Ben Walworth 2/7

Today, when class began Ms. Lang began by going over a "little house cleaning" going over some of the policies in the "Course Policy Information Sheet" located here:

https://sites.google.com/site/enc110261/course-policy-information-sheet

We then went onto talk about Curious Researcher Presentations. We went over that project and then got into groups of four for the project. After we got into groups we picked dates for the project due dates.The presentations will be divided by chapter and there are 5 chapters. The groups, along with the dates and names of the people in the groups are found here:

http://enc1102-61.blogspot.com/

Note: The last group must have a workshop!

After we talked about the Rhetorical Analysis of Communities, Media and Stereotypes Project. Basically in the project we have to review some type of media and write a research report on it. We basically went over the description of the project which can be found here:

https://sites.google.com/site/enc110261/project-assignment-sheets-1/rhetoricalanalysisofcommunitiesmediaandstereotypes

Following our discussion of the new project, we went on to discuss our readings in Beyond Words and online. To begin this discussion, we watched a clip of the television show Glee. This was the episode referenced in the article "Push(back) at Intersections: Me and Glee" called "Dream On". The clip we watched focused on "Artie", the character that is disabled. He has a dream to dance, but can't walk, therefore he can't dance. His love interest in the episode, Tina, encourages him to not give up on his dreams. 

image found: http://www.thecollegetownlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/glee1.jpg

After viewing "most of the clip", we divided into 6 groups to go over the clip, the reading "Of Glee I Sing" in Beyond Words and the online reading "Push(back) at Intersections: Me and Glee" found here: http://bitchmagazine.org/post/pushback-at-the-intersections-glee-and-me . Out of the 6 groups, 2 groups were assigned to each. We used part of the Rhetorical Analysis of Communities, Media and Stereotypes to analysis each form of media and how it can be analyzed. This is what we used to analyze the different forms: 

“Read” the artifact rhetorically in order to analyze the following:

o    The Purpose: What is the purpose of this TV series or episode? Are key terms used to lead viewers to this purpose? What problems or questions are identified? Does the episode offer a conclusion that defines the argument?

o    The Cast or Subjects: How is the cast presented? Does the cast establish ethos?

o    Audience: What kind of audience does this artifact cater to? What kind of language is used? What kinds of topics are mentioned? What does the show assume audiences know and what topics are elaborated upon?

o    Organization & Presentation: How is the show put together? Is it chronological, thematic, etc.? How does the show use headings, key words, or other visual features to direct the organization? How does this organization serve or hinder the central argument?    Demonstrate how the artifact portrays the community its representing. Compare the central argument of this text to the research you’ve done. Do they seem to follow the same trajectory? If so, how? If not, how do they differ? How does the research you’ve done help you contextualize the artifact?

When we were done analyzing each of the forms of media, we created a chart on Google, dividing each by Purpose, Cast/Subjects, Audience, and Organization/Presentation. First we Reviewed the clip, The second on "Of Glee I Sing" and third on "Glee and Me". After that we had a discussion of how the three forms of media relate, and then really went on to discuss a lot of what each form was trying to convey. After finishing our discussion cut short by the end of class, Ms. Lang told us that our Discovery Draft for Project 2 was due next class and asked us the question to think about:

"Is it ever just TV?"

Image found: http://blogs.cofc.edu/american-autobiography/files/2011/04/tv-static.jpeg

Curious Researcher Groups

Curious Researcher Chapter 1 (2/12)

Michaella
Cody
Erica

Curious Researcher Chapter 2 (2/19)

Shannon
Audrey
Miles
Ben

Curious Researcher Chapter 3 (2/21)

Garrison
Sam
Nate
Julian

Curious Researcher Chapter 4 (3/5)

Logan
Lauren J.
Emily
Tiffany

Curious Researcher Chapter 5 (3/7) MUST HAVE WORKSHOP

Billy
Eloy
Solomon

Sam Eckstein 2/5

Today we started class by picking up our folders and turning in Paper #1.  The class then moved on to a discussion about the homework which was reading from Beyond Words on pages 10-26.  The reading was about identifying the subject, focal point, considering audience, and how to analyze context.  We used several examples to help get the point across.  First James Evans’s Halies Hands was brought up to relate to focal point.  Most times, when you look at a picture of a person your eyes are involuntarily drawn to the face.  In the photo the old woman’s face is blurred and her wrinkled hands are focused right in front of the camera.  Her hands are the focal point in this picture and they are a symbol of her old age.

 

After we finished discussing the reading from beyond words, we moved on to read a blog from a young Iraqi woman who was living during the war.  http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2003_08_01_archive.html  We went on to then talk about Riverbend's blog.  We analysed her story by considering the context of her writings and who the audience is.  Finally we ended class by talking about Aristoltle’s ways to persuade.  Ethos is an appeal made based on ethics, references or credibility.   Pathos is an emotional appeal and finally logos is an appeal based on logic.  We then identified where each of these elements appeared in the blog.  

Logan Andrews 1/31/13

When class began, Heather brought up the rubric for the paper. 
To access the rubric, you can click on this website: 
https://sites.google.com/site/enc110261/project-assignment-sheets-1
Heather then told us, "Don't get crazy, y'all" when writing our paper. Nobody wants to read 20 pages, but keep it at a minimum of 6.

The class then learned that the reflection should be typed, not handwritten for blogs. Therefore, do not stay up until 6am like Garrison. We also learned that everything in class today was all his fault. Also, Garrison thinks him and Heather are like PB and J while Heather thinks of them more like oil and water.

                   

The class then proceeded to find a partner, exchange cut up drafts, and put them in the order they thought they should go in, not what they thought the original format was. You were to glue them to sheets of paper and write your reasoning as to why you thought it should be in that order. 

Once we finished, we exchanged our whole draft with a completely new reader where we identified where they had strong passages, along with where their paper confused us. At the end, we were to use the rubric to grade their paper. We were also to write end notes for the paper on our reflection and/or advice for the paper. 

Class ended once you exchanged papers back and spoke to your partner about each of your suggestions.

Garrison Free- January 29th 2013

Today we started class with a question, What are similies?

Answer: Similes are a comparison using 'like' or 'as'.

The first example, "Ms. Lang has the beauty like a queen.

Then the next question wasn't too far off. Ms. Lang asked us if we knew what a metaphor was.

And to her surprise three different people all gave the same answer one after the other.

We all said the most generic answer, "A metaphor is a comparison without using 'like' or 'as'."

Next we opened up a word document where everystudent could write on at the same time.

The topic: writing.

We had to make a similie about writing.

At first, most people put 'Writing is stupid' but we quickly learned a similie needs a noun.

So then the average answer turned into, "Writing is like pergatory" or "Writing is like death."

From there, our next topic was parents. This time with more free space.

We had to try to show how our parents were like instead of just telling.

For a brief part of class, we talked about our reading and critical response pictures.

A few spoke up about their favorite picture, or one that stood out the most, but not much conversation came out of it. Then the 9/11 picture was brought up and we talked more in depth about it.

We discussed about the many possibilities on why the people looked as if they were ignoring the first twin tower burn down, but we will never know for sure.

To wrap up class, in our last activity, we read some of Ms. Lang's crot examples aloud.

After reading and talking about them for a quick second, she showed us an example of two pictures to go along with the story. We discussed the pro's and con's of each picture, and how the picture setup the story in an entirely different way. We repeated this again with another crot, and both examples helped us get a grasp on what we need to think about for our photo album.

All in all, it was another lovely tuesday evening class with ever so wonderful Heather Lang.

Lauren Seale 1/15/13

Today we started out class with a poll, which was used to take roll.

The question: Who is better... Batman or Superman?

Turns out the class was pretty split.

However, it is important that we note that 

Superman is Super 

and Batman...

 well he is just a man

Next, we split into groups of 3-4 people and did a plagiarism activity. 

We were given various sources,

 as well as passages that were formed from them,

 and had to decide whether the writings were classified as plagiarism or not. 

We continued our class discussion on plagiarism as well as the different types

 (1. intentional 2. accidental)

We also listed ways to help avoid plagiarism. 

For our next activity we moved onto our homework assignment which was based on the  short story “On the Road” 

I was surprised to learn that there is a movie based on it.

Here is a link to the movie’s preview

On the Road Trailer

And shocker!! Kristen Stewart has a role!!!

So this will be interesting. 

In honor of Batman...

To wrap up our evening class, 

we were given time to write freely about our personal experience with a road-trip.

 After this short writing assignment

 we were to switch perspectives 

and tell the same story

 but from the view point of an item in(or on) the car.

Nate Markert

During our last class we discussed a variety of subject matter. We started class with a recap of the class blogger assignment. The main purpose of the blogger is to record and summarize notes and ideas form that class. We are encouraged to use multimedia in order to aid in our description. After we finish the blogger we also must write a reflection, about a page, describing our time as class blogger. We were shown previous students bloggers and even a picture of George Bush eating a small cat.

 Following that we were shown how to access the class blog as well as Google calendar. Google calendar is an interesting because you can program it to send text notifications of assignments. Next we talked about the required materials. The most important piece was to make sure that the McGraw handbook was the most up to date version.  Later we had to do the typical line up in alphabetical order, and learn about thee people standing next to you. I met Billy who has a exceptionally large extended family. Then we were assigned to take a folder and put one of our favorite quotes on it and decorate.

I chose this line from anchorman, which in my opinion one of the funniest movies of all time.

Funny lines from Anchorman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-WhOERP3ng

Critical response one was turned in with the folder. Following this we discussed the reading from the previous night. It was mostly about the classification of writing. I learned that each genre has its own conventions or rules. Along with that I found out the DubStep sounds like “robot porn”.Which reminds me of Bender from Futurama.

 And to end the class we tried to discover what genres we would be involved in this semester. And just a few are research, personal reflection critique and blogging.