DWRL Lesson Plans - Kairos

Assignment Length:

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Invention

Adaptable For Use Without Classroom Technology

Style

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Media Requirements:

Required Materials:

Having computers for every student would enable them to save electronic copies of their documents with ease; however, this exercise could easily be adapted for use with pen and paper.

You will need a stopwatch or other timing device.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Full Assignment Description:

For this activity, have students bring in a draft of their proposed thesis statement. After a short introduction about what you expect from their thesis statements (which could vary widely, depending on what type of class you’re teaching), provide questions for students to answer about their peers’ claims.

Give students 2 minutes to provide feedback to each thesis statement, as you keep time and facilitate their rotation around the room.

When they’ve made a complete rotation, each student should have a document full of suggestions about how to improve their existing thesis statements.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Instruct students to bring working drafts of their thesis statements to class on the day of the exercise.

Make sure you have a stopwatch or some other timing device handy.

Some instructors may prefer to use an audible signal, like a bell or an alarm, but there's really no other prep involved.

Instructions For Students:

Write your thesis statement in a Word document and save it to your computer as LastNameTHESIS. It may help your readers if you make the thesis statement stand out in some way (larger font, highlighting, bold, etc).

Once everyone is finished writing and saving their thesis statements in the document, you will stand up and move one computer to the right (or clockwise, if computers are in a circular format).

Sit down and read the thesis statement in front of you.

Below the thesis statement, give feedback to the author of the thesis statement about the effectiveness of his or her claim.

Try to respond by rewriting the thesis statement for clarity and specificity. Consider the following templates:

Tell more about WHY the author's claim is persuasive by adding a "because" statement.
Foreground something you really like about the thesis statement by expanding on it. Offer additional significance.
Foreground something that is unclear by making the thesis statement more specific. Replace vague words and phrases with clearer ones.

If you are unable to rewrite the thesis statement, offer narrative feedback, telling the author:

Why you agree with their thesis statement
What you like about their thesis statement
What you wish you knew more about their thesis statement
What confuses you about their thesis statement
What you wonder about their thesis statement
What their thesis statement makes you think of

Hit save after you've left your feedback.

Remember that you will only have two minutes to read and respond to each thesis statement, so think quickly and succinctly. I will signal you when it's time to rotate again.

Also, upon subsequent rotations, remember to return to the author's original thesis statement, leaving all peer feedback intact for the author.

We will repeat this process until you arrive back at your original document, which should be full of ideas for revision!

Course Type:

Advanced Writing Course

Introductory Writing Course

Literary Studies Course

Words in Motion: Kairos and Kinetic Typography

Amy Tuttle — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 21:51:24 +0000

Author:

Amy Tuttle

Image Credit:

PowerPoint Spice

Brief Assignment Overview:

Kinetic typography is an animation technique that allows writers to mix text and motion. Students will take part of a speech or a piece of dialogue and animate it, carefully considering how they might visually enforce and/or subvert the text's underlying themes.

Type of Assignment:

Assignment Length:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Invention

Style

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Media Requirements:

Required Materials:

Microsoft PowerPoint

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Full Assignment Description:

In film and live performance, the use of time allows a writer/designer to show the reader/viewer/audience precisely what s/he wishes when s/he wishes. Kinetic typography is fundamentally different from static typography on a page, and those differences are explored in this project. In order to understand and appreciate the implications of using time as an available means of persuasion, students will create a kinetic type animation using PowerPoint, to accompany a quote of their choice.

Students are to find a brief quote to animate. The quote can be selected from poetry, music, stage, or screenplay, but the best quotes are often the ones that offer a range of emotions. Students will visually represent their selected text by expressing the content with typographic elements sequenced over a span of time. Students will carefully consider relationships between the spoken word and the visible and dynamic word, attending to variables like, typeface, typesize, weight, color, texture, focus, orientation, entrance, performance, exit, sequence, speed, pacing, transition, transformation, timing, tone, emotion, feeling, atmosphere, and interpretation.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Traditionally, shorter quotes work better for beginning animators. So, instructors may choose to provide a fixed list of quotes from which students may select their text for this project.

This lesson plan would work well in tandem with lessons related to visual rhetorics in which students build visual analysis skills by examining the visual features of texts.

Instructions For Students:

Having seen the examples in class, you will complete a short piece of kinetic typography. Choose a favorite quote and animate it using Microsoft PowerPoint. You may want to start by learning how to use PowerPoint's animation features. YouTube features a number of tutorials like this one that you may find useful.

Next, pick a quote. Write it down. Begin brainstorming what you might do with it. Think of ways to visualize the content of the quote using only text and shapes. Think about how the timing and/or motion of the elements might function rhetorically, or work together with the quote's content. Questions to keep in mind as you work: How difficult will this be? Will it add much to the final product (compared to the amount of work it will take)?

Then, get to animating! Try to take the quote apart so that the kinetic typography offers us a kind of visual analysis, showing something that wasn’t immediately obvious about the quote.

Course Type:

Advanced Writing Course

Teaching Kairos through Allegorical Performances

Streusand — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 20:04:28 +0000

Author:

Deb Streusand

Image Credit:

Len Radin

Brief Assignment Overview:

This lesson teaches the concept of rhetorical kairos by placing allegorical performances in their historical context.

Type of Assignment:

Assignment Length:

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Media Requirements:

Required Materials:

Projector

Computer with the capacity to stream video

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Full Assignment Description:

This in-class exercise uses Arthur Miller's The Crucible and an episode of the television show Battlestar Galactica to teach rhetorical kairos. It will help if the students have done reading on kairos ahead of time. I used chapter 2 of Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. Class began with a brief lecture introducing the concept of kairos, using examples such as Sandy Hook and 9/11 to demonstrate how events can open up an opportunity to make an argument on a specific issue. Next, I described the situation at the time of The Crucible's production, explaining the phenomenon of McCarthyism, which turned out to be review for many of the students. On the projector, I showed the students this video of the courtroom scene in the play. The class discussed the parallels between the McCarthyist approach to communism and the Salem Witch Trials as portrayed in the play. I explained how performances can use allegory to make comments on current events. I told the class that I would now play them a video and have them tell me what conversation the performance was contributing to. I played them the beginning and the ending of the Battlestar Galactica episode "Collaborators," which combines various issues from the Iraq War, including government authorization for torture, punishment without trial, and the killing of civilians by the miltary. I told the students only that the episode aired in 2006. They were able to make the connection between the episode and Guantanamo Bay. I had to explain what the other elements of the Iraq War the episode portrayed by allegory. The discussion afterwards covered how both performances made use of allegory to make an argument about current events. The students will shortly be doing rhetorical analyses of the performances they are writing about this semester, so the goal was to get them to see how kairos operates in performances specifically as well as to understand kairos in general.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Prepare a brief lecture introducing the concept of kairos. Watch the videos. Make notes on the elements of allegory you want to make sure the students pick up on.

Instructions For Students:

Watch the performance and take notes on any allegorical elements you see in them.

Evaluation Suggestions:

This assignment was not evaluated. The students will be evaluated on the rhetorical analyses of the performances they saw, papers that will follow this assignment in the chronology of the class.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

Based on the discussion, the students did understand that the performances were using allegory to make a comment on current events and that they were taking advantage of a pre-existing conversation about the issues at hand. If I did this again, I would follow up in the next class with an example of a well-timed argument made in writing based on current events, so the students could see how kairos is used outside of allegory or performance.

Course Type:

Course Description:

The Rhetoric of Performance is a writing-intensive course that teaches students to analyze rhetoric by examining the rhetoric within and surrounding performances. Students see a performance early in the semester. They write a paper summarizing its rhetorical situation and the arguments made within and around it. They also write a detailed rhetorical analysis of the performance. Finally, they write their own long review assessing its rhetorical and performative elements. Students also learn to write in the genres surrounding performances, such as the program note, the advertisement, and the review.

Tags:

Kairos and Ideology Analysis: American Values and Contexts

Sloan — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 21:05:23 +0000

Image Credit:

W_Minshull

Brief Assignment Overview:

This assignment asks students to fill out a worksheet for analyzing the ideological presuppositions of two arguments that rely on a popular superhero, Captain America, to make their respective arguments. This assignment can be used to solidify student understanding of kairos and presuppositions.

Type of Assignment:

Homework Assignment

Assignment Length:

Adaptable For Use Without Classroom Technology

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Cultural Context

Historical Context

Media Requirements:

Required Materials:

For students:

-Pen or pencil

-Worksheet (can be filled out on a computer through an LMS like Canvas or Blackboard, or in hard copy provided by instructor)

-The image and article to be analyze (either through a computer or in hard copy provided by instructor)

For instructor:

-Without classroom technology

-Hard copies of worksheet, comic book cover, and article for each student

-With classroom technology

-Projector to show image and article

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Mid-Semester

Full Assignment Description:

The Captain America comic book cover published in April, 1942 features a larger-than-life Captain America physically subduing a stereotyped caricature of Japanese Emperor Hirohito. This cover appeared shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a historical event depicted on the cover itself. Students will analyze the kairos (Pearl Harbor and WWII) and the presuppositions about American values (victory through martial power, strength, an in-group mentality, patriotism, etc.) for this comic book cover.

They will compare the American values lauded in the comic book cover with the American values mobilized by the Sikh artist Vishavjit Singh. In 2013, Singh dressed up as Captain America and walked through New York City. He catalogues his experiences in the Salon.com article "Captain America in a Turban." Students will analyze the kairos (the Twin Towers terrorist attacks, discrimination against Sikhs in America) and the presuppositions about American values (diversity, inclusivity, etc.) for this article/ performance.

After filling out the worksheet on kairos and ideology, either for homework or in class, students should be encouraged to share their answers in a group discussion.

This assignment allows students to clearly see the connection between kairos and ideology by demonstrating how the same fictional character (Captain America) can be used to mobilize very different presuppositions and beliefs.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Instructors should decide whether students will be given hard copies of the worksheet, the comic book cover and the article. Instructors should also be prepared to answer student questions about the publication dates of each source, the relevant historical context and the larger performance project of Singh.

Students should also have alread been introduced to kairos and ideology.

Students should first be given preliminary information about the comic book cover and the article. They should be provided with the publication dates for each and told about the medium in which each appeared.

Instructions For Students:

I have pasted the instructions from the worksheet below. Before filling out the worksheet, students will need to know the publication dates of each source. The worksheet is also provided below in Additional Resources. The two sources are also linked below. My students took about twenty minutes to fill out the worksheet. We spent the remainder of the class discussing their answers.

Kairos and Ideology Critique: Captain America and American Values Worksheet

Name:

Rhetorical Analysis defines kairos as “both the occasion for discourse and the surrounding conditions that present the rhetor with opportunities and constraints: opportunities or openings to say certain things in certain ways; and constraints that limit what can be said and how” (9-10). We can think about kairos partially as the historical context for a controversy.

According to Rhetorical Analysis, ideology is “a set of presuppositions that influences most everything—people’s family lives, their political choices, their intimate and professional relationships. These presuppositions must be held by an entire social class, culture, or community” (185-86). Ideological analysis allows us to identify key beliefs and values held by a group of people.

Examine the Captain America comic cover from 1942 and the Salon article about the Captain America performance piece by Vishavjit Singh in 2013. Both sources are using the ethos of Captain America to make very different arguments. Answer the following questions:

What is the kairos for each source?

Are the sources “timely,” or, do they respond intelligently to their respective kairos? How so?

What does each source presuppose about American values? What values does the comic book cover ask you to share? What values does the performance piece ask you to share?

How do the values/beliefs about American culture in each piece match or mismatch the piece’s kairos?

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

This exercise seemed to make kairos and ideology readily accessible to some struggling students. The widely-known historical events of World War II and 9/11 helped clarify not only kairos, but audience as well. We talked about how the recent attack on Pearl Harbor helped create the audience for the comic cover and how an awareness of 9/11 made Singh's performance all the more relevant and powerful.

I did find it important to emphasize early on that the WWII comic cover uses racist imagery to make its argument. We had a very productive discussion about how the dehumanizing of Hirohito effectively concealed certain American ideological values like diversity while emphasizing others like exceptionalism and martial power.

Additional Resources:

April 1942 Captain America War Propaganda Comic Book Cover (Captain America punches a Monstrous Emperor Hirohito while Pearl Harbor Unfolds at their Feet)

Sept. 2013 Salon.com "Captain America in a Turban" (Sikh artist Vishavjit Singh describes his experience dressing up as Captain America and walking the streets of New York City)

Worksheet for Students:

Kairos and Ideology Critique: Captain America and American Values Worksheet

Name:

What is the kairos for each source?

Are the sources “timely,” or, do they respond intelligently to their respective kairos? How so?

What does each source presuppose about American values? What values does the comic book cover ask you to share? What values does the performance piece ask you to share?

How do the values/beliefs about American culture in each piece match or mismatch the piece’s kairos?

Course Type:

Course Description:

I used this lesson plan in RHE 309k: The Rhetoric of Superheroes, an intermediate writing course with special topics chosen each semester by the instructors. Students are taught writing, research, rhetorical analysis, and invention.

Tags:

The (Selling) Powers of a Good Cry

lazhu — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 05:31:18 +0000

Author:

Lily Zhu

Image Credit:

A popular meme

Brief Assignment Overview:

Students will look at a series of popular, “sad” advertisements and discuss the ways in which certain commercials have successfully tapped into elements of rhetoric specific to viral videos. Through this, students will expand their understanding of argumentation to include the very relatable perspective of consumerism.

Type of Assignment:

Class Discussion

Assignment Length:

Partial Class Period

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Citation

Writing Process

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Audio

Multimedia

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

This assignment acts as a transition point from Unit 1 (summary) to Unit 2 (analysis), ideally introduced the day Paper 1.2 is turned in. Since this activity functions primarily as an introduction to Unit 2, students will be expected to apply Unit 1 concepts – such as summary and kairos – with an additional, analytical dimension. Though not all students studied rhetorical analysis in high school, a brief overview of ethos, logos, and pathos will suffice for this assignment. They will be paying particular attention to intended audience and the ways that it might impact choices in rhetorical strategies.

Media Requirements:

Required Materials:

As long as the instructor has access to a console/projector, that should be enough.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Introductory Writing Course

Mid-Semester

Full Assignment Description:

This can be both an informal or formal exercise depending on the instructor’s preference.

I split the students into two groups and showed students two video advertisements with vastly different strategies. Half of the class focused on visual rhetoric and the other half focused on verbal, written, and aural rhetoric. Each student was given a table where they would cite a piece of evidence from the text and then explain, in detail, how it contributed to the company’s persuasive effectiveness based on intended audience. Students presented their findings in a back-and-forth fashion between groups and eventually came to understand that rhetorical strategies often work as a cohesive unit rather than measurable, separated components (whether that’s ethos, pathos, and logos working together, or visual, verbal, and aural interactions).

The first advertisement was Chipotle’s high-budget “The Scarecrow.” The ensuing discussion included not just the ad itself, but Chipotle’s situated brand, its parent company, and the smartphone game app associated with the video. In addition, there is an edited version of this same advertisement,“Chipotle Scarecrow (Honest version),” which critiques the hypocrisy and consumerist qualities of the original; this commentary is a nice complement and is a good example of the analytical thinking necessary to writing Paper 2.1.

The second advertisement (“Giving is the Best Communication”) is from Thailand, funded by a massive communications company (True Move H) and contains very little dialogue and text, but makes great use of lighting, music, camera angle, etc. Students have to think a little more creatively to truly analyze it. Many of the students enjoyed viewing and discussing this one and even offered suggestions for further videos to dissect, including “Silence of Love” – a Thai advertisement for life insurance. Life insurance is obviously a sensitive topic which makes this commercial even more interesting. Be warned, half of my class teared up/cried after viewing it.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Watch through all of the commercials so you have a sense of what overlapping strategies are used, how cultural relativism may tie in, etc. There are too many points to cover with these commercials, so be sure to prepare and pick out what you think is most important and relevant to your syllabus.

Instructions For Students:

Watch and take notes on each commercial.

Decide on the intended audience

The notes should be detailed and organized as follows:

Evidence from the commercial – corresponding analysis

Prepare for a discussion about the advertisements’ effectiveness based on audience/kairos

Evaluation Suggestions:

Participation and/or worksheet completion

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

Students really took to this, which is unsurprising. The advertisements chosen above went viral because they’re engaging to watch. This eventually grew into a larger conversation about advertisement tropes (in particular, those involved in car commercials).

Course Type:

Course Description:

Rhetoric 306 is a course designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of research and argumentation. They are asked to research a controversy, summarize and analyze the arguments of the major stakeholders in that controversy, and then develop their own arguments.

Tags:

Teach Pathos through Politics -- the French Revolution

Moench — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 03:18:59 +0000

Author:

B.D. Moench

Image Credit:

Prise de la Bastille, by Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Houel

Brief Assignment Overview:

This assignment connects the rhetorical concepts pathos and logos with the critique of Enlightenment rationalism by classical conservative philosopher Edmund Burke.

Type of Assignment:

Assignment Length:

Partial Class Period

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Logos

Pathos

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Cultural Context

Historical Context

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Multimedia

Media Requirements:

Required Materials:

No specific materials required

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Mid-Semester

Full Assignment Description:

Begin by reviewing the concepts pathos, logos, and kairos. After this review, provide a brief introduction to Burke's conservative philosophy, making sure to address that his most famous ideas were written in reaction to the French Revolution. Explain that in order for the class to truly understand Burke's philosophy they need to understand a little something about the events of the French Revolution. Today they will do something a little new--they will collaboratively learn history through their own online research. Together they are going to inform themselves, and each other, of the events and social movements Burke found so repugnant.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Instructors should come prepared to discuss Burke's philosophy, his history, as well as the ideas and the basic history surrounding the French Revolution, as well as, a brief timeline of key events.

Instructions For Students:

Organize your students in teams of three or four. Depending on class size, you should end up with four or five teams. Have each team member log-in to their nearest computer terminal. Assign team one the phrase "the Reign of Terror." Assign team two the name "Robespierre." Assign team three the term "Jacobin" (and, if you are feeling adventurous, the term "Girondin" as well). Assign team four the phrase "the Storming of the Bastille." Assign team five the term "guillotine." Give teams seven or eight minutes to research their respective terms online. After this initial period, ask groups to convene and elect a group member to present what they've discovered. Usually each team comes back with unique information but, also, a great many congruencies. Between all the information presented, after roughly ten or fifteen minutes of discussion, an approximate picture of the excesses of the French revolutionaries will begin to take shape.

Now, with the students feeling more ownership over these historical events, proceed to explain how Burke believed Enlightenment rationalism--overestimated the role of logic, or logos, in human decision-making; underplayed the role of emotion, or pathos, in human affairs; entirely misunderstood the time and opportunity costs, or kairos, involved in any rearrangement of culture or political governance. Making these rhetorical connections can sometimes be difficult, and, for this reason, I only suggest tackling this lesson mid semester once your students' understanding of these rhetorical concepts is solid and deeply rooted.

Evaluation Suggestions:

No evaluation necessary.

Additional Resources:

In order for your students to truly understand how rhetorical concepts relate to Burke's ideas, I suggest pairing this assignment with a short selection from Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. I recommend a chapter entitled "Society, Reverence, and the 'True Natural Aristocracy'" and another entitled "Appeal From the New to the Old Whigs."

Course Type:

Course Description:

I use this lesson plan in a 309K course, Rhetoric of Political Belief, whenever I introduce Burke. However, I believe it could be useful to any literary studies or intermediate course with any significant historical or political component.

Compiling Context with Digitized Periodicals

Coleman — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 01:29:53 +0000

Author:

Catherine Coleman

Image Credit:

Accessible Archives

Brief Assignment Overview:

Students examine and manipulate digitized page images in order to consider the presentation of serialized texts. “Compiling Context” is a versatile introduction to periodical print culture suitable for literature and rhetoric courses.

Type of Assignment:

Homework Assignment

Assignment Length:

Adaptable For Use Without Classroom Technology

One-Two Class Periods

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Multimedia

Multimodal

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

Database and periodical research

Media Requirements:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Required Materials:

Digital access to periodical with original page images -- ideally with downloadable image files

USEFUL: A forum (e.g. a blog or wiki) where students post and comment on textual or visual compilations

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Full Assignment Description:

1. Access original page images of the source text. Library (subscription-based) newspaper databases often include original images, as do some free online services like Cornell's Making of America Collection.

2. Provide access to students by

a) downloading images of all or pertinent issues featuring the primary text (emphasizing the publication itself). High resolution images can be uploaded and selectively shared on Dropbox or Google Drive. The file viewer in Google Drive/Docs allows for high-resolution zoom while maintaining image quality and readability.

b) Create a guide for students to access issues (emphasizing research techniques). See 'Instructions for Students' below for a sample guide to accessing Uncle Tom's Cabin in the National Era through Accessible Archives. This can allow students to familiarize themselves with databases and practice the necessary steps for retrieving and saving page images.

3. Have students visually examine digital images of the issue(s) containing the source text. In engaging with the serialized version of the text they can be encouraged to

a) Consider relevant content published simultaneously with the primary text

b) Trace the evolution of political and social discourses across several issues or selected issues

4. Students then engage in the process of interpretive selection through either

a) Visual manipulation of the digitized source -- selection, cropping, digital mark-up, collage-making, etc.

AND/OR

b) Textual summary of the digitized source

5. Have students submit or post their compilations of context (image files, short write-up) -- ideally in a forum that allows commenting or other forms of feedback.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Secure access to page images in advance. You may wish to limit or direct the attention students devote to the original publication. You might

Limit students to front pages, especially if the primary text customarily appears on this page. This is the case with Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Have students access issues and then peruse textual (OCR) lists of content rather than page images
Have students select a topic ahead of time and run limited searches on the periodical to trace how discourse shifts across a broader range of issues

Instructions For Students:

I provided the following instructions for accessing Uncle Tom's Cabin in the National Era through the University of Texas at Austin's subscription to the "African American Newspapers: The 19th Century" series of the Accessible Archives primary-source database to students in my English 314L: Banned Books and Novel Ideas -- "Citizens and Censors" course:

1. Go to Google Drive where high quality jpeg images of the first ten installments of Uncle Tom’s Cabin are posted.

2. With a partner (where possible) note any significant headlines accompanying the installment you’re assigned.

3. If there are no significant headlines on the first page, or if you’d like more information:

a. navigate in a browser to http://lib.utexas.edu/

b. Click on the tab for ‘Databases’ and click the small link ‘Browse by type’ c. ‘Historical Newspapers’ > ‘African American Newspapers: The 19th Century’

d. On Accessible Archives, click the ‘Show more search boxes’ link.

i. ‘Stowe’ (AND) ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’

ii. Under Source, click and highlight ‘The National Era’

iii. 1851-06-01 to 1852-05-01

iv. Sort by Date

v. Scroll down to your installment date.

vi. Click on the installment or another article from your issue.

vii. Click ‘Issue Contents’ in the top menu

viii. Browse articles searching for anything relevant to Stowe’s novel.

Once students have access to issue images (and content lists, if need be) they can compile and present pertinent elements either visually using Photoshop and/or other image manipulation software to cut out specific articles or headlines. They may then unite these texts in the form of a collage or a written exposition interspersed with clippings from the digitized issue.

Evaluation Suggestions:

This assignment can be designed to target specific skills (research, visual manipulation and creation, etc).

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

I would ideally preface this assignment with an Archive or Library day where students can at least see old periodicals and recognize how publication size/design standards have shifted over time.

Students were intrigued by the material elements of these publications (varying text sizes, different conceptions of "headlines" and emphasis, fading and blurring, markings suggesting provenence) even when they were only working with digitized images.

Course Type:

Literary Studies Course

Course Description:

E314L: Banned Books and Novel Ideas -- "Censors and Citizens"

Tags:

Database

Literary research

Teaching Kairos through Internet Memes

sussman — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 20:16:30 +0000

Author:

Sarah Sussman

Image Credit:

New York Times

Brief Assignment Overview:

In this lesson, students in my visual rhetoric class, "The Rhetoric of Photography," look at internet memes in multiple contexts as part of our unit on kairos.

Type of Assignment:

Assignment Length:

One-Two Class Periods

Multiple Class Periods

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Cultural Context

Historical Context

Imagery

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Citation

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Collaboration

Remix

Social Media

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

I hope to instill a sense of the importance of contextualizing a source by using a medium students are intimately familiar with: internet memes.

Media Requirements:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Required Materials:

At minimum, this project requires a basic classroom media console (a projector and computer with an internet connection). Though, of course, with a computer lab classroom what would be homeowrk could be done in class. I also reccomend creating a class blog, such as Tumblr, for collecting students work so that they can easily share and discuss what they are doing with their peers.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Early in the Semester

Full Assignment Description:

Before launching into this assignment, make sure students have done some basic reading on kairos for homework.

In this lesson, my goal is to use several examples to instill in students a sense of the importance of context. I want them to become more savvy to the ways in which media on the internet, and memes in particular, can be taken out of context. I'll narrate this lessonplan alongside each source used.

Before launching into this assignment, make sure students have done some basic reading on kairos for homework.

Homework reading for before or after this lesson:

This offers a basic overview of Dawkin's "meme" concept: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/What-Defines-a-Meme.html?c=y&...

An article on censorship and memes: http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/censored-in-china-today-t...

Start off by showing students some basic internet memes and watch their reactions.

Possibilities include:

LOL Cat slideshow http://www.slideshare.net/jameswillamor/lolcats-in-popular-culture-a-his...

This excellent video of Dawkins reading a speech on the relationship between his theory of memes and internet memes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFn-ixX9edg

"ermagherd" youtube meme video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggl2voBzeS8

philosoraptor image: http://pinterest.com/pin/519180663262557384/ Or, Philosoraptor in video form: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucoU0c5kvZw

Ask students: who do you think is the intended audience for the meme and why? What makes these photos funny? How do they exploit social values and cultural norms to create humor?

What kinds of arguments or assumptions are these making through humor?

Share this video of (now former) Sargeant Pike pepper-spraying UC Davis Occupy protestors at close range in November 2011. Ask them if any of them recognize the scene from the meme, or the meme itself? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgIEi86x2Q

Use their responses to spark a conversation which suggests the consequences of severing a meme from its original history. Ask them why it's humorous. Ask them if humor can be an effective political tool, and whether this meme in particular is an effective political tool.

Then move onto the "Big Yellow Duck" article assigned for homework: http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/censored-in-china-today-t...

Here is a link to the image: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/6/4/13703...

Then, ask whether memes can ever be used to enhance the effectiveness of a message, agenda, or movement? And if so, how?

Share some memes which have a more serious or informative tone:

Feminist Ryan Gosling: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdq76gsMsq1r4vn34o1_400.jpg

Planned Parenthood: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150843743739639&set=a.18947884...

Obama HOPE meme http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/obama-hope-posters

Ask them about their familiarity level with each of these memes and whether these memes work for them.

Then, either dismiss them to make their own memes at home and write a 1 p essay, or have them begin the meme-making process through a program such as memegenerator.com

Sometimes these internet memes can end up containing borderline-offensive or flat-out offensive content (to many the Davis pepper spray cop meme is highly offensive). I find students with the more questionable memes seem to provoke debate and work this out with their peers, which is why the blog and sharing is necessary. Rather than shying away from these moments, I try to encourage the students to build off of them -- to deepend their conversations about the importance of proper context

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Create a platform for collecting images in advance, such as a class Tumblr. Familiarize yourself with the articles.

Instructions For Students:

Please read the following two articles:

Big Yellow Duck article: http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/censored-in-china-today-t...

Reading on Memes (which paraphrases Dawkins): http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/What-Defines-a-Meme.html?c=y&page=1

Assignment: Write a 1p double-spaced meditation on memes and history. You are encouraged to incorporate some conversation about the iconic photo you chose [earlier they wrote a 2pp essay on the history of an iconic photo] and your own thoughts and ideas on memes (you will turn your iconic photo into a meme in class on Tuesday, so think about what captions you might use, and what relationship texts and captions have with images). Do not merely summarize these readings. Provide enough background info. to provide context and demonstrate that you did the readings, but focus on your own analysis and original ideas. You must incorporate both readings in your journal entry.

Evaluation Suggestions:

Because visuals can be tricky to grade I award points mainly for a quality engagement with both articles assigned. I ask myself 1) Did they grasp the article and the basic ideas? 2) Did they apply these ideas succsesfully to their own photo? 3) Does their own meme reflect an understanding of things discussed so far?

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

I start with the slideshow of LOLcats at the beginning of class (linked in description), before launching into a discussion and explanation of the divide between Dawkin's "meme" and internet memes. The presence of a familar and much-loved meme sets a positive and engaged mood for the rest of the class period. Depending upon when you are reading this, you might want to use a more current internet trend or meme.

Course Type:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Course Description:

From my syllabus for "The Rhetoric of Photography": "Our world is awash in digital images: we snap and share photos on Instagram, we post pictures of our friends on Facebook, and keep virtual albums on Pinterest and Tumblr. Because we increasingly relate to the world through photographs, it is more important than ever to pause and consider what photos are telling us. Images which might at first glance seem innocuous are in fact complexly persuasive. This course aims to put an end to passive scrolling by examining the rhetoric of images while making our own visual arguments."

Tags:

Student Digital Activism as Rhetorical Advocacy/Analysis

Hoag — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 21:05:39 +0000

Author:

Trevor L. Hoag

Image Credit:

Graphic posted on xomariee.wordpress.com

Brief Assignment Overview:

This assignment challenges students to become digital activists/advocates for a cause of their choosing, and aids them in developing a portfolio of work in the service of that cause.

Type of Assignment:

Semester-long Project

Assignment Length:

Semester-long Project

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Close Reading

Textual Analysis

Word Choice

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Media Requirements:

Timeline for Optimal Use:

First Day/Week

Full Assignment Description:

This ambitious assignment challenges students to become digital activists/advocates for a cause of their choosing, and aids them in developing a portfolio in the service of that cause. Students begin the class by researching a cause to advocate for such as vegetarianism, marriage equality, or gun rights. Students then produce a series of compelling “media artifacts” for that cause such as social media websites, blog sites or websites, an image or infographic/meme, an “anti-artifact” in the form of information deletion/lockdown, a digital map or timeline, and finally, a collaborative project. Instructors can also ask students to “justify” their artifacts by theoretically analyzing them and by comparing them to other analogous artifacts.

Note: Many other options for artifacts exist such as games, videos, and more.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Not for the faint of heart, instructors who wish to employ this assignment arc must familiarize themselves with a number of different technologies including, for example: Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress, tumblr., Wix, easel.ly, Wordle, quickmeme, Storify, and many other applications. However, instructors should not fear discovering and learning new technologies alongside their students as it encourages a more “horizontal” classroom structure. An instructor who attempts such an assignment will learn much!

Instructions For Students:

In this course on digital writing/humanities, you will become a digital activist in the service of a cause. You will develop a portfolio of work in the service of this cause that you will present at the end of the semester. You are also responsible for theoretically analyzing the “media artifacts” that you create by applying course readings as well as comparing the rhetorical strategies you have employed with other similar (or different) media artifacts.

Step #1: Research a cause to advocate for across the arc of the semester. You have a lot of options, so make sure you care deeply about the cause for which you are advocating. Students in past courses have become digital activists regarding, for instance: body image, disability, cheating in sports, net neutrality, vegetarianism, cyber-bullying, women’s health services, marriage equality, and much more!

Step #2: Once you have an exciting/fulfilling cause to advocate for, you will now begin producing and analyzing “media artifacts” in the service of that cause. In this particular course, you will produce six different types of digital media/humanities writing: a social media website (or sites), a blog site or website, an image or infographic (which can include a series of memes), an “anti-artifact” in which you will delete or lock down information online, a digital map or timeline, and finally, a collaborative project with others in the class. You do not have to have any prior knowledge of the technologies that you employ to develop your artifacts—a big part the assignment is just exploring! So take a look at the following examples, create accounts on whatever sites you think will work best, and go to town!

P.S., It’s a big help to find others in the class who are using similar sites/technologies or advocating for similar causes at any given time. Start collaborating as soon as you can, and you’ll find it eases your classroom tasks immensely!

REMINDER: Every artifact is accompanied by a 1-page theoretical analysis. For example, one might discuss one’s Twitter feed in reference to, say, Denis Campbell’s Egypt Unshackled: Using Social Media to @#:) the System. Likewise, all deletions should engage Viktor Mayer-Schonberger’s Delete: The Virtues of Forgetting in a Digital Age. Analyses are also encouraged to include comparisons/contrastings of rhetorical strategies with other similar artifacts, whether those of student colleagues or “outsiders.”

Artifact A (Social Media—Facebook, Pintrest, Twitter, etc.)

https://www.facebook.com/veggiedc?ref=hl

https://www.facebook.com/NoSpecialTreatmentofReligiousOrganization?ref=hl

http://pinterest.com/pin2891/rhe312/

http://pinterest.com/gendernorms/genders-created-by-society/

https://twitter.com/kidsaresponges

https://twitter.com/ChurchesTax

Artifact B (Blog or Website—tumblr., Wordpress, Blogspot, Jux, Wix, etc.)

http://loverealyou.tumblr.com/

http://lgbtmarriagenow.tumblr.com/

http://fucknoqueerfetishization.wordpress.com/

http://healthstartfoundation.wordpress.com/

https://aforactivism.jux.com/

http://copywritecopy.wix.com/copyrightorwrong

http://getyourkidsoffline.blogspot.com/

Artifact C (Image—easel.ly, quickmeme, Photoshop, Paint, etc.)

http://i.imgur.com/1vX9GVx.jpg

https://s3.amazonaws.com/easel.ly/all_easels/92675/Drugusage/image.jpg

https://s3.amazonaws.com/easel.ly/all_easels/94299/Queerfetishization/image.jpg

http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3t8ws8/

http://www.wordle.net/

http://www-958.ibm.com/software/analytics/manyeyes/

Artifact D (Deletion)

Note: The deletion is in some ways the hardest artifact to produce. Essentially, your goal is to “become-imperceptible” by removing yourself from the Web, or by blocking access to content that’s related to you and/or your cause. You can also find a website or application to analyze that “deletes” something for you. Be creative and try your best! (See also: http://lessonplans.dwrl.utexas.edu/content/becoming-imperceptible-or-how-disappear-completely)

https://duckduckgo.com/

http://suicidemachine.org/

Artifact E (Map or Timeline—Google Maps, Text2MindMap, Storify, Zeega, Tiki-toki, ManyEyes, Wordle, etc.)

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=210792301150685076515.0004d98cf1fb8dcdd07a1&msa=0

http://www.text2mindmap.com/vBL47F

http://storify.com/Dopeandsports/drug-enhancement-in-professional-sports

http://storify.com/ryleegonzalez/queer-fetishization-and-gay-marriage

http://storify.com/dawn1/women-s-sports-uniforms-across-time

http://zeega.com/103969

http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/115265/Idiot-Nerd-Girl-Meme/#vars!date=2012-01-04_21:28:09!

http://www-958.ibm.com/software/analytics/manyeyes/

Artifact F (Collaboration)

Note: The collaborative artifact can be approached in a couple different ways. One is to use a familiar technology but in tandem with others. Another is to find a wholly new technology and try it out. It’s up to your group—what matters is that you’re writing and advocating/analyzing with others!

http://i.imgur.com/kCTt3xF.jpg

https://twitter.com/kidsaresponges

Other (Video, Reddit, etc.)

http://vimeo.com/63134670

http://www.reddit.com/r/occupyaustin/

Step #3: Now that you have produced a series of sophisticated media artifacts (that is, various forms of digital media/humanities writing), it’s time to show off your work to your classmates in the form of a presentation. Keep in mind that this presentation isn’t merely show-and-tell, but yet another opportunity to rhetorically advocate for your cause. Aim to persuade!

Note: Your instructor will be extra impressed if you use a presentation platform other than Powerpoint!

Presentation Examples:

http://prezi.com/2w58dqz1nlm0/untitled-prezi/

http://prezi.com/wwjfvklxd8wx/untitled-prezi/

http://prezi.com/uz0fbnnbqb_l/genders-game/

Evaluation Suggestions:

There are many ways to approach evaluating the above assignment(s). The simplest is via “completion” grades, but what “completing” the assignment means may vary widely from instructor to instructor. I would recommend developing a rubric for evaluating each artifact. For instance, one might have a ten-point scale where the following criteria are considered (I use the following rubric myself):

Does the artifact make a clear argument (or series of arguments)?

Does the artifact provide evidence for any claims it makes (e.g., by citing any and all sources)?

Does the artifact respectfully engage an opposition and an audience?

Is any written text on/in the artifact clearly and carefully composed?

Is the artifact accompanied by a theoretical analysis/comparison that is sophisticated (that is, considers/cites either the readings for the course or similar artifacts)?

How well does any analysis grasp the theoretical texts it employs?

Does the artifact employ good design (for instance, color, arrangement, etc.)?

How persuasive is the artifact in terms of rhetorical appeals? Does it contain any fallacies?

Has an “appropriate” amount of effort been exemplified by the student (e.g., number of posts on a social media site, number of pages on a website, and so on)?

Has the artifact been peer-reviewed twice?

Have peer and instructor comments been integrated following peer review?

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

This assignment arc has been employed to great success at the University of Texas in a “Writing in Digital Environments” course. The students seemed to really enjoy the work, though were sometimes frustrated by how surprisingly hard it is to get outsiders interested in what they are/were producing. However, whether a particular student project is getting feedback from outsiders is often an opportune moment to discuss kairos. If I would recommend anything, it would be: get students to really think about and research their topics, make sure to show students lots of examples, don’t be afraid to let a student use a technology no one is familiar with, encourage theoretical analysis of artifacts, assign whatever media types you like and don’t be confined by what I’ve listed above, stick closely to a rubric and encourage students to pay close attention to whatever rubric is provided. This will better the life of all involved!

Course Type:

Advanced Writing Course