It was a genuine joy to talk to y’all individually last week about your projects, the communities you chose, and how to improve your essays! At this point, everyone should have had a one-on-one meeting with me to obtain feedback and created a revision plan for Essay 1 Phase 2 that you posted to your #workshop-group channel on Slack.

This weekly schedule will look slightly different from our previous schedules, because for the first time we’ll be “doubling up” on work: moving forward with your Essay 1 draft to meet the Phase 2 criteria, and beginning Unit 2.

Week 5 Schedule of Work

As we wrap up Unit 1, welcome to Unit 2! As always, refer to the Assignment Guidelines here or on D2L for detailed instructions about the essay parameters as a whole and for each phase of drafting. The agenda is stated in the calendar, but here’s a list of items you’re responsible for this week:

  • Watch: Unit 2 Introduction Video
  • Watch: Stedman, “What Is a Rhetorical Analysis?”
  • Read: Nicotra, “The Expanded Rhetorical Situation”
  • Prewriting (Unit 2): Considering the materials above, and using the Fruitfulness Flowchart on D2L, shortlist 3-4 cultural artifacts to rhetorically analyze for Unit 2. (This does not need to be submitted to me.)
  • Read: Sample Essay 1 Phase 2 Peer Review Form
  • Prewriting (Unit 1): Complete the Discourse Community Narrative worksheet on D2L to help you with the narrative components of Phase 2. (This does not need to be submitted to me.)
  • Draft Essay 1 Phase 2 by addressing Phase 1 feedback, incorporating narrative components, and satisfying any other assignment parameters. You may want to review this blog post as well.
  • Complete Essay 1 Phase 2 Peer Review Forms for each member of your workshop group
  • Post your Unit 1 Reflection to Slack #general as a reply to the HW prompt I’ll post there after our live session

In our live session on Tuesday 2/23, we’ll do the following:

  • Review any questions you have remaining about Unit 1
  • Discuss Nicotra and the expanded rhetorical situation
  • Discuss rhetorical analysis
  • Review any questions you have about Unit 2
  • Discuss how to select fruitful visual artifacts or objects for rhetorical analysis
Image result for rhetorical triangle
The rhetorical triangle (credit: TheVisualCommunicationGuy)
http://eng120s19.profmani.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/image-3.png
Nicotra, “The Expanded Rhetorical Situation,” which we’ll also call the rhetorical star (instead of rhetorical triangle) due to its shape.

Phase 2 Workshop

Please reserve class times when we don’t meet for homework, meetings, and workshops, as this should greatly reduce any problems with finishing your draft, completing your peer review forms, coordinating with your group if you need to discuss anything. You are responsible for posting your draft in a timely fashion for your group to read, and for giving feedback to each of your group members via the Peer Review Forms linked on D2L. While this looks like group work, it’s scored on an individual basis, according to my records of who submitted the adequate number of reviews by the deadline (Friday at 5pm). In order to get credit for peer review, you must submit a review for each of your teammates who posted a draft by the deadline. You will not be penalized for not reviewing drafts that are submitted late.

Paste your Google Doc/OneDrive links to your #workshop-group channel to make it easier for your peers to find, and plan for a few hours to be able to do all the work asked of you in a typical peer review session:

  1. Read the full draft without making any comments.
  2. Reread the full draft, and make comments while you’re reading using the “Insert/Comments” feature. You may want to underline/highlight what you think the controlling idea is, ask questions where you have difficulty following the writer’s leaps of logic, or take notes about what you think the writer’s aims are.
  3. Complete the Essay 1 Phase 2 Peer Review Form posted to D2L.
  4. After receiving the peer review forms commenting on your draft (emailed to you automatically as a PDF), go over your peers’ feedback. If you need to, discuss their comments asynchronously in your Slack #workshop channel.
  5. Write a ~500 word reflection that identifies what you prioritized for revision and why, and explains which assignment criteria you think you’ve met and which you think you need to keep striving towards. You may also reflect on any regrets or difficulties you dealt with while writing the draft, your attitude towards the draft and feedback, or any burdens of college or life that crept into your work. Include this letter as a paragraph at the end of your draft.
  6. If you have time to do so, revise your draft before submitting it (and your reflection paragraph) to me as one file on D2L by 5pm on Friday.

As the ability to effectively critique writing is an essential part of the critical thinking and writing process, peer review is mandatory. If you do not complete the peer review forms, you won’t receive credit for the assignment; you’ll lose the opportunity to receive feedback; and you won’t be able to complete the post-workshop material afterwards. I also recommend you decide as a group if you want to schedule a group conference with me to discuss any collective assignment questions or issues of craft you’re all facing, as some students have found this helpful in the past.