Blog 2 Rhetorical Analysis
- wdonohue
- Feb 1, 2016
- 2 min read
“The act of creation is first of all an act of destruction” -- Pablo Picasso.
A student approached me confused about what to do with the website. The student was unsure and confused, and by similar reactions in class, this student is not alone. I was all too happy the student approached me. But what I could not give, what I would not give, was a definitive answer for what the student needs to do for the website they are creating (BTW that is a singular “they”).
The course is not designed that way. In many respects, the course is designed by the students themselves and myself as we go along. I teach this way based on principles of critical pedagogy, project-based learning, and mutuality. The result is something that appears foreign to students as it is removed from their expectations and the norms they are used to in the classroom. It is disruptive. I sometimes worry that students will see resulting confusion as poor teaching. The factory model of education has broken down, when the point is to have a non-factory experience and delve into the messiness that is creation.
Confusion is a part of the process and seen by some as a good thing. I don’t know what I want to do with my website. The only requirements I gave the students is that it has to have 5 “pages” including a blog. The rest is on them to do something with it—and that it is practice in compositing in a multimodal space—a goal of the class.
But what to do with my website?
Right now it is based on a “writers” template—something I fancy for myself. The blog is the only writing that is on here for an outside audience. The bio doesn’t exist yet and the links are mainly something just for myself. The audience for the blog right now is my students as well as myself. I feel the need to let the students behind the curtain with this blog. By blogging with the students, one purpose is to have a model for what needs to be done. I fear that the students will just copy what I do—but we will cross that bring if we come to it.
I am the clear author of my blog, which means I should write something for the about section so the students can gain a feel for who I am and where I am coming from. The context is currently fixed with the ENG 311 course and multimodality. I imagine the students will read it from a campus computer or their phone. I also want to play with multimodality. Visual, aural, spatial, gestural, and linguistic posts will combione all five modes of communication.
Comments