Students will analyze the subject, purpose,
audience, and constraints that influence and determine what kind of document
(genre) they will write.
Project One: Plato's Allegory of the Cave
In order to analyze rhetorical situations as a part of project one, we had to be aware of the specific audiences that each portion of the project was aimed toward, the tone and purpose of writing this paper, and determine what restrictions were placed that determined the way we wrote. The audience for the paper that I wrote was anyone who wanted to read about other peoples' opinions on what Plato's meaning of education in the Allegory of the Cave was. This paper was very formal and informative. The audience for the Pinterest site, however, is more "tech savvy" people who wanted to look at images and see the meaning of education depicted in pictures. The two components could also work together in a presentation in which the paper would be the main focus and the pin on Pinterest would be the visual aide. The tone of this paper was very formal because we were instructed not to use slang and have a concentrated idea throughout the paper.
Project Two: No Child Left Behind
The most challenging part of writing for project two was determining the audience I would write for. Do I write specifically to conservatives like me or do I write to a general audience? I finally chose to write my opinion to the general public and just express my thoughts freely. This lead to the creation of a freely expressive blog and an informal ton. The sole purpose of this paper was to either agree or disagree with one of Bill Clinton's big ideas about education. I chose to write about No Child Left Behind because it is something that my family and I have been directly affected by either by being in school or being an educator. Even though the topic of this assignment was formal and political, I chose to use a loose tone when discussing it in order to prevent major controversy over my thoughts. After choosing the purpose, subject, audience, and tone I created a blog to express my opinion. I also included pictures and links that were relevant to my thoughts and the content in the writing. This project was fun and it was nice to freely write and generate a great medium to show what I thought about No Child Left Behind.
Project Three: My Educational Manifesto
Before I began writing my outline and designing my presentation for project three, I had to consider a few rhetorical situation such as subject, purpose, audience, and constraints that determined what kind of document I would write. The subject of this paper was laid out in the outline given to use. I was to write about my educational manifesto in order to let the audience know what my intentions and experiences were during my academic career. The purpose of my manifesto was to "preach to the choir" and state what changes need to be made to our education system and what difference I think it will make if they are. For my audience, I chose to present my ideas to my fellow classmates by making my Prezi presentation interesting to watch and by using slang and some clichés in my wording. The audience selection was determined after watching other students' projects and really relating to the information that they spoke of. I liked that it was not a very formal presentation but rather one that grasped the watchers' attention. There were really no constraints that determined my genre or the way my document was presented. It was really just up to me.