For Friday

Hello all,

Today, we started the day with a metaphoric cup of coffee, and then we launched into discussing Mike Rose.

We shared our observations about Rose's work. Breena suggested that we like the work because it does a good job of telling a story, while Mimi contributed that her observation that the personal elements in the story make us connect with the piece. Bret remarked that the reading was engaging because of the like-ability of the teacher i.e. Rose. Blaze asserted that we like Rose because of his focus on making writing important. Dean suggested that there was a bit of reaching in the work in relation to the emphasis on writing, especially in the sciences. Allison connected Rose with Elbow's methods and persona.

I then read a brief piece about one of Rose's students, Laura. We thought about the advice we would give her. Blaze suggested that she chill out and just freewrite. Allison agreed, and she also supported the just write philosophy (i.e. fix it later). Breena encouraged Laura to read more. Bret suggested that she relax and not be too critical.

We then moved to a discussion of research and personal writing. We wrote a bit in class on the juncture between these two. We then discussed what makes research writing important and valid. Breena asserted that good research writing is objective and unbiased. Dean contributed the view that research writing is flawless and presents well-researched information. Bret asserted that good research writing used facts, examples, and opinions well.

The discussion then shifted to an exploration of ethos, pathos, and logos. We explored how these elements worked in communication. We discussed the various methods used to deploy these appeals.

With all of this information swirling in our heads, we moved to discussing Project Two: Portfolio 2 Researching Visual arguments.

Project two involves the reading of a visual image, researching of ideas from the visual image, and the construction of a research-based text.

The first step was locating three images that we feel strongly about and posting them on the blogs.

For Friday:
Post your three images on your blog
Think about what messages these images convey.

Thanks and take care,

Kat