Class Observation: A Typical English Class

I showed up around five minutes earlier than I usually would, only because I knew it was my turn that day to do my class observation.  I got my computer out and opened up a section to take notes on anything that I noticed during the class period.  During the beginning I literally sat there silently and watched every person in the room and waited for something to happen, even though there were only about six kids in the room, and it was silent.  When I noticed Mrs. Evans walk into the room, I walked up and asked her a few questions that I had about my conference schedule before class. After I sat back down and class was getting started I actually forgot about my note page and just spaced out and started listening to the lesson.  Once I realized that it was still my day for class observation and I still hadn't written anything down, I frantically started writing anything that I noticed.  It ended up being a bunch of useless information that would never even include in my journal.  I started looking too hard for anything interesting to put in my journal, but the fact is, there's not that many interesting things that happen in an English class.  Before I knew it, Mrs. Evans was already almost done with her lecture on conference schedules, journals, and MLA formatting, and I all I had written down was a bunch of useless information written down.

Jeanette Walls: A Very Late but Thoughtful Journal

I went to a convocation to listen to Jeannette Walls; writer of The Glass Castle.  She was an excellent public speaker, which was surprising given her background.  I assume she has done countless other shows about her book and her success story, so I guess public speaking is just a skill you pick up along the way.  She spoke very fluently and transitioned from one subject to the next very smoothly.  Even when she allowed the audience to ask her any questions, she never had to stop and think, and always answered with an amazing thought-provoking answer.  Aside from her excellent speaking skills, she was very down-to-earth and interesting to listen to.  She was also very optimistic about anything she had to talk about, even the things that might be difficult subjects for most people to talk about.  This is probably because she is used to it because she speaks so much about her life, and most people in the theatre already knew a lot about her background because of the book.  I believe that another reason that she is so optimistic is because of her naïve personality.  She was naïve ever since she was a young girl, according to the book, despite all of the things she went through growing up.  I think that was the most powerful thing about her speech, it really shows the power of optimism and making the best of whatever you are given in life.  If I took nothing else away from reading The Glass Castle, at least now I can always remind myself to make the best of what I’m given.

Envision Chapter 4 Journal

Chapter 4 in Envision talks a lot about planning and proposing better research arguments.  To make an argument about a text, you have to provide claims that back up your argument.  The book emphasizes the processes of generating research questions, narrowing the topic, developing a hypothesis, and structured freewrites. 

By asking research questions, you can find out a lot about why a text was written, who it’s target audience is, and why it uses specific appeals and arguments.  The answers to most questions will lead you to more specific questions about the text.   If you narrow down your topic, you could go more in depth about a certain aspect or argument in the text.  Forming a hypothesis is important for looking at your project analytically.  Freewriting will help you get all your ideas out on paper, help you further narrow your topic, help you organize your thoughts, and hopefully develop a thesis.  

Envision Chapter 2 Journal

Chapter two in Envision focuses mainly on understanding strategies of persuasion.  It is important to understand many strategies of persuasion, so that you have all the strategies at your disposal when you need to use rhetoric in a paper or presentation.  An crucial part to understanding strategies of persuasion is understanding the three rhetorical appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos.  Any form of persuasion can be classified into one of the appeals, depending on how it appeals to the reader or listener. 

The first form of persuasion is logos, which appeals to logic or reason.  It uses facts, statistics, and evidence to persuade you to think a certain way.  For example, an ad may prove that people who have used a weight loss product have lost 10% of their body weight within the first three weeks in order to prove that the product actually works.  The next form of persuasion is pathos, which appeals to the readers emotions.  It uses things that may pull at the readers emotions to make them feel sad, or happy, worried, or confident, in order to make them more likely to agree with the writer. For example, an ad may show a pathetic picture of a puppy in a shelter, in order to make the reader feel sorry for the puppy, and more likely to adopt from rescue shelters.  The last form of persuasion is ethos, which appeals to the character of the writer or speaker.  The reader is more likely to be persuaded if the writer has some sort of credibility in the subject.  For example, customers are more likely to buy an acne treatment product if the ad is approved by actual dermatologists. 

Another important aspect to consider when trying to persuade an audience is kairos, which gives attention to the right time and place.  A paper or ad can be much more persuasive if it is used in the right context.  For example, ads for fast food restaurants on the side of the highway will look much more appealing to someone who might have been driving for a long time, and who may be tired and hungry. 

There are many important to things to consider when making a paper as effective as possible, and it is crucial to understand many strategies of persuasion.  A writer who adequately understands many strategies of persuasion is much more likely succeed to persuade their audience if they have these forms at their disposal, and know the right times and places to use them.  

Envision Chapter 1 Journal

Chapter 1 in Envision talks all about how to recognize, and effectively analyze rhetoric.  It is easy to recognize rhetoric because its everywhere.   Living on a college campus, you will see rhetorical ads, pictures, comics, and statements everywhere you go.  They are meant to convince you to buy certain items, join certain clubs, or vote for certain people.  Anywhere you go, you can almost guarantee that there will be something or someone trying to convince you think a certain way.  Recognizing rhetoric is the easy part. 

Analyzing rhetoric is easy enough to a certain degree.  Most people have probably analyzed rhetoric in their minds without even realizing it.  When you are reading the newspaper and you come across a political cartoon, you read it, and either agree with it, or disagree with it.  The artist may have used a number of rhetorical strategies to convince the reader; some obvious, and some not as obvious.  In your mind, without even noticing it, you may pick apart the aspects of the cartoon to see how the artist convinced you to think a certain way—or you may see right through the artist’s effort and think the opposite way. 

We are all surrounded by different forms of rhetoric in our everyday lives,  and I believe that we all possess the ability to analyze it in our subconscious minds.  Chapter one in Envision teaches us to better recognize rhetoric when we see it, and to consciously take it apart and analyze each aspect that the author or artist uses to persuade us.