Memories, Sweet Memories...

Memories... sweet memories....

I was only willing to humiliate myself like this because you all did such fantastic work this quarter.  #NoJoke!

Interested in Submitting to Starting Lines?

As I mentioned to you, if you're interested in this, I'm more than happy to help facilitate your submission in any way that I can.  :)  In addition to the email that you'd need to send them (details, below), please know that there's an additional form on Gauchospace that you'd need to turn in.  Personally, I think it's a great idea.

Your Survey Responses on Our F'15 Writing 2 Course

Alright, so what were your feelings/attitudes about the course readings and our in-class activities?  Before I tell you, please know that, below, I’ve collapsed the two sides of the Lichert scale spectrum—for the 5-point scale, I lumped the “4’s” and “5’s” together to provide an aggregate percentage.  Now without further adieu, to channel Family Feud—one of the great gameshows of all time—the suuuuuuuurvey says:

• Most interesting reading: Two Kinds of Thinking (88%) and How to Read Like a Writer (96%)
• Least interesting reading: Finding Evidence and Annoying Ways People Use Sources
• Most helpful reading (for studying/learning writing): Navigating Genres (100%) and How to Read Like a Writer (88%)
• 50% of you reported feeling motivated to complete the course readings.
• The most helpful activities were Deconstructing Letters of Rec (86%), Mark Smith’s Murder (82%), and Anna’s + Bella’s Reflections (84%)
• The most interesting activity was Parallelism in Resumes (88%)
• Videos that you found helpful for studying/learning writing: country music (88%), horror movie clips (84%), “moves” videos (88%), and 4 Disney Artists (80%)
  

Here are the other quantified thoughts/feelings/attitudes that you collectively had about various teaching’n’learning aspects of this course:

• Only 76% of you liked the Evil Duck (timer).  One of you hated it; another person kinda hated it.  (Really?!)
• 80% of you said that the music helped you focus.  (I will do my very, very, very best to play lyric-less music in the future.)
•  96% of you liked the structure of class, and of that 96%, 50% of you “loved” it.  (Wow!  Awesome!)
• 85% of you thought the digital lesson plans were helpful.
• 88% of you liked posting your journal responses to the anonymous Google Doc.
• 100% of you thought my feedback on your WPs was helpful!  (Woooooooo!)
• 72% of you found the feedback matrix (textual features + textual qualities) helpful in improving your writing.
• 70% thought the feedback marix was helpful for justifying your grade.
• 77% of you enjoyed WP3 the most!
• 80% of you thought WP2 was the most intellectually challenging.
• 62% of you thought WP2 was the most time consuming; 30% thought it was WP2.
• 75% of you learned (53%, a lot!) about your own group project; 64%, for the other presentations.
• 70% of you think I should keep the thlogs for next quarter and beyond.  I will.
• 70% of you liked posting your PBs to the blog; 72% of you reported taking pride in your blog work. 
• 60% of you found the peer/reader review workshops helpful.  (That’s a pretty significant drop from the last time I asked after WP1…)
• 77% thought this course required more time/effort than your other courses.
• 81% of you thought the time/effort was worth it.
• Everybody but 2 people enjoyed the course; 38.5% chose “4” and 53.8% chose “5.”

 Your open-ended comments on the course readings:

• “I didn't really like that we always had to include them in our writing. I understand maybe in a few papers but after awhile it got repetitive.”
• “I feel that maybe incorporating some shorter readings would be better for your next class. Sometimes the readings felt so long that finishing them felt like the most difficult task in the world.”
• “…I also think that Writing With Pictures could have definitely helped a little earlier in the course instead of so late.”
• “I didn't read most of them to be honest. The ones I did read were mostly helpful, some weren't.”
• “It would have been cool if we just looked them up online, instead of having to purchase the course reader.”
• “I found that the writings that were the most helpful were also the most interesting. If I know that what I'm reading is relevant and could potentially help me improve my own writing, I'm much more interested in what I'm reading.”
• “I saw the articles as a technique to enhance and advance my paper. I did not look at it as an assignment or homework. I used the articles as a tool to refer to that would allow me to grow as a writer”
• “In the beginning I was a lot more motivated because there was less writing (before the first WP was assigned), so doing the readings was the main homework assignment to assist with the PBs…”
• “…I also knew that we would go over it in class, so I did not feel as inclined to complete the readings all the time.”
• “…they gave me inspiration for my thlogs!”
• “They were always very helpful to what we are doing in class and help me grasp a deeper understanding so I always felt inclined to read them and if for any reason I couldn’t get to it, I would make sure to at least scheme them.”
• “A lot of the readings were not crucial to understanding what was going on in the class, but it just gave you a little bit of an advantage if you completed them.”
• “I, personally, don't enjoy reading very much. So the fact that I did read most course readings surprised myself.”
• “They were never checked so sometimes I was too lazy or had other work that I deemed more important.”

Your open-ended comments on the in-class activities:

• “I think spending a little more time on thesis statements for the WPs would have been nice because it seems to be a common concern for most of us.”
• “I didn't really enjoy reading the starting lines pieces. I didn't particularly see the point.”
• “I felt like the activities that involved collaborating were the most effective because it gave us a change to understand how different people perceive the topic which enabled me to form a more cognitive position on the topic.”
• “I just loved the activities waaaayy more than course readings. I feel like they help teach a lot more.”
• “I really did like looking at examples of work as a class, because I feel as if it gives me a better sense of what not to do and what to do. It is helpful to see, because as a reader you can see what is effective and what is not effective, whereas when you are looking at your own work, this can be hard to do. However, practicing it with other pieces definitely helped me do it with mine.”
• “Starting Lines is a really boring text. No students likes reading another student's writing.”
• “Activities that required comparing two or more documents were definitely helpful…”

 Your open-ended comments on our “reading” approaches:

• “I learned how to approach reading with a mindset of deriving not only the content in the piece, but the reasons behind the content. It has taught me that there's a reason for almost everything embedded in a text so approaching a text with this mentality enables me to take a completely different message out of it than I would from simply looking for content. It allows me to then read a piece with a certain connotation because I'm then aware of the author's intentions and what they are trying to making you think or perceive from the piece.”
• “I read like a writer. I ask questions like how and why the author wrote this sentence…”
• “I remember you saying something along the lines of if we found a piece of reading to be boring that we should pretend it is something interesting­­having a positive attitude and basically psyching ourselves out to thinking it isn't boring. Most of the readings were engaging because of the colloquial language and relatable to the class.”\\\\
• “This is a tough question, I think that different ways I could approach reading is by looking for the key details in writing such as arguments and thesis statements. Also another approach to reading is when we are revising another student’s work in a peer review. We have to ask questions about their writing and not tell them what is right or wrong.”
• “We did critical reading.”
• “We had to be open­ minded so we can pick out all the different "moves" a writer makes even if we usually wouldn't identify it as a move.”
• “Bunn's article, "How to Read Like a Writer," has enlightened me on some approaches to reading. Now, when I read an article, an essay, and even a Facebook post, I start to pay attention to some of the author’s “moves” and why they wrote what they wrote. I no longer merely read something and move on ­ I look at each passage as a decoder and try to figure out why the author choice to include this. This approach to reading that I learned in Writing 2 has enabled to see and evaluate the importance of everything I read.  Also, as a reader, I now pay attention to conventions and rhetorical features of each piece."

Your open-ended comments on the videos:

• “I liked that the videos were almost always of something modern and funny or entertaining. That kept my interest piqued and made me want to be engaged in the activities.”
• “Liked the self­referential ones because they did a good job of showing me what exactly self­referential meant.”
• “I feel indifferent towards the videos.”
• “I loved these videos because they were able to relate to our lives, yes they were meant to teach us topics for this class, but they were things that we could actually see interest in. A big problem with students about what they learn in school is that they never know that they are ever going to use any of the stuff they learned ever again, in the real world. These videos related to our everyday life so it will stick with us, and it will avoid the all the “just learn it for the test” jazz.”
• “Analyzing the horror movies was also super cool; it made me think about all the little details that make a horror movie a horror movie. I can definitely use that kind of analysis to break apart a genre.”
• “I loved it when you showed us videos that seemingly had nothing to do with writing but you somehow made them really relevant to what we were learning as well. Those videos were the best at getting messages across in my opinion.”
• “Although the Bob Ross vids were a little creepy, those videos are the ones that stuck out to me the most.” (Poor Bob Ross...)

Your open-ended comments on structuring class/lessons:

• “Cut down on the journal discussion time a little since you seem to always be running out of time”
• “I thought the structure was nice; it was kind of a good, constant routine to the day. From the beginning of class, you would already know what the schedule was unless otherwise stated and that thought made me comfortable. I would suggest timing things better, since some of the tasks and journals we completed went over the evil duck.”
• “I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. STRUCTURE OF THE CLASS IS WHAT MADE IT SO EFFECTIVE. ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT”
• “The “for next class” preview was great in allowing me to know what to expect and what to come prepared with for the next class. Journal questions were a good way to open up for class discussion. I did not really see a purpose out of the small group work. I learned much more though the class discussions.”
• “I felt there was very little time to write a constructive journal. I felt the only times I was able to write a good journal was if I came to class 5­10 minutes early and got a head start. Because this is supposed to be such a big part of our final portfolio, I think we should spend more time on journals or have less journal questions per day.”
• “I feel like it was a good balance between you teaching and lecturing and us contributing, so it kept it interesting and interactive, while we were still able to learn a lot.”
• “I think class was organized as effectively as possible. I liked that we always had a lesson plan for us to see as well so that we could see where we were and what we were doing. We always did the most important things and stayed focused and on track. LOVE THE NO PHONES.”

Your open-ended comments on posting journal responses, anonymously, to the Google Doc:

• “I like being anonymous because I tend to be a little self­conscious about my writing and my opinions.’
• “I did like posting it anonymously because I didn’t have to worry about writing a really stupid answer and then people thinking about how dumb I am.”
• “I enjoyed posting my responses anonymously because it allowed you to say what you really wanted too. I didn’t really have to fear of being called out on because of what I said. While some things I said weren’t that personal some; however, [others] were.”
• “Yes, because it allowed me to compare my experiences and knowledge to other students. I also learned more from other's knowledge.”
• “I feel indifferent about it because we didn't really spend a lot of time reading other people's responses. But when we did look at other responses and hear from them in class, it was interesting.” 

Your open-ended comments on my feedback to your WPs that you found helpful/effective:

• “On my second WP you would tell me to dig a little deeper and put my voice into it, I found that very helpful because when writing that paper I found myself stopping myself from putting my own voice into it because I thought I should stay strictly factual without putting in my input, but I now see that with the combination of putting my own voice in and digging deeper, it can make my paper a lot stronger.”
• “Comments when you asked what was the connection between two sentences made me stop and think how they were connecting and what I wasn't getting across as a writer.”
• “One comment that helped me the most was the one you said about keeping the train rolling and reducing the fluff. This helped me because in high school I was used to teachers who wanted fluff. They believed fluff meant more analysis when most of time it didn't…”
• “…the humorous comments help because it gives a lighter side to the grading, when I know many people are already worried that their essay is horrible. Even if you criticize the whole essay a bunch, the funny comments you make show i guess that you're not mad, only trying to help.”
• “I really liked the positive comments. Constructive criticism is great and all, but sometimes they got a little bit harsh. It was nice to see a little reassurance every now and then. It helps me, at least, to stay motivated and know what I am doing right. That little boost of self­confidence helped me work through the other comments.”
• “I really appreciated comments on my structure. I've been using the same structure for my essays/papers for years now, and it's gotten so boring and lame for me (and I think it's why I disliked writing so much). You're the first person to suggest another way, and that was super helpful­ it made my whole writing process a lot less of a drag. I also really like how you pointed out not only things that I could work on, but things that I did well. It lets me know what I'm doing right, and what I can use again in future writing (also it's a self­ esteem boost lol).”
• “I like how you would ask me questions in your comments. You weren't necessarily tearing apart my work, but just asking me questions that made me question why I made the decisions I did in my writings.”

Your open-ended comments on my feedback to your WPs that you found unhelpful/ineffective:

• “Certain positive comments were just like a few words that basically said "good" or "excellent point here" rather than elaborating on why it was good.”
• “"I'm not seeing it yet, I need more convincing". Would've been more helpful if you'd elaborated & explained what I could do to convince you.”
• “There was one comment in which my statement was too exact and unchanging in its discourse which may not be agreeable to everyone, and he had told me to hedge it. At that time the comment was ineffective for me cause I did not know what hedged language was.”
• “All of your words matter, Z. The only thing is when you told me my topic sentences were to basic, maybe you could have given an example what to add to make it not so basic.”  (I’m a bit overwhelmed by that first sentence in a holy crap, I’m honored kind of way…)

On the feedback matrices:

• “It was useful for identifying why you graded it the way you did, but I felt the table seemed inconsistent with the grade. I had similar tables but different overall grades for my WPs.  I think paired with the Google Doc comments, these two were perfect and helped a lot!”
• “I didn't even really look at the feedback matrices. I read your comments very thoughly but the actual feedback matrices meant very little to me.”
• “More difficult than I expected for a writing req class but I gained a lot from it.”

Other awesome, miscellaneous nuggets:

• “My favorite part of the course was probably learning about genres because after I learned that I felt like I saw the literary world so differently.”
• “Translating genres was really cool because I was able to apply everything I learned in the course in a creative way. It was a cool way to reflect on my learning and see how much I learned in just one quarter.”
• “The thlogs [were one of my favorite parts of Writing 2]. I liked putting my own personal touch on things. I also loved the activities where I had to pay attention, because most of the time it's hard to keep myself focused on one thing, however a lot of your activities and demonstrations kept my attention very well….’
• “The constant interactions between the teacher and students [was my favorite part of the course]. I thought this class was going to be very anti­social as a writing class, but I have enjoyed constantly learning and asking questions throughout the course.”
• “Favorite part [of the course] was coming to class, I always got a good laugh.”
• “… My writing used to be mediocre, and now I feel like I can write anything for any audience in any genre. Woohoo!”
• “…Like I said before, being able to blog was amazing. I have never felt more related to a course because blogging and visuals are something I find incredibly interesting. I think the entire online/Internet approach to your course is really clever too. I think it keeps students interested. Instead of feeling as if they are writing essays, they're just writing a cool blog post which is awesome.”
• “The toughness behind [the course was my favorite aspect]. I can honestly say that because you were a tough grader, and slack wasn't handed out, it helped me so much. I honestly feel like I've improved greatly as a writer and am continuing to improve so I find it nice that I had a teacher who cared enough to be mean/harsh/realistic when it was needed because it helped me soooo much.”
• “The best thing about your course was how laid back it seemed at the beginning. We started out with the reading that included the picture on the back of the reader. You told us exactly what to expect; you told us that you were mostly like the "Fabulousness!" professor but you tried to be somewhere in the middle between the "Rules" and "Fabulousness" professors. You encouraged us to approach both our reading and writing with an open, creative mind­­which I feel most other professors/teachers don't do enough. You taught us, or me at least, that it's okay to start out rough.”
• “Thanks for being a style icon all quarter.”  (Ha!)
• “I hated writing... until now I can't thank you enough for these 10 weeks.”
• “...It was really comforting to have a TA/professor (whatever you are) like you during my 1st quarter here at UCSB. I love how you give nicknames to students and treat us like your friends but still keep it professional…”
• “…I genuinely believe that I've become a much better writer. I even feel more confident speaking to adults because my vocabulary has expanded and I'm more eloquent than I was in high school. I may even pursue a minor in journalism or something that involves writing because I've come to love it so much.”

Videos I Meant to Share With You (Better Late Than Never?)

My beloved Writing 2rs, I've got a confession to make: there are some super-cool videos that I meant to share with you earlier this quarter, but we ran out of time, so I let it slip.  Although the most meaningful time to post/share them has passed, I still want to make them available.

Here's an animated at a(n incredibly thorough) blogger's writing process:

This is a throwback video to the glory days of MTV when the music video reigned supreme.  A spoofer band -- though, from what I know about them, a pretty cool band -- named Green Jelly made an awesome claymation video of their song, 3 Little Pigs.  Genre transformation, anybody?!

And lastly, we did a lot of digital, Web 2.0, internet-y writing in this course.  I think this video is super-neat and shows just how embedded writing is within our modern culture, collective identity, and modes of communication.  

Agenda/Lesson Plan for Today's Online Class (Week 6.2)

Below is the agenda/lesson plan for today's online class!  Also, here's a link to the survey that I'd like you to complete at the end of the madness.

Time	Activity	What I Want You to Do	Where to Find It/ Where to Post It and Other Misc Notes
12 – 12:05	Prepping for Today	Familiarize yourself with today’s materials and what I’m asking you to do with them.  Give this a solid look-over.	The important documents for today are this agenda/schedule (the lesson plan), the Google Doc for today (on G-Space), and your blog.
12:05 – 12:20	Journal Q&A	Answer these questions:  Q1. So, in the end, how’d your WP2 paper go?  What were you happy with?  What weren’t you?  Why?  Be specific! (Remember: this is fodder for your end-of-quarter metacognitive reflection) Q2. Which 2 or 3 comments that you received yesterday were the most helpful for you?  Why? Post your journal responses to your blog AND respond to two classmates’ posts (~75 words/response is fine.).	So you have time to respond to others, please post your journal responses by 12:10/12:15.
12:20 – 12:40	WP3 Introduction, Q&A	Read the WP3 Assignment Description, and then read it again.  (Seriously.)  After that, post any thoughts/questions that you have about it.  Also, feel free to check out the “Self-Referential” videos that I’ve posted on my blog—that’ll give you an idea of what I mean by “self-referential.”	The WP3 assignment description is on Gauchospace.  Post your thoughts/questions/reactions in the Google Doc “WP3, 6.2, Our Online Class,” in the table titled “Your Thoughts and Questions on WP3.” I’ll be responding to your questions too while you’re working on the rest of the activities, so don’t worry.
12:40 – 12:50	Brainstorming Genres Associated with Older/Younger Audiences	Think about what types of genres that different-aged audiences typically read/write?  List 5-10 genres that a younger audience (younger than you) typically reads/writes.  Try to get specific—ie, “Adventure Novels – 6th graders. List 5-10 genres that an older audience (older than you) typically reads/writes.  Try to get specific—ie, “a LinkedIn profile – recent college graduates.” Be original.  Get weird.  Think outside-the-box.	Two separate Google Doc tables: “Brainstorming Genres for Younger Audiences” and “Brainstorming Genres for Older Audiences.”
12:50 – 1:20	Watching Videos: Bob Ross Clips and the “Disney’s Artists” Movie	In some ways, for WP3, we’re going to be putting on our “artist’s shoes.”  These videos can help us think about artists’ “rhetorical decisions” and the “moves” that they make.   Before you begin watching the videos that are posted on my blog, look over the questions that I’ve posted above the videos. I strongly advise you to take notes on what you observe/think while you’re watching the clips.	My blog, videos on “Painting Trees.”
1:20 – 1:40	Reflection on These Videos	Please post a response to the questions on my blog above the Bob Ross/ Family Guy clip.  I also want you to respond to two of your classmates’ posts (~75 words/each). So you’ve got time to do that, please publish your post by ~1:33.	My blog, videos on “Painting Trees.”
1:40 – 1:50	Survey	Please fill out the quick anonymous survey that’s posted on gauchospace (and my blog too).  It’s about your experiences in today’s digital class.  This will help me better understand what’s working and what isn’t so that I can make any/all necessary improvements.  I want to learn how to make badass online classes “work” to their maximum potential, so any feedback you can offer me is huge.  Plus, if you’d like, you can use part of your responses here for your portfolio reflection.  If you want to do that, you should consider typing your answers on a separate MS Word file so you can save them.  (You won’t be able to retrieve your responses once you submit them.)	Gauchospace link: Survey on our Digital “WP3 – Day 1” Class.

"Painting Trees" with Bob Ross and Disney Artists

These videos can help us get at “rhetorical decisions” and “moves.”  They show artists describing their composing process—the artists lead us through their thoughts and their actions.  No matter which option you choose for WP3, I want you to lead me through your moves in your follow-up self-analysis, so while you watch these videos, I want you to consider:

• What are some "moves" you see in these videos? 
• How do these artists describe what they’re doing?  What do the artists refer to while they describe their work?  What do they talk about?  What do they direct our attention towards?  
• How would you characterize each artist's style, and what impact does their style have on you (a viewer/audience member)?  How have these artists chosen to portray their subject matter?  

Bob Ross and His "Happy Trees"

4 (Disney) Artists Paint One Tree

Self-Referential Genres (Possiblities for WP3!)

Here's an example of a (meta) self-referential genre that you could create for WP3.  It's an advertising/branding video about... advertising/branding videos!

Want another?  Below, you'll find a Nine Inch Nails song (the frontman is named Trent Reznor) about Nine Inch Nails songs.

For reference, here are a couple of original NiN videos.  Note: it's firmly planted on the creepy and profane side -- though I have to admit, I think it's also firmly planted on the super cool side of artsy-fartsy-ness -- but it's one of the best self-referential examples of a genre that I've seen. 

OK, now if you really wanna let loose and get totally wild'n'crazy, click this link to find an APA paper about... APA papers!  (I know, I know -- we're really "going for it!")

"Moves!"

I.  Love.  This.  Lesson.
#omfg
#truestory

Whether you realized it or not -- and whether I, the writer, realized it or not -- I made some "moves" right there.  I tapped into my pop culture resources and used some informal conventions of the modern "millenial" generation to (1) reach you, my target audience, by writing a somewhat unusual teacher-to-student "hook" in the beginning (2) let you know that I'm honestly juiced up to teach this lesson... perhaps my enthusiasm for this will be contagious, and (3) let my hair down for a change.

Some other moves I made right there?

• put the key buzzword in boldface for added emphasis
• #'d that list so you realized that there were only a few things you had to get through
• #'d that list so that my punctuation (commas) would come across more clearly -- the #s allowed me to separate each "thing" without using commas.  By using #s, I can save my commas within each item/thing so you (probably) wouldn't confuse them as an additional unit/thing
• used the "rule of 3" (a cheap trick that most readers seem to enjoy)
• finished the list with a joke.  If I started that list with my "long hair joke," would it have been as effective?  Probably not -- punchlines usually work best at the end.

OK, so Writing Project #2 is coming up, which requires you to analyze and evaluate what's gained/lost between scholarly and non-academic texts.  To most effectively do this, I'd like you to consider each writer's moves -- what they're doing, how they're doing it, and whether you believe that it was effective.

By studying this, my hope is that you'll be able to detect writers' moves more clearly and, in doing so, consider adapting what you find to be effective.  Think of this as a way to open up your tool kit.

Ever hear of two musicians "jamming out"?  Well, this is essentially what you're doing as a (good) reader.  You're listening to what the writer/musician is trying to communicate, and if you like what they've done, feel free to "borrow that lick."  (But remember: if you're borrowing their ideas/research, you need to attribute that work to them in a citation!)

Blah blah blah.  Here are some videos that can help us start thinking about "moves."

#thisissocool

Week 3.2 Survey

Please take this survey during the final 5 minutes of class today.  It'll be a way for me to gauge how/what we're feeling.

UCSB's Professional Writing Minor

I've been asked by a Writing Program colleague to share this with you, and I'm happy to: here's some information about the Professional Writing Minor and how to apply.  For what my take is worth, I think this is an excellent idea -- I really, really do.  Unfortunately, from what I hear it's a highly-selective program, but I encourage you to give it a shot (and anything!) if you're interested.  If you continue doing excellent work in this course (everybody has thus far), I'd be happy to vouch for you.

"In Defense of Rhetoric" Video

As we continue to build our genre awareness, it's important that we get a firm hold on the term "rhetoric."  Rhetoric goes hand-in-hand with genres, their conventions, and how writers choose to communicate their messages.

Genre and PB1A

Writing 2rs,

I wanted to post a message here that can, hopefully, help you think through your upcoming PB1A assignment (due Monday, before the start of class).  

The best place to start is by asking, "Well, what exactly is a genre?"  This is a great question, and we'll be thinking about it all quarter long.  (Really.)  On the most basic level, a textual genre is any piece of writing that's bound by similar patterns in its form (the "look" of it) and content (what it's about).  Another way to distinguish between genres is to consider their social action -- what they do in the world and what they're intended to accomplish.

Let's take a quick look at two genres: "Get Well" cards and car advertisements.  One is intended to express sympathy and love; the other is trying to swindle you out of your hard-earned $$$.  One is very personalized and generally short/sweet; the other is also probably relatively short but it's usually not tailored to a specific person -- I can't remember the last time I opened up a newspaper or a magazine and a car ad said, "Yo, Zack!  How's that commute from Calabasas to Santa Barbara going?  We've heard that you'd like to swap your "folkswagen" for a truck!  Well, check this puppy out!"  Car ads are generally depersonalized.

These are lots of other ways to analyze these two genres.  You can consider what media they typically appear in (car ads occasionally appear on TV commercials -- have you ever seen a "Get Well" commercial?), what kind of specific (or broad) audience they're targeting, and what appeals or types of evidence they use, if any, to do so.  Genres can be broad, loose, and somewhat vague or they can be nuanced, tight, and very specific.  At its best, the concept of "genre" is an analytical tool that we can use to better understand texts and how/why the function in the ways that they do.

All in all, at this current point in the course/quarter (less than one week in!), I just want you to gain added practice with exploring genre.  If you're still a little hesitant about "genre" and what it is/isn't, go back to Dirk's Navigating Genres piece and give it another read.  (That's a million dollar study tip!  It never hurts to slow down and revisit the material multiple times.)

There are a bunch of textual genres out there in the world.  Wherever you can "see language," there's a 99% chance that it falls into some kind of genre.  Sometimes, even when you're "hearing language," it's coming from a textual/written source and it comes right back to a textual genre.  News broadcasters, for instance, are typically reading a report that's been written, which has then been posted onto a teleprompter.  (Genre is an incredibly "Matrix-y" idea.  Once you begin to really see/understand the world through genre, it's almost impossible to un-see it.)

Before I bring this babble fest back down to Earth and get to your PB1A assignment, let me add a couple more dimensions to genre and genre theory that can help you dig down even further.  By considering a genre's affordances (what it enables, such as bottom-up participation by its users/readers -- think of the co-creation that's enabled by a wikipedia entry or possibly how some commenting forums on online message boards can shape the ensuing analytical "conversation") and its limitations (what is restricted, disabled, or unavailable), you'll be able to evaluate a given genre for its strengths and weaknesses.  One other way to explore genre to its fullest extent is to think about how its historical evolution and how it's been shaped over time.  (PS: I'm not expecting all this for PB1A!)

Now, for PB1A, I want you to pick one specific genre you're already fairly familiar and then gain practice with studying, deconstructing, and analyzing it.  I'm basically asking you to take a long, hard look at one specific genre and then: 

1. break down its conventions (just like we've been doing in class with the country tunes, the horror movie clips, and the letter of recommendation requests) and then take a shot at explaining why some of those conventions exist.  One convention of (most of) the letter of recommendation requests was a formal tone.  Why?  To signal respect for the reader -- the person who would be writing the recommendation.
   
2. analyze its rhetorical features which include its intended audience, the author's/writer's purpose for producing it, the greater context in which, and any stylistic patterns.  The reading that I've assigned for Monday (Carroll's "Backpacks and Briefcases") will help you better understand what "rhetorical features" means, so make sure you read this before you begin writing your PB1A.  (Rule of thumb: always read the assigned readings first!) 

In our course reader -- and on Gauchospace -- I've included a badass document that can help guide your genre analysis for PB1A and beyond.  It's called... "Genre Analysis" and it's got a bunch of super-useful questions you can consider to help you "get at" genre.  It's located somewhere towards the end, close to the letter of recommendation request (which, again, represent a distinct genre for all those reasons we discussed in class).

I hope this message helps you.  Try to have fun with this (and all) our assignments and feel free to "go for it" and pick a weird/unusual textual genre.  If you can, include a screen shots, scans/pictures, or links that represent a small sample of whatever genre you've chosen so we can actually see what these genres look like.  Also, making specific references -- think: direct citations or quotes -- from them could really make your PB1A an outta-da-park homerun.  

G'luck!

Horror Movies! More Practice with Genre and Conventions

Scenario: all of a sudden, you're sitting in the middle of a movie theater, watching a horror movie.  How do you know you're watching a horror movie?  What features/things about this movie make it a horror movie?

 After you jot down your predictions, let's put our hypotheses to the test!

The Shining

Psycho

Thinking About Genre (and Conventions) Through Country Music

I wanted to post these videos to help you (re)consider the following questions which can, hopefully, help you to think about the relationship between genres and their conventions:

• what's the "glue" that binds these songs together? 
• what about them makes them fall into the “country music” category?
• at what points do they bend/blend into other genres (such as folk, blues, and bluegrass)?

"Your Cheating Heart"

Lyrics

"Coal Miner’s Daughter"

Lyrics

"Whiskey River"

Lyrics

"I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow"

Lyrics