Class:ENG112 - Section 36 - Fall 2007/homework/Week Four
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Unit 1 draft, Peer Reviews, Rhetorical Situation (Day 5, Sept 18)
- Give one hard copy of your introduction of a classmate to Steph. Give the other hard copy to the classmate you are introducing.
- BLOG about the representation of your identity by your classmate. Please - if you do not like it, do not just vent: explain the sources and reasons for your dissatisfaction. If you do like it: explain what the writer has done that is attractive to you/your idea of yourself. Be sure to say something about the title and the functions we have been discussing for a week: hook, summary, self-representation (of the author), and defining the audience. CATEGORY: learning: ENG112
- Sit down with the person you introduced and turn the mirror on yourself: how does what you wrote about them "show-and-tell" us about you?
- Introducing (drumroll please) the rhetorical situation!
Watch: Web 2.0...The Machine is Us/ing Us
Homework due 20 Sept
- Read The Classroom and the Wider Culture: Identity as a Key to Learning English Composition by Fan Shen. Handout. From Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. Ed. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston: Bedford/St. Marten’s, 2006.
- Pick ONE of these formats for expanding the essay on self. Note that these are all written as if you are writing about yourself and we have been investigating writing about another (as a window on our own self!) Write a brief entry on your own Userpage (here in the CourseWiki) about why you are selecting that specific and particular ONE format.
- “The Contexts that Make Me†or
- “The Self as Writer†or
- “The Self in Contradiction†or
- “Blowing Things Into Proportion†or
- “My Self in Wordsâ€
format selection, writing process/grading criteria (Day 6, Sept 20)
- Which format did you choose to use?
- Any trouble posting your answer to your own Userpage?
- The Writing Process (get used to it!)
- generating
- revising
- finalizing
- copyediting
- publication
- circulation
- Shall we move outside to discuss Fan Shen's article on Identity as a Key to Learning English Composition?
Homework due 25 Sept
- Read pages 5-13, The Rhetorical Situation, in the Penguin Handbook.
Final classmate introductions due in the wiki, posted on their UserPage with your signature before the start of class.
Additional interviewing is highly recommended to draw out the nuances we discussed using Fan Shen's article as an example. Note to the Interviewee: try try try to embrace the image your Peer is creating of you; help them develop it, but also let them try their hand at representing you. There will be plenty of chances for you to re-present yourself to us (and those who look at wikis).
For grading:
- Remember our basics to date: hook, synopsis, presentation of your own self (as writer), and defining the intended/targeted audience. What effect do you want your writing to have on readers? How do you need to write in order to generate this effect? Consider the effect of your writing on the person you are interviewing (do they value bold directness?) and be sensitive to their desires (regarding anonymity, to have certain aspects of their identity highlighted and not others, etc).
- From Shen:
- you do not have to address all of these, and please
- do not list them in Q&A form. Instead,
- use these questions as prompts to
- imagine how you can
- create interest.
- any "clash" that gives us insight into the character/identity of your classmate? (p. 619)
- can/do you bring their system of values into view for us? (p. 619)
- what mode(s) of learning do they like/dislike, hate/love? (p. 620)
- is there some part of their self which they have had to give up? (p.
- any "fundamental adjustment"? (p. 621)
- any areas of knowledge about which they know a lot, and what they know is only one side? (p. 622)
- any interesting internal struggle between selves? between discourses? (p. 623)
- what is their logical system for thinking? (p. 623)
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