Gabby's Presentation (Comp. Theory)

Audience addressed - the audience is a concrete group, they do exist. has more power than the writer to affect a piece.  Feedback, writer tailors to audience.  You may run the risk of stereotyping or over-generalizing your audience or marginalizing other audiences (queer theorists).  Rhetoric-minded.
Audience invoked - your audience is ficitonalized, you're writing to who you think will read your stuff, based on what the writer needs/hopes for a piece, audience has no say in what the writer makes. Assuming what your audience wants to hear is an example of this, like "sex sells, so I'll write erotica"
Pedagogy - theories and methods of teaching
Audience - your readers, (why does this have to be a small group? everybody can potentially encounter your piece)

Audience Addressed and Audience Invoked are two schools of thought about writing.  They shouldn't be polarized, because in the real world audiences and writers work together, nothing is written in a vaccuum. Genre affects this as well.  You're not going to rip out your favorite part in your manuscript because Joe Schmoe says so.  But you will re-write the snot out of a paper if your professor tells you to so you'll get an A.

[Also, I'm cold and hungry and I locked my keys in my room]

supplementary article - the writer as an audience

HOLY CRAP

So, this is really pretty cool. It's a testament to the connective power of the internet.
Remember when I posted my essay "Why Don't We Just Ask Them?" about chimpanzee religion and actually communicating with the animals themselves.
I just got an email from the guy who wrote the article, James B. Harrod.  He said that he was Googling his article to see what people were saying about it, and my blog, this silly little website full of my rants and awkward jokes.  He also figured out who my professor was (maybe I mentioned her in my posts?  but that sounded like wizardry) and emailed her too!  He found my email through LinkedIn, and maybe that's how he found my professor, maybe they know each other out in the non-interwebs world, I'm not sure.
I've been giggling to myself for a while now because I think this is pretty awesome.
He says that "so far it seems that one person in the world has read an commented on my papers online - and that is you".
Actually, I feel kind of sorry that the only person he's found who's made a response to this revolutionary set of papers is some college kid's 2 am paper.  Regardless, it's still pretty cool.

possible topics for the presentation (comp theory)

Constructing and Reconstructing the Self in the Writing Class
Intersection of Composition and Creative Writing Theories this is a dissertation (which I've heard are painfully long...) but bringing in creative writing ought to keep me engaged.
Mapping Pop Culture in Composition
Literacy of Sustainability (yay environmentalism!!)

so these sound pretty promising.

Presentations (Comp. Theory)

I'm interested in working with Joey Anderson.  Now I realized that I misunderstood the assignment so now I need to pick a new article.  "Inventing the University" sounds interesting, but requires further research before it becomes what I actually want to do.  "Audience" article sounds interesting too.
Maybe we could do video game literacy with specific relation to the game Skyrim.  Which would be fun becuase both of us enjoy that game.
We can work something off of a hybrid of the Bazerman and Fulkerson articles.

Guidelines for Midterm-y project

select chapter from textbook (also a folder on Sakai)
find another reading, an additional perspective, contradictory perspective
educating the class about the chapter/reading
do a class activity
(quills, Mad Libs, group discussions)
we get to pick our partners

"Coggle" response to Bazerman

Coggle is a nifty little brainstorming/flow-chart making program provided by Google.  In order to use it you need an account with Google.  It's all online and fairly easy to use.
So, I was assigned to use this tool in order to make sense of a particularly dense reading, and here it is! (thats the link to the Coggle diagram - hopefully it works).

Workout Video (you will be in pain)

So the first time I did this, for about two to three days afterwards my legs were in serious pain.  Good pain.  I'm not complaining.  But if you want something that will light your thighs on fire, I have found it for you.
My goal is to eventually be able to do this video without it hurting.

Composition Theory class, Friday 10/10/14

Vygotsky

 Zone of Proximal Development

(in between independent performance and assisted performance) student can kind of do it on their own.
Ex: pointing at every object in order to count them, eventually the student will outgrow the need for the tool, the pointing (AKA scaffold).
More emphasis on nurture instead of nature

Social context

influences not only what we think, but how we think it.
learning happens not after the brain has sufficiently developed [Piaget], but while development is happening

ergo....
what scaffolds do we, this class, need to understand composition theory better?

Mass Extinction Caused by Humans

Read about it here

I can't talk too much about this or else I'm going to cry/have a panic attack/go into a spiral of guilt and sadness.  The last time Earth had a mass extinction was 450-440 Million Years ago.

In the next 85 years, half of all plants and animals will be extinct.
In the next 334 yeas, three-quarters of all mammals will be extinct.

Composition Theory Related Idea: My Theory

In talking with a classmate in my Ficiton II class about why I am continually drawn back to a certain story, I said this:

"He [a character of mine] is a distorted representation..interpretation of my own personal problems, and as long as I continue to have these problems he will continue to fascinate me"

And then I realized what just came out of my mouth and I was like, "Eureka!"  That's Greek, it means "I've found it!".  I thought that this would be a very cool thing to talk about.  It's my own theory (I actually said "that's my theory")about how I write, not anybody else, not how I learned to write, but why I write.  What I get out of it.
I thought that was worth writing down and sharing.  Thanks, Jamina.

Four Short Writing Exercise for the Different Philosophies

group: Kayleigh, Lauren, Joey, Cindy

Mimetic

Ex: Research a current event of your choice and write an opinionated essay about it.

Rhetorical

Ex: Take an oppositional stance.  Write an anti-fracking essay for a conservative audience.

Expressionist

 A free-write about: something personal, an experience that many people have in different ways. Reflections
Ex: Reflect on your first day of school (any school)

Formalist 

Ex: take a paragraph of your own work and closely examine the use of prepositional phrases.  Are they needed?

Response to Fulkerson's Four Philosophies of Composition

• For the Fulkerson article, select 1 quote from the reading and describe the context of the quote, Fulkerson’s main point, your interpretation of that quote, and its significance to your knowledge of how writing classrooms have been structured.

  • Select one concept or definition in the chapter and define it in your own words. What is easy about defining this word and what challenges are raised?

quote I explore:

"Expressionists cover a wide range, from totally accepting and non-directive teacher, some of who insis that one neither can nor should evaluate writing, to much more directive, experiential teachers who design classroom activities to maximize student self-discovery" p.344

interpretation:
expressionists teach writing in a less formulaic way, geared towards the individual.
significance:
These guys sound like the most fun.  I think that expressionists are the best people to teach creative writing (that's why I'm attracted to it).  It's a lot harder to discover yourself if you're stuck looking at sentence structure and diction.  That's the kind of stuff that makes most people think that they hare writing.

concept I define:
a general description of the four philosophies:

formalist: judgement based on form - grammar, spelling, syntax - work on the sentence level, and focus on generalized "norms"

expressionist: writing is a self-discovery, the process is indiviual like the writers

mimetic: clear and logical thinking, analysis of the larger conversation

rhetorical: audience-centered, emphasis on persuading the audience

Response to "Rhetoric and Ideology in the Writing Class"

I learned how to annotate and highlight in Adobe PDF.  Vaguely inconveniet, however, I don't have to pay for printing so that's good.
Also, holy crap this text is dense.


ideology definitions for [smart] twelve year olds - a system of thoughts and values that forms the basis of understanding a certain subject. Ideologies can be explicitly taught, self-taught, inborn, or simply a part of the culture that one doesn't notice with a cursory glance.  For example, a Christian ideology (ideas that are espoused in Christian teachings) can form the basis of how a culture views the world and their place within it.

Explaining things as if to a young child will help you truly understand the complex ideas that are only going to get more confusing as you go on.

Cognitive Rhetoricians Study (science & objective truths)
formulas, structures
study how language is learned
    neuroscience
    processes of writing
       inside people's heads
efficiency

Expressivist Rhetoricians Study (radical individualism ignoring social political economic & immaterial)
common core to all people
dislike/distrust of structures of writing
    individuals, therefore, individual styles of writing
    accuse cognitives of borrowing languange from corporate America: efficiency, generalization,               formulas

Social Epistemic Rhetoricians Study (the self imbricated in social political)
Knowledge is the intersection of observes, discourse community, material conditions
material environment surrounding writing: pens, desk
immaterial conditions: ideas, culture
discourse community: the people we communicate with, with certain tools, has a normal pattern
language is a social phenomenon, product of historical moments