DWRL Lesson Plans - Remix

Homework Assignment

Assignment Length:

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Multimedia

Adaptable For Use Without Classroom Technology

Media Requirements:

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Mid-Semester

Full Assignment Description:

This assignment is meant to be a fun activity that allows students to exercise their creative muscles, while simultaneously demonstrating the possibilities of revising style for different audiences. The lesson plan in adopted from Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style (first published in English 1958). In this book, Queneau writes a single (2 page) short story, in which a narrator sees an argument on a bus, and then later recognizes one of the men on the street due to his strange hat. Queaneu then rewrites the story 99 different ways--for example, he rewrites the book as a sonnet, in slang, using exclamation points in every sentence, and even grouping words by the number of letters they contain.

I use this assignment immediately after students submit the first draft of their second essay, giving students the opportunity to either complete it in class, or work on it for credit over the next week. Students select what they believe to be their weakest paragraph from the essay they just submitted. How they evaluate the term "weakest" is up to them--all I ask is that it is a paragraph that they would genuinely like to rework and to which they would like to pay closer attention. After having students answer questions about why they would like to revise that paragraph, I turn them loose on revisions. Typically I provide a copy of Exercises in Style for reference, but some sample exercises I suggest are:

Translate the paragraph to another language, and then back to English (either on your own or through Google Translate)
Rewrite the paragraph as a tweet with 140 character limit (include mentions and hashtags if possible)
Create lists of parts of speech, and place each word under the correct category
Record yourself reading the paragraph outloud, and set it to music or remix it
Rewrite the paragraph as an internet meme

After rewriting the paragraph five times, students are asked to respond to a few questions reflecting on the process, before revising the paragraph for the next draft. The reflective questions ask them to consider their own writing voices and styles. The assignment is graded as complete/incomplete--students that actively participate in the assignment and satisfactorily meet the requirements get credit for attending class, those that do not meet the requirements are marked absent for the day.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

I suggest skimming Exercises in Style in order to familiarize yourself with some potential options with students. PDFs of the first few story permutations are easily found through Google, and most University libraries should have a copy (the most recent edition is published by New Directions, and translated by Barbara Wright). Creating your own list of suggested processes is useful as well--students might be paralyzed by the "anything goes" aspect of the assignment, and creating a list of suggestions helps them get started.

Instructions For Students:

Reflect carefully on the essay that you just submitted, and choose the paragraph that you believe was the weakest in the essay. In a few sentences, describe the specific reasons you felt this paragraph needed improvement. Did it not have enough quotes? Too many quotes? Was it too long or short? Did it feel repetitive? Out of place in the essay? Did you just plain run out of time to revise it?

Experiment with your paragraph by rewriting it five times in entirely different styles. You might choose a model for your style (a favorite book, movie, song, etc.). Rewrite it as a poem. As a speech. Or you might choose a constraint a la Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style. This is your chance to be creative and stretch your wings. The sky is the limit on this assignment.

Once you have rewritten the paragraph in five different ways, reread them all. Which was your favorite, and why? Was it just the style that made the paragraph your favorite? Or did you substantively change your paragraph's content as well? Now, answer the hardest question of all: Why don't you always write in this style? Is it the demands of the formal academic context? Or had you just not considered it at all? Do you think this style can be assimilated to your own voice when writing papers?

Now that you've had a little fun, and really atomized how the paragraph is put together, revise it in a way that you would like it to appear in your revised. And remember: sometimes the only way to improve a draft is by playing around and experimenting with it.

In order to be considered complete, the following must be submitted in a single document:

The original paragraph from your essay
A reflection on why or how it needs improvement (minimum 1 paragraph)
FIVE rewrites, with an indication of the rewrite's style
A reflection on the experiment process, answering the questions in the third paragraph of the assignment instructions
A fully revised paragraph for the next essay

If you rewrite a paragraph in a non-text format, include links to the material, or email it to me separately.

Evaluation Suggestions:

The key to this assignment is effort, so I suggest a simple complete/incomplete grading rubric. Numerical or letter grades might discourage students' creativity or invention--the use of which are not always highlighted in introductory composition classrooms, but which are critical for high levels of writing.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

This was an especially successful assignment in my class. Students responded positively, and they especially enjoyed the ability to follow their own interests. Some asked me about whether or not they could use curse words--I encouraged it as long as it was relevant to the style of their rewrite. The assignment was completed by all students within a 75 minute class period (with computers available in the room).

Additional Resources:

The Wikipedia article on Exercises in Style, which includes a list of all styles used in the book.

Course Type:

Advanced Writing Course

Introductory Writing Course

Tags:

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:

Useful Anytime

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

Concession, Refutation and Rebuttal Through Amazon Reviews

Grewe — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 21:22:27 +0000

Author:

Lauren Grewe

Image Credit:

Image credit to Pets Adviser, www.petsadviser.com.

Brief Assignment Overview:

In this activity, students will use Amazon reviews of the Women's Sexy PhD Halloween costume to identify places where the authors concede, refute and rebut the idea behind the costume. They will then come up with their own Amazon reviews for a product, real or imagined, of their choice.

Type of Assignment:

Assignment Length:

Partial Class Period

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Rhetorical Fallacies

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Invention

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Adaptable For Use Without Classroom Technology

Media Requirements:

Required Materials:

Preferably, each student or at least each student group would have their own computer on which to read the Amazon reviews. Alternatively, a few students could bring in laptops or tablets to share with their groups.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Late in the Semester

Full Assignment Description:

Go over the Rhetoric 306 chapter that discusses concession, refutation and rebuttal. Then, introduce the students to the "sexy" women's PhD costume on Amazon. Have them get into groups and read the customer reviews for the costume. They should identify which reviews use concession, refutation or rebuttal. In the case of refutation, they should identify the flawed rhetorical argument. After they complete this task, discuss their results as a class. Then, have them work individually to write their own reviews of whatever product they want, using either concession, refutation, or rebuttal in their counter arguments.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Prepare a powerpoint of the chapter discussing concession, refutation and rebuttal.

Instructions For Students:

Have the students get on their computers and look up the "sexy" women's PhD Halloween costume on Amazon. Then, get into groups and identify concession, refutation and rebuttal in the reviews of this product. After you've done that you will discuss your findings as a class. Next, you will be writing your own Amazon reviews of whatever product you'd like, using elements of concession, refutation, and rebuttal.

Evaluation Suggestions:

No evaluation necessary.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

My students really enjoyed reading the witty Amazon reviews of the costume. Some were inspired by the sarcastic concessions and rebuttals and modeled their own reviews after those they had read.

Additional Resources:

See this article on women PhDs' responses to the costume.

Course Type:

Introductory Writing Course

Course Description:

This is for use in the Rhetoric 306 class.

Tags:

Halloween

Concession

Refutation and Rebuttal

Video Remixing with Jon Stewart

Bohmann — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 21:51:53 +0000

Author:

Axel Bohmann

Image Credit:

Wikimedia Commons

Brief Assignment Overview:

The assignment introduces students to some very basic video editing techniques (cutting clips, detaching audio, inserting new audio) and gets them thinking about how the visual and sound channel in a video composition play together to create rhetorical effect. It's also fun as hell.

Type of Assignment:

Assignment Length:

Partial Class Period

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Multimedia

Multimodal

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Media Requirements:

Required Materials:

Every student needs to be able to access a computer with video editing software (I use iMovie since that is available on DWRL machines, but Mozilla Popcorn Maker is freely available and will work for this assignment too (see Beck Wise's LP post). A pair of headphones for each student is strictly not required, but without them there will be a lot of noise distraction. I just ask my students to bring their own headphones along with them to class and try to have a couple of extra ones available.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Late in the Semester

Full Assignment Description:

In March, 2104, Jon Stewart took this campaign ad from Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell (R) and developed a number of remixes from it (see for example the segment from the show or just search #mcconnelling). This practice quickly developed into a wide-spread online phenomenon. Apart from being hilarious, it is remarkably simple to do, yet can teach students a good deal about video composition. I developed a standalone exercise out of it that just introduces some basics of video composition, but you could easily fill a whole class period or even two with it (for example, I don't ask my students to analyze the McConnelling videos others have made, since at the point in the semester I'm doing this exercise I mainly want to lower their affective filter/anxiety about doing their own multimedia projects and help them acquire some skills to do so).

The first thing I do is simply show students the segment from the Daily Show, which has several examples of McConnell remixes. Most of my students this semester knew it already (although that's going to be different as the trend fades away), but everybody still enjoys watching it. Towards the end, there is a point when Stewart says "we're calling it #mcconnelling and I think everyone can play" (03:48). This is where I cut in and tell students that now it is their turn to play. To make it interesting, I make a competition out of it: the best McConnelling student video (by popular vote) gets to be handed in in lieu of their remixing assignment due a couple of days later.

I provide written instructions for a) downloading video and music from youtube, b) importing material into the event library in iMovie, c) starting a project in iMovie, and d) detaching audio from video in iMovie. In addition, students have found it helpful if I walked them through the entire process once on the instructor station. Once that is done, they need time (ca 20-25 min.) to get their materials in place and work with them. During this I hover around the classroom and try to answer any questions, help fix issues, etc.

One thing to be aware of is to leave yourself and your students enough time to make sure they can save their project, and save it in the right format (i.e. they want to 'share', not just save the iMovie project). In the trajectory of my class, it makes sense to withhold the finished #mcconnelling remixes from classmates until the next class session, when I use them as a segue into more advanced video editing. But there is no principled reason you should not watch the films as a class right after finishing the exercise.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

The most important thing you want to make sure is that you know your way around the functions in iMovie (or whatever program you choose) that students will be working with. I suppose the easiest way to do this would be to make your own #mcconnelling video. As an added benefit you can then show that to your students and give them another thing to compete with - works quite well in my experience.

Also, be sure to let your students know in advance that they should bring headphones to class. Else it will get distractingly loud.

Instructions For Students:

McConnelling in iMovie

This exercise will get us started on working in iMovie and thinking about remixing sound
and moving images to create new arguments.

If you haven’t seen it yet, watch http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/s4z9il/-mcconnelling

Find the original McConnell spot at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrdTX8m5G98 (or youtube search “McConnell original video”)

Download the video using http://www.clipconverter.cc/

Start iMovie (the little star symbol in your program bar on the Mac side of the computers, or use the search ('magnifying glass') function and type in "iMovie")

It will tell you you can start a new project by dragging and dropping material into “this area” (the project window), but that’s a lie

In fact, you will first need to import that material (File -> Import -> Movies) into the Event Library

Then, select the section you need from the library and drag and drop it into the project window

Select the entire project, right click on it, and choose “Detach Audio”

Now, you can simply delete the original audio

Choose an audio file that will work well with the video (remember you can use www.youtube-mp3.org to grab audio off youtube)

Unlike videos, the audio file will need to be directly dragged and dropped into your project from its location on your file system – don’t ask me why.

Have fun.

Evaluation Suggestions:

I work with the Learning Record (highly recommended), so there is no direct evaluation attached to this project. But even if you use a more traditional grading system, I would refrain from putting a number to this assignment. Since it is in-class work under time pressure and with all sorts of potential software issues built into it, this would seem unfair towards students. The only thing I do in terms of evaluation is let the class pick their favorite remix and give that a reward (in my case, having this work stand in for an otherwise additional remixing exercise).

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

My students generally loved this exercise.It's always fun to make someone else (especially a Kentuckian senator) look stupid, the cognitive load seemed just right so they were learning something new but not overwhelmed by it, and the sense of competition between classmates really spurred them on. The results look/sound great.

One student, however, could not successfully import video into iMovie and I was unable to fix the issue. So this exercise was a little frustrating for her. Some steps to take to prevent this from happening are a) making sure everybody works with the same version of the program that you use to demonstrate the steps, b) checking lab computers for bugs/issues.

Course Type:

Transforming Video with Popcorn Maker

Wise — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 16:40:10 +0000

Author:

Beck Wise

Image Credit:

Image: Joakim Wahlander

Brief Assignment Overview:

Like many things, visual rhetoric is often best learnt by doing. This lesson plan introduces students to video editing using Popcorn Maker, a web-based tool for mashing up online texts.

Type of Assignment:

Assignment Length:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

One-Two Class Periods

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Invention

Organization

Style

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Media Requirements:

Required Materials:

Hardware

Computer access for all students (laboratory or bring-your-own-device; small groups often work better than individuals for this)

Web access

Software

Access to modern, Flash-capable browsers (Safari in particular often does not play nice with this tool)

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Useful Anytime

Full Assignment Description:

In this class period, students are asked first to analyse a piece of visual rhetoric and then to create their own using Popcorn Maker, a web-based tool for mashing up online texts including videos, images, audio and text.

I begin the class by introducing students to visual rhetoric, asking them to analyse the various levels of a visual text progressively -- first by silently reading a transcript of a video narration, then by listening to the audio, and finally by playing the full video. Unpacking the text in layers like this helps students engage with the possibilities and effects of medium, as well as or instead of content (for a lesson plan which lays this out in detail, see Laura Thain's 'Shifting Focus from Content to Medium', which uses records of the Hindenberg disaster in this way; I often use Anonymous' 'Message to Scientology' as my text for this activity, since it fits with themes of my 'Rhetoric of Hacking' course and conveniently provides a transcript, saving me the effort of creating one).

I then introduce students briefly to Mozilla's Popcorn Maker, demonstrating the very basics and offering them links to a couple of tutorials. The tool lets students quickly and easily create web videos -- and because it's designed to incorporate and transform other online texts, the barrier to entry is lower than with other video editors; in my experience, students are more comfortable transforming existing tests and can feel paralysed when asked to create from scratch.

Working in small groups or individually, they are asked to 'play with the tool', using it to create videos which make 'some kind of point', whether or not it relates to the course theme or content -- I keep my language fun and the instructions unspecific, since the goal is to gain fluency with a tool they might want to use for later projects, and to come up with something quick-and-dirty in a single class period. As a result, I've seen a lot of in-class videos featuring Miley Cyrus! Towards the end of the class period, I ask anyone who has a video work-in-progress they're comfortable sharing to email me the link and we review some of the products on the overheard projector. As well as illustrating the various possibilities of Popcorn Maker, it tends to serve as a good icebreaker, as students discover shared interests.

Depending on your class' interest in making and viewing videos, you can extend this into a second day or ask students to share their videos on a course website.

One thing to be aware of: when replaying videos, expect long buffering times. My students this semester have also reported the tool becomes unstable when producing complex texts with many included elements; I'd steer students towards offline video editing software if they want to compose extended video and multimedia projects. Popcorn Maker is great for quick-and-dirty projects using existing web content, and is particularly good for introducing students to video editing (its interface mirrors a lot of popular offline editors), but it definitely has its limits!

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Before class, you'll want to prepare to share your chosen text in written, auditory and video form. You might provide the text as printouts or display it on a projector; for the audio version, you could play the video with the projector screen blanked or use a YouTube-to-MP3 converter to obtain an audio track to play.

You'll also want to spend some time with Popcorn Maker -- follow the tutorials linked above (I recommend Miriam Posner's tutorial over the official Mozilla one!) to become familiar with the tool. I suggest making a video of your own to show your students ... I throw something terrible together real fast to encourage them to be OK with imperfect results (remember -- this is just play), and make it clear that something can be achieved inside a class period. Don't believe me it's kind of rubbish? Here you go. This is about 15 minutes of work and is designed to subvert the messages in the video I use in the analysis section of the class. You can play the video right through and then hit the 'Remix' button to get a look at the actual construction, which makes the example doubly valuable as it allows students to reverse-engineer the project if they want.

Instructions For Students:

My instructions to students for this activity are extremely informal; I tell them ahead of time we'll be talking about visual rhetoric and assign a brief reading outlining what that means. On the day, I guide them through the various levels of analysis of the assigned video (to which they have not previously been exposed) and demonstrate the tool we'll be using to make our own videos, then essentially cut them loose to play and create. I provide links to the tutorials above for their reference, but most students prefer to figure things out on their own (and typically succeed in doing so).

Evaluation Suggestions:

My suggestion for evaluation: don't! This is a plan for play, designed to give students tools (and in my experience, they WILL use them later).

Course Type:

Course Description:

This activity was designed for 'Rhetoric of Hacking', an intermediate writing course conducted in Fall 2013 and Spring 2014. The course engages with public discourse around hacking, the notion of hacking as rhetoric, and ways to hack rhetoric (in this instance, by transforming and repurposing existing texts).

Tags:

Web video

Play

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:

Kairos

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Cultural Context

Historical Context

Imagery

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Citation

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Collaboration

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

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:

Media Console/Projector

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:

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:

Remixing Materials from the Public Domain

Will Burdette — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 21:23:11 +0000

Author:

Will Burdette

Image Credit:

"Cue" via danmachold's Flikr stream

Brief Assignment Overview:

During the workshop-style lesson, students will learn about the literary and rhetorical aspects of selection and juxtaposition. This assignment introduces students to ways of finding public domain music and audio clips of literary and rhetorical value. It also briefs them on the ins and outs of fair use of copyrighted content. It gives them a chance to play with two audio interfaces (DJay and GarageBand). The work results in a short ringtone that can serve a work sample for their portfolio and fun novelty to take out of the classroom.

Type of Assignment:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Assignment Length:

Multiple Class Periods

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Organization

Synthesis

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

Invention
Organization/Arrangement
to help students broaden their definition of writing beyond words on a page and reimagine the formats their writing might take;
to emphasize the importance of selection and juxtaposition in literature and writing;
to demonstrate how appropriately and legally to re-use source material created by others;
to give students an introduction to tools that they can use to produce and perform audible writing.

Media Requirements:

Required Materials:

Web browsers
Headphones
DJay software
GarageBand software (other audio editing software like Audacity will work)
iTunes

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Early in the Semester

Full Assignment Description:

This lesson plan was designed in conjunction with the Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal kid lecture and performance. During the workshop-style lesson, students will learn about the literary and rhetorical aspects of selection and juxtaposition. This assignment introduces students to ways of finding public domain music and audio clips of literary and rhetorical value. It also briefs them on the ins and outs of fair use of copyrighted content. It gives them a chance to play with two audio interfaces (DJay and GarageBand). The work results in a short ringtone that can serve a work sample for their portfolio and fun novelty to take out of the classroom.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Make sure students have headphones or provide them. (Use the DWRL classroom set of headphones w/ 1/8" plugs instead of the USB headphones. Plug in only the headphones, not the mics.) Compile a list of places to search for public domain or Creative Commons music and audio. It's best to do the search in real time so you can show them how to download the files. For that reason, it's important to rehearse your search a few times so you know the results ahead of time.

Student Instructions:

Instructions are available in a variety of formats:

Instructions in HTML
Instructions in Keynote
Instructions in PDF

Instructions For Students:

In this workshop, we:

find audio content
mess around with tools for editing, remixing, saving, and uploading audio content
make a ringtone that you can put on your phone and take with you

More specifically we’re going to:

find two tracks (one literary/rhetorical/spoken word track and one musical track)
mix them together and record them in DJay
open the file in GarageBand and cut it down to < 40 seconds (5-6 recommended)
export as a ringtone

Search one of the collections listed under resources for one spoken word piece and one piece of music.

Open iTunes and make a playlist called “Writing With Sound.” Drag both of your files into that
playlist.

Open DJay and find your “Writing With Sound” playlist and drag one file onto one turntable and
one file onto the other turntable.

Mess around a bit. Add some effects, play with cue points, looping, and skipping. Adjust the speed. Sync the tracks, etc. Rehearse until you find something suitable to record.

Hit the record button and play around for a while. Save to your desktop.

Open GarageBand.

(A this point it is good to highlight the difference between GarageBand and Djay. Djay is more of

a performative tool that you can use to make a recording. GarageBand is an editing tool. You could do the same thing in GarageBand without Djay. But DJing is a slightly different skill set than audio editing or making mash-ups. I want students to understand that.)

Find the file you made in Djay and drag it into GarageBand.

Time permitting, add effects, drums, whatever. The “i” button on the bottom right will give you instruments. The eye-shaped button on the left will pull up a loop browser.

Select a sample. Click on the cycle region button and a strip will show up above the tracks. Click
and drag it and you will be able to select and loop a passage.

Share it. Select Share > Send Ringtone to iTunes. Find the Ringtone in iTunes under “Ringtones.” (It should be filename.m4r). Drag it to your desktop and e-mail it to yourself. You now have a ringtone for your phone.

Upload a version for your portfolio. Share > Export Song to Disk > Choose mp3 encoder, and export. You now have an .mp3 to upload.

Evaluation Suggestions:

The ringtone is assessed as part of the portfolio or learning record.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

It is important to pace your instructions so that you are not trying to give students new information while they have headphones on. For that reason, it's important to demo the whole workshop, then direct students to the instructions in case they need a guide to reference, then turn them loose.

Additional Resources:

Places to find spoken word samples for use in academic projects:

There are lots of places to find music online that you can use in academic projects. A couple are:

But don't forget that fair use was designed specifically to allow for the use of copyrighted work. This lessson plan takes into account all four of the pilars of fair use. For more information on fair use, see "Fair Use" at Stanford University Libraries.

Of course, time and talent permitting, you can produce your own music, ask a friend, or use remix-friendly artists like:

Other Tools:

SoundCloud (Good for uploading, sharing, and peer review because it allows commenting at specific places in the tracks.)
FreeSound.org (Good for finding sound effects.)
Aviary (Good for editing in a browser.)

Course Type: