Category Archives: Teaching Composition

584: Weekly Position Paper #9: The Ethos of GTAs: Credibility Appeals vs. Pedagogical Openness

Posted on October 24, 2008 by Michael

Ethos is a term that Krista Ratcliffe employs in Rhetorical Listening both in order to understand how whiteness functions in our society and in order to help teachers understand how they can plan for a course that prepares students to … Continue reading →

Posted in English 584 Rhetoric Writing and Identity (Fall 2008), Teaching Composition | 1 Comment

notes from the interblags: racism, transphobia, marginalia

Posted on October 20, 2008 by Michael

• via Dennis, BooMan on explicit racism in this election. An excerpt: Anytime they poll the American people about racism, blacks say there is more of it than whites. The raw racism on display this election season is probably more … Continue reading →

Posted in New Media, Notes from the Interblags, Queer issues and theory, Race, Teaching Composition, Visual Rhetoric | 2 Comments

Some post-Watson thoughts

Posted on October 18, 2008 by Michael

I’m in a coffee shop in Louisville, thinking about the conference, what I learned, and what I missed. I’m bummed that I got into town Thursday afternoon, in time to miss some cool talks Thursday that I wanted to see. … Continue reading →

Posted in Affect, Design, Ethics, New Media, Teaching Composition | 1 Comment

Balance (1990): Cause and Effect

Posted on October 8, 2008 by Michael

Andrea, a fellow graduate student, passed this 1990 short animation along (it won an Oscar for the best animated short in 1990). It might be useful to show in class to lead to discussions of cause and effect. Of course, … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching Composition | Leave a comment

narrative, “Fast Car,” clichés, and the purpose(s) of first year composition

Posted on September 17, 2008 by Michael

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a week now. My students are working on personal narratives, ones in which they need to analyze the events and support a thesis. Additionally, they need to think about it rhetorically: who … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching Composition | 2 Comments