reviews

2007-04-17T15:29:00.000-06:00

The World is a Text: Writing, Reading, and Thinking About Culture and Its Contexts (2^nd Edition)

--Jonathan Silverman and Dean Rader

Cost: New -- $58, Used --from $13

I have to say up front: I love this book. It does nearly everything that I would want a rhetoric to do and does it well. The authors state their approach fairly clearly near the beginning: “All reading we do, perhaps anything we do, is backed up by various ideas or theories – from the simple idea that the acts we undertake have consequences both good and bad to the more complex theories about relativity and gravity. In this book, we rely on a theory that the world itself is open to interpretation, that we can make meaning out of just about anything” (3) And the book aspires to cover nearly everything – which is great. It begins with a brief (but informative) introduction to semiotics, then moves onto the particulars of writing the academic essay and reading creatively. The balance between reading and writing strategies remains stable throughout: each of the subsequent chapters focuses on one particular area (poetry, television, race and ethnicity, etc.), but focuses on both reading and writing about that subject area. The chapter subjects include all of the following:

1.) Poetry
2.) Television
3.) Public and Private Space
4.) Race and Ethnicity
5.) Movies
6.) Images
7.) Gender
8.) Art
9.) Advertising, Journalism, and the Media
10.) Relationships
11.) Music
12.) Technology

Each chapter includes readings (with some particularly good essays and poems), worksheets with reading prompts, model student essays (which should come in handy), as well as ideas for classroom activities and possible essays based on the readings. I am fairly certain that this is going to be the textbook I use next year because it fits perfectly the approach that I plan on taking. The text is self-aware, diverse, informative and, for the most part, visually interesting. The visual aspect, I think could have been tweaked a bit more, but all the images that have been chosen serve a specific purpose and break up the linear boredom of sheer text (oh, and there’s an amazing visual history of the development of hotel signage). Though I will only use sections of the book due to time constraints (and my obsession with White Noise), I think that this is easily the kind of book that you can design an entire class around.

Perspectives on Argument (5^th Edition)

--Nancy V. Wood

Cost: New --$67, Used --from $22

It is safe to say that this book dedicates a good bit more time to the formal aspects of logic and argument than The World is a Text, but I find the prose to be rather pompous, lacking the engaging, almost conversational quality of the Silverman and Rader book. Further, instead of analyzing culture (which can actually be fun), this book focuses primarily on hot-button social issues, such as the treatment of criminals, stem cell research, the inevitability of war, etc. I’m not the type who would avoid these types of debates if they were to arise naturally, but I don’t think I want to base my class around them – too much sound and fury, if you know what I mean. On top of this, the book is visually a giant block of text with blue borders (except a single, small chapter on Visual and Oral Argument near the center of the book, which contains some interesting, full color images). Honestly, I think it’s the kind of layout design that turns a book into a doorstop fairly early in the semester.

However, on the positive side, the book could – in a certain kind of course – be used to spark some interesting ethical discussions (but it seems almost to have been designed for an introductory Logic or Ethics class rather than English 1000). Another plus (from a certain perspective) is that there are long sections dedicated to Toulmin and Rogers. I think this information will be valuable for me (as one concerned with the nature of argument), but maybe a bit “high-jargon” for an introductory English course. The one area where this book definitely trumps The World is a Text is in its MLA and APA style chapter. The coverage is just much more thorough here. But this information is all available online for free, anyway, so its inclusion is not particularly significant by my lights. All in all, this seems like a book for someone else. I could definitely see it being useful in a course more focused on formal argumentation, logic, and social debates than mine. If your course moves in this direction, definitely give it a look. But I’m afraid the conservative design and high jargon content may rule it out for my purposes.

Here are the primary chapter subjects for the “Reader” section of the book:

1.) Traditional American Family
2.) Personal Relationships
3.) Computers and the Internet
4.) Stem Cell Research
5.) Genetic Engineering and Law
6.) Treatment of Criminals
7.) Race and Culture
8.) Cultural Assimilation
9.) Responsibility for the Disadvantaged
10.) Social Responsibility
11.) Poverty
12.) War and Peace

Bryan Ferry and the Problem of Aesthetic Evaluation

2007-04-17T13:23:00.000-06:00

I thought this story seemed strangely relevant in light of the Wysocki article. Bryan Ferry, a musician, made some "aesthetic" comments in relation to Nazi iconography that have gotten him in trouble with the Jewish community. Among other things, he referred to certain aspects of Nazi culture as "Really beautiful." He claims that his comments were "solely made from an art historic perspective," implying that they were disinterested, universal claims. This is the classic, aesthetic escape route. But the story raises some interesting issues. Is it possible to admire the aesthetic aspects of something tremendously evil without, in some way, condoning the evil? Must one always remain in the culturally critical, historicist mode of thought? Do these Nazi images lose all aesthetic quality in light of the awful history with which they are associated?

Here's the story:

(via BoingBoing)

Musician Bryan Ferry is sorry for praising the Nazi aesthetic. "My God, the Nazis knew how to put themselves in the limelight and present themselves," Ferry, who refers to his London studio as "Fuhrerbunker," told German Newspaper Welt am Sonntag. "I'm talking about Leni Riefenstahl's movies and Albert Speer's buildings and the mass parades and the flags - just amazing. Really beautiful." From The Guardian:

The singer, who is also a model for Marks and Spencer, issued a statement yesterday in which he said he was "deeply upset" by the negative publicity his remarks had caused. It added: "I apologise unreservedly for any offence caused by my comments on Nazi iconography, which were solely made from an art history perspective.

"I, like every right-minded individual, find the Nazi regime, and all it stood for, evil and abhorrent."

My Visual Argument

2007-04-17T11:24:00.000-06:00

I actually did a visual argument. It is a bit lame, but I actually was able to do it on the computer. Hopefully it will now attach for you all to see. I will write something more later over the readings. I also want to say that I did this with absolutely no help whatsoever, an accomplishment in itself with my technological luck. By the way, that is a skirt on the "walk" sign. Did I mention I am no artist.

Sticky Fingers

2007-04-17T10:53:00.000-06:00

Hmmm. I actually found that "The Sticky Embrace of Beauty" reinforced a lot of what has already been expressed (in a good way) about decentering and denaturalizing and directed it at visual arguments and aesthetics, in general. Rather than seeing it as an argument against universals, per se, I saw it as situating what are perceived to be universals temporally and socially (conventions do exist at a given place and time) so as to then show how these wrongly-perceived universals can be used strategically. The way Wysocki describes "what then is needed" is to say that of course "there is a certain necessity to effective visual composition because a design must fit a viewer's expectations if it is to make sense... but if design is to have any sense of possibility--of freedom--to it, then it must also push against the conventions, the horizons, of those expectations" (172). Wysocki advocates a pedagogy that will encourage students "to learn the social and temporal expectations of visual composition so that they can, eventually, perhaps, change some of the results of those expectations" (ibid). This might sound like a naive goal to many, but I think Wysocki is on to something--and she explains how she operationalizes the process in her classes. From 172-3:

I do not start my teaching with design principles, then, but rather by asking people in classes to collect and sort through and categorize compositions of all kinds, to try to pull "principles" out of those compositions and their experiences. One result is that... they can see the limitations and contingencies of... design principles... But, also, when people in these classes then make their own visual compositions, they understand that there are principles and why they need to follow them (in order to fit with the learned expectations of their audiences, not because there are universal, neutral forms) but they are also then aware they can--and often should--push against the principles. They see how the visual compositions they make embody particular aspects of themselves, that what they make are not objects for contemplation by others but rather reciprocal communications, shaping both composer and reader and establishing relationships among them.

For me, then, a big part of Wysocki's argument is that as a teacher she wants to denaturalize visual rhetoric for her students, that she does this by having them engage already-existing visual rhetoric to more-or-less deconstruct it and find the "principles" that are assumed so that they can then push the boundaries and challenge these codes; but she also emphasizes to her students that it's important for them to be literate in these forms--for them to be able to strategically use them in their own works because that is what is expected and that's they way to engage others in the lived world. For me, this is analogous to my assignment on Standard English--first I denaturalize the concept and show how arbitrary its origins are, then I foreground why it's still important socioeconomically for students to be able to use it strategically (and why, then, English 1000 is something they should be all about). They can then use that knowledge to push the boundaries or, perhaps, blow them up altogether (Audre Lorde’s assertion that “You can’t break down the master’s house with the master’s tools" informs my assessment here).

Any way, I gotta go--me and Will have the same landlord and she's knocking on the door. Speaking of that, "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" is the fourth track on Sticky Fingers, which leads back to the "sticky embrace" of the essay. It's all connected. So, without further ado, for your consideration--since I posted my own visual argument last week--here instead is Andy Warhol's visual argument for Mick Jagger's crotch:

Vis-a-vis a very different visual experience elicited by the cover issued for Sticky Fingers when the Warhol version was banned in Spain:

Same album (read: "composition"), but the visual "argument" about what the album is made by each cover differs dramatically; one embodies sex; the other, violence.

Kant's Cant vs. Post-Modern Candor

2007-04-17T10:27:00.000-06:00

I thought the Wysocki article was excellent (not objectively speaking, but in a sticky, relativized way). I have always found Kant immensely unpalatable exactly because his valorization of the abstract universal does damage to the contingent particular (that is, the complicated animal we happen to be). Wysocki's summarization of Kant's central aesthetic claim is admirably clear: "A judgment of beauty for Kant, then, is a disinterested and universal judgment that finds universal form in the form of some particular object or person" (163). These notions of the "disinterested and universal" fit quite harmoniously within an early modern and primarily Newtonian worldview, but we are children of Quantam Theory and Relativity. The universe itself is riddled with quirks and quarks, and even Einstein's geometric dream of reality seems rather old-hat. And this is progress, in a way. The values of disinterestedness and universality are basically authoritarian in nature. If we know the "one, true nature" of the human species, then diversity disappears -- difference transforms into deviation. The Norm is deified. All hail the Norm.

In any case, I think this project of deconstructing the basic categories of aesthetic evaluation is a valuable one, and I plan to incorporate it (in manageable bits) into English 1000. My second assignment (which has to do with analyzing popular advertisements in relation to the Adbuster's parodies) encourages exactly this type of thinking. By requiring students to compare two advertisements, I think they will begin to dissect the particulars, moving away from general impressions toward the "sticky" weirdness of the images themselves. During the lead-up to this assignment, I want to focus on the types of approaches mentioned in the Wyscoki article. I want to show students how an image can be approached from a formalist, aestheticized perspective and what types of results this leads to. I also want to suggest the problems, limitations and dangers of this type of perspective, then move towards a more culturally critical approach. I think this movement will reveal the real implications of each approach, giving students a more comprehensive understanding of the issues and vocabularies involved in the total discourse. Though I could not hope to be comprehensive in any way due to time constraints and my own limited knowledge, I think a great deal can be achieved.

A little too sticky?

2007-04-17T09:47:00.000-06:00

As I read Anne Frances Wysocki’s piece on visual composition, “The Sticky Embrace of Beauty,” my mind returned to Phyllis Lassner’s piece on Rogerian argument. Lassner suggests, among other things, that the Rogerian method is not equally empowering to all. Some, she suggests, actually lose power by engaging in the Rogerian method. As I recall, she assumes that the extent to which an argument is effective at reaching a particular audience is heavily based on cultural factors—a context—rather than innate human characteristics that are universal across time and space. In other words, not everyone is affected by argument in the same way.
Wysocki takes this assumption that Lassner makes about alphabetical argument and brings it to bear in her piece about visual argument—arguing that design techniques that some perceive to be universal principles should not be perceived to be universally effective. It makes sense to me that the principles of “contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity” (150) have culturally-weighted meanings and that in another context, some other principles, perhaps, might come into play.Yet, it seems I am foiled again! So much has been written on this blog about the difficulty of teaching students to analyze visual argument. Now it seems that even if one thinks he or she knows how visual argument works, that knowledge is limited to a particular context. I should have seen it coming. Is analyzing visual texts in English 1000 really worth the trouble?

One more thing

2007-04-17T09:33:00.000-06:00

I've been reading through the blog and following the comments, and I've got to say that I'm much more into the blog now that we're posting only once a week. This so narrows the number of posts that the potential for conversation about a particular topic has doubled, and I think it's really changed the face of the blog. Cool.

3-part blog

2007-04-17T09:06:00.000-06:00

1) Having read Wysocki's "The Sticky Embrace of Beauty," I'm even more disappointed Anne Wysocki didn't take a job at Mizzou. I would like to take a class from her. She talks about using "other principles for understanding visual composition" in her classes and I think I'd benefit tremendously from a class on visual rhetoric. I think that I would need this class in order to be able to fully synthesize Wysocki's arguments in this chapter. On page 169 she says,
If we want to change how we see women, then, or if we want to change how we see any group of people who are treated unfairly by our visual practices...We...have to criticize and rethink the formal categories we have inherited for making the visual arrangements that we do; we need to try new and different formal relations in our layouts and we need to learn to appreciate formal arrangements and practices that do not abstract and universalize (Wysocki 169).

I entirely agree, I think. Unfortunately I don't know enough about the categories we have inherited. I don't know enough about formal layouts. I'm starting to wonder what our options (as graduate students) are, as far as classes in visual rhetoric goes. I learn this type of material better in class than in independent reading and I'm feeling at a disadvantage. I didn't know until this year that I needed to know this stuff; I'm willing to learn but I don't think I can do it without a class.

2) I'm having a dillemma about the assignment to bring in syllabi for next class. The only syllabi I have in my posession right now are syllabi from the classes I took last semester and the classes I am taking this semester. I feel uncomfortable about publicly critizing my professors' syllabi--anybody else having this discomfort? I definitely need to work on the layout of my own class materials but I'm not sure how to do this assignment in a diplomatic way.

3) My visual argument will follow this post. Am wrestling with various programs.

Darren's Textbook Reviews

2007-04-17T07:58:00.000-06:00

My first book is: Envision: Persuasive Writing in a Visual World by Christine L. Alfano and Alyssa J. O’Brien.

As its title suggests, Envision is trying to do two things at once—teach the basic skills of rhetorical writing, and look at how the world uses visual arguments. It actually rather skillfully intertwines a study of the two. Throughout it’s nine chapters, it teaches aspects of writing arguments, beginning with the basics and steadily adding complexity as it goes along—chapter one explains rhetoric as a basic concept, chapter two covers appeals to logic and emotion, chapter three covers perspectives, and so on, covering the same kind of material other rhetorics would cover—(for example, when we get to research and using outside sources, there is a section on avoiding plagiarism). The difference between this book and other rhetorics is that it intertwines looking at standard rhetorical practices with looking at how visual media uses these practices, and has assignments which require students to analyze how these practices affect their everyday lives. Chapter 1 looks at cartoons, comic strips and editorial cartoons, Chapter 2 looks at advertisements, Chapter 3 photographs, Chapter 4 Propoganda Posters, Chapter 5 Magazines, Journals, and Webites, Chapter 6 Movie Trailers, Chapter 7 Oral and Power Point Presentations, Chapter 8 Designing Visual Arguments and Websites, Chapter 9 Writing for Public and Professional Communities.

Positives: This is definitely a book geared toward teaching a composition class that emphasizes visual media. It is visually appealing, smaller than most rhetorics, and uses a website for addition resources. Basically, a class could be structured around just using this book. It comes with its own assignments, most of which would fulfill the paper assignments required for English 1000, or could easily be tweaked to do so. The website has suggested activities for each chapter, suggested assignments for papers, suggested pre-writing activities, and even has peer-review sheets you can print up online. The website includes links to other sites which have the visual media being discussed in the particular chapter.

Negatives: The reason why it is such a slim volume is because it does not include essays from actual published writers. The website does have readings that the students can look at, but for the most part they are examples of other student essays. The website does have links to a few published articles, but the few that I clicked on did not take me to the site that it was supposed to—a few of the sites were blocked or no longer available. It also seems like some of the visual media that is used in the book (and the website) are already outdated—the first cartoon in chapter one is about Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial, which already seems like old news. It seems that for a book like this to be most effective, it would need to be updated frequently.

Despite the negatives, this book could still be used. I wish it had more readings in it, but I suppose readings can be found elsewhere if needed. I think that, even if I don’t use it, that I will probably steal a lot of ideas, and a lot of activities, from it.

The second book I looked at was Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students by Sharon Crowley and Debrah Hawhee. I was interested in this book because I wondered if taking an “old school” approach to teaching rhetoric, one which really focused on the classical approach, would work. This book gives a history of ancient rhetoric, then covers the basics in great detail, looking at stases, Aristotle’s Topical System, Logical Proof, Ethical Proof, Pathetic Proof, Extrinsic Proofs, Arrangement, Delivery of the discourse. All along, it cleverly uses modern day examples to illustrate that these ancient concepts are still used today. It incorporates readings, but generally just short ones, used primarily to illustrate the classical concepts, and has several exercises throughout the book. It does not have formal assignments, but assignments could easily be derived from the chapters.

I like the book, but I’m not sure how I would use it. I like the detailed explanations of these concepts, done in a straightforward way with good examples. I like how it refers to classical Greek tragedies to make some of its points. While I would like to read it myself, I’m not sure that the students would get as much out of it—not that it is over their heads, but that it would probably just be boring to them. It also seems like it may be advanced for what we need to accomplish in College Comp—we’ve had discussions about how much these classical ideas are useful, and how much they would just confuse the student. This book goes beyond basic. It explains the basics in such detail that it may be more than the students need in order to understand the concept and use it in their papers. Again, I could see stealing a lot of ideas from it, and even using the chapters to help create mini-lectures on the classical concepts. However, I again am finding that I wish the book had more readings.

If money were not an object, I would find a more standard rhetoric with readings, and combine it with both Envision and Ancient Rhetorics. That way I could have a balanced approach which considers both old school rhetoric and new visual media. However, money being an issue, I’m leaning toward getting the standard rhetoric, such as the Writing Analytically with Readings (which we all just received copies of about a month ago), and using these other books as a resource for teaching classical rhetoric and visual media.

Visual Argument

2007-04-17T00:29:00.000-06:00

In the true spirit of visual argument, I am going to hope that this will make sense and stand on its own.

If you have trouble ascribing some meaning to it, I'll gladly elucidate. It might be complete nonsense, given that I'm rather sleep-deprived.

Um, I don't have Photoshop. Or Microsoft Paint.

2007-04-16T18:21:00.000-06:00

My visual argument, therefore, will be a picture took with my camera. I swear it follows the rules of the Wysocki assignment:

So, the personal concerns I'm dealing with in this picture are time, literature, and consumerism. The book, skeleton, and door all represent each of these concerns in their own way. I'll leave it at that. I consider my thesis in this argument to be: "This time of semester kind of makes me want to die."

Two visual arguments

2007-04-16T11:59:00.000-06:00

Here are some visual arguments I made. (I don't know why both of these compositions incorporate eating.) The one with the rabbit(s) is called “Cooperation.” The other one (my apologies to anybody with ties to the University of Kansas) is untitled.
I'll blog with words soon.

Visual argument

2007-04-16T07:40:00.000-06:00

Well, here is my second attempt at a visual argument. As you can see, this isn't very technologically sophisticated. I realized as I put it together that I have a very hard time constructing an argument without words. I think part of this is because I usually see arguments as needing to be clear-- as not having multiple possible interpretations. I don't think my argument is open to a whole lot of interpretations, but I can still see a couple of different possibilities.

I'm beginning to wonder if the university ought to institute another required class for freshmen-- a class about using new media. Even though I only finished my bachelor's degree about 2 years ago, I'm still feeling hopelessly out of date (not that my technological skills were anywhere close to up to date at that point, either). Although I think Wysocki, et al have some good points and interesting assignment ideas, I have two objections to integrating much of this into my course:
1) I don't know anything about how to teach these things.
2) I think that one semester is not enough time to teach both new/visual and old/written forms of argument effectively. So many students in the writing lab have such a hard time with just getting the basics of academic writing, that I'm not sure I could justify using much of our time focusing on learning new forms.

Coming back to an idea I raised in the first paragraph-- academic writing is generally not supposed to have multiple interpretations. The argument is supposed to be clear (well, at least for most of us. Nobody apparently told this to Lacan). Yet, it seems that if we remove written text from compositions, there is no way that we can expect those compositions to have crystal-clear meanings; if there is no language to fix a meaning, to what extent is it argument at all? (Language has slippage as well, but it does have the potential for greater clarity.) Of course, if language were always clear, there wouldn't be a whole lot for us literary types to write our seminar papers about, but language is clear enough that our seminar papers are expected to have clear meanings.

Why my visual argument sucks:

2007-04-15T20:53:00.001-06:00

I approached this visual argument assignment much like many of my tutees claim to approach their own papers: with little planning or clear design. While I didn’t compose this assignment while watching a Cardinals game, something I hear often in the WL, (although I did make this last week, when I was pretty loopy on massive amounts of anti-nausea medicine), I didn’t follow the structured assignment described in Wysocki’s “Opening New Media to Writing” either. I think this definitely shows, since the argument in my work is unclear. The text ultimately just distracts the viewer from Rothko’s piece, and the text itself isn’t anything incredibly compelling. Some design troubles also led to my ultimate dissatisfaction with my visual argument. Personally, this is not my favorite Rothko piece. In fact, I think the most beautiful and poignant pieces are those that incorporate darker colors (some of my favorites are White Center (1950) and Untitled (1953), both of which you can view at http://www.nga.gov/feature/rothko/). The text, however, was too difficult to decipher on portions of these paintings. Consequently, while Rothko remains my favorite artist, I am not easily persuaded by my visual argument because this painting in particular isn’t one I would necessarily deem “silent poetry”.

Visual Argument!

2007-04-14T21:05:00.000-06:00

Online options

2007-04-12T11:52:00.000-06:00

In class today we'll spend some time tinkering around with some online applications that you might consider using. To help us all stay on the same page, I'm including links here of the applications I plan to talk about.

Course Management Software
A number of you have indicated interest in using Blackboard. Blackboard is proprietary course management software. Because it is proprietary software, the university pays big bucks to offer it to all instructors. But being proprietary, it also can't be modified: you're pretty much stuck with the way it's set up. Because its sole function is to serve to manage classes, it does that well: it offers space to upload course documents (syllabi, etc.), to conduct discussions, to post grades, etc. ET@MO offers a number of guides for Blackboard use.

WebCT was once a competitor with Blackboard, but Blackboard has since taken over that company.

Sakai is an open-source (and so potentially modifiable) course management program that is being used on a limited basis at Mizzou.

Moodle is a free, open source course management program that you can download and use.

Wikis
Of course, we're using a wiki in this class. A wiki is an easily modifiable, collaboratively composed website. We're using pbwiki. If you go to their website, you can set up a wiki for yourself in just a matter of minutes.

Here's a wiki I used in my Introduction to Women's Literature class last summer. I was able to use this wiki much like a course management program, but I was in full control of what I did and didn't want to include. I also find a wiki simpler to access.

(Note: You'll find some student collages on the wiki. I'd like to talk a bit about how I used them in my class and how I see them as facilitating rather than replacing written arguments.)

There are many other kinds of wiki software available. MediaWiki is the program that Wikipedia uses. It's available as a free download. Using downloaded programs does avoid the ad problem that you get with a free but proprietary program like pbwiki.

Blogs
I am, as perhaps you've noticed, a great fan of blogs. I've used blogs in classes for a little over three years now, and while the results are always different, I'm rarely disappointed. I can talk more about why I prefer blogs to discussion boards, but here are a few reasons:
* they tend to be easier to access (you don't have to use a password, unless you choose to)
* they tend to be visually more appealing
* they bring students into a form of writing that is very popular for journalism, business communication, and, yes, education.

Blogs, in short, are put to all sorts of uses. Just take a look at all you can find at Technorati, which keeps track of all public blog entries. And the cross-talk, cross-linking that happens on blogs is an excellent example of the kind of connecting that academic thinking is based on. (This doesn't happen on all blogs, of course. But it CAN happen. Blogs facilitate linked thinking.)

You can also modify the sidebar of a blog so that it includes links to class syllabi, assignments, etc. Here's an example from my blogging class last winter.

Online management systems
If you choose to use blogs and/or wikis rather than something like Blackboard, you might consider encouraging students to use a system like del.icio.us to keep track of their course websites and any other websites that they want to remember.

(Also useful to know about if you don't are "feed readers," which allow you to keep track of blogs and other sites that publish feeds. I currently use Bloglines, but I know a number of people who prefer Google Reader.)

In short, you could say I'm more of an advocate of Web 2.0 than of older, more proprietary technologies. I appreciate the ease and free access of Web 2.0, and I like introducing students to these technologies that can help them connect and use information. I also like the way that Web 2.0 emphasizes user production, not just consumption. For me, English 1000 is a chance to teach students various ways of producing texts, not just (but certainly including) ways of reading/analyzing them.

Here's a concept map of Web 2.0, from Tim O'Reilly:

Textbook Report

2007-04-12T09:09:00.001-06:00

Textbook Report

Claire Schmidt

4.12.07

English 8010

Compose Design Advocate:

A Rhetoric for Integrating Written, Visual, and Oral Communication

Anne Frances Wysocki and Dennis A. Lynch

New York: Pearson Longman, 2007

I chose this text because of the word “advocate” in the title. My hope was that the rhetoric would encourage citizen action, and I was pleased to find that it did. The “Purpose of this Book” states, “Because we see communication as being about building relationships among people, and because we see thoughtful and careful communication as being central to active and engaged citizenship, we present our approach to communication with a focus on civic advocacy” (iii).

The book is arranged in three sections: Designing Compositions Rhetorically, Producing Compositions, and Analyzing the Arguments of Others. Each section contains 5 or more chapters. The text is well-organized but very busy. Each page uses multiple colors of text, as well as photographs, visual designs, and visual representations of concepts. I found the explosion of color, visuals and varied formatting very distracting and sometimes confusing, but I can see how this might appeal to different learning styles.

Compose Design Advocate defines its position and intention throughout the book. I appreciate this self-awareness on the part of the authors, and their respect for those who read the book. By putting forth their intentions they demystify the relationship between author and reader, which I think disarms the reader and may diffuse some student frustration and hostility.

The book makes its definitions very reader-friendly. As a person who comes to rhetoric relatively uninformed, I very much appreciated the informal (yet serious and intentioned) approach to rhetoric. Page 29 features a great discussion of rhetoric that made me feel like I could talk about rhetoric in the classroom in a sensible way.

What I liked:

Colorful; visually appealing
Attempts to represent a diverse readership and/or appeal to a diverse worldview
Continually uses stories to reinforce concepts
Attempts to establish rapport with student
Text is engaging

What I didn’t like:

Layout can be visually distracting
Cost ($58) (though obviously it could be worse)

Conclusion: I am very tempted to use this book. I hope the by the time I teach English 1000 (Fall 2008) used copies will be available. This book is many things, but it is not boring (to me). I found it very practical and pragmatic, but also full of idealism, which might (hopefully) in some way resonate with young students.

Designing Writing: A Practical Guide

Mike Palmquist

Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005

Mike Palmquist’s Designing Writing is just what it claims to be: a practical guide. It’s small, light, concise, and easy to carry around. Not only is it physically convenient, but it’s also relatively inexpensive.

Palmquist prefaces the text by stating, “Designing Writing is based on the premise that content might be king, but kings are at their best when they’re properly attired” (iii). While I generally agree with this statement, I find his preface far less compelling than Wysocki’s Compose Design Advocate. He addresses many of the same issues with which Wysocki et al are concerned, but does so in a way that I find less compelling. Palmquist says, “Designing Writing, in short, treats document design as a rhetorical act…Designing Writing focuses on what writers need to know—how to analyze the visual principles that inform convincing documents and how to make effective choices as they design their own writing” (iv). While I appreciate that a preface is generally not written for the student, but rather for the instructor, I felt that Palmquist’s preface immediately created a boundary between the student and the text. Though the content is clearly directed toward the student, I feel that he fails to achieve the level of comfortable communication that seems so successful in Compose Design Advocate.

The text is divided into three parts; each part is divided into five to six chapters. The first section focuses on design principles and writing, the second section focuses on design elements, and the third section focuses on design characteristics of essays, articles, brochures, flyers, multimedia presentations, and web sites. Each chapter is quite short and to the point, and includes little theory and much practical application.

Designing Writing is less about writing and much more about design. Palmquist covers writing and non-visual rhetoric in less than thirty pages of Section 1. The text contains no information on theses, topic sentences, sentence/paragraph level organization, or word choice, though he does include a hefty section on plagiarism. Instead, Palmquist focuses on the arrangement of text to enhance clarity and persuasiveness.

Designing Writing is designed to help students use visual media to enhance their writing. Palmquist includes a great deal of very practical information on how to best convey a message using different media. Though this text would perhaps be woefully inadequate in today’s English 1000 class, it can prepare students to tackle multi-media projects in a thoughtful and effective way.

Conclusion: I don’t plan to use this text at this time, though I think sections could be extremely valuable for students working on projects with visual components. I may use excerpts when I teach intro-level folklore classes, in order to help students create effective presentations.

What I liked:

· Full color pictures

· Examples of effective visual communication

· Examples of how to remedy ineffective or confusing communication

· Size

· Price ($18.95)

· Addresses multiple document types (including presentations and brochures), some of which often get ignored

· Very, very practical

· Contains activities that could be homework assignments

What I didn’t like:

· Little to no practical writing instruction

· Activities are not very exciting

· Seemed to sacrifice content for style

· Some information may become quickly dated

Textbook reviews

2007-04-12T08:37:00.000-06:00

Here are my reviews of the textbooks I'll be presenting in class today:

Bullock, Richard and Maureen Daly Goggin. The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings. New York: Norton, 2007.

The Norton Field Guide is easy to use and offers many options for teachers, being adaptable for many different class plans. It states in the preface that it “aims to offer the guidance new teachers and first year writers need and the flexibility experienced teachers want” (iii), and it does a reasonably good job meeting these goals. In the preface, it gives examples of different ways to use the book, giving teachers the opportunity to “teach with a rhetoric,” “Organize [the] course thematically,” and “focus on particular strategies,” among other options (vi-vii). To facilitate this flexibility, the Field Guide has chapters offering guidelines for specific paper types such as literacy narratives and analyzing texts, but it also includes guidelines for writing lab reports, proposals, and résumés, making it applicable to other types of writing that students will most likely do at some point.

However, the Field Guide does not only focus on these specific types of writing but also on rhetorical situations (such as purpose and audience), processes (including collaborative writing, brainstorming, and revising, among others), strategies (such as analyzing causes and effects, defining, and reading analytically), research (offering guidance on finding, using, and documenting sources), and media and design (focusing not only on the written word but also on spoken and electronic works, including some guidelines for website design). To facilitate use, the Field Guide is color coded, with each section being assigned a specific color. Throughout the book, certain words function somewhat like hyperlinks, as they are highlighted in the color of the section where students can find more information on the subject, with page numbers listed to the side.

The Field Guide concludes with a selection of readings. These readings are primarily nonfiction essays, offering examples of the types of writings students might be asked to engage in (literacy narratives and arguments, among others). There are few—four poems and one short story, to be exact—examples of poetry and fiction to analyze. The usefulness of these readings would depend on the purposes of the individual class. There is also a version of the Field Guide that does not include these extra readings, for classes in which they are not applicable.

The Field Guide has other limitations, as well. While it contains some editing and proofreading guidelines, it does not contain a handbook, requiring students to look elsewhere for specific grammar and punctuation guidelines. Additionally, although the Field Guide does offer some guidance for composing electronic texts, it lacks information on alternative forms of argumentation, such as Rogerian or feminist perspectives.

Although it is lacking in some respects, the Field Guide provides a good basic text for first-year composition. It offers many ways of approaching composition, even though it neglects some others.

Axelrod, Rise B. and Charles R. Cooper. The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008.

The St. Martin’s Guide provides another fairly comprehensive and detailed guide to first year composition. Nine of the first 10 chapters are devoted to different types of “writing activities,” complete with assignments, examples of the genre, and “critical reading guides” that would be useful for peer review. The given examples help with the Guide’s stated goal of “Systematic Integration of Reading and Writing” (vii)—an integration that I find useful, as it gives the students an idea of what successful papers in each genre look like. The “critical reading guides” are also useful; they offer guidelines for students to evaluate their own papers as well as detailed questions appropriate for peer review of each specific assignment. “Of the “writing activities” listed, the majority of them could be written as argumentative papers appropriate for English 1000 (“Arguing a Position,” “Proposing a Solution,” “Interpreting Stories,” etc). A couple of them (like “Explaining a Concept” and “Explaining Opposing Positions”) run the risk of being mere summaries rather than arguments, but, with guidance from the teacher, they could also be useful. The first two writing activities listed (“Remembering an Event” and “Writing Profiles”) seem less useful for English 1000, with its emphasis on argumentation, but they could be used for short writing assignments. While these chapters oriented toward specific assignments would be an excellent way for first year teachers to begin, especially if they are not certain how to structure their own classes, they may be a bit too structured for some. These chapters would be applicable for similar assignments, but, for teachers whose assignments do not come close to fitting these categories, these first chapters could be less than helpful.

With that said, however, the chapters over specific assignments only comprise the first section of the book. The second section contains useful brainstorming and reading strategies which would be applicable for any assignment. The third section is devoted to “writing strategies” such as narrating, describing, and defining. While some of these may not be useful for English 1000 papers, others will be, such as the section on “Cueing the Reader,” which has information on topics such as thesis statements, topic sentences, and transitions. The fourth section describes research strategies and using sources, covering everything from interviewing to MLA style. Part five contains information about writing essay examinations (which may be helpful for our students after English 1000) and compiling portfolios (which could be useful, depending on class structure). Part six focuses on document design, oral presentations, collaborative writing, and writing as service. The book closes with a useful handbook, which contains help for speakers of English as a second language, in addition to basic grammatical information for native speakers. This handbook would be helpful for pointing out specific grammar and punctuation errors in students’ work, without having to spend excessive time in explaining the problem; for example, a student whose paper has multiple shifts in verb tense could be directed to handbook section E2a.

Overall, this book seems like a good basic composition text. It lacks assignments that utilize some of our more theoretical readings—there is no mention of Rogerian argument, feminist argument, or box logic—but it does have good basic assignments and helpful advice on issues ranging from reading to document design. Furthermore, Bedford/St. Martin’s offers the possibility of designing a custom book for your course, using parts of the book that you find helpful and leaving others out. There is also a wide selection of possible readings that you can include.

Theory and Practice

2007-04-12T08:23:00.001-06:00

First of all, I would like to apologize for joining the conversation late. I am presently out of town, traveling. Sorry.

I would like ot say that I have been enjoying the readings in this text - they have given me a lot to think about. I have found all of the readings to be challenging in many different ways. I also feel they have broaded my understanding of what the teaching of compositon may involve in this rapidly evolving world of technology. In this latest read - Opening New Media to Writing - I was struck by the entire discussion on "the materiality of writing." This was a rich and varied discussion on how writing technologies are impacting writing and the teaching of writing.

I see much of this discussion as theoretical. And I don't mean this in a derogatory way. I think it is enriching to come to an appreciate of much of what is taken up in this essay. And i believe that this will ultimately enrich my teaching in the classroom. I understand some of the theory has practical and immediate application in the classroom if one is inclined that way. (I think many of you have already spoken on this in your blogs, especially those commenting specifically on using visual arguments. ) I feel, however, that I would use much of what was put forward here sparinglingly in class. I might, for example, use visual arguments in order to engage my students' interests in the topic of argumentation. I think the visual would grab there attention and allow them to get into the topic more easily.

Based on my own experience of teaching freshman composition in the past, I expect my students to have a lot of difficulty in generating fluency in their writing and in being able to put together a persuasive argument. At this time, I feel that the students might be best served by being taught how to write argumentatively at length before going on to work in the composing of visual arguments, boxes, and writings incorporating hypertext. This said, I am intrigued by the readings and the discussions we hare having. I feel I am considering all of it and may yet change my mind with encorporating some of what this text is suggesting.

Eric Blair warned us there'd be days like this...

2007-04-11T22:32:00.000-06:00

I don't know how much everyone knows about this and/or how close everyone is following it, but it looks like the Missouri House of Representatives passed House Bill 213, the so-called "Emily Brooker Intellectual Diversity Act," today. For more context, here is a story from The Missourian, here is another one from The Columbia Daily Tribune, and then here is one more from The Maneater.

...

Rest in peace Kurt Vonnegut.

The invisibility of visual arguments

2007-04-10T20:01:00.000-06:00

Here's my concept map.
Here's my post this week (visual argument to come later).
As I read Cynthia Selfe’s article about new media, I found myself agreeing with much of what she presents. Like Selfe, I have noticed the prevalence of visual communication in our culture. To function in this context, one must become literate, developing the ability to read visual texts (perhaps even more than alphabetical texts). And what better way to learn to read visual texts than composing one, which is exactly what Selfe advocates at the end of the essay.
Yet, I finished reading Selfe’s piece with frustration. Teaching students a new kind of literacy was an exciting thought, but I did not see how reading visual texts would ever become a priority in English 1000. Even though visual literacy is highly valued in our culture, alphabetical literacy has more value within the academy. This attitude is apparent in the requirements for English 1000. As I recall, English 1000 instructors must assign their students three written papers during the semester. As students compose these alphabetic texts, they seem to have little time to compose a visual argument. And an instructor cannot really teach visual literacy effectively when visual texts must ultimately be analyzed through the composition of alphabetic texts.
To sum up, I liked what Selfe presents. I think it is unfortunate that the academy doesn’t place more value on visual argument. Due to a scholarly preference for alphabetical argument, some students are missing opportunities to acquire the tools to communicate visually.

Visual Argument and My Imaginary Classroom

2007-04-10T13:09:00.000-06:00

I apologize for the lateness of this post.

Since I’m coming in at the end of this discussion I don’t want to reiterate what many have already said more eloquently that I myself could, so I’ll keep this short.

I’m both attracted and repelled by teaching visual arguments (as are many of us). I am not good at creating my own visual arguments, since this was not something that was emphasized when I was in school.

For the purpose of my English 1000 class, I may include several activities or assignments that involved reading visual arguments. From observing English 1000 classes I’ve begun to think that this is a great way to teach analysis. I think it’s easier for many learners to analyze visual media than it is to analyze words, especially dry or dense words. I envision asking the class (as a whole) to collectively “read” some visual arguments and talk about what makes them effective.

I am toying with the idea of asking students to do a visual mockup of their paper—make their argument visually. I can see how this would appeal to some students, and perhaps help them focus their thinking, or isolate their main argument. However, I can also see how this could be very painful (and time-consuming) for other students.

In the interest of accommodating many styles of learning (and thusly alienating everyone equally?) I will probably ask students to use visual argument in some capacity. But, like Joe, I see visual argument as a way to support a growing understanding of written argument. I recognize that this is not a progressive stance to take but since the University is asking us to teach written arguments, that is what I will teach.

Look Closer.

2007-04-10T11:36:00.000-06:00

[One of the best tag lines of any film (American Beauty) ever...]

I love this stuff. This friendly "debate" (if it's even that) over old vs. new media reminds me of the battles over Cultural Studies (I, for one, happen to think the two are actually related). Katie's quip (though I take her point--and I know she's a fellow traveller) about the drawing of a puppy being used for as a substitution for argument reminded me of something Harold Bloom says in The Western Canon:

What are now called departments of English will be renamed departments of 'Cultural Studies' where Batman comics, Mormon theme parks, movies and rock will replace Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth and Wallace Stevens.

I actually love Bloom's work (and Chaucer's, and Milton's, and Wordsworth's, and especially Shakespeare's and Wallace Stevens') but I also love Batman: Year One, movies, and rock (I've never been to a Mormon theme park), and I also happen to think that these phenomena have pedagogical value, the same way the first professors who fought to include literature in the academy thought that it had value. I find Bloom's The Invention of the Human to be one of the best books written on the corpus of Shakespeare (even though I disagree with probably about 75% of what he says in it), and in general I think he's absolutely brilliant. But his prophecies of doom are overwrought and, if one looks back at the history of English departments, just a little spurious. The key word in Bloom's assessment is "replace": no one that I take seriously is talking about replacing anything, but rather just continuing the "principle of addition" that English departments have engaged in since their inception. The book which I relied heavily on for that presentation on the history of English departments in 8005--Gerald Graff's Professing Literature: An Institutional History--lays out nicely how arbitrary the make-up of English departments is, and this includes the material that we value and teach. These things have histories, histories bound up with issues of class, race, gender, all the things we say we want to decenter and denaturalize.

One might say, then, "Physician, heal thyself"--let's turn that critical lens back on ourselves and the practices and forms that we privilege. Take Ian Watt's The Rise of the Novel, which traces the literary practices, sociocultural conditions, and changing attitudes that gave rise to the novel as a dominant literary form (and we all know how before it was legitimated, it was considered pulp); or the radical work of Gauri Viswanathan, Masks of Conquest, which argues that English literature (and to large extent the English canon) was introduced into colonial India as a hegemonic tool--the literary text stood in as a surrogate Englishman, inculcating the values of the ruling class and legitimizing colonial rule. The point is that these forms didn't just spring Athena-like from the head of someone like Harold Bloom--people fought long and hard to include certain forms and not others, certain poets and not others, certain values and not others. This battle continues--the English department has been at the forefront of the so-called "Culture Wars"" for some time now, and that's part of an even larger fight that's been going on, in my opinion, for at least the better part of three centuries. In "Space, Knowledge, and Power," Foucault offers what could be said to be his main project--one that's very relevant to what I think is central here:

I think that the central issue of philosophy and critical thought since the eighteenth century, has been, still is, and will, I hope, remain the question, "What is this Reason that we use? What are its historical effects? What are its limits, and what are its dangers? How can we exist as rational beings, fortunately committed to practicing a rationality that is unfortunately crisscrossed by intrinsic dangers?" One should remain as close to this question as possible, keeping in mind that it is extremely difficult to resolve.

When you "unpack" that, you find much of what concerns us in English departments, in my opinion (beyond the belles lettres approach to studying literature), and, in many ways, this discussion of new media might just be commentary on a new front.

As for a generational divide that Katie, Leta, Jenn, Irina, Darren and Joe all address each in their own way, the conference I attended last week was actually all about that. I'm continuing to add to a blog post here, if any one's interested in a fuller account, but some of the salient points are that the powers-that-be at this institution (Chancellor Brady Deaton; the Dean of Arts and Science Ted Tarkow; our old friend George Justice) and institutions across the country see things in very much those terms. The conference was titled “Reaching and Teaching the Digital Native.” The phrase is taken from work done by Marc Prensky on the generational gap that’s been created between those who have grown up immersed in digital culture and who “speak” technology as a native language and those who are “immigrants,” who must learn it as a second language. So as Katie says, her generation, the generation of most of you (because I'm *sooooo* much older) is indeed on the cusp of something new, and at least according to the big wigs at the conference, this is a growth industry. They strongly believe that the wave hasn't crested, but rather that it's just starting to roll: one of the big themes of the conference, in fact, is how much innovation is "coming down the pipe." Dr. Jim Wolfgang, one of the speakers at the conference, cites work that’s being done at the middle school level right now that goes beyond what’s being done in colleges and universities.

Using technology for technology’s sake is not the goal, of course--like everyone, it seems, I think one needs a healthy dose of skepticism, but that one should also be open-minded (a pretty good formula, in general). My concern, at this point, is to do everything I can to try to catch up and then keep up. Dean Brian Brookes of the School of Journalism was the facilitator of the conference and the first time he spoke he conceded that not all faculty will get on board for implementing new technology. His solution? "Forget ‘em"... they’re “not worth the effort." They’ll either conform or retire. It sounds harsh, but it's one competing meme for what the future of the university will look like. (A related concern in terms of marketability and career advancement is how this top-down implementation will be encouraged--the general consensus here is that there will increasingly be reward systems created on campuses which will integrate the use of technology as a category in assessments of faculty). Dean Brookes said the best thing to do is to find those who are enthusiastic about adopting new technologies and help them make it happen—give them the resources and the support to modernize the curriculum.

As for finding what works, there was a lot of talk about increasingly using what’s been proven to work already to reach students, such as finding ways to use social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace that students use any way, like in the assignment that Liz saw in the Writing Lab. Conferences like this are designed to introduce new ideas about using techonology--you take those ideas (kind of like we are with the readings for this class), you try them out and refine methods, you launch pilot programs and if they're successful, you take the results back to your dean or whoever and secure increased funding for more technology. According to everyone here, this is the future of higher education. (Speaking of futures, I have a a collection of essays on the "future of the book" if any one's interested--it's a little dated, but still interesting; I happen to believe that there's a fetish quality assoicated with being able to hold a book in one's own hands, a tactile and visual connection much like Nick Hornby describes in relation to albums in High Fidelity).

One thing that I find most interesting about the technology I saw at the conference is its seeming ability to level the roles of students and teachers a la the critical pedagogy of Freire and hooks. According to the presenters at this conference, the technology has proven itself capable of doing just that. It increasingly has led to a leveling of disciplines, as well; Dean Brookes finds that there is much more interdisciplinary activity at MU than ever before. It’s just exploded in recent years and it's all due to the ways in which technological innovations have facilitated interconnectivity. Furthermore, I do think that, as I've said before (as Katie mentions), we can do ourselves a great service by meeting students half-way. I don't want to eliminate teaching the traditional essay or research paper in Composition. Rather, just like the Oakland School Board tried to facilitate mutual learning between standard English speakers and AAVE speakers in order to help the latter learn the standard English skills they need to thrive, I want to use alternate media to reach students in order to teach them the traditional forms that are still privileged, as well as the new forms that are increasingly gaining acceptance.

In terms of the visusal argument assignment, I first want to defer to what I think is some of the most amazing work being done in any classroom right now. Dr. Joseph Squier is a Professor of Comparative Media at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Maria Lovett is a doctoral candidate in Educational Policy Studies there. Together they developed and teach a course called "Writing with Video"--here's the course description:

This course engages students in a comprehensive exploration of video as a rhetorical narrative medium, with emphasis on the actual production of video work. Directed writing is integrated into all aspects of the production process — brainstorming and conceptualization, drafting and storyboarding, revision, and critique. Writing is positioned as an integral part of the process of thinking, problem solving, and creating.

Electronic media play an increasingly important role in today’s communication landscape. Consider, for example, the role that time-based visualization now plays in many areas of scientific research, or how video is used in popular culture to inform and persuade. Students who understand visual, time-based communication and have robust writing skills will have a competitive advantage in the coming decades. The leaders of the next generation will possess sophisticated, multi-dimensional communication skills — the type of skills taught in this course.

Do me a big favor--go to the site and click on the link for "projects" at the top and just look at some of the stuff these kids have done--and look at the assignment descriptions, too--like this one for "Visual Argument":

Your challenge for this project is to create a video that seeks to persuade and convince. You are being challenged to take a position, adopt a point of view on a timely and politically engaged social issue, and then create a piece that argues in favor of this view.

This will require you to spend some time considering the medium of video from a rhetorical perspective.

Once you've selected a topic -- hopefully something that you truly have strong opinons about and can find a personal stake in -- you will need to do some background research and fact-finding. Next you'll need to begin building a framework for your argument.

This will provide you an opportunity to compare and contrast writing as a rhetorical form, and video as a rhetorical form. We ask that much of this exploration take place in your Pages documents. You should be writing out your research findings, beliefs, and arguments. This will then become the basis for your video production.

In addition to your production notes and the finished video, we also require that the finished Pages document conclude with a self-reflection and analysis of what you learned about written arguments versus visual arguments. Also, please provide a reflection and assessment of the strengths and weaknesses that you see in the finished video.

purpose
-->To provide a counter-point to the previous project, where you were asked to assume (or attempt at assuming) a position of objectivity. Now you are being asked to make your subjective belief or viewpoint explicit, convincing, persuasive.
-->To explore rhetoric in a new form.

Look at the other assignments and examples of past work and I think (I hope!) you'll see why I'm excited about the possibilities (the "Representing Others" examples they showed at the conference were phenomenal). Like others have expressed, I don't want to spend inordinate amounts of class time teaching how to use the technology itself, but everyone at this conference is convinced that 1) successive generations of incoming freshmen will increasingly know how to use these technologies already; and 2) there are increasingly user-friendly programs that have "nice learning inclines" which will not take long at all for digital natives to learn. Again, I'm skeptical myself (I consider myself to be a digital exile), but the possibilities just blow my mind. In terms of next year, of course, I'm not as ambitious. Like everyone else, I'll be using non-traditional media only as a means of engaging students and facilitating their interest and appreciation of the benefits of learning traditional forms of rhetoric and composition.

In the meantime, Tim inspired me to share my visual argument. I'll refrain from explaining it further than saying that I got the idea from a comment I heard about the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse the other day, and to give due credit by explaing that I borrowed from works by José Clemente Orozco (Gods of the Modern World, 1932), Francis Bacon (Head VI, , 1949), Raymond Saunders (Jack Johnson, 1964) and an unknown Ghanan artist:

Need a Visual?

2007-04-10T11:35:00.000-06:00

I haven't had a chance to read all of your posts in depth yet, but from what I skimmed it seems as though many of you have similar reservations about the visual argument assignment. I think it is a good idea to challenge a student's way of thinking, asking them to expand on types of knowledge they already recognize, but I am not completely sure how to incorporate this whole idea into a composition classroom.
On trying the assignment myself, I found the ideas to be challenging and intriguing, making me think on a different level. I actually was not sure what my visual argument would be without any words. I feel that I need them and the visual could enhance my argument, but not stand as the whole argument itself. I felt it left too much open to interpretation, which would diminish its effectiveness. It was like what I believe Tim mentioned when we pondered "Body Argument." Would the head sticking out of the ground be effective to everyone without any kind of written explanation. I feel this is true for today's assignment as well.
I am also skeptical of spending at least a week on the activity. Like I said, I feel it could really encourage a lot of critical thinking, but I am not sure it would be enough of a reason to use an entire week or more of a composition class on the assignment. Maybe I am not looking at the argument for using visual argument in the correct light. Any suggestions?

:-) ? (/) :-|

2007-04-10T10:16:00.000-06:00

That is my visual argument.

Seriously though, like many of you, I am hesitant to take the plunge into the visual. I consider myself to be both familiar and comfortable with technology. I consider the visual to be an important and intriguing thing to study. I just don't think that creating a visual argument should stand in for an alphabetic one. My reasoning is simple (and perhaps arcane). Like others, I think that unequal access to technology and unequal artistic ability in students will account for much more disparity in grades than they should. Like others, I think that allowing a visual argument to stand in place of an alphabetic one does a disservice to students who are using English 1000 to prepare them to write in their writing intensive classes. But, furthermore, I also think that what makes visual arguments so intriguing is the very thing that makes them insufficient academic arguments. Namely, they are open to interpretation in a way that English 1000 papers shouldn't be. For example, Tim's awesome piece could be read in multiple ways beyond his own intention. It could be that the red symbolizes passion and that he is in love with Hillary Clinton but that she is terrified of being in love with him and has broken his heart. The mere fact that it can be open to such diverse interpretations suggests to me that it shouldn't be a goal for our students.

That said, I think that a visual argument is a fascinating analogy to literature itself. It is a thing to be enjoyed, interpreted, and analyzed in multiple ways with no single interpretation being "right," while some may be more likely or better supported.

I plan to have my students analyze and compare/contrast an alphabetic text with a film for their second formal paper. I also plan to have them analyze an advertisement for an informal paper (or two maybe) and discuss the inherent arguments in tangible objects (à la Darren). Like Jenn, I think that visual argument could work well in conjunction with a formal paper, so I might do that, depending on time constraints. If I ever get an opportunity to teach an advanced composition class, however, I think that composing a visual argument would be an intriguing exercise.

I'm old, and the wolves are after me

2007-04-10T08:46:00.000-06:00

(Advance apologies for rambling and overuse of parentheses)

I'm sold on the growing importance of visual argument, and I believe it can have a place in composition, but I see it more in a supporting than a leading role (as others have said, I think). Writing _about_ visual argument, definitely- I want to explore this in my classes for sure, for its own value as well as to change the pace of the course. But creating visual arguments in place of papers, I don't know. I tend to agree with those who would use them as support assignments, leading up to a written paper.

The title of 1000 is Argumentation and Exposition- and that, tellingly, is not restricted to _written_ argumentation and exposition, so it's almost like someone knew what the future was bringing (Donna?). But it is offered through the English department, so I expect the students to use (primarily) English to do their arguing and exposing. Another worry is that the students will have inequal capacities for creating visual arguments via computer- possibly greater than the inequalities in their writing skills, and for different reason (economics). If I'm teaching in one of the dungeon rooms on the ground floor of GCB, I can't do all the things I could do in one of those nifty new rooms in Tate. In another course I'm in that uses that room, we see and discuss some kind of visual argument almost every class, to great effect, so I see the advantages of using the available technology. But if I'm teaching a paper about a movie, I can't expect them to create their own movies (not yet anyway), mostly because it's not a film class, but also because not all of them will have the wherewithal to create movies. Maybe it's available through the university, and I just don't know it. (digression/precedent: in a Shakespeare course I took in college, we had the option of staging a scene from a play instead of writing one paper. I got much more out of this than writing the other paper.)

On the other hand, I'm already softening on all this. I do intend to use some kind of visual argument paper- if not next fall, then in the spring- that has students look for advertisements that use the body to present an argument (my challenge: find articles suitable to prepare them for this task). I've found a number of interesting ads already, many of them from American Apparel (slimy bastards). I'm strongly considering adjusting my media-analysis paper to focus exclusively on news websites instead of traditional print media. So I'm not a total Luddite, but I've seen some pretty poor writing out there in cyberspace, and I think some webslingers jumped out of alphabetica too early. If they're going to be computer-literate whether we like it or not, why not also make them English-literate?

P.S. On the topic of the supposed impending death of the book: as a former bookseller, I fervently hope this never happens. Not only because people like me would be out of a job, but also because at this point I haven't seen a good way to write marginal notes on an on-screen text. "Insert comment"? not good enough.

Don't Live in a Bubble, But Don't Burn Your Books, Either

2007-04-10T08:33:00.000-06:00

I was hoping to post a visual argument which would have the presidential candidates performing on the American Idol stage, but I don't have the knack with superimposing images that Tim has in his ingenious Twin Peaks album cover. I'm just such an old fart.

I do think it's an interesting activity to do in class. I think that many activities such as this one, and others in Wysocki and other books on visual media (one of which, Envision, I will do a text report on this Thursday), can be incorporated into a composition class that does not necessarily have to break the mold of what a college composition class should do. I find it hard to completely embrace the idea of focusing solely on visual arguments in a class that is designed to make the students better writers when they are on their own, and having to write actual academic papers for other classes. It seems we would be doing them a diservice by trying to go too much against the grain. Also, as teachers of English, it seems that we, of all people, should be encouraging the continuance in our culture of the printed word--we should actually like books, and want other people to like books, too.

However, we also should not be teaching in a bubble, unaware of all the other media that is assaulting the senses of our students. If anything, the connection I see between the college comp class and new media is that perhaps understanding these "older" forms of argument--the written and oral word-- can help the student make sense of the newer forms--visual and computer generated.

I think that a look at visual media can be used in two ways-- as the topic of papers, such as the papers many of us have already seen on looking at magazine advertising, which, really, is not a bad way of getting a student to consider how visual media is influencing him/her. And I think that visual media can be used as brainstorming activities; such as the "concept map" or other visual devices that can be used for brainstorming. I was thinking that, as a part of my first assignment (based on reading arguments) that I could assign the students to draw a cartoon that would be inspired by the article they read, one which, if the article were printed in a magazine or newspaper, could be printed beside it to help enhance its meaning. Ideally this activity would make them think a little deeper about the meaning of the article, and the audience it is trying to reach.

I certainly think that visual argument should be incorporated, in as many creative ways as we can think of, but not at the expense of the written word. Because until the day that a student can turn in a series of photoshopped pictures as a History term paper, we would be doing them a disservice not to focus our attention on the formal academic paper.

New Media, Visual Rhetoric and Argumentation

2007-04-09T22:34:00.000-06:00

The conception of new media that Wysocki offers is interesting because it shows the result of many reflections upon digital texts, web spaces etc. that we cannot ignore after all. I tried creating the visual argument. The main part of this assignment is the interaction among the participants. I wonder how difficult it is to comprehend someone’s visual argument.

I guess building the system of argumentation and being persuasive on this new visual level is the most difficult side of it. We actually use visual aids a lot, but it appears to me that, for example, I tend to use them as the auxiliary aids. I mean if I use PowerPoint I may combine it with printed linear argument of “old” kind (the actual text that I say) and use the screen only for illustrations and marking the turning points of the presentation.
It seems like a real visual argument is supposed to speak for itself, without necessary parallel explanation of an author (that is usually of a linear kind?).

New media are overwhelming. “Combinations of the alphabet, photographs, video, sound, color, and animations” (19), like in Internet, provide so much information, that I often just perceive it, without analysis or looking for some sense or principle. It is so easy to lose the path. This is another difficulty I see about visual arguments. One has to work a lot to create real arguments and not mere associations of many images and pieces of texts.

Evaluation of Websites

2007-04-09T21:51:00.000-06:00

In our class I mentioned an assignment I found by chance, so here is the link to it

http://phs.wrdsb.on.ca/library/leng1dww.htm

The sites that the instructor suggests for evaluation here are the most out-of-date ones I have ever seen (actually the page was uploaded in 2001). But the frame of the assignment is very good I think and can be used with the updated material.

Arguably, A Visual Argument

2007-04-09T21:50:00.000-06:00

I stole this idea from a thread on Somethingawful. If you don't recognize the face, that's Hillary Clinton (standing in for Laura Palmer). If you don't recognize the film, it's David Lynch's prequel to the Twin Peaks series -- Fire Walk With Me. It may defeat the purpose of a visual "argument" to talk about it, but I'm going to anyway. Something about the current presidential race gives me a heightened feeling of "unreality" -- an almost uncanny sense of the silliness and absurdity of systems of political representation. Watching one of Hillary's press conferences the other day, I went through a series of stages, moving from a feeling of "unreality" to visceral boredom to mild nausea during the course of about 15 minutes. The struck postures, the talking points, the photo ops, the mad promises . . . it was all too much, and at the same time too little -- like a surfeit of nothingness. I kept thinking how these insane promises would change depending on the audience addressed, how the professional politician changes tactics and agendas from town to town, scrambling for universal acceptance. I noticed with fear and trembling the awkward smiles aimed at various cameras, the forced hugging, the intentionally chosen and carefully arranged "multicultural" entourage. The ephemeral quality of the discourse reminded me of the digital phenomenon of "viral" media -- images, videos, texts that proliferate across the internet overnight like some kind of cannibal bacteria. The idea for the above image came from such a "viral" source: superimposed Hillaries showed up all over the place after Somethingawful started a thread based on an unflattering image of Ms. Clinton. So I decided the form fit my purpose for this assignment. The Lynch film reinforces the sense of the unreal (especially since it is a kind of "remake" of noticeably lower quality than the original series), and the image itself is a symptom of a viral phenomenon that has already peaked and started to die off. It is a kind of two-dimensional monument to the ephemeral and the absurd -- a fitting image of contemporary politics, I would say.

Visuals

2007-04-09T20:26:00.000-06:00

I must admit that though the Wysocki book is interesting, it’s somewhat dense. I completely understand the need to “reinvent the wheel” so to say due to our ever-changing world, and the fact that we can’t effectively teach composition as we might have 20 years ago or even two depending on the content. Nonetheless, Wysocki makes a valid argument as to why we need to go back to the drawing board and incorporate a greater emphasis on the visual. Though I’m not in accordance with all the methods I’ve come across yet in the book, this week’s activity actually seems like it could be of great use in my class (more so than last week’s). Asking students to build a visual argument seems that it would best accompany Paper #1, Hurricane Katrina. Instead of allowing students to pick the terms which they need to build their argument around, it would interesting to give all the students the same terms (as in relation to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath), next have them write down which visuals come to mind, and thirdly have them search on the internet for actual visuals to aide further in their argument. I would probably do it before When the Levees broke so their minds are clear of any recent visuals. Ideally this assignment would be clearer and would follow the book more closely. I think it would be interesting to see the variations of arguments for the same concerns.

seeing (zing!) the merit in visual argument

2007-04-09T19:21:00.000-06:00

To begin by addressing some of the concerns Leta raised in her post: I must have started my English career on the cusp of something new (not that I am *soooo* much younger than everybody in the cohort or anything), or else I had really great professors who encouraged my desire to pursue a burgeoning field of study. I love books, as we all do, but sometimes I feel like everything has been done there for so long that I just want to read pictures for a change. I really have had the impression that visual media "reading" is a growth market, but I may be totally wrong. Maybe I've picked up after the wave crested. My point is similar to the one Court made in his lesson plan exchange: these are media our students are going to be familiar with. Why not reach out?

Why not? Because we've been steeped in traditional texts. I like Wysocki's terms "alphabetic" and "non-alphabetic texts" (41). Still, and Jenn and I had this discussion today in the WL, I feel that Wysocki et al. have created a book that introduces a lot of new strategies very quickly that many "alphabetic text" proponents will not be ready to accept. Also, for proposing to be progressive in terms of defining visual media/argumentation, I think many of the assignments in this book are very prescriptive and inflexible (for example, why do I have to use Anthony Blair's essay in assignment 6?).

I seem to be resisting a lot of Wysocki's techniques for this reason, too. If we move entirely towards "non-alphabetic," must it all be intuitive or sensory? Is it scholarly enough to "just have a feeling" about an argument? Of course I will expect my students to be very passionate and emotional about certain topics that they will argue, but it isn't enough for an argument to look pretty to be convincing. Could you imagine? "You have no textual evidence, but that drawing of a puppy is very persuasive."

I saw a student in the WL today who was writing an advertisement analysis to address the prompt "How does this advertisement portray our cultural values?" The student picked out a lot of values that the advert (for Jose Cuervo Tradicional tequila) was exhibiting, but did not really know how to talk about *how* the advert was demonstrating those values. It could have been that particular student, but I find that in a lot of these types of assignments, the students lack the basic knowledge of how to talk about the visual components and why they do what they do. Also, the problem with assessing adverts is so many students get to the point of: "Nobody's going to pull the wool over MY eyes! This is trying to sell me something! I am going to be very cynical about the agenda of this piece, because nobody can sell me happiness!"

One problem may be that the students do not know how to make words and images cooperate. This definitely gets at what Leta was mentioning, as well as the disjunction I noted between Wysocki's visual/emotional appeals ("What colors do you associate with what you listed?" (39)) and verbal/rational appeals. Can images appeal to reason, or are they appealing because there are no word connotations to interfere with our interpretations? If a picture is worth a thousand words, how can we find the vocabulary to discuss them in a 3-5 page paper?

For the sake of my own sanity and schedule, I am going to stop here. I'm sure you'll all be hearing me natter on about visual media in the future, so I will save the rest.

You can't teach an old dog...

2007-04-09T07:42:00.000-06:00

I'm beginning to feel a bit like the proverbial old dog that can't learn new tricks. I created a basic visual argument, but my results are definitely not spectacular and most definitely don't reflect the time I spent working on the argument. Visual argument is really something that I am not good at. That said, my students are going to be faced with many visual arguments, and probably this visual nature of argument will become more prevalent, not less, in the near future. Furthermore, many of my students will probably be much more visually-oriented than I am. So I appreciated Selfe's chapter on visual literacy, aimed specifically at "teachers of composition" who "feel less than prepared" to work with new media texts (67).

I will not, of course, be able to teach my students a whole lot about new media texts, since that is not my strong point; nor are new media texts the major focus of the class, since we are required to assign a certain number of fairly traditional arguments. But I'm considering integrating one or more of Selfe's suggestions as minor assignments. I'm considering having them do one of the assignments and then spend a class period viewing and commenting on each others' work. Selfe describes hanging the assignments on the wall as a 'gallery,' I believe. If I did this, I would most likely require students to do a couple of 'peer-reviews', giving feedback about what worked and what didn't, suggestions for improvement, etc, perhaps using forms like Selfe provides. I have the feeling that my students could learn more about the effectiveness of their visual arguments from their peers than from me. My grading would be based more on completion of the assignment, documentation of sources, etc than on a value judgment of the quality of the work, since I don't feel particularly qualified to comment.

Some assignments that I thought would be relatively easy to use in this way include the 'visual essay' on p. 76, perhaps adapted for my class. Rather than showing their relationship to literacy, the students might perhaps show their/their families' relationship to immigration or war. I also liked the 'traveling photo exhibit' assignment, which seems to fit well with the scope of my class, as it focuses on "hatred/dispair and hope in America" (94). To prepare students for one of these assignments, I might use Wysocki's "expectations of seeing" activity (25), in which students look at photographs/postcards and try to discern as much as they can about the picture without reading information about it. Do any of you more-visual people have other suggestions?

MySpace and Visual Argument

2007-04-08T14:30:00.000-06:00

I think Wysocki’s visual argument activity is an intriguing one, an assignment I might use in my own classroom. I appreciate the time and involvement the activity requires, since I believe most students will need more than a quick introduction to visual arguments (I certainly did). I also like that students may revise their arguments according to Blair’s definition OR the definition established in class discussion. Throughout the semester, I hope to show my students the fluidity that accompanies argumentation, as I’ve encountered many first-year students who believe strong essays take one strict form (i.e. the five paragraph essay). I’d like to relate this assignment somehow to poetry, if possible. I would be very interested to see what sorts of visual arguments a poem inspires. Many websites, for instance, alter the standard textbook font and add graphics, pictures of the poet, audio clips, and other features. It also might help students to consider how their conception of a poem changes when read online with these appendages.

Wysocki’s article reminded me of an excellent assignment I encountered in the Writing Lab, one that required students to address self-representation and it’s relation visual argument. The instructor required students to pair up and interview each other, noting likes/dislikes, personality traits, mannerisms, etc. Students were then required to view their partners’ MySpace profiles, which they had created earlier in the course. Their subsequent essay assignment asked the writer to evaluate his/her partner’s ‘real-life’ and virtual selves. I was fascinated by this assignment because I hadn’t previously considered how all the ornaments of MySpace—backgrounds, scrolling banners, photos, etc—help construct an identity. My tutee’s partner, for example, was in person a very shy and quiet kid. His MySpace page, however, was very flashy—the background was a bright red Cardinal’s baseball pattern, with a scrolling marquee that simply read “DRINK BUDLIGHT!!!!!!!”. He was quite obviously inebriated in his profile photo, which pictured him standing on a table in a bar, beer can in hand, singing. In short, his MySpace profile depicted him as an outgoing, fun-loving, often drunk college boy. The assignment forced my tutee to analyze how the layout of MySpace altered one’s conception of its maker. It might be a good introduction to visual arguments, as many students already have MySpace or Facebook profiles.

Search Enginge Bombing, etc.

2007-04-07T09:46:00.000-06:00

This is a link to an article on the BBC website that has to do with "search engine bombing" and seems relevant to our class discussion on Thursday:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6526393.stm

Textbook Review: Considering Literacy

2007-04-05T12:43:00.000-06:00

Considering Literacy: Reading and Writing the Educational Experience by Linda Adler-Kassner, Eastern Michigan University. New York: Pearson, 2006.

Considering Literacy is rhetoric designed for first-year students which foregrounds education, literacy and the university as the theme for the course (you might note that this has been a theme of mine). It includes readings that are designed to “provide a variety of approaches to literacy and encourage students to think creatively and innovatively about how they and others define ‘education’ and ‘literacy’” (from the publisher’s description). The readings include personal narratives, analytical works, and essays, including works Paolo Freire, bell hooks (both are on my cmap), W. E. B. Dubois and other engaging authors. There is a “Writing Assignments” section at the very front which provides a non-linear structure for students to use in thinking through questions asked about education. A major theme of the book, I’d say, is the bridging of experiences between high school and college, and I found that really useful. This theme is carried out in the reading and writing assignments, were familiar reading and writing strategies are connected to innovative reading and writing strategies (there is an introductory essay by the author on critical reading).

The book really lends itself to designing a freshmen composition course. The Instructor’s Manual even provides a sample syllabus and schedule of assignments. Each assignment includes a list of readings from the book that might be relevant for the assignment and that, in turn, helps students see connections between the readings and the concepts covered, as well as between the readings and the goals of writing. The author takes a “scaffolding” approach (which I have myself now borrowed), between four levels of reading and writing, each with a different but related focus (see the Table of Contents below). Within each level she builds connections horizontally between readings and writings for that level and then between levels she builds connections, facilitating an organic, holistic progression for the student. Each assignment also follows a very useful format, beginning with two “Developing Work” prompts that are to be used for first brainstorming and then developing ideas for the written essays. There are also “Pre-Reading Questions” which ask students think about why they are reading that particular section, and then “Post-Reading Questions” which ask them to reflect on what they just read. Following the scaffolding model, each level also has a “Critical Reflections” section that encourages students to synthesize the readings for that section and there are “Making Connections Questions” that help students connect readings between sections.

It feels strange to me to be seriously considering an actual text (rather than posting readings using eRes) in the first place, but Considering Literacy is threatening to push me over the edge. It's a close enough approximation of my dream book for first-year comp. I would have liked to see reading selections that cover more of an historical scope (something from John Dewey's Experience and Education, for example--or John Henry Newman's The Idea of a University). My main concern in adopting it, however, is as always the price (a steep $52). I'm debating with myself if I can in good conscience require a book that costs that much. Another book that I would like to at least recommend to students is This Books is Not Required: An Emotional Survival Manual for Students by Inge Bell et. al, but it's also pricey ($31.9). I've started securing used copies through my role as a buyer for the bookstore, however, and if I can procure enough, the savings used copies provide (25%) might be enough to push me over the edge.

Here's the table of contents for Considering Literacy:

Introduction for Instructors
About This Book: Approaches and Assignments

“Reading: Words and Images”
“Getting” reading
Reading questions
Strategic reading
Reading images

Assignments
“Learning from Self” Assignments
Expectations and Experiences
Influencing Your Literacy Development
The Purposes of Schooling
Why Are You Here?
“Your” Campus
Your Literacy History and Its Significance
Your Literacy Development

“Learning from Others” Assignments
What’s the Purpose of Education and Literacy
Literacy Practices and Schooling
Testing Definitions: Dominant and Vernacular Literacies
What Counts as “Learning” and for Whom?
How Is Literacy/Education Defined by You and by Others?
Community Literacies

“Learning Through Research” Assignments
Debating the Purpose of School
Representing the College Experience
Designing Assessments
What Counts, for What, and Who Says?
Analyzing Literacy Experiences
Positive Learning Experiences
What’s Taught and Why
What Counts, for What, and Who Says?
Observing Literacy Practices

“Speaking Out, Joining In, Talk Back” Assignment

Readings About Uses of Learning:
David Barton and Mary Hamilton. “Literacy Practices”
bell hooks. “Engaged Pedagogy”
Paolo Freire. “The Banking Concept of Education”
Theodore Sizer. “What High School Is”

Readings About Learners:
David Barton and Mary Hamilton. “How They’ve Fared in Education: Harry’s Literacy Practices”
Lorene Cary. From Black Ice.
Mark Edmundson. “On the Uses of a Liberal Education I: As lite entertainment for bored college students.”
Andrea Fishman. “Becoming Literate: A Lesson from the Amish”
June Jordan. “Don’t Nobody Mean More to Me Than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan.”
Robert Louthan. “Heavy Machinery”
Mike Rose. “I Just Wanna Be Average”
Michael Ryan, “The Ditch”
Earl Shorris. “On the Uses of a Liberal Education II: As a weapon in the
hands of the restless poor.”
Ron Suskind. “Fierce Intimacies”

Readings About Learning (in and out of school):
W.E.B. DuBois “On Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others”
Kate Daniels. “Self-Portrait with Politics.”
Frederick Douglass. From Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Darcy Frey. “The Last Shot.”
Stanley Kaplan. “My 54-Year Love Affair with the SAT”
Nicholas Lemann. “The President’s Big Test.”
Teresa McCarty. “Classroom and Community”
Michael Moffatt. “What College Is REALLY Like”
Executive Summary of the “No Child Left Behind” Act.
Wendy Darling. “What ‘No Child Left Behind’ Left Behind.”
Gary Orfield and Johanna Wald. “Testing, Testing”
Peter Sacks. “Do No Harm: Stopping the Damage to American Schools”
James Traub. “The Test Mess”
Booker T. Washington “The Atlanta Exposition Address”

Photographs

Credits

Index

Yo! MTV CMaps

2007-04-05T12:18:00.000-06:00

This is hopelessly late--I worked on it all during the "Reaching the Digital Native" conference that I'm gonna finish posting about soon (it'll appear below--back on Tuesday when most of the post was written). In the meantime, here's my rough Cmap. I'm gonna revise it again and again (in this space). I'm using a "scaffolding" approach for it, trying to show how the there are connections to be made horizontally--within each assignment--and vertically between assignments. I'm trying to figure out how to add more detail (assignment descriptions, how they build on each other) without cluttering it too much. Generally speaking, I think concept maps are an excellent way to see the connections between pretty much anything (all those heterogenous ideas that are violently yoked together). Donna has had us do concept maps for two reading discussions that we lead in 8040 and I have to say that I think it's been a productive experience, both in terms of formulating my own ideas about texts and encouraging active discussion at the seminar table each week. I've already thought about incorporating concept maps as a pre-writing or brainstroming exercise.

Failed Concept Map

2007-04-05T09:13:00.001-06:00

I have been struggling to download the concept map software onto a computer in the English dept. computer lab and I have failed. There is something protecting the computer from downloads, I think, and I couldn't get software to install or open. I don't have internet at home, and my home computer is ten years old and the OS is too archaic to run the software anyway. So, my apologies. I would be happy to draw a concept map on paper or create one in Word, but probably can't by class time because I've now used up most of my work time fighting with the computers.

Greetings, Digital Immigrants, Natives!

2007-04-04T23:44:00.000-06:00

Dispatches from the
Digital Campus Institute's
“Reaching and Teaching
the Digital Native” Conference…

04.03.07 8:01 a.m.

I’m transmitting this from a ballroom in the Reynolds Alumni Center, in attendance at the Digital Campus Institute’s “Reaching and Teaching the Digital Native” conference. For clips of pretty much everything that happened, click here--I've labeled each section of my post with the same labels--in bold--used to designate each clip so you can scroll down the page and find the clips that you want to actually watch. The clips are ordered chronologically but start at the bottom of the page, so that you'll have to scroll all the way down to see what I talk about first (though actually the very first clips are from a panel discussion that occurred prior to the actual conference featuring students--"digital natives"--that I'll let speak for themselves).

First, I should note this is a swank affair. Some of the biggest wigs on the campus are here: Brady Deaton, Chancellor for MU, is here, as is Ted Tarkow, the Dean of Arts and Science. George Justice is also here (though he'll be leaving shortly). I mention this because I think it speaks to the fact that incorporating technological innovations into pedagogy is no longer something that's happening solely at the ground-level by a few and scattered motley of upstarts, but rather that the call for change and adaptation at MU is definitely coming from on-high. The theme of this year’s conference, as indicated above, is “Reaching and Teaching the Digital Native.” The phrase is taken from work done by Marc Prensky on the generational gap that’s been created between those who have grown up immersed in digital culture and who “speak” technology as a native language and those who are "immigrants,” who must learn it as a second language, so-to-speak.

Gary Allen, Vice President of Information Technology for the University of Missouri, introduces the conference by putting a fine point on this sense of urgency:

To me, there is no more important set of topics for discussion and decisive action in institutions of higher education than the ones that you will be tackling in the next few days. There’s a well-documented and ever-increasing recognition of the demand for knowledge-workers in the global economy. The critical role of technology-enabled learning in meeting that demand can not be over-emphasized. It’s absolutely crucial to our success as individual faculty members, as institutions, and in the success of our students… the digital natives are expecting great things from us and we must develop approaches to optimize their learning experiences. Part of that includes taking into account the fundamental differences in how they learn compared to most of us digital immigrants. This effort, great in and of itself, is taking place in a context of enormous challenge: higher education costs are rising, budgets are shrinking, student enrollments are predicted to drop, characteristics of our students are growing ever more diverse, both in terms of their facility with technology and also in terms of their age, their background, their geographical location, their career aspirations. There are renewed demands for assessment of learning-outcomes, for example in the recommendations of the recently-released Spellings Commission Report. Assessment requirements that really represent ways and degrees of assessment that we’ve never before experienced. For us to be truly successful, we must develop information delivery systems that satisfy the sometime competing demands of access, accountability, affordability, sustainability, and security, and as we do this we must be careful to provide the learning framework and the environment that enables our students to engaging meaningful reflection, so that the information that they acquire can mature into knowledge that they can use. I was reading an article recently and it included a quote from Peter Drucker. He said, ”A change is something you do and a fad is something people talk about.” This conference is not about a fad. It is and you are a tangible representative of change that has already occurred and will continue to occur because of the vision of individuals like yourselves who’ve committed to enhancing teaching and learning in ways that are perhaps not yet widely or fully understood or appreciated…

Dr. Allen introduces Dean Mills of the Missouri School of Journalism, who makes some brief remarks before in turn introducing Chancellor Floyd. Dean Mills tells an anecdote of how he "had always been jealous" at the thought of how many technological changes his father, who was born before the turn of the twentieth century and who lived to be 93, had witnessed in his lifetime. Dean Mills quips that he never thought that any one could live in an age with so many changes, but now he thinks he might have spoke too soon. He says that "meetings like this are particularly important because they force us as educators to question whether we sometimes have more of the thirteenth century than the twenty-first century in our classrooms."

The Vision for a Digital Campus
Chancellor Deaton kicks things off by discussing how oriented he personally is towards adapting technological innovations in education. He tells an anecdote about a book called Christ Stopped at Eboli , by Carlo Levi, which is about a region of Italy that stopped development from ancient times up until about the 1950s, at which point it underwent rapid technological change. Chancellor Deaton asserts that it really is amazing how dramatic the technological change can be from one generation of grandparents who still live with mouth-to-mouth communication only to another generation of grandchildren who communicate with each other and indeed with people all over the world over the internet. This conference, then, is about the strategic uses of pedagogical tools for technology-assisted learning to facilitate and often to anticipate such dramatic technological change. A key part of that formulation is “strategy.” Chancellor Deaton recounts how, two years ago, Elson Floyd, the President of MU then and now (until May), spoke at that year’s Digital Campus Institute conference on technology in higher education and that he quoted an adage--one that will be repeated here this year by almost every speaker. Floyd said, “Culture will eat strategy every week." In other words, culture is all-important in determining how far we go as an institution. Educators can plan strategies for reaching students, for introducing innovations (through technology or other means) but if the culture of the classroom or the culture of the university at-large (reactionary culture) is resistant, then the strategies will be difficult if not impossible to implement. Culture eats strategy--the trick, then, is change the culture, or get the culture to change itself (I think of it as the tyranny of tradition). Chancellor Deaton speaks about "a half-life of change," how innovations keep occurring rapidly in a dynamic relationship with education. We need to embrace these changes and keep up with them in order to succeed.

Chancellor Deaton identifies four main areas of concern for digital immigrants to become immersed in so that they can communicate fluently with digital natives:

1. The integrity of resources used—making sure that students understand what counts as reliable resources and what is questionable (e.g. Wikipedia)

2. Pedagogical concerns—what digital resources can actually facilitate and even advance learning (what works) vs. what is just adding technology for adding technology’s sake (a reoccurring theme).

3. Keeping up with the pace of innovation—knowing what’s out there,
what’s coming down the pipe, and anticipating what changes need to
be made to adapt (knowing what you don’t know is a big part of this, in my opinion, and it’s been a big help for me to attend because it’s helped realize just how much I can learn and how many resources are out there that can be adopted).

4. Maintaining services—a big part of this is the physical and human resources needed to maintain the technology (an administrative concern) but it’s also about teachers seeing where there are lapses in the services being provided to students and calling for change. Another big theme of the conference is that it’s largely up to instructors to call for resources they want to use—that instructors need to adopt technology and demonstrate that it works. The more that happens, the more resources will be allocated and it becomes an enabling cycle that will effect change.

Elements of Success: A Roadmap
Chancellor Deaton gives way to Dean Brian Brookes of the J School, who points out that one central effect of the generational divide regarding technology has been an increase in integrated learning—students coming into university with as much if not more knowledge of technology in the classroom, leading to a leveling of students and teachers in many instances (a kind of variation on critical pedagogy)—students and teachers are working together on the learning process itself. This phenomenon also brings to mind Margaret Mead’s work in Culture and Commitment on postfigurative versus cofigurative and prefigurative cultures, where a prefigurative culture follows the traditional model of younger generations learning from older ones, cofigurative culture is where generations learn from each other, and postfigurative culture is made up of older generations learning from younger generations. A point touched on by Brookes and others is that, at best, we have a cofigurative situation that has developed in higher education and that, if we’re not careful, a postfigurative culture very well could emerge. In other words, we’re digital immigrants, interacting with digital natives, and we have to keep abreast of changes in order to remain competent teachers (I’ve added Mead’s work to contextualize Brookes’ remarks, but I think my “take” is a good approximation of Dean Brookes’ sentiments).

Dean Brookes mentions a study done by the Graduate School, authored by Pam Benoit et al, regarding the use of technology in the classroom. It’s an eye-opening assessment. Here’s a link for the report:

Dean Brookes goes on to speak about the digitalization of knowledge, the evaluation of various tools, and continuing exploration—pedagoically and philosophically--of the application of technology in the classroom. He observes that a graduate 20 years ago is not the same as a graduate today, that there are so many more skills-sets that a graduate today has. But our assessment of graduates is still limited to traditional skills, skills that do not encompass all of what is needed to succeed in the marketplace today. The J-School has responded by trying to immerse students in digital culture and provide them with incentives to learn these skill-sets, inside and outside of the classroom. A big part of this move has been the iLife Freshman Challenge, an initiative undertaken in joint partnership with Apple (yet another reoccurring theme at this conference is that Steve Jobs and company are gods… a large part of this is that Apple does, in fact, have many products that facilitate learning, but often speakers end up sounding like paid spokespersons). Dean Brookes comments that iLife and other technologies are allowing for things that were never thought possible, and that in terms of the culture of the university, anything is possible. He mentions how iLife has allowed J-School students to tape their interviews using their labtops and so now he can critique their interviewing skills using real-life situations, something he could never do before. Similarly, foreign language classes are using podcasting to reinforce second language acquisition

Again, using technology for technology’s sake is not the goal, but the iLife challenge and other success stories that will be told during the conference speak to how revolutionary technological innovations can and will be for education. Dean Brookes concedes that not all faculty will get aboard. His solution? Forget ‘em. They’re “not worth the effort”—they’ll either conform or retire. The best thing to do is to find the ones that are enthusiastic about adopting new technologies and help them make it happen—give them the resources and the support to modernize the curriculum. You want to try to make it so no one feels left out, but you the main focus should be to help those who want to change find the resources they need to succeed. Key partners on the MU campus that Dean Brookes identifies are Apple (of course), Adobe, and Macromedia (these two have merged), Google, and Yahoo. Public podcasting sites are facilitating the free exchange of ideas like never before. New programs such as Imprint, and Adobe PDF technology, are allowing course webpages that have better copies of readings, and macromedia programs are allowing for increased implementation of video files on course webpages. Educators are increasingly using what’s been proven to work to reach their students, as well, finding ways to use social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, for example. In addition to leveling the roles of students and teachers, technology has increasingly led to a leveling of disciplines; Dean Brookes finds that there is much more interdisciplinary activity at MU than ever before. It’s just exploded in recent years.

Transformation at the University of Missouri

Dean Ted Tarkow of the School of Arts and Science takes the podium, and begins by offering a few benefits that technological innovations can provide. Among them, he observes, is that it allows for a questioning of “the validity of knowledge” and having students employ critical thinking in assessing sources which can provide a teaching moment. He then observes that technology is allowing for the possibility of 3-year programs to become standard. He nods to the Writing Across the Curriculum program and asserts that we need to start thinking about Technology Across the Curriculum—enabling all students to be proficient in new technologies.

Dean Tarkow mentions that he is a professor in Classics, and that he’ll have to leave us soon to go teach his class. In the lecture he’ll be giving in class today, he’ll talk about Pliney the Elder and an allegory about a dilemma he had over what technologies to use in teaching. Pliney had three styluses to choose from—one from a friend, one he had used before, and one he just found—so two were old, one was brand new. The dilemma was in choosing which to use—the old or the new. Mirroring Dean Brookes’ remarks, Dean Tarkow asserts that technology is changing the very definition of what it means to be a professor, and that while the J School is blessed by vision and singularity, A & S is blessed by heterogeneity. The dilemma is how to reconfigure these resources and new technologies.

Dean Tarkow points out how we can capitalize on this heterogeneity and incorporate technology by considering three figures for classical mythology—Narcissus, Odysseus, and Prometheus. He notes that The Chronicle of Higher Education recently described this generation of students as the most narcissistic ever. He says that they might very well be a little like Narcissus, but that if so, they are also a little like Odysseus—“the ultimate multi-tasker”—and that they have also been touched by Prometheus, who gave man fire—that is, technology. A modern-day Prometheus, Dean Tarkow quips, gave these students iPods and other innovations, and these technologies challenge authority (the gods), challenge the professor, to engage these students.

Dean Tarkow is followed by Dr. Paul E. Resta, who has a few interesting observations, among them that technology by necessity changes the make-up of both courses and faculty, that technology changes how faculty design and teach courses. It can facilitate the decentering teacher and a move to student-centered paradigm. A move from a didactic to a constructivist model. He asserts that sites like YouTube are providing a new means of discourse—that there are no longer just text-based concepts available, but the use of video and music can be used to present arguments. While some may scoff at this notion, there will be a presentation later (see “Writiing with Video” below) that will demonstrate this assertion with great force.

The University of Texas Story
Dr. Resta observes that the title of “professor” speaks to a 1000-year old job description—to back when “professing” was the only way to disseminate knowledge. Today, student teachers who go to high schools are the ones who are the technology leaders—they teach the teachers (Mead’s prefigurative culture once again).

Transformation at Oklahoma City University
Dr. Resta is followed by Dr. Mark Parker, who speaks about innovations in teaching music using technology. These innovations include faculty adding soundclips that students can listen to on their iPods, faculty members sending recorded music lessons to students that they can refer to it throughout the week, and how these are relayed through widgets for tuners… students no longer need to buy software individually. There’s also a a program that plays “smart” accompaniments for solo performances, speeding up and slowing down the accompaniment as needed. His school has also created a database of students using FileMaker Pro—from prospective to alumni—that includes repertoires of their music that any one anywhere in the world can listen to. They also subscribe to Streaming Naxos—a classical music library that is virtually unsurpassed in the number of classical pieces it contains. The nature of music education lends itself to this kind of technology, but one should not delimit what is possible in rhet/comp, literature studies, etc.—the ideas covered here can inspire us to imagine what might be possible.

[I'm still "translating" my notes into prose form for the rest of Day 1... in the meantime, read on for Day 2:]

----------------
04.04.07, 10:40ish, a.m.

Bob Price, Director of Academic Services, Information Technology, Duke University

----------------
04.04.07, 11:16 a.m.

John Foley, Curators Professor, Byler Distinguished Professor of English & Classics, and Director of the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition here at MU, is the last speaker to make a presentation (unannounced on the schedule as far as I can see). He speaks about the Center for e-Research (here's their homepage, as well as MizzouTube (they have sites for it at mizzoutube.com, .net and .org, but no content yet—and following last week’s assignment on search engines, if you google “MizzouTube,” you get only nine results, three of which are the variants I list above and most of the remaining six are from a blog by the guy who proposed it). There’s not much to say about it yet, other than it has the potential to allow for any student at MU to use visual media for any class. Dr. Foley makes some general remarks about the advantages and pedagogical value of adopting technology, but also to its use in publishing. Online media allow for writers to reach beyond spatial and copyright date limits of publication: in traditional publishing, if you put a book out and then six months later another book is published that adds to (or detracts from) what you’ve written, there’s a limited forum for the two to engage in dialogue (usually in journal battles), whereas with texts published online, such a situation allows for the two texts to enter into a much more dynamic dialogue. Online texts can be easily updated, amended, linked to one another. Wiki texts can be read straight through or links can be used to connect related texts in a map, links that a reader can follow in whatever direction s/he wants. Dr. Foley speaks further about how wiki texts can be especially beneficial for studies of oral tradition—next Fall Semester he’s going to have students in his seminar create a wiki in lieu of a formal paper.

------------------
04.04.07, 11:30ish, a.m.

Final Panel Discussion

The conference concludes with a panel made up mostly of the previous speakers, and they focus on academic publishing, both in terms of journals (Dr. Foley talks about Oral Tradition's online format, how it's completely free and accessible online, promoting, in turn, the free exchange of ideas) and the future of textbooks (for a somewhat dated--but still relevant--discussion of various positions on the future of the book, I recommend The Future of the Book, edited by Geoffrey Nunberg and with an afterword by Umberto Ecco--I have a copy if any one's interested). While the content of the panel doesn’t really relate to teaching, a few bon mots were tossed out. Dr. Jim Wolfgang, Director of the Georgia Digital Innovation Group, cites what he says is an-oft quoted maxim that “Changing the course of history is easier than changing a history course.” He asserts that the digital divide that’s separating generations now will only widen if digital immigrants don’t learn the language—technology—of digital natives. He cites work that’s being done at the middle school level right now that goes beyond what’s being done at the college level. For an example, click here.

A big theme that comes back at the end here is convergence—things coming together, and the importance of collaboration at all levels: across disciplines and between campuses, intra- and inter- campus. Dr. Foley asserts that the big challenge will remain what it is already: copyrights. The technology is already largely in place—but the legal/distribution side is the challenge because of intellectual property law. How do we persuade authors and artists to free up their work and allow for exchange? Sounds like a job for rhetoric...

English1000 Concept Map

2007-04-04T22:07:00.000-06:00

Google, Yahoo and Ask

2007-04-03T21:18:00.000-06:00

I am sorry for being late. For this blog entry I took Johnson-Eilola assignment #2. Maybe it is caused by my choice of words or search engines are getting better, but all first hits in the search results were relevant.

My first search was on “Christopher Columbus” (because I’m going to make a presentation about him in my Spanish class). Google found 1,720,000 entries. The hits start from Wikipedia. Most pages offer encyclopedic kind of information. An interesting page that popped up among those ten is “Christopher Columbus: A Culinary History”. Yahoo found 10,600,00 entries. The main top 10 list is almost the same as in Google. Unlike in Yahoo, there was no Catholic Encyclopedia in top ten in Google search, but it is simply on the page 2 there. Wikipedia is the hit number one in Yahoo too. There are many sponsored links on Yahoo that offer travel, essays on the topic etc. Ask.com found 1,647,000 and turned out to be very good in relevant offerings for narrowing my search. Top ten is nearly the same as in two former sites.

My second search was on “visual rhetoric”. Google found 1,290,000 entries, Yahoo - 1,700,000, and Ask – 404,000. Again Google gives Wikipedia as the first hit, it is also among top ten links given by two other sites. Mostly sources about definition, conferences and particular courses taught in the universities were found in all three searches.

Then I was looking for “apple”. Here it became interesting because in the Web this word obviously means the company first of all, and the name of the fruit is on periphery. Google: 320,000; Yahoo: 323,000; Ask: 66,070,000 found entries. Nine hits in each top ten refer to Apple Inc. with its software, stores etc.

On the one hand, I have not noticed such considerable differences between three search engines that would make me use more than one of them. That is probably why we “google it” – and then we usually do not need to “yahoo it” or anything else. On the other hand, different engines are better for different goals. For example, yahoo is more oriented on buying/selling things while Ask.com provides more guides for searching encyclopedic kind of information.

Beware of the Dogmatic, On The Argumentative, Multiple-Source Paper

2007-04-03T17:23:00.000-06:00

As we are going to be asking our students to be writing essays that draw on multiply sources in order to development well argued essays, I suspect the last thing we want to see is a “dogmatic approach” to the assignment. Something tells me however, we will see many such an approach come fall term. With this in mind, I thought Slattery’s suggestions as outlined in the Pedagogical Implications” section of his article to be of interest. Specifically, I am referring to the point he makes about asking students to “identify and examine their own points of view on the topics about which they are writing” BEFORE they begin to do any research. He claims that these questions are simple but challenging – “designed to help them probe assumptions and biases. The argument follows that if the students are able to “explicitly acknowledge their preconceptions about a topic, they have a better chance of recognizing and understanding arguments that challenge their opinions.” And thus, one would hope, they will have a better chance of falling into a dogmatic approach too early in the process of their research writing. Some of the questions that Slattery has his students answer are listed below. In looking at them, I couldn’t help thinking that I too could benefit from answering some of them before I launched into my own process of writing the dreaded research seminar paper. I wonder if one regresses in these stages? Does that ever happen? Hmm.

Some of Slattery’s questions:

What is your current position toward the topic of your paper?
How did you reach this position?
Does it reflect your religious beliefs, political affiliation, or personal experiences?
Does it reflect what you have heard your family or friends say, what you have read, or what you have seen on television?

Charge the lateness to my head... not my heart

2007-04-03T13:59:00.000-06:00

In a Bri-like essence (and to cease my lateness), I have to take the easy way out this week. Though I did Johnson-Eilola’s assignment #2, for the sake of time I have to discuss the role (rather the lack of one) that blogging will play in my class… One last note on the Johnson-Eilola assignment #2, I searched boredom, ear infection (because I think I have one), and BAPE—saw many hits, but not many relevant ones, and concluding I prefer google of the three.
As it is already known, blogs can be quite useful in class. It’s a great way to express yourself, bounce ideas off your peers, and strengthen class interaction—an aspect that may not always be as great in the actual class setting for various reasons. However, after my experience with blogging in this class (yes, my first and only experience) I will not be using one. Beyond the benefits that I do recognize, it is time consuming. Personally, between Thursday and Tuesday I have no idea where my time goes, but I always forget to blog and respond. Even though I write myself little notes, before I look up it’s already past Tuesday. It’s not that I don’t like the blog—I love having instant access to my cohort’s thoughts and ideas, however it’s simply too time consuming and as a result I cannot put someone else through this.
Nonetheless, I do plan on using Blackboard, which actually has a discussion board. Though I’ll probably strongly advocate using the discussion board, it most likely won’t be worth any points toward their final grade.

Search Engine Madness

2007-04-03T12:49:00.000-06:00

I worked with Johnson-Eilola's first activity on 230-231. I used Google, Yahoo, and Ask as my search engines and ran "Pelagic Sea Slug," "Zimbabwe," and "Blood Pudding" as my terms. The results were fairly predictable. The Pelagic Sea Slug, being the weirdest entry, received the fewest hits -- and most of those had to do with either how weird the creature is or scientific appraisals of its nature. The only sponsored link that popped up for the slug was completely non-slug-related -- a banner for "Pelagic Clothing." Zimbabwe got tons of hits -- way more via Google than either of the other two engines. Google also had the least "discount airfare" propaganda on the margins. Most of the Google ads were at least superficially humanitarian in nature; Yahoo and Ask were almost exclusively airfare ad related (with a few ads for random goods such as Zimbabwe flags, etc.). Blood pudding received more hits than the slug, but fewer than Zimbabwe. There were no sponsored ads on either Google or Ask for blood pudding . . . for obvious reasons. The only sponsored link for the horrid sausage-mess came from Yahoo -- and it had to do with FDA regulations for the sale of puddings in general inside the U.S.

The moral seems to be that searching for a slug will result in a clothing line; only the FDA is interested in blood pudding; and Zimbabwe is interesting primarily as either an object of humanitarian aid, a financial investment, or a flight destination -- depending on your angle.

Google

Pelagic Sea Slug

1.) 91,600 hits

2.) A mix of “wow what a weird creature” links and academic sites

3.) All related to the creature itself, except one sponsored ad for Pelagic Clothing

4.) The link for Pelagic Clothing was the only odd entry

Zimbabwe

1.) 120,000,000 hits

2.) News, encyclopedia entries, CIA database, BBC articles

3.) The sponsored ads ranged from “save the children” to “discount flights”

4.) The entries were connected only by the bizarre laws of capitalism

Blood Pudding

1.) 1,290,000 hits

2.) Wikipedia, recipe sites, sites relating to “blood sausage” for some reason

3.) All hits were food-related; there were no sponsored links for blood pudding

4.) The blood sausage links seem random, but it turns out blood pudding and blood sausage are the same thing

Yahoo

Pelagic Sea Slug

1.) 79,500 hits

2.) Similar to Google results, all sea slug related, mix of awe and science

3.) The non-sponsored links were all pelagic sea slug related

4.) There were 2 sponsored links that were selling “sea slug” in general

Zimbabwe

1.) 73,200,000 hits

2.) All Zimbabwe “fact” related; the BBC link didn’t show up on Yahoo

3.) All links were related to Zimbabwe “facts,” but the sponsored links had to do mostly with travel, discount airfare, and financial news

4.) The sponsored links on Yahoo didn’t have any of the “feed the hungry” or “save the children” links that were on Google; they were all replaced with financial news and discount airfares (and a site selling the Zimbabwe flag at discount prices)

Blood Pudding

1.) 1,480,000 hits

2.) Same mix of recipes, facts, forums and . . . sausages

3.) All hits were food related

4.) The sponsored link had to do with FDA regulations for selling pudding in the U.S.

Ask

Pelagic Sea Slug

1.) 1,490 hits

2.) A mix of pelagic sea slug pages and just general info about sea slugs

3.) All hits were slug related, but fewer related directly to the Pelagic Sea Slug

4.) The sponsored link for Pelagic Clothing showed up again

Zimbabwe

1.) 7,314,000 hits

2.) Mostly Zimbabwe fact sites with a couple newspapers and magazines

3.) Most hits were directly Zimbabwe related

4.) Several links to popular magazines like the Economist seem mildly unrelated, plenty of gaudy discount airfare advertisements

Blood Pudding

1.) 435,000 hits

2.) Mix of recipes, facts, histories and pages expressing awe and disgust

3.) All hits were food related

4.) Once again, no sponsored links to blood pudding, no big surprises

More fun with Johnson-Eilola

2007-04-03T11:55:00.000-06:00

So I also did activity 2. My subjects were based on a poetry paper I received once. The student had chosen (from a selection I provided) "Tenebrae" by Denise Levertov. Two things to know about this poem: first, there is a headnote ("Fall of 1967"); second, there is some obvious war imagery in the poem. Now my hope was that the student would figure out that the poem was addressing the war in Vietnam; my Norton Anthology provided a footnote referring to the growing antiwar protest movement, but I decided not to pass it on. My hope was poorly founded. The paper began by asserting that the poem was about the Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt in June 1967. My immediate suspicion (later confirmed by the student) was that she called up Google and plunked in "war" and "1967", and seeing only references to the Six-Day War on the first page, decided that was it. In fact, as my research in this project revealed, not until page 6 is another war result turned up (Nigeria); not until page 7 does a Vietnam reference come up. So I gave her credit for realizing that the poem was about a war, and realizing that knowing which war would help her write the paper; I was dismayed that Vietnam was so far off her radar that she'd pick a war from early summer, in which the US was not involved, over the conflict that influenced most aspects of late-60s/early 70s American culture. For this activity, then, I looked for hits for war 1967, Levertov 1967, and Levertov War - the search she ran, and two others that she might have run.

For "war 1967" the top ten on Google include Wikipedia (no. 1), Amazon (no. 5) and several Jewish scholarly sites. Yahoo also placed Wikipedia first, Amazon sixth, and several of the same Jewish history sites; several new sites appeared, though: IMDB, for a 1967 war movie; palestinefacts.org; and peacefaq.com. Ask.com gave me mostly all new sites (no Wikipedia or Amazon in the top 10!) and a different IMDB movie.

"Levertov 1967" on google turned up a mix of biographies of the poet and listings for her book _Poems 1960-1967_. Amazon was no. 2, wikipedia was no. 6, and millikin.edu turned up as no. 5. This I found curious because Millikin is a small school in Decatur, IL that doesn't have any connection with Levertov I know of. It looks like a student posted a brief vita on the Millikin site; how it gets to be the no. 5 hit on google I have no idea. Yahoo placed amazon and wikipedia 1st and 2nd; Millikin didn't rate here. Again, all references were either to bios or the book. Ask.com was again a very different collection of sources, all referring to the book (no biographies at all). Amazon was no. 5.

"Levertov War" finally turned up some Vietnam hits. Three of Google's top ten made reference to her Vietnam-era protest writing, including no. 2 and 4. Also her Gulf War poem from Bush the first came up sixth. Mostly new sites here, though Millikin came back, and in fact appeared in the top ten on all three search engines this time. Yahoo again placed Wikipedia first, though some university and publishing sites were also on the list; only one referred specifically to Vietnam. Ask.com had three Vietnam hits (including 1 and 2) and three for the Gulf War.

Generally my research confirmed my comment on the student's paper: "Google is not always a reliable research tool," especially when you only look at the first page, and don't open up the hits. I recently used Google extensively for researching a project in another class, though I had already been through the library database system, knew exactly what I was looking for, and was willing to slog through dozens of search results pages to find what I wanted. Students looking for the quick fix by using search engines to do research may get some really skewed results. And Wikipedia is a frighteningly prominent source, and I don't think students understand it isn't reliable. Besides the recent revelations that corporations have tried to pay people to place positive references in their posts (cough Microsoft cough), there are the numerous entries that have been subverted by Colbert Nation fans (notably "bears" and "reality").

Fun with Johnson-Eilola?

2007-04-03T10:56:00.000-06:00

For my blog this week, I tried assignment #2 in Johnson-Eilola's chapter. Before I comment on that though, I would like to mention that the information throughout the chapter dealing with the marketing of material now was disheartening. I don't like thinking of writing as an economic commodity with capitalist goals. It made me feel "dirty." Anyone else disturbed by this thought? However, back to the actual assignment; I must admit that it was fun and interesting to an extent, but I am still not sure how to really apply it to my classroom since I am from the old-school group of people who tend to be skeptical of random Internet searches. Anyway, here is a brief summary of the three topics I chose to search first on Google: dream visions, Dracula, and elephants (I can explain my choices to anyone who cares. I know they sound a bit warped). Anyway...

For dream visions, there were no sponsored sites on the page and the top few hits were extremely varied. Overall, there were 1,800,000 hits, but the top ones ranged from dream interpretation, to angelic encounters, to erotic/porn sites. I am not sure what this says about our culture other than we have varied ideas when it comes to dreams, none of which seem very academic (which is a shame since dream vision is a genre of medieval poetry). I am glad to say that the erotic site was 3rd and not 1st. I take some comfort in that. I also found it interesting that there were no other relevant sites listed at the bottom, like the search engine was at a loss as to how to link dream visions to other areas.

For Dracula, there was a sponsored link on the second day I looked, but not on the first. Many other relevant sites were listed (most dealing with Bram Stoker and vampires of course). My main interesting find was that the top two hits (out of 14,000,000!!!) were both to wikipedia. I am always a bit skeptical about wikipedia since I am not sure "anyone" should be an expert. Anyway, the other top hits mostly dealt with movies and books (at least it was a bit more academic than dream visions, although the one about Coppola's direction included how he yelled "whore" and "slut" during the scene where Van Helsing catches Mina--we, as a culture seem to be obsessed with sex).

For elephants, there were a whopping 14,000,000 hits (same as Dracula, how ironic), most of which dealt with nature and Africa. Many related searches were listed at the bottom. I was surprised that this was the only one of my three searches which included many sponsored sites (mostly to buy something or contribute to the preservation of these animals). There was actually a link to ebay, which I always expect to see no matter what the subject. I didn't pursue that link to see if one can buy live elephants on the site, but I wouldn't be surprised. This subject actually used up most of the screen whereas the other two left a lot of white space. I don't know what that means other than this subject may be more normal than my other two.

Overall, I am not sure what I learned from the assignment since I kind of expected the results I received (other than the erotic dream vision one). I am glad I took the opportunity to do the search assignment, but I feel it only confirmed my feelings that one should not do research randomly on the web.

Blogging and Johnson-Eilola

2007-04-03T10:10:00.001-06:00

http://people.clarkson.edu/~johndan/workspace/

The above is to Johndan Johnson-Eilola's blog, in case anyone is interested. I was both frustrated and elated by the essay and wanted to know more about the person who wrote it. I applied activity #1 (in part) to Johnson-Eilola's blog and I was interested to see that, though Johnson-Eilola interacts with many blogs, there is little to no reader presence on his blog. No comments, no posting, etc. I think people like me probably read his site because I was familiar wtih and appreciate of some of his music blogs, comic blogs, and political commentary. But I can't figure out who (if anyone) actually reads it, because I couldn't find any reader interaction. Which seems weird.

I went through (of course) assignment 3, because who doesn't love googling themselves? I found a bunch of stuff from previous jobs, particularly when I worked as an activist years ago, some hate mail from letters to the editor I wrote, the class blog, the EGSA page, etc. Like Leta, I have no presence on the internet, save from my work. On Google I had 1,570,000 hits. There are a lot of me, it turns out. When I worked as an environmentalist I did a lot of media relations work, so had to google myself often to track the success of press releases, etc. There seem to be more of me now than there were five years ago. Now there's a highschool/college basketball star, and a choir member at Cornell.

I'm afraid that I don't entirely see the value of this assignment. I agree that it helps to demonstrate how demographic groups are constructed on the internet, which is amazingly disturbing, but on the other hand it feels kind of self-indulgent.

As far as blogging in my classroom goes, I am not inclined to do it. I could probably be convinced otherwise, but I, like Bri, am more attracted to Blackboard. And really, is there that much difference? What can you do with a class blog that you can't do with blackboard? (I'm asking in all sincerity because I don't know enough about either to make an educated choice, I think.) I'm currently taking 4 classes that have web-based components. For me, it's easier to manage all of my web-based homework/responsibilities if they%

Johnson-Eilola’s Activity Two

2007-04-03T09:47:00.000-06:00

I decided to try Johndan Johnson-Eilola’s Activity Two (230-31). I chose Google, Yahoo, and Ask.com as my three search engines and “neko case”, “sand castle”, and “coaching” as my three queries. See the raw data below.
After completing the searches at first glance, I noticed that Yahoo found more hits for two of the three queries. This might indicate a hierarchy in terms of scope with Yahoo at the top, Google a close second, Ask.com third.
As I looked more closely at the results, I noticed one Web site continued to pop up: Wikipedia. Each search engine found hits on Wikipedia; Yahoo included a hit from Wikipedia in the top ten of each query.
Further analysis led me to develop a better sense of each search engine’s priories. From Yahoo, a large majority of the hits in each query’s top ten seemed to be for Web sites selling something. Ask.com and Google seemed to include links to more information and news Web sites in each query’s top ten. Ask.com seemed to include links to Web sites with information about events (concerts, festivals, conferences, etc.) in the top ten for each query more frequently than the other two search engines.

NEKO CASE
Google: 1,430,000 hits

Top 10

Welcome to the Official site of Neko Case
Official site with extensive list of thanks and a showcase of women in music.
www.nekocase.com/ - 2k - Cached - Similar pages

NEKO CASE
THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE, THE NEW SITE IS COMING SOON. The Tigers Have Spoken. Blacklisted. Furnace Room Lullaby. The Virginian.
www.nekocase.com/index_neko.html - 3k - Cached - Similar pages

Neko Case - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Neko Case (born September 8, 1970 in Alexandria, Virginia) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and as a member of The New ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neko_Case - 50k - Cached - Similar pages

www.myspace.com/nekocase
MySpace Profile - Neko Case, , , US, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, in stores now! ... Neko Case's Latest Blog Entry [Subscribe to this Blog] ...
www.myspace.com/nekocase - 138k - Cached - Similar pages

ANTI- Artist - Neko Case
The story of Neko Case, similarly, could be told a number of different ways; but the facts, as always, yield only a part of the truth. ...
www.anti.com/artist.php?id=13 - 36k - Cached - Similar pages

Neko Case – Music at Last.fm
Listen to Neko Case (Things That Scare Me, Star Witness & more). Free mp3 downloads available. Tagged as: Alt-country, female vocalists, singer-songwriter.
www.last.fm/music/Neko+Case - 203k - Cached - Similar pages

Bloodshot Records: Neko Case
"Neko Case is on her way to well-deserved status as a music legend for our ... Salutes Bloodshot Records" featuring Neko Case on the DVD Bloodied But ...
www.bloodshotrecords.com/artists/nekocase - 36k - Cached - Similar pages

NPR : Neko Case, Martha Wainwright in Concert
On her latest CD, singer Neko Case swings somewhere between the worlds of heavy art rock and bittersweet country. Hear her perform cuts from Fox Confessor ...
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5325695 - Similar pages

YouTube - Neko Case - Maybe Sparrow (Letterman)
Neko Case performs Maybe Sparrow from... Neko Case performs Maybe Sparrow from her album "Fox Confessor Brings The Flood" on CBS' Late Show with David ...
youtube.com/watch?v=LVjcsRO6N7s - 86k - Cached - Similar pages

HARP Magazine
The way Neko Case remembers it, this idle conversation with her guitarist, ... True confessions with Neko Case continues over chips and homemade salsa at a ...
harpmagazine.com/articles/detail.cfm?article_id=3993 - Similar pages

Yahoo: 1,990,000 hits

Top 10

Neko Case
Official site for the alternative country singer and songwriter Neko Case. Find her tour diary, news of Case's TV and radio appearances, photographs, art, song ...www.nekocase.com - 1k - Cached - More from this site

NEKO CASE
THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE, THE NEW SITE IS COMING SOON. The Tigers Have Spoken. Blacklisted. Furnace Room Lullaby. The Virginian ...www.nekocase.com/index_neko.html - 2k - Cached - More from this site

Neko Case - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tacoma, ... Neko Case and Her Boyfriends, The New Pornographers, The Corn Sisters, The ... Neko Case (born September 8, 1970 in Alexandria, Virginia) is an ...
Quick Links: Biography - The Virginian and Mass Romantic - Furnace Room Lullaby
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neko_Case - 50k - Cached - More from this site

Bloodshot Records: Neko Case
"Neko Case is on her way to well-deserved status as a music legend for ... Salutes Bloodshot Records" featuring Neko Case on the DVD Bloodied But Unbowed: ...www.bloodshotrecords.com/artists/nekocase - 37k - Cached - More from this site

Neko Case & Her Boyfriends
Profile of the country band.www.billions.com/artists/nekoc - 25k - Cached - More from this site

Neko Case – Music at Last.fm
Listen to Neko Case (Things That Scare Me, Star Witness & more). Free mp3 downloads available. ... country singer/songwriter Neko Case won a steadily growing ...www.last.fm/music/Neko+Case - 176k - Cached - More from this site

NPR : Neko Case, Martha Wainwright in Concert
On her latest CD, singer Neko Case swings somewhere between the worlds of heavy ... Download Neko Case. Download Martha Wainwright ...www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5325695 - More from this site

Amazon.com: Blacklisted: Music: Neko Case
Amazon.com: Blacklisted: Music: Neko Case by Neko Case ... album (with her band, as Neko Case and Her Boyfriends), already introduced us ...www.amazon.com/Blacklisted-Neko-Case/dp/B00006BTC6 - 155k - Cached - More from this site

Neko Case on Rhapsody
Neko Case: Rhapsody has all the latest music by Neko Case, including popular ... Neko Case sings revved-up Americana in a throaty, expressive voice that's as ...www.rhapsody.com/nekocase - 81k - Cached - More from this site

ANTI- Artist - Neko Case
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SAND CASTLE
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COACHING

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No Blogging for me...

2007-04-03T02:22:00.000-06:00

Instead of doing a Johnson-Eilola activity, I will take the cheap copout to discuss blogging in my classroom. While I like Johnson-Eilola's more standard blogging framework--where students read an article and then respond to it critically--I think that for blogging to work best, it must be a sustained and regular activity. As I already plan to have a course website and to use Blackboard, I think that expecting students to go to yet a third site regularly is perhaps too much. Furthermore, since I think that blogging, when done, should be done for one's exploration of oneself--at least in theory a private act--I think that if I am reading their blogs as their instructor, I will be stifling, rather than promoting, their auto-didactic pleasure. I think I might encourage my students to keep journals or to blog, it will be for their own benefit only.

As I mentioned above, I do, however, plan to use BlackBoard. I haven't yet decided whether discussion posts will used, or, if they are, how frequently. While I like the idea of requiring students to think about material that we will discuss before class, I am worried about overwhelming them, which can, at least at times, lead them to turn in shoddy work and to write half-considered posts. So, I don't know that it's worth it.

Then again, I rethink my English 1000 class every 5 minutes or so, so we'll see!

Concept/Mind/Idea Map

2007-04-02T17:38:00.000-06:00

Considering that we have effectively reached "that point" in the semester, I'm surprised my concept map does not look more scattered and lines-all-over-the-place-what-exactly-are-you-thinking than this:

Outside of my personal battle with the CMap software, I thought it was a very interesting activity, but I'm not sure if I would want to include it in class. Although concept maps can be a good way to reach students with spatial or visual learning styles, what happens when they do look very scattered? I can see how the different parts of the course fit together, but I don't know what the implications are, nor has it proved to be a particularly heuristic activity for my course design. It just helps me realize that yes, in fact, all of these ideas are related...so should I bring them all up in every class meeting and run the risk of boring my students to tears?

Rather than using the concept map as an alternative to an organizational tool (because I can really see horror stories evolving from that), I would use this as Bean suggests — something more of a preliminary brainstorming tool to find out what ideas the students are engaging with most frequently, and what ideas the students see as definitively linked to one another. This could be very helpful for narrowing the scope of a thesis to something that can be completely argued in 3-7 pages, thus to avoid the "all about" or "and then" writing that Bean so fears.

Johnson-Eilola activity 3

2007-04-02T14:49:00.000-06:00

I did the 3rd search engine activity. Googling "Darren Pine" brought up many sites that had a direct connection to something I'd done or was currently involved in-- I'm on the staff pages of the graduate school, the Missouri Review, Center Literary Journal, English Grad Student, and, oddly enough, I'm still listed as an adjunct professor at the St. Louis Community College. There's an interview I did back in 2000 with writer Orson Scott Card, as well as the writing lab article we all were asked to contribute, a lukewarm review of a production of my full-length play Dance of Bees, and an ad for an anthology which contains a short play I wrote. In addition to sites about something I'd done were geneological lists of other Darren Pines, and combinations of the words Darren and Pine in some respect, such as "Pine Cone #2" a painting by Darren Maurer. Of course, there were also a lot of sites on Pine trees as well. Overall, 798,000 hits.

Googling white turned up 763 million hits, compared to black which garnered 917 million. Caucasian turned up 24 million, while Asian 175 million and hispanic 45 million. Irish turned up 113 million, German 338 million, while Mexican turned up 94 million. Most of the hits were not surprising as far as content goes. Male (359 million) did not turn up as many hits as the word men (701 million), and Female (321 Million) did not turn up as many as Woman (574 million). The male sites seemed to be about men's health, though some were specifically directed to homosexuals.

When I googled my age, 35, I found a lot of articles on getting pregnant after 35. It seemed that the concern for aging was mostly directed at females.

While this was an interesting activity, I'm not sure what the point of it would be, unless it could somehow be turned into a bigger assignment. While it's interesting to note the trends, it seems that the student would have to look at the sites themselves more in-depth in order to gain anything from the assignment other than a sense of how demographics work.

mapping and blogging

2007-04-01T18:01:00.000-06:00

Okay, here's my attempt at a concept map of my English 1000 class. My brain doesn't really work spatially, so this isn't terribly pretty, but it sort of makes sense to me. I'm interested in feedback on assignment 2, as shown on the concept map (it gets bigger if you click on it); I've been having trouble all semester getting that assignment in a form I like.

I also did Johnson-Eilola's third search engine activity.

When I searched for my own name on google, I found primarily academic and professional information. Some of it was work related-- the writing lab website, etc--, some of it was writing-related-- my old opinion columns from KSU, etc.--, and some of it was info about awards I've been given (I'm putting my vice-presidentship of the English major's club at KSU in this category). I believe the only sites that didn't fit into one of these categories were the EGSA auction site (on which it announces that my scones sold for $15) and the website of my grandmother's church (which has my birthday listed).

All of these (except the one from my grandma's church) are related to acheivement. I would have next to no presence on the web were it not for these acheivements, which I think is interesting, considering that I feel that my achievements are largely a result of my socio-economic background. It was expected that I would go to college and do well there, etc. I wonder what a google search would turn up for my name if that were not the case.

I went on to search for terms that describe me. (Interestingly enough, wikipedia articles showed up near the top of almost every search.) "Female" turned up a fair number of sexually-oriented sites (the second result is about "female genital cutting"). However, I followed up by searching for "male" and found somewhat the same type of sites (the third result was "the ultimate male masturbation resource"). I haven't done enough research to make a confident argument about this, but I think the results for "female" may tend to focus more on things being done to women (like mutilation) whereas the "male" results may focus more on things men do (masturbation). I later searched for "woman" and "man" and thought it was interesting that the first sponsored link for "woman" was titled "Sexy single women," whereas no such link appeared in the "man" search.

I then searched for "caucasian," "white," "African-American," "black," and "hispanic." Although the first entry for "cancasian" is a wikipedia article about "the Caucasian race," the entries don't tend to be centered on the "race". Instead, there are articles about the Caucasus mountains, the "caucasian mountain dog," etc. "White" turned up similar results. "White people" turned up more pointed results, mostly of "white people" defining themselves in opposition to others. (or others defining "white people" in opposition to themselves.) "African American," "black," and "hispanic" turned up more relevant results than did "caucasian" or white", and they seemed to focus on group identity. I suppose the reason for this would be that caucasian or white tends to be viewed as the norm in the U.S., so caucasians tend not to be viewed in terms of skin color/ ethnicity (or at least they are not defined this way on the web).

I also did a few other searches, but these are the highlights. This would be an interesting activity to have our students do. I'm not sure if I'll use it, due to time constraints, but this could be an interesting start for a paper assignment.

assignment & blog

2007-03-21T13:41:00.000-06:00

Since I couldn't find a place on the wiki to post my assignment (using Barnett), I'm going to post it here, and then move it over to the wiki when there's a space set up. I'm going out of town tomorrow and wanted to get this taken care of before I left.

It was interesting writing this assignment because I have a hard time articulating what I want my students to do, and why I want them to do it. This is still a draft, but I think it could be helpful. Certainly using Salvatori's suggestions is (over time) making me a better reader.

See assignment below.

###

[I chose to draw on the Salvatori article in Barnett because I’ve been trying to become a better reader myself, and found her techniques helpful. An assignment like this at the beginning of class may help students read more effectively, and use their reading more efficiently in a paper]

Assignment #1

Reading reflexively

Your homework for Wednesday will elaborate on the reading process we’ve been discussing. Instead of just reading this week’s assigned reading, you will respond throughout the text to the material. This means that I want you to mark up your text. Instead of just underlining a passage you think is important, I’m asking you to write (in words) in the margin, why you have underlined this section. Do you think it’s interesting? Do you disagree? Does this make you think of something else? When the author makes a statement you question, I want you to write your question in the margin. Think of this as an advanced heckling process; enter the author’s conversation and write your own questions, opinions, thoughts, etc. You will hand in your marked-up reading at the beginning of class on Wednesday.

more on boxes

2007-03-21T12:44:00.000-06:00

While I find the notion of boxes intriguing, I don't think I will be using them in my class, at least not right off. I could see toying with the idea of a box assignment as an activity, I don't think I'd want to do it as a formal assignment. While the argument was made in the texts that the linear argument format is old-school now, it remains a fact that college comp is designed to prepare students for this linear thesis-driven, claim-making, evidence providing, conclusion making style that they will utilize in other courses. So, for me, the boxes could work as a brainstorming activity, but not as a substitute for a formal essay. How would you grade it? Formal essays have the advantage of requiring basic rules, and it is useful to us as instructors to have this criteria in mind when we're grading. Boxes seem much more like a creative art, and so that type of writing would tend to be graded using a pass/fail model, again, which makes it work for an activity, but not a full project, at least not for college composition.

On Cornell & Hypertext

2007-03-21T12:02:00.000-06:00

I thoroughly enjoyed this stimulating article on Cornell. I especially liked the way the author used the art of Cornell to both explicate his concerns concerning hypertext and to recommend a method that might be applied to helping our students use hypertext to write persuasive arguments. I thought that the argument he made for this, framing his discussion around Mead’s notions of prefigurative culture, helped me understand just where I might fit as an instructor in this fast moving world of technology and education.

Before reading this article, I would never have imagine that a student might deliver a hypertext paper to me and call it a persuasive essay. But upon brief reflection, it makes all the sense in the world that it could happen, and probably will. And why shouldn’t it? Aren’t we already experiencing this all around us in some forms? I am thinking here of blogs, wikipedia, and so forth. Of course, students are already composing in this way whether we recognize it or not. Given this, I find Janangelo’s notion that we should consider the subject and prepare to address it the classroom very apposite.

As an instructor, I feel hesitant to leap forward and try something as daring as this, and yet I feel the attraction of what might be gained in so doing. I liked what L. M. Dryden had to say about the use of hypertext in the composition of persuasive arguments: “to put technology at the service of students, to encourage their most creative efforts in exploring the connections between literature, history, the arts, and sciences, and most important their own lives.”

my shot at a box, part 1

2007-03-20T11:24:00.000-06:00

So I took Donna's challenge and tried to create a "basic box" (though nothing meta- like something on composition itself or teaching). My idea was informed by a story I've been following intently: the Supreme Court case involving Joseph Frederick, the high school student in Alaska who wrote "Bong hits 4 Jesus" on a banner in defiance of his school's administration. Dahlia Lithwick has a great summary of what's went down so far on _Slate_: http://www.slate.com/id/2162161/

I'm following the story because it deals directly with free speech, something dear to me, and the issue of free speech in K-12 schools is something I've done research on (particularly the Tinker case), as well.

The image I chose is a photo of the musician Liz Phair. It's from a copy of a magazine that I have. I actually used it as the cover art for a bootleg of hers called _Pottymouth Girl_ (I thought it was appropriate). The words to the left side are the lyrics to "Canary," a song from Phair's first (highly influential) album, _Exile in Guyville_. The song is interesting to me for many reasons, but one thing that *I* see Phair doing is drawing a parallel between a child *performing*--like a canary ("I learn my name/I write with a number two pencil/I work up to my potential")--and the persona *performing* feminity (I clean the house/I put all your books in an order/I make up a colorful border)--like a canary. Then she goes back--the image evoked by "I clean my mouth/'Cause froth comes out" is one of childhood once again, of having one's mouth washed out with soap. The implication, then, is that she is being treated like a child, just as women in general are (and have been) often treated like children, that their voices are often censored or silenced. (_Exile in Guyville_ is, in fact, a song-for-song female response to the Rolling Stones' _Exile on Main Street_, and Phair was about to establish her reputation, even perhaps more so than P.J. Havery and Courtney Love--and pre-Alanis Morissette success, by the way--as arguably *the* emotionally honest, sexually frank female voice in music, following the path blazed by Patti Smith, Kim Deal, etc.).

So the move for me was to intersect this notion of women's voices being shut out--as part of their regulation to the status of quasi-children, as their somehow being inferior to men--in the past (and some could argue rightly still in the present) with the question of free speech for *actual* "children" (the term itself is highly problematic, as childhood as we now regard it is largely a cultural construct of the emergence of the leisure class--but this is highly digressive... I can, however, expand on it if any one is interested) and for adolescents, those in the liminal stage between childhood and adulthood.

So free speech is foregrounded--a topic that I'm passionately invested in, and it's tied to an image of and lyrics by Liz Phair, an artist whose work I adore; and both are then tied to an explicit statement on free speech by Noam Chomsky which appears underneath the image. Chomsky has had a huge influence on my thinking--and to me this quote states plainly my own beliefs on the freedom of speech and it ties back directly to the case before the Supreme Court.

More bong hits 4 Jesus, please.

Boxes?!?

2007-03-20T11:20:00.000-06:00

Sorry this is a bit tardy (and probably disjointed); I was lost in the west stacks of the library and lost track of time. This is of course after feeling a bit lost last night in the readings for this week. The idea of boxes is a bit much for me to grasp at this point in the semester (too much Old English and such). However, I wonder if the problem arises more out of technology than the concept. I feel a bit unsure of technology still, since it was not a big part of my earlier education. I am hesitant to use new technologies (as many of you know I had trouble even with the wiki). Of course, I found the reading in the chapter in Wysoki's book to be a bit intimidating even without the technology. I couldn't quite get used to the structure of the text itself. It took me twice as long to read as a regular chapter because I had to adapt to the random boldness and odd shapes of text. It made me feel sympathy for my students, though, who also have to adapt to unfamiliar readings. However, I don't think the purpose of boxes should be to make a difficult task even more difficult simply because it is artful and "new." My question is how much new technology and how many new approaches should we even incorporate into our classes? Isn't it possible to overwhelm students with these new techniques? I don't want to intimidate them or overwhelm them. Does anybody else feel this way?

On a side note, I couldn't help but think about the movie White Oleander as I read. Isn't this box idea what the daughter does at the end?

I also wanted to go back to last week's readings because I never updated what bullet point I disagreed with in C/D. I wondered about the idea of comparing student progress openly. I feel this is not only a violation of FERPA, but also demeans the student to whom you are speaking. I never openly compare work. Any thoughts?

Wanna Box?

2007-03-20T10:38:00.000-06:00

I must admit I'm still a bit overwhelmed by this week's readings. I can't quite wrap my mind around the concept of boxes in the freshman composition classroom. In box-logic composition, Sirc explains, "notions of articulate coherence, conventional organization, and extensive development seem irrelevant" (115). How is this unlike most other freshman writing? Isn't this the mode that we're supposed to help them out of? I'm exaggerating, of course, but I seriously wonder whether freshman students are ready for this. How, for example, will learning to compose in this manner help them when they get to their philosophy, biology, and fishery writing-intensive courses?

That's not to say that I think using internet technology is bad. Rather, on the contrary, I think that allowing students to compose using technology--sound clips, weblinks, videos, photos--would greatly enhance their experiences.

In terms of implementing an adaptation of this, I think it would go particularly well with my second assignment, where students juxtapose an essay dealing with stereotypes (particularly those related to race/class/gender) with a character in Crash. Students would then be able to write a web-based text, rather than a paper one. That said, the emphasis would still be placed on the coherent, organized, and developed essay, which would be enhanced by the technology--where the technology would allow them to input multiple forms of evidence.

Thoughts?

--Bri

Hypertext as Learning Tool

2007-03-20T10:30:00.000-06:00

I was particularly interested, this week, in a quotation within the Janangelo article by George Landow: "[hypertext serves] to liberate us from the confinements of inadequate systems of classification and to permit us to follow [the mind's] natural proclivities for 'selection by association, rather than by indexing'" (277). I think what Landow calls the "mind's natural proclivities for selection by association" must be taken into account when, we, as educators, attempt to introduce students to new material. The mind is not a strictly linear function, and I think that hypertexts open up an entire world of associative logic and exploration that can make the learning process much more engaging. Here, I am speaking from personal experience, because one of the crucial turning points in my education involved a hypertext. I was a senior in high school when I discovered the Beats (primarily Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs). They represented radical opposition to everything I was being taught, and, for that, I loved them immediately. It seemed like they had created an entire literary world, and that I had just discovered it for the first time. One day I stumbled upon this hypertext which still exists (though it has been stylized since 2000):

http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/page.jsp?what=BeatGen

The hypertext links together all the major authors in the Beat movement, along with the Dadas, Surrealists, and other artists/thinkers (even back to St. John of the Cross and Dante) who had inspired them. I was sucked in immediately. Not only was the content radically new, but the format was perfect. Hypertext is radically non-linear, just as these thinkers seemed to be in their approach to reality. I felt as if I were passing through a series of doors (via the links) into new territory. There was no teacher there to tell me what was "required reading" and no single, monological "text" to read from front to back. It was more like walking through a forest, or exploring a ruin. I felt like I was the only person there, and that all of this was new.

The result was that I started making connections. The fragmentary knowledge conveyed in my English classes paled in comparison. I saw how past artistic movements and paradigms influenced subsequent generations, and I started to see myself as a possible inheritor of a tradition -- rather than just a receptacle for random facts about literary history. I tracked down every book that I saw mentioned on the site, one at a time. The summer between high school and college was an intellectual awakening. By the time my undergraduate career started, I was confident and had a sense, admittedly partial, of literary history. The hypertext had opened up a world, and now I felt at home there.

I never would have had the same experience with simply linear texts and footnotes. The sense of exploration, digression and wandering was crucial to my learning. I don't know how I will incorporate hypertext into my course just yet, but I plan to try. Maybe it will strike sparks.

Choose Your Own Adventure.

2007-03-20T09:35:00.000-06:00

I was interested in the Janangelo’s article this week precisely because I wasn’t entirely sure what constituted a hypertext. Thus, Mead’s idea of prefigurative culture, “one in which adults must learn from children as they teach them because the knowledge the adults grew up with is not longer fully useful” (272) seems especially useful and appropriate to me. I’m interested in the synthesis of technology and poetry, something I (obviously) know very little about. A hypertext assignment similar to the one described in “Joseph Cornell and Hypertexts” might be an excellent way for students to recognize and engage with a poem’s construction and development. An assignment that requires students to map out links between words would highlight the important associative qualities of diction within any given poem.

I’m not convinced, however, that a hypertext assignment would work well in the English 1000 classroom. I’m not sure how to emphasize the dangers of “casual accumulation and juxtaposition of readymade materials” (288) to students. I’m a bit wary of an assignment that could offer too many choices, thus overwhelming the reader (which seems uncannily like the hypertext version of Choose Your Own Adventure books). While I would like to implement such an assignment, I’m uncertain how to design and outline an effective project. Does anyone else have any brilliant ideas?