Upload directions, new assignments, and a very cursory first step into visual rhetoric.

2. TODAY
1)Icebreaker
2)Reflective memo: what’s up with that?
3)Reflective memo: write that
4)Upload That: Niihka
5)Inquiry 2 introduction/discussion
6)Visual Rhetoric in brief
7)Homework

3. ICEBREAKER
Easy icebreaker again today.
Say your name. Obviously. 
Then answer this question: what’s the first thing you
look forward to doing when your academic
week is over and the weekend
starts?

4. REFLECTIVE MEMO
As the syllabus says, and as I have repeated a few
times, each submission in this class should include a
writer’s memo. This should be an informal
letter, written by you, to me, about the project.
Some projects will have their own special
questions, but generally speaking, you’ll need to
answer three things.
They are on the next slide. I will leave it up
as we write.

5. MEMO
Things to put in your memo:
1) Anything you want me to know before I grade—
think of it as your chance to put an idea in my head.
2) Describe the process you went through writing the
essay– did you work a bit each night, all at once,
where did you write, for how long, in what
conditions, etc. In other words, think about the
actions/practices you undertook.
3) You should explain why you made the major
choices you made.
4) You should share what you think is
strongest and weakest in the draft as it is.
1) And, for fun, tell me what grade you’d
give yourself.

6. AND NOW… Niihka
Please now make sure you have your essay and your
memo saved.
For my sanity, please name your essay your last name
and the number 1 (e.g. mine would be
alexander1.doc). Name your memo your last name
and memo1 (alexandermemo1.doc).
Have those files in a location you know how to
access– I recommend the desktop.
Login to Niihka.

7. When you get logged in to Niihka, pick
the tab for our class.

8. Then, from the menu down the
left side of the screen, pick
“drop box”
It’s about halfway down

9. Once on the next screen, you want to
click where it says “add” and scroll to
“Upload files.”

10. You then use the “browse” button to locate and
attach files. Make sure you also use the “add
another file” choice so you can upload your
memo as well.

11. When both of your files are set to upload,
click the “upload files now” button. And…
you should have success.

13. And now…
Let’s talk about Inquiry Two.
In this inquiry, we will push much more on doing
rhetorical analysis work. Remember– as I said in some
of my responses on Tumblr and have said in class– we
have a lot of rhetoric to learn. 
You are not expected to be masters yet.
Think about this as a time period wherein you are
building a tool set. You wouldn’t go to the toolbox and
get the hammer to fix any/every problem.
Rhetoric is the same way.
But first– let’s discuss the prompt.

15. To transition…
… I wanted to make sure that since the assignment
allows for non-alphabetic texts as your objects of
inquiry, I wanted to give you a little taste of something
much newer than the Greek based ideas we’ve been
talking about.
It’s time for a very quick look at visual rhetoric.

16. We don’t lose
Any of the stuff we’ve talked about already just
because we move to looking at something visual.
What does happen, however, are some subtle
changes.
It becomes about learning to look with the sort of
critical eye that we are learning to read with.
There are many tools for this as well.
For now, I want to start you off with a relatively simple
but powerful trope to add to our current set of
considerations: symbolism.

17. SYMBOLISM
Using an object or action that
means something other than its
literal meaning.
*later on in the semester we will complicate this with a bit of
semiotics, but for now think of it alongside what we discussed last
class*

18. Symbolism
… is a big part of visual rhetoric. Visual rhetorical
scholars seek to understand the meaning made by,
appeals and arguments made by, and the better
utilization of visual media. In other words they read
and write with images (at least in part) and apply the
same scrutiny that we have, thus far, applied to
texts/speech.
The slides today contain art by the graffiti artist
Banksy. We will talk more about Banksy later in the
term, but for now, here’s a couple quick pieces
of his work.

20. What do these
pieces appear
to “say?”
What’s up with
this Banksy
dude, anyway?

22. Banksy & Symbolism
The most obvious symbol here is the semi-recurrent
rat, but one of the things (other than the rat) that
Banksy is famous for is juxtaposing things that don’t
seem to go together (like the kids with the balloon
standing on the pile of guns, the Native American with
the trespassing sign, etc.)
His work can be a little on the nose. Like the previous
slide.
Let’s look at some other images, looking
specifically for symbolism.

23. Is the message here really
“you can fish for a baby with a
soggy dollar?”
X
What might the baby and the
dollar symbolize? Might we
see other tropes here?

24. If anyone here watched
the FOX show
Dollhouse, maybe you
can explain to us what it
was about and why we
see the lead actor here
standing with a store
mannequins.
What’s going on here?

25. Isn’t that K-Fed’s ex-
wife?
Why is she dressed
like that dude from
Memphis. Oh, what
was his name…

26. Hmmmm…

27. And now…
Let’s do a little writing. On the next slide are
two different posters for a relatively famous
movie. I’d like you to pair up and take a few
minutes– using anything we’ve discussed in
any of our class meetings so far and
anything you’ve gotten from the readings– to
do a rhetorical analysis of one or the
other, explaining in your analysis why you
think it is the better of the two to sell the
movie to audiences.

29. Homework
For Tuesday:
Read for class: Zane on Hunger Games. *it’s linked
from the inquiry 2 assignment sheet*
Forum Prompt: It’s week three. Post three things
you’ve noticed about life at Miami and what those
three things tell you. Remember: think rhetoric!