TOW #29- Letter to New APELC Student

Dear APELC student,

Congratulations on accepting the challenge of becoming a better writer. You’re probably partially terrified as a result of the horror stories you have heard, and you’re also probably worried that, for the first time in your life, you might not get an A. And yes, you might not get an A. But, at least for the first time in my life, I have learned that a course is not all about the grade and that you can grow as a student and as a writer despite the grades you get, as cliche as that may sound. However, an A is 100% within reach, if you’re willing to work for it.

One of my greatest regrets throughout the year is not going in for help as much as I would have liked, most likely because I was not accustomed to the type of help I was given when I did go in. In previous classes, if you want your teacher to edit your paper, you just have them read your entire paper and then you simply make the changes they write and you are practically guaranteed a very high grade, but only because you are just handing in an essay written how the teacher wants it. However, in APELC, you learn to write with your own voice and your own opinions. If you need help with an essay, you can go in and discuss the prompt with the teachers to get some ideas, or you can ask a specific question, or you can have them read an excerpt from your essay to make sure you’re on the right track. Although this may be a frustrating style of help at first, this method preserves the voice of you, the student, while still assisting you through any struggles you may encounter along the way. Now, I’m not saying that you are guaranteed an A if you go in for extra help, but you are certainly on the right track for the essay if you go discuss with your teachers before the essay is due.

It’s important not to sugarcoat the course, however. Sure, you grow as a writer. And sure, it’s not all about the grade. But nobody enjoys receiving grades that are less than their standards of excellency. I mean, you’re probably never going to get into college, right? There are certainly rough patches along the way, but nobody ever said real learning was easy. Statistically speaking, you will probably get a grade on your summer reading assignment essay that may get you grounded for a couple days. But, however many tears you may shed that first week, you mustn’t let it get to you. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your work ethic) there will be soooo many assignments throughout the year that will dilute this grade so much that it practically has no effect on your year grade, which is the only grade that matters. This course is entirely about your mindset, and if you start the year thinking you are going to fail, you will fail. But, if you take this grade and learn from it, you will be very successful for the rest of the year. Even if you disagree with the grade because you think you wrote a pretty good essay, just trust the grade, and if you go back to review this essay at the end of the year, you will see that the grade was very accurate, even a little bit generous. There are many opportunities given to you for success throughout the year, and if you utilize these opportunities, you will achieve success.

It’s easy for me to make all of these recommendations seeing as I’ve already finished the course, but I also understand how hard it is to actually follow through with these things. It takes motivation, commitment, and good time management to be able to come in multiple times before an essay is due (you have to write the essay before the night before it’s due...). However, now that the exam is over and it’s time for me to reflect upon all of my mistakes throughout the year as grades are being finalized, I sincerely recommend coming in to discuss your essays with the teachers and starting assignments before the night before they are due. I also recommend always keeping a positive mindset, even when you get a bad grade on your essay or you fail the first unit exam. But despite all of these struggles, I really took away a lot from this class, both in my writing, my analysis skills, and my work ethic, and you will too, if you let yourself. It’s all in the mindset.

Sincerely,

Arielle

TOW #28- TOW Reflection

Over the course of the year, my TOWs have definitely improved in their level of analysis. For example, in the beginning of the year, my TOWs focused on minimal rhetorical strategies used in the text, and I solely wrote to answer the questions. However, towards the end of the year, I was able to identify the more important parts of the text to analyze, and I wrote my responses more cohesively. Additionally, throughout the year, the analysis in my TOWs has transitioned from purely observational comments (for example, in one of my summer TOWs, I wrote, “Langston Hughes’ essay, Bop, is entirely a conversation between the narrator and the character named Simple,” and I did not analyze the effects of this, etc.) to more analytical comments (for example, in my last TOW, I identified the author’s use of irony and then analyzed its effect on the writing). I think I have mastered being able to identify and explain the effect of an author’s use of different rhetorical devices. However, I could still strive to improve my analysis of the overall consequence of an author’s use and effect of rhetorical device on a larger scale (as opposed to just saying how the use of a particular rhetorical device adds to the ethos, for example). These TOW assignments really helped me practice my analysis skills throughout the year, even when we had passed the analysis unit. They helped because, during the analysis unit, you got to actually practice at least once a week the skills you were learning in class, and when we were not on the analysis unit, you got to still continue practicing and improving your skills. This was very beneficial especially at the end of the year because I did not have to review old styles of writing as much right before the exam because it was what I had been doing all along. Therefore, even though I was not always fond of writing the TOWs at the time I was writing them, I think they definitely paid off in the end, and I would do them again if I were taking the class again.   

TOW #27- Hypocrites by George Saunders (written text)

In George Saunders’ essay, “Hypocrites,” Saunders attempts to portray the hypocritical nature of mankind particularly through his personal experiences and irony. Saunders starts out the essay with a particular instance of when he saw Father X and Sister Y breaking the rules of the church. This shocking, yet incredibly interesting, anecdote helps draw the reader in to the essay, as well as to help remain as a basis upon which many of the other important, ironic points of the essay can be drawn upon. For example, Saunders ends with a shocking anecdote about how he was fired from being a reader of the Bible for his church because Father X did not approve of his long-ish hair. The irony in this was that long hair was a far less punishable crime than Father X’s religious crime with Sister Y. However, Father X was condemning Saunders so ruthlessly (Saunders was not even giving the warning to cut his hair) for such a miniscule, subjective detail, while Father X was getting away with a much greater crime. This double standard within the church helped to nicely summarize Saunders’ point that humans are hypocritical. In doing this, Saunders is able to analyze well the humanness of all people and that despite whatever power people may have, all people have their flaws. This epiphany helped Saunders to better understand the human race, and he was able to feel better connected to Jesus. Saunders is able to portray this epiphany throughout his essay by using the example of Father X and Sister Y, and then, after analyzing this encounter, mentioning how he was fired from his reading job for hair that was too long. By doing this, Saunders is able to effectively accomplish his purpose of explaining the nature of mankind through the use of personal anecdotes and irony.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/06/09/hypocrites?printable=true&currentPage=all

TOW #26- Reveal Your Inner Athlete by Rademar (visual text)

This advertisement for Rademar sports store is most effective because of it’s shocking initial appearance. For example, if you were to come across this advertisement in the real world, at first glance, it appears as though the person is pulling the skin off of their foot in order to reveal the normal insides of a person (like blood, muscles, etc.), which can be displayed through the red color of the shoe. This plays on humans’ natural instincts of curiosity to further investigate situations that disturb them. After the viewer looks closer into the picture (despite any initial shock, grossness, or fright), they see that the “insides” of the person are actually just an athletic shoe, and the bandaid on the leg says, “Reveal your inner athlete” in an attempt to encourage more people to exercise, even if they believe that they are not athletic. However, the size of the font is not very effective for the advertisement. Even though the main attention-grabbing part of the advertisement is the foot with the skin and shoe, it is very difficult to find out what the advertisement is actually advertising unless you look very close in the lower right hand corner, when you see that this advertisement is for an athletic store. However, the initial response to this advertisement is that it is for encouraging people to buy the certain brand of sneakers, perhaps because they work naturally like the inside of your foot, yet upon closer inspection, you can see that it is advertising that you find your inner athlete, and if you look even closer, you can find the name of the store that produced this advertisement. This advertisement would be very effective for something like advertising a certain brand of sneakers, however, it is not very effective for advertising the sports store. If the store were to continue using this advertisement, they should at least increase the size of the font in order to more clearly portray what they are advertising.

TOW #25- After Life by Joan Didion (written text)

Joan Didion’s heartwrenching essay, “After Life,” clearly portrays her experience of life after her husband died. Cleverly titled “After Life,” Didion’s play on words contributes to her explanation of her own experiences of life without her husband, while at the same time demonstrating the idea of death (which is usually the connotation of “afterlife” spelled as one word). Didion’s essay is organized into five parts, like mini chapters. This helps to break up the essay and keep it engaging, as opposed to creating a ranting-like organization that seems to simply drone on. Didion’s hook is also very effective. She begins with a short poem-like collection of words that she had originally written after her husband’s death. What made these words significant was that Didion had previously been a writer (and her husband had been a writer as well) and these were the first words she had written after his death. These words follow a simple sentence structure, and although they are also simple words, when strung together, they have a deep meaning that connects to every possible audience member (because life can change at an instant for anybody). This deep meaning draws the audience in because they want to read an explanation of what these words mean and why she wrote them. The audience is the general public, however, geared more specifically towards adults who more frequently face similar instances of experiencing great losses in an instant, although it can be written for anybody since anybody can be affected by an instantaneous loss.  Additionally, Didion alludes to the events of 9/11, among other events, in an attempt to portray how losses like she faced are instantaneous and occur at the most “ordinary” of moments. The purpose of Didion’s essay is to explain a time in her life where she experienced this instantaneous loss, and through a well-organized essay and a compelling story of her experiences, Didion is able to connect to others who may have experienced a similar loss, or prepare others who are yet to experience a loss.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/25/magazine/25didion.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

TOW #24- Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (IRB post 2)

Laura Hillenbrand supports her story well in the book Unbroken with primary source quotes and research. By doing this, Hillenbrand is able to appeal to ethos well and make the story more believable, as well as familiarize readers on the details of war with which they might not be familiar (assuming they are not World War II historians). This helps the reader better understand the story, and Hillenbrand is able to accomplish her purpose. Hillenbrand’s purpose is to inform the reader of the miraculous life events of Louis Zamperini, from his incredible Olympic journal to his ability to beat all the odds in surviving the war, from surviving a plane crash to surviving a prisoner of war camp. Since Hillenbrand’s book is based on a true story, she must provide this extensive research for her audience to help solidify the validity of her writing. For example, when explaining the troubles faced by B-24 planes landing on small islands, Hillenbrand writes, “For loaded B-24s, which needed well over four thousand feet for takeoff, the cropped island runways, often abutted by towering palm trees, were a challenge, ‘The takeoff proved exciting,’ wrote Sergeant Frank Rosynek of one overloaded departure” (82). In this quote, Hillenbrand is able to give background information to the reader about some of the difficulties faced by planes liked Zamperini’s as well as provide a primary source quotation to help give the reader a more well-rounded opinion of the time period. Also, in addition to simply citing facts of the time period, Hillenbrand is able to use primary source quotations to help set the tone and provide the emotions of the soldiers for the readers. For example, Hillenbrand writes, “‘There was a SWOOSH and pieces of palm fronds suddenly appeared jammed in the cracks, on both sides!...Only the laundry knew how scared I was’”(82). The story is more believable and intriguing with Hillenbrand’s provided primary sources, which helps her complete her purpose well and write a thoroughly interesting and informative book.

TOW #23- How to speak so that people want to listen by Julian Treasure (written text)

Julian Treasure studies sound and then advises people on how to use it. He is the chair of the Sound Agency, which advises businesses on how to use sound. This background in studying sound provides Treasure with the automatic ethos he needs in order to make an effective speech about sound. Although Treasure has made a total of five TED Talk speeches on different aspects of sound, this TED Talk, “How to speak so that people want to listen,” focuses on the production of sound from the individual, while other speeches of his focus more on listening, etc. Treasure has an effective introduction in this speech, connecting with his audience before explaining to them how to speak well. He begins by stating a fact that connects everyone to him (saying that the human voice is an instrument we all play) while using the first person pronoun of “we” to show that what he is saying applies to him as well, which helps his appeal to ethos. He then immediately provides examples of using the voice that also connect to the audience while proving his point that the voice is a powerful tool (such as when he explains using the voice to say “I love you”). The organization of Treasure’s speech is also very effective. He begins by listing all of the mistakes people make when speaking and then he goes on to correct these mistakes by explaining how to talk correctly. He uses verbal numbered lists that also appear sequentially on his power point to help with the organization of his ideas. Since his purpose is to explain how to speak well, following this structure allows him to explain this in a clear, direct way that allows for easy visualization since this was intended to be an oral speech. Using all of these strategies, Treasure’s purpose of explaining how to speak well is accomplished.

https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_how_to_speak_so_that_people_want_to_listen/transcript?language=en

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIho2S0ZahI