3rd Quarter RJ Conference

Next week when you guys have time to work on your visual argument (Mon-Thurs), you will also need to meet with me for 5-10 minutes for your reading journal conference.  The only RJ you have for this quarter is for Young Men & Fire.


What to talk about:

• Your growth as a critical reader--remember this is always in terms of Nabokov's definition of critical reading and you MUST use evidence from your RJ (earlier ones for where you were and YM&F for your growth)
• The difference between critically reading fiction and non-fiction.  You can discuss your preferences but I also want you to talk about the actual differences in reading them (what you look for differently, which is more challenging or easier and in what ways, etc.).  Again, use evidence from your RJ to back up your claims.

Visual Argument Group Project

Your assignment is to create a visual argument with a partner or group of 3-4.  You’ll draw a product and specific audience; your purpose is to get your particular group of consumers to buy your product.  You may choose the type of ad you’ll create.

Objectives:

• Apply argumentation to a visual
• Work with specific purpose & audience
• Collaborate on a creative project
• Real world application of argumentation

Resources:

• Textbook—all of it, specifically Chap 15
• Commercials, ads, campaign literature, public service announcements, educational/promotional posters, etc.

Graded On Quality of Project:

• Professional
• Creative, neat, demonstrates real effort
• Clear attention to audience
• Effectiveness of argument
• Use of rhetoric (appeals, rhetorical devices INCLUDING figurative language)

Hand In:

• Project
• Written explanation of how you're appealing to your audience, which rhetorical devices and figurative language you're using and WHY you made those specific decisions.  You should also provide a clear explanation of where this ad would appear (Sports Illustrated, commercial during Grey’s Anatomy, Wall Street Journal, etc.)

DUE DATE:
Your project is due Monday, March 5.  You will present the project to the class that day so you must have the project in hand at the beginning of class.  ***NO EMAILING***

Non-Fiction Rhetorical Analysis

Analyze the argument of your non-fiction book.  Write an essay in which you:

• Identify purpose, audience, and the argument your author’s making
• Analyze the rhetorical devices and appeals the author makes
• Pinpoint and argue any fallacies, holes in the argument, or general weaknesses

Basically, use everything we’ve discussed, learned in EAA, and done with the books we’ve read and discussed together—only now you’re doing in on your own with a full-length text.  You should be thorough, convincing, and polished.  Use MLA, cite your quotes, and carefully edit your paper.

Length:  4-5 pages

Non-Fiction Ind Rdg Recommendations

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Stiff by Mary Roach

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

The Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner by Dean Karnazes

Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft, Miriam Brody

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier

  

No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process by Colin Beavan