Week 13: Activity Ideas | Return to Overview |
The suggested activities for this week include: Introducing Arguing for a Public Audience As always, remember to introduce and conclude your lessons with previews and reviews. Use transitions to maintain a connection between daily classroom activities, assignments, and portfolio and course goals. |
Introducing Visual Rhetoric |
Return to the discussions you have been having about the use of visual rhetoric in the NYT and bring in a few examples (from the NYT, magazines or Web sites) to illustrate how some writers use illustrations to support their arguments. Pass these around in class:
Ask students to bring in examples from the NYT that they've collected, plus other examples of graphics. Refer to the PHG intro-to-chapter pages and discuss their possible meanings/interpretations. You can also create an overhead or handout that covers some of the concepts and practical explanations located at bedfordresearcher.com (go to "Manuals" then "Using Your Word Processor"--or http://www.bedfordresearcher.com/manuals/wp/). There is also a general guide on Writing@CSU located at: https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/index.cfm?guides_active=graphics Overall, remember that our primary goal is to see the revision choices students make with their words, but since we live in such a visually-oriented society, we also want them to be aware of and try their hands at incorporating visual rhetoric in their work. Be sure to spend time explaining how students can use the basic functions in Word like inserting text boxes. You can use the following as the most reductive instruction: Creating Text Boxes If you want to create
a text box with writing in it or insert a picture/image into a
text box to place within your writing, be sure your "drawing"
tool bar is open in Word (this is the one that has auto shapes
and a paint can on it). Then click on the icon that looks like
piece of paper with typing on it around the letter 'A.' This should
allow you to choose the type of text box you want (in older versions
of Word, your cursor will turn into a + that you size however
you want by holding down the left button on your mouse). Once
you create the box, you can type call out quotes in it or copy/paste
images. If you right click on the box's outline, a new menu should
appear. In this menu, choose "format text box" and you'll get
a whole new set of choices for wrapping text, bringing text "forward"
(over the text box), coloring the text box, etc.
Key PointsKey points to cover in as you introduce this concept include: How does the visual (whether it's a graph, photo, chart, icon or cartoon) further the written argument? How does the placement of the visual relate to the written material? Describe how the visual augments the argument's strength. When might visuals be distracting? As you discuss visual rhetoric, be sure to CSOW. Ask students to brainstorm options for incorporating visual elements into their papers. How might students use visual rhetoric to further their arguments for a public audience? They might think of something as complex as creating a table to display data or something as simple as a bulleted list to simplify a complex set of solutions, for instance, for a reader. Let them know, too, that the type of visual rhetoric they choose should resemble the visual rhetoric used in the publication they are analyzing. Possible PublicationsBroaden students' knowledge of possible publications they could choose to use to some of the magazines (beyond more general-audience magazines such as People, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report) that may offer articles on important current issues: Harper's The Independent Atlantic Monthly The Economist New Republic The Nation National Review Progressive Farmer Parents or Parenting Magazine The Chronicle of Higher Education The Progressive The Weekly Standard Earth Island Journal TIME Business Week Utne Reader The Christian Science Monitor The Humanist Scientific American New York Times Magazine *Note that this list is by no means comprehensive and that students can peruse online journals as well as those found in hard copy. |
Review the day’s activities (3 minutes)When you or a student does this, take special care to make clear their connection to both Portfolio 2 and larger course goals. Take care to provide some sort of conclusion to each class. |