Assignment: Annotated Working Draft of Final Project

My students have been drafting components of a larger semester project over the last six weeks or so. Now, it's time to combine and develop these into the final project. To this end, I want each of my students to create an "annotated working draft," as follows:

1. List and link your posts

First, I want each student to create an index to the four component blog posts he or she has written to date. Here is a reminder of those four posts. Students should have a section titled "component assignments" with a numbered list like this one, only they will give the title of their post written for each of these. Be sure to link to your own posts:

Component Assignments:

1. Communication and Persuasion in My Field
2. Storytelling in My Field
3. My field within the history of civilization
4. Institutional Authority and Communication

If you were simply to stick together all four of these posts, it would not be a very good paper (yet). So, we need to find a way to bring the content you've already written together in a meaningful way, and then chart a path to a revision that will fit the requirements for the final project (including length). Read on...

Assignment: Institutional Authority and Communication

As part of my students developing final projects in which they examine how history and communication relate to their chosen career fields, I am now asking them to develop a new component: researching their chosen field in light of the institutions that regulate that field, and in terms of the communication and control mechanisms that field employs.

The historical parallel here is to the political power of the Roman empire, and to the ecclesiastical and social power of the Catholic church in medieval Europe. Both of these entities put into place administrative hierarchies, and both used educational systems, authoritative texts, and cultural practices that would conserve their values, practices, and influence.

I do not want my students to examine political or religious authority, but to use these as historical analogs to the ways institutional authority functions within their career fields. Every field -- to be understood as a field -- has organizations that set, communicate, and enforce standards. In parallel to Catholicism, even the most secular fields keep the ideas of orthodoxy and of heresy. People have legitimacy conferred upon them by organizations provided they maintain "the faith," as it were. And such organizations have methods for disciplining or "excommunicating" its "unfaithful" or heretical members. They typically also have ways through which standards can be challenged and changed. Along the way, there must be in place methods for establishing and communicating standards and for vetting and approving / disapproving members of a given community of practice.

So, in 300-400 words, I would like my students to research one organization that institutionalizes the values and practices of their field. (It is very likely there will be multiple organizations with authority within a given field, but only one should be chosen). In their prewriting, they should answer these questions:

1. Authoritative Organization
   What is the name and nature of one authoritative organization for this field?
2. Regulating Standard
   How has this organization institutionalized the values and practices of their field? (Do they have key documents, or regulating processes or meetings?)
3. Influential Event
   What is an event this organization holds to create consensus, communicate values, or exercise control and influence in the field? 
4. Authoritative Publication
   What is an organ of communication used by this organization to communicate values or standards, and to connect people with peers in the field?
5. Challenging Authority / Changing Standards
   How does the organization deal with challenges to its core standards or practices?

In the actual post, however, I do not want the students to organize their writing as this list. Instead, they should use the list and then create a fictional scenario, a mini case study, that walks people through how these things are experienced. In this brief fictional story about someone in their career field, they should use the components in the list above as elements they identify (bolded and in brackets) as they tell the story. See the example, below.

Title your post "Institutional Authority and Communication in [your field]"

use the label: institutional authority and communication

Go past the break for an example

Assignment: Analyzing Biblical Eloquence

My students are reading St. Augustine's On Christian Doctrine. Augustine discusses and analyzes the eloquence of scripture. We will do the same. Here is their assignment for Tuesday, November 17:

Find an eloquent or poetic passage from the Bible which you comment on rhetorically. Look for passages that are appealing not because of their content or doctrinal importance necessarily, but because of their pleasing expression. The passage you choose should be paraphrased and/or quoted and briefly analyzed. This can be a single verse, a passage, or even an entire chapter.

Title your post "Biblical Eloquence in [passage reference]"
Use the label "biblical eloquence"

In essence, I'm asking you to do something similar to what Augustine models in Books III and IV when he observes and analyzes scriptural eloquence. For a specific example of him doing this, see Book IV Chapter 7 (pp. 77, paragraph 11 in the PDF).

Be sure that you both identify one or two rhetorical elements and then discuss their significance -- why the rhetorical elements are needed for the author or speaker to make his or her point, or why knowing these rhetorical aspects improves our ability to understand that passage, or what the function or effect is of this form of expression. See the two example posts below as a guide, or browse through the completed posts of prior students.

Assignment: My field within the history of civilization

As part of my students' final project, "Rhetoric in My Field," I'm asking them to research the history of their chosen field.

Outside of an academic setting, history can seem quite unimportant when compared to the pressing matters of the present. But history gives context and credibility to whatever one is doing. It can demonstrate sensitivity to the diverse issues and people associated with a given field of action. With a historical perspective, we can think about the present with more wisdom and act more appropriately.

Stories about origins 

It is often the case that first principles are evident within the first events that give rise to and shape a given field. This is one of the great reasons for history: it doesn't just narrate the past; it uses the past to make claims about foundational concepts that transcend time. We retell stories of how things first came to be in order to remind ourselves and ongoing generations about standards, issues, and even problems that have been and remain critical.

In 300-500 words, trace the development of your chosen field over time and relate it to the history of civilization. If possible, tell the story of how your field began. What contexts gave rise to the formation of that field? Some fields are of very recent origin. If so, you may need to generalize a bit to the broader field that has a longer history. Do your best to trace your field back to antiquity if possible. For a model of this look at the "History of Accounting" section in this post (although that post lacks the social source I am requiring, as described below).

In giving this history, use two sorts of sources:

1. A scholarly source
2. A social source
   By this is meant you must communicate with someone presently in the field who can give you a historical perspective. That person may not be able to give you a general history, but he or she should be able to tell you about how this field has developed over time as far as they know (so don't consult someone new to the field).

Use the label: "my field in the history of civilization"

Due: Friday, Nov 13 at noon. Comments at 5pm

Assignment: Revising Our Personal Stories (2)

Previously, I asked my students to make a catalog of ten personal stories. Now, based on responses to these that they received from others, each student is to select one of their listed stories (one which received at least one vote), and tell this story -- twice. (Use the label "retelling a personal story")

First Version - "How I Normally Tell It"

1. Name your story (have this be the title of your blog post, too)
2. Give the kairos / audience (typical setting in which you tell this story, either why or to whom)
3. Tell the story in 200-400 words, being sure to use
1. descriptive words or scene-setting to make it vivid and interesting
2. dialogue / direct speech

Second Version - In a Contrasting Style

Tell the same story again, but this time vary its style and include the rhetorical elements (and labels) listed below.

1. (Re)name your story
2. Give a different setting or audience for this version of the story
3. Retell the story in 200-400 words, and in doing so
1. Use and label at least three topics of invention [use bold and brackets]
2. Use and label at least two schemes [use underline and brackets]
3. Use and label at least two tropes [use italics and brackets]

See the example that follows

Assignment: Revising Our Personal Stories

As a follow-up to the discussion held with my students about the persuasive power of stories and storytelling, I'm now going to ask my students to consider personal stories and how we can draw more from them (both for personal and social purposes) by reworking them.

This is a two-part assignment. The first post (due Friday 10/30) will be a list of 10 stories (explained below). The second post (due Tuesday, Nov 3) will be based on the responses given by those who comment on the first post (as will be explained in a separate instructions post).

To introduce this assignment, I'd like to review how stories define us, as well as confine us, and how they can be used to bring about change. Then I will give the assignment details for the first post.

Assignment: Storytelling in My Field

After studying Roman rhetorical pedagogy and the various preliminary exercises (the "progymnasmata") outlined by Quintilian, it's clear that preparation for speaking and writing required the ability to tell stories convincingly.

I'd like my students to find and relate a story (or to compose one of their own) that exemplifies one type of storytelling typical in their career field. They should follow this pattern:

Title "Storytelling in [my field]"

Foreword

• What type of situation and genre of communication this exemplifies. ("In the field of _______ it is common to relate an account of ______________ within a [document / setting / situation] and to [audience(s)]")
• What is the purpose of such stories / storytelling?
• What are the parameters for such storytelling (length, medium, audience, etc.)?
• Where did you get this story or how do you know it's representative of your field?

Example Story

• Set up the story if needed (one sentence only)
• Give the example story. Try to keep it under 100 words if possible. Bold the story so it stands out.

Analysis

• Point out the component ingredients of the story
• How is persuasion at work here? 

Retelling the Story

Show that you understand how to rework stories for different purposes or audiences by revising and retelling the story you just communicated.  (See the model below for an example).

• Indicate the variation in purpose or audience.
• Retell the story you gave above, but as recommended by Quintilian when he outlined the narrative exercise, change the order in order to make a different point or to address a differing audience. (While you can take a bit of creative license here, still try to stay within the parameters or appropriate tone for the genre you're writing in.) You can slightly lengthen the story but focus mostly on varying the order of events, either telling events in reverse order or from the middle, as Quintilian suggests. (Bold the story so it stands out)
• In a follow up sentence or two remark on how you varied the story and why that variation might be more persuasive

Use the label "storytelling in my field" as a label for the blog post.

A model for this assignment follows the break.

Final Project: Rhetoric in My Field

My Rhetoric and Civilization students will be connecting their learning about communication and history to their prospective career fields through a in a series of posts which they will synthesize into a final project that will be both a formal, "published" blog post and a video version of their findings.

I'm having them develop their ideas publicly and informally by blogging, drafting from various posts, before they create the more polished written and video versions of their ideas. And so even though our blog is mostly for our own use as a class, I want my students to use it as a chance to address a broader, general audience who could benefit by learning about their field from the perspectives of communication and history.

This means my students will have to avoid writing as though they are fulfilling a requirement for a class: they will succeed to the extent that what they write is actually informative and useful for their intended audience. This applies to their individual posts that practice for their more formal academic products, as well as to the published research post and the video they will do.

See this document which introduces the final project in general and gives links to the week-by-week assignment instructions that will lead up to the completed project.

Assignment: Analysis of Electra Performance

I've asked my students to attend a performance of Sophocles' Electra (staged by Westminster College as part of their Classical Greek Theatre Festival, performed Sept 21, 2015 at BYU). They will analyze the play in a brief blog post.

(A few students who cannot attend will analyze either this BBC Radio dramatized version of Electra or this MGM 1962 film version of Electra)

This analysis is not to be a traditional theater review, per se. I do want my students to give a bit of personal response to the experience, but I want them to focus on analyzing the play according to these categories. Since no one person could address all or even most of the following, I expect that as a class, students will be sure all of these topics do get addressed and perhaps debated, each student responding to the play and to each other, taking about 300 words apiece to address one or more of the following:

Assignment: Rhetorical Analysis of Pericles' Funeral Oration

Pericles led Athens at the height of its classical glory, and from the funeral oration he gave, as recorded by Thucydides, we get a sense of how the Athenians thought of themselves, as well as the role that public speaking played in their culture.

I'd like my students to read the funeral oration of Pericles and analyze this rhetorically in about 300-400 words, using the rhetorical terminology learned to date -- including the three encompassing terms, the three persuasive appeals, and the three branches of oratory. (One might also look at the use of topics of invention, or at arrangement or style -- all terms on the Forest of Rhetoric but not yet formally introduced).

Since this oration is included within a history, we have a second frame of reference for this, and that is the one provided by the historian Thucydides. Consider history as another genre of rhetoric, comparable to a branch of oratory. So, in addition to looking at Pericles, analyze Thucydides' rhetoric (audience, intention, kairos, style, etc.) In order to do so, you may nee to do some brief research on Pericles and on 5th century Athens, or on the Peloponnesian war. How is the history by Thucydides "rhetorical"? What role does oratory play in reflecting history or making it understandable to us? Does Thucydides violate the rules of history?

To encourage learning from one another, as well as the avoidance of duplication, each post should make explicit reference to and link to at least one other student's analysis. Rather than seeing multiple students make very similar points, I'd like to see students refining or even challenging one another's analyses. Feel free to read and respond to my students' posts from a past class. Find theirs by using the same label you should use for this assignment, "Pericles' funeral oration"

Assignment: Analyzing the Encomium of Helen

There are a few purposes for this assignment (due Monday, 9/14/15). I want my students to

• understand the respect the ancient Greeks had for the power of speech and persuasion
• become familiar with three genres of speeches from antiquity
• begin practicing rhetorical analysis

Was Helen of Troy Persuaded, or Persuasive?

First, go to Silva Rhetoricae and read the sections about the Branches of Oratory (see the menu on the left side, and go through each of the three types listed there). Be ready for a quiz on these.

Next, you will read a short speech, the Encomium of Helen by Gorgias. Here is the background on that speech. Gorgias was one of the earliest sophists, those "logographers" and itinerant teachers who sold their services training people to compose speeches (or doing it for them). The sophists would often advertise their services by showing off their abilities in practice speeches. That is what this speech is. Obviously he isn't defending the real Helen, who lived 800 years before Gorgias. But everyone knew the story of Helen of Troy from the Iliad. Gorgias set himself the task of defending Helen as though she were his client in court. Wow! If you can convince people that the woman who started the Trojan war was innocent, wouldn't that be someone you'd want to hire to help you in your own legal cases? 

Assignment: Persuasion Made Personal

My rhetoric and civilization students have looked at rhetoric in Homer. The Iliad (and Odyssey) have provided ample examples both of actions intended to coerce, and speeches intended to persuade. 

I would like my students now to consider the power of persuasion/coercion in their own lives. What is a memorable experience in which you were subject to powerful persuasion - - either through someone's verbal arguments or else by other means? either positively or negatively?

Words are not the only influence on behavior, of course, so be sure that you also consider how you have personally witnessed or experienced persuasive influence that was not primarily verbal or based on reason. What are the irrational persuasive influences you've experienced or witnessed? 

Give a short personal account of powerful persuasion in 300 words.  Look at other students' accounts and try to represent a range of different types of persuasion and persuasive settings.

Assignment: The Greeks and I

The purpose of this assignment is to promote some individual research into ancient Greek culture, and to make a personal connection with this that will help others get to know you.

Using 100-200 words, make a connection between yourself and ancient Greek culture. Be sure to

• use at least one photo (preferably including you!)
• link to and/or document at least one source for the information you researched
• add the label "the greeks and I" to your post (and any others you wish)
• read/comment on at least three other current students' posts. Remember! Your post is incomplete (and will not count) if it has no comments by others. You may also want to look at models of this post assignment from past students

Due Tuesday 9/1/15 at 11:59pm. 

My son, Gray, and I at Fantasy Con recently.
People really, really like dragons.

 Have you been to or heard about Comic Con or Fantasy Con? I've been to both conventions recently, amazed at how popular are these larger-than-life legends and characters.

I'm learning to draw. These are images I drew from the book Greeks by Susan Peach and Anne Millard. That woman on the right was from a depiction of female slaves in ancient Greece.