Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

Activities: Feb 22

Picking up (not quite) where we left off...

1. Trio activity. Write a story about Steph. I bet you can't beat the rap verse a former student wrote about my haircut. Dare!
2. Regroup and Review responses to the feedback given in Peer Review to The Jacket First Impressions.
3. Turn in copy of your feedback summary to Steph; give the other one to the author along with the copy of their paper with handwritten comments from you and Steph.
4. Freewrite - how does the feedback assist you in determining the message you want to convey? What parts of the rhetorical situation are clear to you (your context as author, the context of the audience, the context of/for the subject) and which still need more thinking from you? Page counts; be ready!
5. Read the actual Jacket "First Impressions"....suppose these had to be turned into "Identity" papers. How would you suggest the authors go about it? How would YOU go about it? Be prepared to share in class and post in the wiki.
6. Read Steph's revision. In pairs, discuss
   1. what definition of identity she uses;
   2. which rhetorical strategies are used;
   3. whether or not the strategies are effective in reaching her audience; and
   4. how her essay could be improved.

Homework

Write another full draft of your Personal Identity Narrative/Essay. Consider this a "final" although there will be at least one more draft. (The more thoughtful and thorough you are now, the less reorganizing and fewer copyediting revisions will be necessary.)

• Give your work a unique title.
• Place it in the top of your portfolio (make sure nothing is missing) and turn it in with all the proper logistics (from Day 1: name, course, date, double-spacing, one-inch margins, and 12-point font).
• If/when you become stuck, review the lesson plans and homework assignments. The links provided are for your benefit. You might also revisit the information about the rhetorical situation: from the Text-Wrestling Book and the Penguin Handbook. There is also a link provided from Day 7 that guides you through the elements of a rhetorical situation (the model) in plain language. You have to decide and be clear about the context for your own writing (as author) to an academic audience of peers and teacher, about a subject with a history (!): the concept of "identity" does not exist in a vacuum! What is it, where does it come from, who decides what it means? You do not have to answer these questions in the writing, but you need to have a sense of where you "fit" in this larger conversation.
• Finally, make a choice about which of the five possible frameworks is best for your purposes. Use language so Steph knows which one you selected!

GRADING: This is worth 15% of the writing portion of your overall grade. As stated in the grading schema, quality will be determined according to the following hierarchy:

• perceptible logic, development
• addresses the assigned task
• explores critical aspects and elements of the task
• clarity and support (evidence for claims)
• minimum of distractions (e.g., diction, punctuation)
  
  

A last hint: Remember what Steph-as-teacher values (as expressed by James Carey and your interpretations of the selected quote).

extra double special hint!

I'm using the course wiki to lead students on a bit of a treasure hunt. I almost said a goose chase, but this search is not wild or random - even though it may feel that way, and those who follow it through will find something worthwhile at the end.

We're grappling (all of us, me too) with the concept of identity. Well, I'm not sure what percentage of the students are grappling in earnest, yet, but I'm confident they will be, soon enough. Most of them still want writing to be easy, a conversation in a visual medium that requires as little effort as opening your mouth and saying what you're thinking. Writing well calls upon a wide range of skills that can be loosely categorized as critical thinking.

The wikipedia entry on identity describes it as "an umbrella term" within the social sciences, and goes on to provide different definitions based on discipline (psychology, sociology) and subfields within these fields, such as cognitive psychology and social psychology. Identity is distinguished from the self, a notion more commonly used in philosophy.

Relating to my own research interests, this article on Assimilation and Community Vitality, investigates the importance of language to identity.

Finally, I find it useful to compare the social science conception of identity with the way the term is used in mathematics.