In class free write 10/27

When Batman tells TwoFace that he sees a reflection when looking at him he is refering to how he sees himself in TwoFace. He sees how TwoFace struggles between good and evil and he knows that he struggles with good and evil as well. Even though he means well he has evil aspects such as his thirst for action and violence and his deep rooted goal for revenge. He sees how TwoFace's evil side has overcome him and he worries that the same will happen to himself.

Comparing images in graphic novels

There are several differences between the understanding rhetoric graphic novel and the Batman graphic novel. The picture frames in Batman are much smaller and more frequent then in the understanding rhetoric. The text in the understanding rhetoric is in the boxes as opposed to Batman where it is both in the box and outside. This is because Batman requires both speech and narration. The specific images also very different. In understanding rhetoric they are more basic emotionless simple and black and white. This is because it is not the image that is important, it is the lesson undertsanding rhetoric is teaching. On the contrary the Batman images are are very detailed and colorful. This is so that they can reveal the facial expressions and emotions in the characters. Batman is all about the story so they need detailed images to show the characters and create a powerful story.

In class freewrite about communication

The last time I wrote a form of communication including graphics and text was when I was creating my art portfolio. I mad a portfolio of my art work last September for my college application. I was hopping that sending it to colleges would help me get in. The portfolio required both graphics of my artwork, and written explanations of it. It was important for me to explain each art piece to teach the reader what it is and what it means. Both elements synced to communicate every aspect of my artwork to my audience.

Process of writing argumentative letters

While writing my collection of argumentative letters I have been struggling with a few aspects. It is challenging for me to make it an argument. I have been having trouble making disputing with MLK rather than just agreeing with him. I am having the most trouble with the organization of the letters. I have it so that there is 9 different letters being sent. I think that will be too much and I need to shorten it. I also have written it so I write a letter on a topic then he responds and so on. I want to change my essay so that I write a letter on several topics and he responds to all my points, thus shortening the amount of letters.

Developing an argument

Students usually annotate their books by highlighting the important and significant parts. In MLK's Letter from a Birmingham Jail he notes how "freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor". This is one way how he makes it obvious that it is necessary for him to take action. That is an obvious statement and evidence to way he must take action.

Personal Letter Rewritten

Jack English-Cooper

Professor Justin Lotspeich

Rhetoric 110: Written Communication I

936 Words

9/7/2014

                        Personal Letter: My Terrifying Teacher

Dear Family,

            I would like to express to you the reason why I have not been able to learn in my library class. There is a silver lining in this story that you all should pay attention to if you want to know how to learn from a class where it is impossible to learn.  As many of you know I recently switched middle schools. From kindergarten through fourth grade, I attended a private Quaker school, Cambridge Friends School. As you can tell from the name, there was an extremely friendly academic environment filled with smiles, and it was a place where the students called their teachers by their first names. Then I switched into my city's public middle school, The Brown School. I was in for the shock of my lifetime. I was alone in a new school where everything was different. This new school had an old-fashioned style of teaching where the teachers were strict, and the rules were endless. We called our teachers Ms. and Mr., and we had to sing the pledge of allegiance every morning. Sometimes we even had to sing it by ourselves in front of the class. I had never learned the pledge of allegiance and was dumbfounded by the idea of singing the same song every morning. I once dropped the flag, and was thoroughly surprised by the shock on my peer’s faces. Despite my terror of going to a new school I was able to learn from most of my teachers. However, there was one class where I could not expand my intelligence: Library class.

When I first went to this class I was immensely confused. Why was there a class dedicated to library education and what would we be learning? To this day I can’t recall what we were supposed to learn except that it had a great deal to do with books. I walked into my first Library Class and sat in the front ready to learn. When our teacher started the class I was overwhelmed with fear.

From the start of that class and throughout the year my teacher never smiled; nor did she talk in a quiet reasonable voice. She was a rather large African-American woman with purple glasses and ruby red lipstick. She glared at all of us, and she screamed when she spoke. I vividly remember her teeth snarling at me when I attempted to answer a question. She would whip her arms and body around as she explained her lessons. I once asked a question, and she answered, “I know I ain’t gotta answer something like that! Figure it out for yourself boy!” I responded dumbly, “Ok”. She would spit and shout phrases like “Ya’ll going to read and ya’ll going to learn”. Most of the time I was too afraid to raise my eyes from the table to try and make out what she was saying.

 Some of you may be arguing that this was not an example of injustice, but merely a strict teacher. Well, I have the perfect example of when I experienced first hand her injustice that inhibited me of learning a lesson. When I took quizzes I normally struggled to find the answer. After a lot of deep thinking I can figure it out, and with that moment I truly learn the material. We were taking a quiz on a book we had just read, and as usual I was stuck on a question. So I did my normal routine of thinking while letting my eyes stare forward or glaze around the room, when my eyes fell on the wrong person. I didn’t even realize that my eyes were aimed at the teacher when she pierced the silence with the loudest scream I have ever heard, “Why are you looking at me? The answer ain’t on me; look at your damn paper!” I was more terrified and embarrassed than I had been my whole life. I refused to let my eyes shift from my paper and couldn’t think of anything except for how I was going to survive that class.

I failed the quiz and didn’t try to learn anything in that class after that. I was so afraid of another confrontation that I kept to myself without attempting to learn anything at all. I have no idea what we were supposed to learn from that class. All I remember was that one quiz.

The injustice that occurred was my teacher striking terror into my heart. She could have been a reasonable teacher and asked me nicely not to look at her. She could have been open to my different style of thinking and learning. Instead she scared the learning out of me. I was a nervous new student, and her rage prevented me from being able to think clearly and learn in her class. The silver lining is that I experienced a different form of education. This teacher might have crossed the line, but the strict and old-fashioned style of learning at this school was new to me, and it taught me how to work hard and respect my teachers. This experience also taught me to value teachers who understand that some students process information differently. If you ever go through an experience like this it is important to try and learn from it. Unlike how I shut down to the class and stopped listening to her, you should strive to keep learning no matter how eccentric the teacher is. You need to be brave and stick it out, for that is the only way to learn. It is unfortunate that I experienced her outburst that stopped me from learning in Library class, but at least I learned that educating yourself requires an unafraid mind and how I process information best. So, maybe we learn things we weren’t expecting to learn from injustices.

Sincerely,

Jack English-Cooper

Personas of Adam and MLK

Adam uses the persona of a group of people. His persona is calm and official. He does not have a lot of spirit and is stating facts and claiming them to be true. He uses a neutral, non attacking persona, but he writes as though what he says is law. MLK uses a spirited, powerful, and intelligent persona. His writing has emotion in it and exclaims his points. He persona is very powerful in which his points become right no matter what. His sophisticated writing sets him up for a intelligent persona in which he can address high achieving white men. I would not change anything about MLK's persona. There is a reason why he was a powerful leader and he should remain the same. Adam should change his persona to more of an emotional one with spirit. If he had more spirit in his writing more people would jump to his side of the argument.

The Midterm

     My journey through Rhetoric 110, Written Communication, has been eventful. Over the summer, when I discovered which Rhetoric class I would be in I was disappointed. As Media Studies major I needed to be in Rhetoric 130, in order to take Intro to Media Studies. To my displeasure I was placed into rhetoric 110, based on my SAT score. Not only was I not able to take any classes in my major, but I also felt inferior. I wasn't good enough for myself, and I was worried that I wouldn't learn anything in this lesser class. To my surprise I have learned new aspects of writing that I had never heard of, lessons I would not except to be important and an untraditional yet vitally important lesson. I have become confident with using ethos, pathos and logos and many other writing styles, learned the importance of revising, and gained confidence. I will demonstrate how I learned the rhetorical moves through my post of when I first was explaining my understanding of it, an example of my annotations of it on the Gettysburg Address, another post showing my further understanding of it, and my Personal Letter showing my excellent use of them. I will then reveal how I learned the importance of revising through how my instructors comments and my revised Personal Draft. In the end of my portfolio I discussed how I gained my confidence through working with the writing tutors, and how it has affected me as a writer. I provide my Analytical Review to show specifically what I gained my confidence on. This Portfolio demonstrates to my classroom community how much I have learned and progressed as a writer this semester, and why Rhetoric 110 is vital for everyones learning process. 

Learning New Methods Of Writing

One of the first lessons I learned in Rhetoric class was the rhetorical moves ethos logos and pathos. These were new concepts to me, but I learned them quickly. After We discussed them in class we wrote a post about how we used them. I feel that I had a very good understanding of what they were, when I wrote about how I used the rhetorical moves.

Studying the readings in class and seeing how powerful authors used these rhetorical moves helped me understand how to use them.

As I learned more in class as I was able to comprehend how these rhetorical moves made the writings so powerful, as I did in my reaction to Douglass's narrative. I was then able to inhibit these moves into my writing. In my Personal Letter I mastered the use of ethos, logos, and pathos. The fact that I had never heard of these terms before this class, but was able to use them so effectively in my paper show how much I have progressed.

Learning How Important Revising Is

I never thought revising was that important. Of course editing and revising your paper before turning it in is essential, but I had never rewritten a paper after turning it in. For my midterm portfolio we were supposed to revise a paper. So I revised my Personal Letter since I thought it would be the best representative of my writing, and fixing it would be most useful to me. It absolutely was. I read the comments professor Lotspeich wrote, and used them to rewrite my paper. I completely agree with everything Professor Lotspeich suggested, and my new Personal Letter is much stronger. Revising that Letter actually helped me become a better writer. I have been confused as to how much I should use commas, and when is the appropriate time. Reading his comments on how I over used them, and after rewriting and seeing how much of a difference it made, I realized that I must to use fewer commas. Instead of learning how to write for a specific assignment this method of revising, and discovering what my weakness is as a writer helped me progress in my writing skills. I also discovered that I need to address the audience more in my conclusion, another skill I will remember. This class taught me how important revising is, since it helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses, and makes you a better writer in the future. 

Gaining My Confidence 

While confidence may seem like a minor and unusual lesson to be learned in a rhetoric class, it proved to be vitally important for me as a writer. The moments I gained my confidence were both in the writing center. During my Personal Letter drafting process I was worried I didn't have enough ethos or logos. When I brought my paper in my tutor loved it. He showed me how I did in fact use logos and ethos effectively throughout the paper, and many other ways it worked well. He explained to me my strengths as a writer as well as what I needed to work on. When I wrote my Analytical Review paper I was terrified that I was writing it wrong. I was confused with the structure and positive that my paper was horrible. When I brought it into the writing lab I was happily surprised again to here that my what I doubted was actually successful. He explained to me how the structure I was using was effective, and helped me plan how I was going to finish the paper. He told me how much he liked my writing style and successful it was.  Hearing that my papers were better then I thought they were, and that I was a great writer was influential. I became confident in myself and started taking more joy out of writing. That is important because when you truly enjoy something you work hard and produce great work. Before I would get distraught that I had no idea what I was doing, and had a hard time getting into my papers. After gaining my confidence I have been able to follow my instincts and give my writing everything I have in order for it to be the best it can. 

As you can tell, my journey through this class has been riddled with events that will shape my writing forever. I have learned the fundamental rhetorical moves that create powerful papers. I have learned the importance in revising even after a paper is turned it. I gained my confidence, which will support me by giving me the courage to keep working and write freely, in order to write the best possible written communications. This class has not been too easy for me or a waste of time. This class has taught me so much about written communication, and I am excited to see where the future of this class teaches me.

Well developed

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Using people in writing

For my personal letter, my persona was as a adolescent student. In my analytical review I took on the persona as an scholarly reviewer. The difference was drastic. I wrote my personal letter revealing a story from when I was young. Therefore, I had to use a young persona. I was trying to convince my reader why I was write so I had to use mostly logos and pathos. On the contrary, I had to be a sophisticated adult when I wrote my analytical review in order to convince my readers that they should take my suggestion. I had to create ethos which in this case was a analytical reviewer so I had to become a scholar.

Presenting ourselves as multiple person

We can absolutely present ourselves as multiple persons in our writing. You use different tones, words, and topics to present yourself differenetly. You can write with a formal tone using sophisticated words in order to portray yourself as professional and intelligent. Or you can write with more common words and write about things everyone can relate too. However, we cannot present ourselves as someone we are not. We can only portray ourselves to how intelligent we actually are. Our vocabulary choice and rhetoric style is our own, and while we can choose which style to use, we cannot choose a style we don't possess.

Analytical Review

Jack English-Cooper

Professor Justin Lotspeich

Rhetoric 110: Written Communication I

1677 Words

9/30/2014

                                    Analytical-Review of Herbert and King

            Brandon King and Bob Herbert have mixed opions on the American Dream. In the article, Hiding from Reality, Bob Hebrert discuses how the American Dream is dead. On the contrary Brandon King argues that the American Dream is still as alive as ever in his article, The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold? The texts demonstrate to American citizens how the authors feel about the American dream and what needs to be done to sustain it.

Herbert argues many reasons the American Dream has been destroyed. He explains how the economy is in ruins, how counter productive the education system is, and how disastrous the budget deficits are. (Herbert 1) One of his most important points is how we, as American citizens, are ignorant and “in denial about the extent of the rot in the system, and the effort that would be required to turn things around” (Herbert 1). He argues that in order for America to be saved, we need to first understand how bad of a shape we are in, and accept what needs to be done to fix it.

 King agrees how terrible of a shape America is in. However, he makes the argument that the American Dream is still relevant no matter the status of America. (King 1) King claims, “I believe that the ideals and values of the American Dream are still very much alive. In fact, the original term “American Dream” was coined during the Great Depression… I would redefine the American Dream today as the potential to work for an honest, secure way of life and save for the future” (2). Looking deeper into the context of each article further proves the magnitude of their impact.

Both Authors are excellent candidates because of how they support their ethos. When they address American citizens and explain what needs to be done, they include themselves in the audience. They write phrases such as “We’re in denial” (Herbert 1), or “We may have sizeable divide between the rich and poor” (King 4). Using the word, we, makes the authors as much an American citizen as the audience. Therefore, they gain the credibility they need to tell other citizens what needs to be done. They also create their ethos by proving how they have done sufficient research. They provide facts to back up their arguments. Herbert writes, “foreign born workers in the U.S gained 656000 jobs while native-born workers lost 1.2 million” (1), and King explains how, “a recent study showed a decrease in home ownership from 69% in 2005 to about 66.5% in 2010” (3). Between the two, King uses ethos much more effectively since he also quotes other authors revealing that he analyzed their work too. He brings up other authors main points, and agrees or disagrees with them to further prove his point. This shows how he is an analytical reader himself. Providing information from other sources reveals how they researched before writing, thus showing how credible their arguments are.

Pathos is effectively used in each article to persuade the readers. The authors use emotional phrases to exaggerate the condition of America. When Herbert writes, "The extent of the rot in the system” (1) and King describes “The fragile economy” (3), the audience is compelled to believe that their country is in horrible shape, and wants to learn from the text how to change it. The authors use pathos in opposite but effective ways when they educate the reader on what is needed for recovery of the American dream. King uses optimism when he reminds the audience “As a nation, we have dealt with economic downturns in the past,” (7). His powerful wording of “As a nation” makes the reader feel like they are apart of a united nation, and believes him that they can fix their economy just as America has done before. On the contrary, Herbert uses negative descriptive imagery when he reveals, “The human suffering in the years required to recover from the recession will continue to be immense” (1). When the audience reads that they will suffer they become empathetic of themselves and determined to make changes before it becomes worse. While each author use pathos in different ways they are both effective in making the readers care about the topics and the survival of their country. Once the authors have their readers attention they use logos to prove their point and make an impact on the audience.

King and Herbert facilitate logos in their articles when they explain whether the American dream is still alive or not, and what we need to do to sustain America. King uses evidence to prove that his argument that the solution to our economic crisis is big business and financial institutions is logical King, 5). He proves that “providing money to businesses may encourage them to hire more people” (King 5), is true when he provides the evidence that, “Obama presented a proposal… establishing a $33 billion tax credit to provide incentive for businesses to hire more workers” (King 5). Herbert also uses evidence for his logos. He makes the argument that one of America’s faults is our unsuccessful school system. His logical reasoning is that a woman named Cathleen Black was chosen to run the public schools in New York City, and she will damage the public schools. (Herbert 2). He proves this by showing her disconnect with them as she is a “wealthy corporate executive with no background in education and whose children attend expensive private schools” (2). This especially speaks to families in the middle class whose children go to public schools, since they can agree that she is unable to see the effects her decisions have. He makes his argument even more logical when he reveals that she “will be presiding over budget cuts that can only hurt the schools” (2). This is an excellent use of logos, as the readers can’t deny that budget cuts will damage the school systems. Even when the authors contradict each other, both arguments are effective due to their logos. Herbert makes the argument that, “Politicians across the spectrum insist that they are all about job creation while the employment situation in the real world remains beyond pathetic” (2), and King makes the contradicting argument that, “Ever since the height of the Great Recession, However, we have adapted the values contained within the American Dream to meet new challenges” (7-8). While Herbert is saying that politicians are doing nothing to save America and we are doomed, King is arguing that America always adapts to meet the challenges. Both are effective in proving their point. When the audience reads Herbert’s argument they can agree that if nothing is happening to fix the problem then maybe the American dream really is dead, but when they read Kings, they believe his logical argument that if America survived the Great Recession it can survive this. Logos is used in both sentences to prove the point by providing details that the readers have no choice but to agree with.

Besides the rhetorical moves the authors use to convey their message, their content and structure is powerful. Herbert begins with the intense statement referring to the American dream, “there is not much of it that’s left anymore” (1). This sets ups his text by saying his point at the very beginning, making the audience want to figure out why he says this. He then structures his article by providing details with how horrific America’s status is. Once he proves why America is in a recession, he writes three more short paragraphs highlighting the extent to which we are failing to sustain America, and how were in denial. These prove how the American dream is now absent. (Herbert 1-2). He finishes his article by imploring his readers that, “America will never get its act together until we recognize how much trouble we’re really in” (2). This is an effective conclusion because it provides his answer to the problem and how to resurrect the American dream. Herbert could provide more information that would make his content have a bigger impact, but it is still a sufficient article.

King structures his article very similar and his content is just as effective. He begins with a hook, “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?” (2). This draws the reader into the article. He then discuses the American dream and comes to his own definition of it, which is, “the potential to work for an honest, secure way of life and save for the future” (2). In his supporting paragraphs, he writes about the problems America is facing and what it’s doing to solve it. (2-7). He provides sufficient evidence that proves his points. At the end of his argument, he is examining the Great Recession and proving how our overcoming of it proves that we can overcome the current disastrous status of America. (8). Just like Herbert, he concludes his argument with his lesson, which is how the American dream is still alive. His structure is effective in proving information for all of his arguments and finishing by answering the question he started with.

I would highly recommend both of these texts, because their content and rhetorical moves are effective in making an impact on the audiences. The audience is American citizens, and both authors refer to them as we, in order to connect to them and show them that they are on the same side. Once the authors create their ethos they use pathos to make the readers feel empathetic for America. They facilitate logos to convince them why they are correct and what needs to be done to save America. The content in each article is structured well with sufficient information so that the readers understand the message. Even though Herbert and King have different views on if the American dream exists or not, they both clearly present their ideas and persuade the readers to help save America.

                                                Works Cited:

Herbert, Bob. "Hiding From Reality." The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Nov. 2010. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.

King, Brandon. “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on hold?” They Say/I Say:

The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing: With Readings. Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel K. Durst.  New York: W.W. Norton &, 2009. Print

Jack English-Cooper

Professor Justin Lotspeich

Rhetoric 110: Written Communication I

382 Words

9/30/2014

Dear Reader

1)    I used many reading strategies that helped me write this essay. I first annotated which helped me understand the articles better. I highlighted and underlined to find the main ideas. Rereading was a strategy I didn’t use as much in unit 1, and it helped. Once I started my essay, rereading helped since I knew what to look for. I was able to use my time better since I could skim through the readings searching for the rhetorical moves I knew I wanted to discuss.

2)    During the prewriting stage I brainstormed, outlined, and drafted. Brainstorming helped me get started and decide whom I wanted to analyze. Outlining was useful since it helped me organize my ideas. Drafting was necessary for me to start my essay. What didn’t work very well was writing before I understood the prompt better. I needed to use the strategy of talking to my classmates to better comprehend the prompt before drafting.

3)    My writing strategies were most different from when I wrote the first essay. Instead of jumping into drafting, I needed to brainstorm. I needed to decide my argument before I wrote it. In the first unit the essay was shorter and it worked better to write it at once. In unit 2 the essay was far to long for that. I worked best for me to write in multiple sessions by writing a paragraph then returning to write another. This way the time was more manageable and each paragraph were detailed better.

4)    My post writing stage was similar to unit 1. However, going to the writing center was even more helpful this time. I was more confused about the prompt so the writing center helped direct me on a structure that would work for this essay. He helped me understand the main goal better and how I should organize my essay. Editing by rereading was also a helpful strategy.

5)    I felt least confident in turning in my analytical review. I have never done this type of essay before and was unsure about how to structure it.

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