Tuesday, February 24, 2009

agenda for wednesday 25 february 2009

Agenda:
  • Discussion of Chapter 6 on Structuring Arguments, specifically Toulmin, using example
  • Meet in groups to workshop sources and rhetorical analysis charts (follow instructions on eCollege)
  • If group finishes early, begin working on Toulmin charts for chosen sources
Homework due 3/2:
  • Bring all materials related to this assignment to class (sources, rhetorical analysis charts, Toulmin charts, and any other notes or materials)
  • Blog about how your perspective on this issue/topic has developed as you've been researching and analyzing your sources

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

upcoming events at TCU

2/23: 'Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters': A Talk by Courtney Martin

TCU Women's Studies program hosts this talk at 5pm on Monday, February 23 in the BLUU ballroom. Award-winning author Courtney E. Martin will explore how young women today have come to dangerously define success as 'effortless perfection.' Drawing on her critically-acclaimed book--Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters--she will discuss how disordered eating, food and fitness obsession, and anxiety disorders have become normalized among today's college women.


3/2: T. Boone Pickens Town Hall Meeting


TCU’s Energy Club is hosting a town hall meeting with T. Boone Pickens, famous oil tycoon, entrepreneur, philanthropist and author on Monday, March 2 at 4:30 p.m. in TCU’s Brown-Lupton University Union Ballroom. T. Boone Pickens will discuss "The Pickens Plan – Ending our Dependence on Foreign Oil," followed by a Q&A session and book signing opportunity. The first 200 students to arrive with TCU ID will receive a signed copy of T. Boone Pickens' book, The First Billion is the Hardest. This event is free and open to the public. RSVP required, limited seating: OfficialEventsrsvp@tcu.edu or call 817-257-5976.

agenda for wednesday 18 february 2009

Agenda:
  • Meet in new group to discuss assignment and topics: raise questions about assignment, try to answer for each other, share each topic, consider ways to narrow focus, suggest ideas for primary sources
  • Introduction to TCU Library resources, focusing specifically on primary sources related to Rhetorical Case Study assignment
  • Research time and time to ask questions related to topic and research
Homework due 2/25:
  • Read chapter 6
  • Locate sources and narrow down to 3-5 for your project
  • Complete Questions for Rhetorical Analysis for each source chosen for project
  • Blog about your research experiences: what did you discover during your research? how do the sources cover your topic? what connections do you see among the sources and the way they approach the topic?

Sunday, February 15, 2009

office hours on monday 16 february

This is just a quick update to let you know that I'll be in the library cafe area for my office hours tomorrow (Monday). If you have questions about your portfolios, I'll be available there instead of my office. Also, as I mentioned last Wednesday, I'll try to open the classroom by about 1:15 tomorrow in case you need to do any final printing or preparation on your portfolio.

agenda for monday 16 february 2009

Agenda:
  • Submit portfolios, eat cookies
  • Complete group work preference forms
  • Introduce Rhetorical Case Study assignment: primary vs. secondary sources, general suggestions on assignment
  • Group topic brainstorming, class discussion of topic ideas
  • Individual preliminary research about potential topic
Homework due 2/18:
  • Read chapter 19 (pp. 528-547)
  • Choose topic and blog about that topic (be prepared for refining the topic over the course of the unit)

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

agenda for wednesday 11 february 2009

Agenda:
  • Prepare grading chart for essay; Discuss grading of portfolio
  • Discuss concerns noted in most drafts read
  • Submitting the portfolio (digitally or on paper)
  • Workshop Table
Homework due 2/16:
  • Re-read chapter 5 (only pp. 129-134)
  • Bring completed Public Space Analysis essay (can be digital or paper)
  • Blog your author's note for the new draft of your essay and for your portfolio as a whole
Please remember the changes to blogging requirements that we discussed in class on Monday: no weekly blog comments are required, but blog postings should be more developed (around 2 paragraphs)

Sunday, February 8, 2009

agenda for monday 9 february 2009

Agenda:
  • Sample workshop of essay on eCollege
  • Email draft to workshop group and me
  • Complete workshop in small groups using workshop questions provided
Homework due 2/11:
  • Read workshop feedback and blog about the feedback you received and changes you plan to make
  • Work on revisions for Public Space Analysis essay
  • Bring 1-2 copies of your revised draft
  • Think about qualities of an effective Public Space Analysis

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

prompts for prewriting

List as many of the arguments you saw in your space as you can think of. What is your space trying to prove about itself?

What are the 2-3 central/most interesting/most powerful arguments from that list? Why do those stand out?

Who are the target audiences for those arguments? How do the arguments change based on different target audiences?

From your 2-3 arguments and the audiences, begin to refine the ideas into a single controlling idea for your paper. What is your purpose? Or what do you plan to focus on?

Based on your general controlling idea (which may change over time), choose a moment where that argument(s) was especially clear. Paint a word picture of that moment using sensory details and lots of description.

Organization:
  • And Then: chronological or spatial
  • Argument -->Inference/Analysis: discuss for each of 2-3 arguments you’re focusing on
  • Differences by Audiences: choose major 1-2 arguments and address how that argument and its methods change based varying audiences

V-Day Events at TCU

V-Day is a global movement to end violence against women and girls and raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues. 2008 marked V-Day’s 10 year anniversary. To recognize the occasion, V-Day included two additions to the original play: A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer: Writings on Violence Against Women and Girls, and the V-Day documentary Until The Violence Stops.

To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $50 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women. In an effort to end violence, the V-Day movement has crafted internationally-focused educational, media, and PSA campaigns, launched the Karama program in the Middle East, reopened shelters, and funded over 5,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. The 'V' in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina.

This year's events will be happening on February 9-14. Details about V-Day at TCU are available here. No, I'm not giving extra credit for attending these events, but I do strongly encourage you to consider attending some of the very interesting events!

some sample public space analyses

As I'm hunting down an example of this essay from a previous semester, below are some links to several Public Space Analysis posts written by students at another university. These aren't necessarily good examples, but they show how people have approached such an activity:
Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4
And I'll let you know when I've posted a full sample essay on eCollege.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

agenda for wednesday 4 february 2009

Agenda:
  • Discuss chapter 9 on Evaluations with examples from your spaces
  • Pre-Writing for Public Space Analysis, including word pictures, controlling ideas, and organization
  • Begin actually writing Public Space Analysis based on prewriting
  • Discuss what an Author's Note is
Homework due 2/9:
  • Read sample essays on eCollege
  • Bring a digital copy of draft of Public Space Analysis
  • Blog your author's note for this draft

Sunday, February 1, 2009

agenda for monday 2 february 2009

Agenda:
  • Discuss chapters 7 & 8
  • Briefly review observation and note-taking strategies; discuss observation experiences
  • Workshop annotated observation notes in groups of four
  • Begin answering Questions for Rhetorical Analysis for your space based on observation notes
Homework due 2/4:
  • Read chapter 9 on Evaluations (no sample argument)
  • Bring in completed rhetorical analysis questions (digital version is fine)
  • Blog about the meaning of your chosen space for the community (its audience)