We began this semester by considering various meanings of ‘literacy’—
In Project 1: We thought about what we know, what it means to know, and of how we learn and use what we know. We narrated how this concept operates within our lives and told our stories of learning. We practiced narrative writing, flow, and detail description.
In Project 2: We considered how literacy connects with culture, questioning an artifact for meaning. We practiced analysis, inquiry, and explanation, as well as working together on shared and common goals.
In Project 3: We saw that writing, literacy, and the use of information is different in every discipline. We did research— practiced synthesizing outside source information with our own insights and asked further questions, perhaps even the big question— “What do I want to discover?” —from which virtually all actual, real-world research derives.
Now, we turn to form and delivery of writing content. In Project 4: the Remix, we’ll seek experience with how the presentation and reception of information can change across the boundaries of purpose and delivery. We will consider what written information actually is and the ways in which it is presented. We will study forms and manners of presenting information through both written and visual means. We will study how information is created, edited, and packaged. In so doing, we’ll learn the very important and very portable skill of adapting information—of editing—and we’ll both see and hear the results of the process of editing: developmental change in your ‘texts,’ as well as yourselves.
THE PROJECT:
This project asks you to revisit yourselves as writers and to revisit some of the work you’ve done this semester in the context of what you’ve learned and what we’ve discussed. You’ll continue to develop your understanding of the values and practices of literacy and masculinity by exploring how information exchange works in contexts other than the essay or purely paragraph-oriented forms. You’ll learn more about the relationships between different sorts of ‘texts’ and their communicative effects.
That means:
- You’ll create a new product which explains your interactions with literacies in a new medium.
- The content will come from your work in the Learning Memoir, Cultural Artifact Analysis, and/or Disciplinary Literacies projects, but the format will be up to you.
You might create a short video, a website, a graphical representation (brochure, poster, etc.), a photo essay, a PowerPoint presentation, an artistic project, or perhaps something even more unconventional.
The final product can be almost anything which draws from and expands your writing skills using your earlier project content, content available which you can repurpose, and your own new, original material.
- At the end of the Project, you’ll also complete a Writer’s Reflection of approximately two pages in length which will count as a significant portion of your grade (50%). This should explain in your own words the process of creating your project and use your RAIDS analysis guide from the start of the semester to answer these questions:
- How did you Invent material for this project? (How/where did you get your material?)
- Why did you choose the Arrangement that you did, what was it? (What way did you organize your project, and why did you organize your project this way?)
- What Style choices did you make in text, images, and sound? Why?
- Why did you choose the Delivery method (the format) that you did?
- What ideas and information did you Revise (from your earlier materials)?
For this project you’ll have a choice of your project team—you may work alone, in a pair, or in a group of your choosing—and once you’ve chosen, you’ll transform one of your first three Projects into an alternative form, drawing your content from your own ideas and content available to you elsewhere.
If you work in a group, you’ll want to do a few things very soon:
- Choose which project(s) you’ll use as a focus: the Learning Memoir, the Cultural Artifact Analysis, or the Disciplinary Literacies
- Think about how you will work to combine your projects into one Remix:
- There are many ways to do this, and we’ll discuss a few, but talk in your group and figure out a plan as soon as you can.
- For example—you may choose to combine all of the group members’ projects into one whole; you may also choose to focus on one project by one of the members, or anything in between.
- You should make a plan for how you will divide the work for this project.
- We’ll discuss this a bit in class, but you should begin discussing this with your group very soon to figure out who will do what.
- Again, a large part of the evaluation of this project will include a reflection on your individual efforts and the process of inquiry and creation as well as the final project your group produces. Include with the reflection content above discussion of your individual contribution to the project and a discussion of your group’s working dynamics (how did you work together?)
GOALS and PURPOSE:
- To (re)consider and (re)assess your learning over the course of the semester.
- To learn—and directly experience—how various choices you make in the writing/creative process affect the final product.
- To learn the hows of rhetoric—the purposes, moves, and choices you make in your writing and communication. This project will make you openly aware of your choices and will show you how rhetoric works on a practical level.
- To be determined by you: what do you want to demonstrate, explain, or claim, and to whom?
IMPORTANT DATES and INSTRUCTIONS for DRAFTS
M 3/30 Inspiration Draft—This is: A description of your possible plan for Project 4 and your goals for the project, to be finished by the end of class on this date. The full instructions will be on D2L as usual, and we’ll have some time in class to work on this.
W 4/1 Invention Draft—This is: a finalized and formal proposal from you/your group of your work from last class, including what you’ll focus on, the questions you hope to explore, some possible source content, and the methodology of your Project.
W 4/8 Rough Draft Due—This is: A conference with me and the full group. You should bring a start on your project, as much as you can get done, and a detailed outline of the project which describes your project goals, what you have already done, and an explanation of what you plan to complete. During this week, we’ll have a class cancelled, and I will offer many times for you to meet with me. There will be a number of sessions, and you can sign up for any that works for you. They will last approximately 10-15 minutes. Your outline should be posted to Eli for a Peer Review.
W 4/15 Final Draft Due—we may look at a few of these in class, especially those who may wish to present content.
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