Students will develop strategies for generating
content, organizing it into a logical structure, and otherwise shaping it to
address the needs of their audience within particular disciplines.
Project One: Plato's Allegory of the Cave
After reflecting on the rhetorical aspects of the paper and conducting research, we had to compose the document for project one. For me, the process started with the creation of an outline that helped me gather my thoughts and determine the layout of my paper. After the outline, I started to write my paper while always keeping the audience in mind. The paper was in MLA format, which is a very formal and professional presentation of ideas and is appropriate for this kind of paper. The order in which I wrote down thoughts also determined the flow and formality of the paper. I started out with a summary of the allegory and then continued by defining education, explaining the symbolism that was presented in the reading, and, finally trying the main ideas together by talking about the need to strive to be educated.
Introductions Rewrite
In order to better my writing on Plato's views of education in the Allegory of the Cave, I added questions in the introduction that would gain the reader's attention from the start and get the reader involved. I felt that these questions would compel the reader to think about what strive means to them. Their answers could allow them to gain an opinion about what I define strive as from Plato's writing and whether they agree or disagree. I also divided to old introduction into two paragraphs in order to make the paper more organized. I separated the meaning of strive and the questions that were added from the scene that was set in the allegory. I feel that is more appealing to the eye and will encourage the reader to read further.
Old Introduction
“Strive: (v) to make strenuous efforts toward any goal” (Dictionary.com). People reach out and strive to accomplish tasks every single day whether it be earning an A on that test, getting that promotion at a job, or completing that first marathon run. One thing, however, that people do not seek to strive for enough is education and learning about the world that surrounds them. Plato talks about this very concept in Book VII of The Republic in a piece known as the Allegory of the Cave. In the allegory, Plato sets a scene: There are men chained to the ground by their necks, arms, and legs. They cannot see anywhere but forward. Above and behind the men is a burning fire which casts shadows on the wall in front of them. The shadows are those of objects and people walking across a road between the fire and the prisoners. To the prisoners, these shadows are reality because they are all they have ever known (Plato 175). As the story continues, one of the prisoners is unchained. He stands and looks into the fire, but it burns his eyes. He is tempted to turn around and go back to what is known. Instead, he is dragged from the cave and into the outside world. After being blinded by the sun, the prisoner is able to “most easily make out shadows, then apparitions of people and things in water, then the things themselves” (Plato 176-178). He then noticed the stars and moon, and began to contemplate the world that surrounds him. He went back to tell his fellow prisoners, but they could not understand him and did not believe him because the information was too unreal to comprehend. In fact, they were so outraged by his efforts to question what they believed that they tried to kill him (Plato 177). What does this allegory really represent? The answer is knowledge; knowledge comes from education. |
New Introduction
“Strive: (v) to make strenuous efforts toward any goal” (Dictionary.com). What does it really mean to strive? Do you think you strive towards things that really matter? Most people reach out and strive to accomplish tasks every single day whether it be earning an A on that test, getting that promotion at a job, or completing that first marathon run. What are some things that you strive for? Is one of them education or to gain knowledge? People do not seek to strive enough for education and learning about the world that surrounds them. Education falls to the bottom of the list of desires to strive for, but it should not be this way; it should be at the top of everyone’s list. Plato talks about this very concept in Book VII of The Republic in a piece known as the Allegory of the Cave. In the allegory, Plato sets a scene: There are men chained to the ground by their necks, arms, and legs. They cannot see anywhere but forward. Above and behind the men is a burning fire which casts shadows on the wall in front of them. The shadows are those of objects and people walking across a road between the fire and the prisoners. To the prisoners, these shadows are reality because they are all they have ever known (Plato 175). As the story continues, one of the prisoners is unchained. He stands and looks into the fire, but it burns his eyes. He is tempted to turn around and go back to what is known. Instead, he is dragged from the cave and into the outside world. After being blinded by the sun, the prisoner is able to “most easily make out shadows, then apparitions of people and things in water, then the things themselves” (Plato 176-178). He then noticed the stars and moon, and began to contemplate the world that surrounds him. He went back to tell his fellow prisoners, but they could not understand him and did not believe him because the information was too unreal to comprehend. In fact, they were so outraged by his efforts to question what they believed that they tried to kill him (Plato 177). What does this allegory really represent? The answer is knowledge; knowledge comes from education. |
Project Two: No Child Left Behind
To compose an appropriate document for project two, I had to focus on my audience. We were give the option to do an online newsletter or a blog and I chose to create a blog post. This decision was made because of the informal tone and the audience of anyone who was interested in peoples' opinions on No Child Left Behind that I used in my writing. I wanted to include pictures that would reflect the writing and would make the page fun. I chose to use headers in my blog to help gather similar thoughts into one paragraph and to help separate the writing so it didn't look so cluttered. I started the discussion about No Child Left Behind with an introduction about how it has affected my family because many of them are educators. I then go on to different discussion points like: defining No Child Left Behind, what Bill Clinton's opinion is on the act, what the federal government and state governments' roles are, how No Child Left Behind may work for poorly performing schools, how teachers make a difference, and, finally, how the act has affected standardized testing and how material is taught. The organization of the writing helps the reader see the specific points and what my opinion is on each.
Project Three: My Educational Manifesto
After completing my research and analyzing rhetorical situations, I composed a formal outline. This was the hardest part of the project for me because, to me, an outline is an very informal, bullet point list of things that are relevant to the topic of the section. I struggled on what to do for this portion of the project but finally had the idea to do the outline like I normally would but make the sections paragraphs rather than lists. This added a little bit of formality to my project. For the topic, I used the word "manifesto" as my guide where each letter stood for something different. I decided to create my outline with each letter being a different header and then writing a paragraph about the specific topic beneath. The outline helped prepare for and consolidate my thoughts in order to better my presentation.