8/9/2019 Project 4 Assignment

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PROJECT 4: WRITERS TEACHING WRITIN G

 the assignment

So fa r, we’ ve prac ticed a rgu ing p ersuasively, ana lyzing the persuasive d iscourse o f othe rs,

and written pe rsuasively ab out texts. This fina l assignme nt a sks you to tea ch next yea r’s

c lass some of wha t you ha ve learned. You will c rea te a lesson through which to tea ch one

of the major top ics we have explored this term. These top ics include :

  How to ta ke a p ersuasive stand through yo ur writing.

  How to a nalyze rhetorical app ea ls to p athos.

  How to ana lyze rhetorical app ea ls to e thos.  How to a rgue persuasively for your interpretation o f a te xt.

  How to c ra ft a strong thesis sta tem ent .

  How to o rganize a n essay effec tively.  How to m ake truly significant, thoroughgo ing, and effec tive revisions.

You may c reate a lesson on ano ther writing-relate d to p ic from c lass, but you must c lear

tha t top ic with me first.

I will po st yo ur lessons on The Rheto ric Rew ritte n (http://rerhet.blogspot.com/ ), an o nline

handbook for students learning to write.

 what to include in your lesson

Be a s imag inative as you c an whe n designing your lessons, but b e sure that e ac h one

includes the fo llow ing:

  A c lear and co mplete d efinition of the relevant c onc ept (or co nce pts).

  Spec ific, step -by-step “ how to” instruc tions.

  A deta iled illustration of how you used the c onc ep t in one of your own projec ts for class.  An o riginal assignme nt for your students, so tha t they can learn by do ing.

Your lessons should a im to be self-contained . Tha t is, you should fee l confident tha t

som eone w ho c om plete s your lessons online (i.e., without you in the room to g uide them )

will have learned how to do what you set out to tea c h them.

due dates

By noon on Monday, July 19, please post a 300–400-word proposal for your lesson to

Blac kboard . Your proposa l should (1) desc ribe the assignme nt portion of the lesson yo u

plan a nd (2) explain why you b elieve this assignm ent w ill effec tively teac h your aud ience .

By noon on Wednesday, July 21, please post a 200–300-word response to eac h of yourassigned pa rtners’ p roposals. Eac h respo nse should c onsist of c onc rete rec om mend ations

for the further develop ment of your pa rtner’s idea : How can s/ he revise the a ssignme nt to

ma ke it serve more effec tively as a tea ching to ol?

Partner assignme nts are on Blac kboard, in the Module 4 folder.

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8/9/2019 Project 4 Assignment

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PROJECT 4: WRITERS TEACHING WRITIN G

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your audience

Your aud ienc e c onsists of stud ents who will enroll a t DU next year. We’ ll

rep resent tha t aud ience via these three figures:

1. PALOMA will sta rt at DU in the fa ll of 2011. She p lans to ma jor in Business or

Pub lic Polic y. Through he r church, Pa loma has bec om e a volunteer at The

Ca rron Center, whe re she works with de velop menta lly d isab led a dults. She

loves this wo rk. Pa loma has neve r muc h cared for writing p ape rs in schoo l

be c ause, as she put it, they’re “ too dry and a bstrac t.” Howe ver, she d oesquite a lot of w riting on her ow n: she has ente red seve ra l short story and

poetry contests; she keeps a journal; she writes long emails to her

grandparents eve ry we ek or so; and she is a reg ular contributor to the senior

c lass b log a t her high schoo l.

2. DANIEL will sta rt a t DU in the fa ll of 2011. He p lans to m ajor in b iolog y and ,

later, to go on to me d ica l schoo l, like his parents, a neurolog ist and an

onc olog ist. At his p rep schoo l, Daniel has done excep tiona lly well in sc ience

and math, but less well in his literature and history courses, where he typically

ea rns Cs and the o cc asiona l B. Daniel desc ribes himself as “ grea t with

numb ers and in the lab , but a te rrible writer.” He says tha t he d oe sn’ t “ see

the p oint of writing,” e xcep t to c onvey “ fac tual informa tion, like in a lab

rep ort.” He de sc ribes writing literature or philosop hy pape rs as “ ag ony.”

3. JINGFEI will sta rt at DU in the fa ll of 2011. She w as born in Singa pore b ut

moved to the US with her pa rents at the a ge of 8. Jingfe i plans to ma jor in

English and to b ec ome either a tea cher of English a s a sec ond lang uag e o r

a journalist or a nove list or a ll three. This year, she is ta king a n AP Eng lish c lass,

where she ha s be en introd uced to funda mental princ iples of rheto ric and forwhic h she w ill write a 25-page resea rch pa pe r on Plato’ s Rep ub lic . In her

urba n a nthrop ology c lass, she is cond uc ting an ethnog rap hic study of the

teena ge rs who p lay ba sketba ll eve ry afternoon a t a pub lic co urt dow ntow n.

She is a lso taking a philosophy c lass tha t she likes so m uc h tha t she’ s

wo ndering whe ther she should ma jor in tha t instea d of Eng lish.

Good Luck!