ENGL 505B

Ellen Evans and Jeanne Po’s article brings to the fore an idea that surprises quite a few instructors: “Thus, it would seem that hypertext fiction may offer the epitome of aesthetic reading, and yet many students in this study staunchly argued that the digital texts could hardly be considered literary” (64). This asks for a revision of the pedagogical approaches we employ when teaching digital texts. Although the authors present this issue as characteristic of the millennials, I would argue that it is also characteristic of other groups, such as the generation X.

Stroupe’s text opens up a variety of digital technology assignments which we can create for our classes. As most students have access to expressive media, we need to make use of their knowledge and skills in integrating verbal and visual media within hypertext. Moreover, we need to help them improve their skills to analyze this kind of media composition. However, I have to admit that it might be a difficult assignment for students who are not computer savvy.

Selfe's article emphasizes the preference accorded the old technology (print) as well as the perceiving of the computers as a tool (414), which some use and others ignore. Although she does not offer any exact solution for the inequity which technology deepens in society (schools serving disadvantaged students have less acess to computers, Internet, media equipment, etc.), she does urge faculty to become involved in public discussions about technology and educational policy and about technology and literacy(416).

Here is my computer class assignment.
Maria Granic-White

Computer Assignment

1. Class exercise: Have students watch the video “Cry for Help: Stop Mutations in Rift Valley!” on Youtube.com.
2. Discuss with them the rhetorical devices in the video and have them identify the audience of the video.
3. Have them utilize a handout in which they check the appropriate boxes and comment bellow the table:

Questions V SO N
Was the thesis/ main idea of the topic clear?
Was the argument logical?
Did the presenter have good ethos?

I have attached the handout for the annotated bibliography assignment. Feel free to modify it in any way you find appropriate for your class.

Hey guys, here is what I used for my second 3-5 page paper.
Second Paper
Write a no less than 3 and no more than 5 page paper on one of the five topics which we selected in class. You may write either an expository essay or an argumentative essay. If you decide to write an argumentative essay, you may use one of the two following structures for the organization of your essay.
I.The Classical Arrangement
1. Introduction
 Introduce your debatable topic and capture the attention of your audience.
 Pathos (emotional appeal) offers a good introduction but you can employ any appeal.

Thank you CRIS (NO "H"). Sorry for the mistake.

Chris, I wanted to thank you for the handout you posted. My students worked hard on CORE and they seemed to enjoy it. I will utilize it next semester, too before I assign the research paper.
Thank you again.

In "Erasure of the Sentence," Connors refers to the sentence as an element of composition pedagogy that has almost disappeared from the textbooks. His review of the traditional rhetorical classification of sentences offers the three most important sentence-based rhetorics in order to set up the stage for his discussion in which he attempts to demonstrate the stages and the causes of what he calls "the erasure of the sentence." The main reasons for the erasure of sentence rhetorics, in Connors's view are: anti-formalism, anti-automatism or anti-behaviorism, and anti-empiricism.

To emphasize to my students the advantage and the resposibility that comes with writing, I tell them the Latin saying: "Verba volens, scripta manent," which means "The spoken word flies away, while what is written stays there." Then, I tell them what Sommers mentions on page 176, that "Writing has a spatial and temporal features not apparent in speech." Sometimes I have the students work in pairs and I ask them to "tell" their paper to their partner. Upon finishing, they are to write down comments about their peer's paper and hand the comments to him/her.