| 2 | 9/3 | Andrea Lunsford, “Rhetorical Situations” and “Reading Rhetorically”from Everyone’s an Author
Allie Brosh, “Adventures in Depression, Part One” from Hyperbole and a Half. |
Create WordPress site & read syllabus, comment on this post |
| 9/5 | Stitches — first 2/3rds of “I was six” (pages 8-63) | ||
| 9/8 | Sketch 1: Avatar |
(Note: Most weeks, I’ll try to publish a post on Friday or over the weekend with a glimpse at what is coming up in the next week. Like I have done above, I’ll start with repeating the information on our official schedule for the next week, then like I do below, I’ll often write a little bit more detail about what we’ll focus on in class or what you need to be thinking about and preparing for.)
We had our first class meeting yesterday and you got an introduction to the class. Before we meet again on Tuesday, you should create your WordPress site and complete the other homework I gave you on Thursday.
In class on Tuesday, we will have four major tasks to complete:
- further discuss the syllabus and expectations for this class (yours and mine) and answer any questions you might still have
- discuss the terms laid out by Andrea Lunsford, especially focusing on the terms associated with “rhetorical situation,” which we’ll be relying on all semester
- discuss “Adventures in Depression, Part One.” Think about the relationship between the words (both the blocks of text in between comic panels and the words within the panels) and the images. How would you describe the tone of her comic? What is Allie Brosh’s rhetorical situation? Try to identify the genre, audience, purpose, design, stance, and context. (The medium for “Adventures in Depression, Part One” is comics, webcomic more specifically, so don’t call the genre “comic.” We’ll eventually get to talk about medium versus genre further, and why comics is a medium not a genre.)
- an in-class writing exercise designed to help you get started with thinking about your literacy narrative, which will be due in week 3
On Thursday, we’ll spend the bulk of our time discussing the opening section of Stitches. As you read those first 50ish pages I would like you to consider the following questions:
- How does Small establish character and setting in the first handful of pages?
- This chapter all takes place while David is 6 years old. What are the major subdivisions of the chapter though? You’ll probably decide that there are three (maybe four) major sections in these pages — what is the primary idea being conveyed by each section?
- Pick the single page that you find the most compelling or interesting or that you think is the most important in today’s reading. Describe the page in a few sentences. Why is it interesting or important?
Also in class on Thursday, we’ll discus the first Sunday Sketch assignment, as you’ll be creating your square avatar images by Sunday and go over any initial questions you have about your WordPress sites.
How will students be notified if the syllabus changes?
The policies section of the syllabus won’t change. If the schedule changes in some significant way, I’ll make changes on the schedule page, will highlight those changes in a week ahead post or will publish a specific post announcing that there has been some significant change to the schedule, and will probably make an oral announcement in class. If I make some sort of minor adjustment to the schedule with enough advance time that it shouldn’t cause a problems (like if I decide today that on November 12 I want you to read to page 165 of Sabrina instead of to page 157), I’ll just make the change to the schedule page).
See my response comment to Andres on the Welcome to the Class post — you also need to finish publishing your site.
When we choose a compelling page to describe in a few sentences, should we write the description down and have it prepared for class tomorrow?
You’re not going to turn it in, so it doesn’t have to be. But writing it down would probably be a good exercise to prepare yourself for discussion. In other words, you don’t need to do so, but it’s a good idea to if you can manage it.