Troy Croom
English 710
Prof. Jennifer Trainor
27 May 2014
English 114 -- First Year Composition
Unit 1 - Media Analysis:
How Popular Media Affect Our Views of the Family
The Big Picture
To understand our own perceptions of the family, it’s important to consider both our primary experiences and to analyze the influences that can shape our ideas on family, such as the media. For example, notions about marriage are often colored by media images -- from TV, movies or songs -- about romance lasting “happily ever after.”
In your first major writing assignment, you will be taking a broad view of the significance of family for yourself and for others. We’ll look at how media’s various depictions of family roles and family life convey certain thoughts and emotions that we may or may not adopt. For instance, we’ll be analyzing The Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” Norman Jewison’s “Fiddler on the Roof” and AMC’s “Mad Men.” At the end of the unit, you will write an analysis of one theme as portrayed in 2-3 different family-themed media pieces, discussing how they impacted you in light of the inputs you’ve gotten from your own family.
Questions
Who controls our interpretations when we read, listen to or see a film?
Is it us or is it the artist -- or both?
What technical or rhetorical moves help these artists elicit the reactions that they desire?
If we control our final take-away, how is this done?
To what extent does your own family “filter” affect your interpretations of family as represented in the media?
“Reading” Media Analysis
You will select three media pieces from a list of chosen options that include TV programs, movies and popular songs. (While I’d prefer that you stick to the list provided, if you favor selections of your own, we can talk.) The pieces you select should generate enough analysis to merit a 3-4 page paper, and should provide a compelling portrayal of one family issue running through all these pieces. Among other topics, this might include family life, the roles of family members, parenting, marriage or divorce. For example, you might choose to discuss the role of parenting in the movie “American Beauty,” the TV program “Mad Men” and the song “Cats in the Cradle.” Though you’ll be comparing and contrasting in your analysis, ultimately, you’ll need to find a theme, take a stand and support your point with evidence; in this sense, your media analysis is also an argumentative essay.
Also, once a week, you will be blogging about 2-3 significant points from the texts and the media pieces we analyze together. Consider: What interesting points do the media pieces make about family? How do they resonate with your personally? Why or why not? To what extent do they succeed? What techniques do they use to move you?
Writing Media Analysis
You’ll be using your blogging to practice analyzing various media pieces. As you do so, consider: What techniques do the artists (directors, screenplay writers, songwriters) use? Summarize each media piece in a brief paragraph. What’s the writer/artist’s purpose? Who’s the audience? How do depictions of characters and dialogue work together to impact the audience? To what extent do your preferred media representations resonate with your own family experiences or with the values espoused by your family? To what extent do you feel media representations of the family have influenced your values about the family personally? How does the medium affect the message? Provide quotes and examples to illustrate how the artist achieves her purpose.
What It Looks Like:
4-5 pages double-spaced, 12 pt font, Times New Roman, 1 inch margins
MLA in-text citations (see Purdue Owl.edu), where applicable
We will discuss in class various techniques of analyzing the portrayal of family in popular media, but time will limit our focus in this area. If you’re interested in additional analysis techniques, you may want to read other TV, film or music critiques (magazines/websites such as Rolling Stone, Billboard and Entertainment). You might also care to read up on the conventions of those genres, time permitting. For instance, you might like to think about how music or lighting add to the overall effect of a movie, or how instrumentation or arrangement add to the drama of a song. While you’re not required to do additional research, feel free if you think this would better serve your paper. Also, any time you quote a source, remember to cite it according to MLA style.
Unit 2 - Cultural Analysis:
How Society Affects the Family
The Big Picture
So far, we’ve analyzed a variety of media to consider different perspectives on the family. You’ve read about, discussed and written about various interpretations of the family, developing your critical thinking and your ability to defend your views.
In this unit, you will apply the analysis skills from Unit 1, to perform a cultural analysis of the family, drawing on interviews you will conduct with people from three different generations.
For the second writing assignment, your focus on how society is changing the family will go deeper, down to the level of the individual. Building from the in-class cultural readings such as “Parenting as an Industry” and “Love, Internet Style,” you’ll examine how society is shaping the inter-relations of the American family.
Questions
How has the American family changed in the last fifty years?
What influences have had the greatest impact on the family-- the economy, divorce, technology (e.g., birth control, computer dating), gay rights or other factors?
How does reading and writing about the family affect your feelings about these changes?
“Reading” Cultural Analysis
We will be reading articles on the way family has changed and the social implications of these changes. As before, you will be blogging about 2-3 key points from each reading and thinking about how these aspects of family connect with your own experience.
We’ll also be reading articles on basic interviewing techniques. These skills will aid you as you choose three people, from three different generations (one from your grandparents’ generation, one from your parents’, and one from your own) to interview. Thus you’ll be “reading” these respondents as you synthesize their opinions on the metamorphosis of the American family. As you do, consider how others’ opinions of the family affect your own.
Writing Cultural Analysis
Using the in-class articles for your foundation (though you’re welcome to seek out other sources on your own), you will need to design a questionnaire to guide you as you interview your respondents. In addition to the questions above, try brainstorming additional questions. Your goal, as will be clearer after we study interview techniques, is to create open-ended “essential questions” (rather than simple questions that can be answered Yes/No) in order to motivate your respondents to provide copious responses and personal anecdotes for examples. This will ensure that you have sufficient data and quotes for your analysis.
What It Looks Like:
4-5 pages double-spaced, 12 pt font, Times New Roman, 1 inch margins
MLA in-text citations (see Purdue Owl.edu), where applicable
In selecting your respondents, you’ll need one from your grandparents’ generation, one from your parents’ generation and one from your own generation. The best way to record their responses is two-fold: a) record your interviews on a cell phone, then b) take notes of pertinent information (respondents’ mood, sudden dramatic change of voice, gesticulations, interview interruptions) that might prove useful later.
Next you’ll write 3-4 pages of summary of your findings, including useful quotes. Then you’ll look for themes in your research, and let your respondents “speak to each other.” In other words, you’re looking for trends of agreement of disagreement. For example, on the topic of marriage and dating, your grandmother might say X. By contrast, your mother might say Y, while your sister says Z. Nonetheless, you might find that, despite certain disagreements, they all tend to share a consistent perspective on A, B and C.
Finally, you’ll want to end with a section of your personal analysis of the changes of the American family over the last fifty years, as indicated by your research, and how you feel about these changes personally. Like the tone of the analyses read in class, your tone here should be academic and reserved. See handout for additional pointers. Also, any time you quote a source, remember to cite it according to MLA style.
Unit 3 - Argumentative Essay:
How the Family Affects the Individual
In class so far, we’ve considered the state of the family through media analysis and cultural analysis. You’ve examined the family as represented by popular media and by people you know from three different generations. You’ve written about others’ viewpoints and questioned your own. Gradually, we’ve been moving our focus on the family from the broad view to the more specific.
In this unit, you will learn to take a stand to argue your perspective of how family members balance family membership with the concept of individuality. Your previous work has prepared you for this undertaking. You will be able to draw on the information of the media analysis and from your own interviews to support your case as well. After reading Richard Rodriquez’s “Family Values,” you’ll then defend the perspective either that individuality threatens the family or that the family threatens individuality. Of course, you can draw from outside research and personal experience alike. Consider this excerpt from Rodriquez:
The genius of America is that it permits children to leave home, it permits us to become different from our parents. But the sadness, the loneliness of America is clear, too. (330)
Questions
What kind of bonds -- spoken or unspoken -- tie us to family?
To what extent are you free to be yourself, separate from your family?
To what extent do you feel required to follow in your parents’ footsteps?
How accepting are they of you to define your own autonomous path?
What are the repercussions when family members abandon each other?
If old values are abandoned, to what extent is a family still a family?
Reading the Argumentative Essay
You’ve been reading articles on the changing face of the family. Rodriquez’s “Family Values” raises a troubling question that’s familiar to young adults challenged by parental limits -- the freedom of individuality that so many Americans take for granted. The Rodriguez article is an argumentative essay in that it defends a particular point of view. All of the readings this unit are apt models of persuasion, so be sure to pay attention to both the message and the medium.
In your blog, you will write about 2-3 points that speak to you, especially as they resonate with your personal experience about family. As you read these argumentative essays as models, ask: What moves is the author making to promote her points? How do you feel when she succeeds? What moves might be useful for your own arguments?
Writing the Argumentative Essay
Drawing from your readings and your blogging, write a 3-4 page argumentative essay in which you either defend individuality or you defend the family. This is an exercise in clarifying your critical thinking, fortifying your writing and persuading your audience. For the purposes of this paper, you can assume that your audience are all opponents to your message, so your skills in persuasion will be challenged in a new way. Be sure to anticipate your opponents’ views where applicable, and to refute them whenever possible.
This doesn’t necessarily require you to personally agree 100% with the point that you’re defending, but it does require that you fully examine and utilize key logical points (logos) and emotional points (pathos) of persuasion to pull your audience of disbelievers over to your side.
What It Looks Like:
4-5 pages double-spaced, 12 pt font, Times New Roman, 1 inch margins
MLA in-text citations (see Purdue Owl.edu), where applicable.
You’ll be using the in-class readings and your own strong feelings to fuel your argument. Any time you quote a source, remember to cite it according to MLA style. Be sure to:
consider the material you’ve read.
choose 3-5 points to defend.
support these points with examples and/or quotes.
consider and refute your opponents’ arguments where applicable.
Unit 4 - Portfolio:
Family Analysis +Revision + Reflection Paper
The Big Picture
So far, you’ve developed reading, writing and thinking skills to help you analyze views of the family -- yours and others’. Also, you’ve improved your ability to make a point and defend it with solid evidence.
Your final assignment, the portfolio, will include three activities: a Family Analysis, a Revision of previous a paper, and a Reflection Paper. First, you’ll write a Family Analysis in which you examine what family means to you, providing pertinent examples and quotations; also you’ll discuss the way your own values have been shaped by family values and family experiences. Next, you’ll revise one previous paper, not merely to polish up details, but to re-imagine it again. Finally, you’ll write a short Reflection Paper on how your examination of the family has impacted you as a writer. That is, how have these assignments helped you to improve your writing skills?
Questions
To what extent are we autonomous from family?
To what extent are we influenced by our family’s values?
Why is family important? Or is it?
What price do we pay for family membership? What do we gain?
Reading Family Analysis
We will be reading Jeanette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, along with other family-themed narratives. As you read, consider: How have the people in your own family and their values shaped your personality and values? What family experiences have made you the person you are today?
As you read these texts, be aware of how the writers select certain events and techniques to convey a thought or an emotion. Be thinking about the events you want to examine in your Family Analysis, and the ways you will write about them.
In reading these texts, be conscious of what resonates with you personally. Choose 2-3 significant parts in each text; elaborate on the importance of these parts in relation to your own life. In your blogs, you should describe which experiences influenced the characters’ perspective of family. To what extent do these perspectives resonate with you personally?
Writing Family Analysis
After weeks of reading, discussing and journaling about personal narratives, you’re getting ready to examine your own family experience more deeply. You’ll need to choose one or two key events in your family history that you feel represent your overall perspective of how what family means to you and/or the price you pay for family membership.
Consider these questions as you begin: Which key sensory memories stand out as most significant? How did these events make you feel? To what extent did these experiences change the way you view family and the way you view the world? What is the broader message you’d like to convey through the story of your family? How will you do this?
What It Looks Like:
3-4 pages double-spaced, 12 pt font, Times New Roman, 1 inch margins
Your goal is to connect with the reader in terms of the specifics and the “broad strokes” as well, so you’ll need to supply interesting details to hook your reader, to “paint” your picture, and to try to arrive at a significant response to the question in your reader’s mind, “So what?” That is, your story narrative should depict some kind of understanding or growth. What images will help you tell your story? How did these experiences change your point of view about yourself, your family or life in general? As with all previous papers, you’ll need to find a central theme and support this with examples and quotes. Ultimately, what idea or feeling about your family will you leave your reader with?
Revision
You have the option of revising one previous draft with the possibility of improving your grade. As a rule, you will write two drafts of each paper -- a peer review draft and a “final draft.” However, Unit 4 permits you to further re-work one of those “final drafts” for a portfolio draft. More than a chance to simply “touch up” your writing, your portfolio draft is an opportunity to re-think your paper, with the advantage of having time away from the subject, and a new perspective.
Reflection Paper
This is a short (1-2 pp) assignment where you look back at your experiences in this course. Where were you as a writer when the term began? Where has the course taken you? What skills have you learned -- pre-writing, writing, revision? What other aspects of the course were useful -- peer review, blogging? What advice would you give to a colleague considering taking this course? What comments would you offer to me, as a teacher?
No comments:
Post a Comment