Envision Chapter One

This chapter is mainly about the very foundation of this English course. It talks about analyzing texts rhetorically and composing an argument about the text. It explains that rhetoric has been around for a very long time and is used in almost every bit of advertising made nowadays. That is the interesting part for me. I never realized how complex advertising could be. I just thought the companies would try to convince you their product was great in order to get you to buy it, but there is a lot more to it than that.

According to this chapter, rhetoric is a strategy used in almost everything. It is used in billboards with upcoming events, tv shows, political cartoons, posters, and even in presentations from students in our class. The slightest detail can change the aura of the piece. That little change can make someone's mind up about how they feel about the piece. I think rhetoric is interesting because it breaks down something so far, such as how to make someone's mind about that thing, and its process can be very complex.

Envision Chapter Two

This chapter expands on what I found interesting about the first chapter. It explains how advertisments implement rhetoric strategies. There are many strategies listed in this chapter, and it explains how all of them effect people looking at the advertisments. Even something as simple as the definition is considered a rhetorical strategy. Just clarifying what you are advertising can make the difference in whether or not someone decides to buy your product or not.
Even though there are a lot of different strategies, they can all be catagorized into three different groups. These groups, Pathos, Logos, and Ethos, are related to every kind of rhetorical strategy. Every strategy tries to appeal to the viewer somehow and these three groups represent how to reach someone in different ways including: emotionally, logically, or through reason. It is astounding how the millions of ads in the world can all have their strategies placed in a few mere catagories.

Envision Chapter Three

Invention, arrangement, style, memory, delivery. These ideas are the basis for chapter three. The five catagories, also known as the canons of rhetoric, are all used when composing an argument. An argument is like advertising because you are trying to convince someone of something. If all the canons are used throughout the argument successfully, then the argument is likely to be very convincing.
This chapter goes on to explain each of the canons individually, but the part about the canons that I found most interesting is that they have been used since Ancient Greece. That means that the canons have been used for over two thousand years! If those people could produce a compelling argument with their limited resources, then it should be fairly easy for people to do so today. Maybe that is one of the reasons why there are so many divorces today.
I also found it interesing that the canon style, which describes how someone expresses their ideas to their audience, could effect writing as much as a presentation. In fact, I have found that using style while writing your argument can be a very effective tool.

Envison Chapter Nine

This whole chapter is dedicated to explaining how to produce and how to deliver presentations. I absolutely hate giving speeches in front of people. No matter how many presentations I have already given in my life, I still dread them from the time I am given the task until I am done. However, I do think that I have improved upon my presentation skills, and I think that the ideas from this chapter will allow me to improve further.

There are a lot of examples of well-known speakers throughout this chapter. I do not think I will ever become even close to their level of expertise, but I can take a couple ideas from each of them and hopefully implement them in my own presentations.

The other part of this chapter that I find useful is its ideas on how to transform research into a speech or presentation. I have had to do this from time to time but this chapter could help me do it more effectively.

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.

Chapter 9

This week’s chapter was called Delivering Presentations in Envision. After reading the title of the chapter I instantly thought, Well this my weakest and most dreaded topic in English. Speeches, or just standing in front of crowd of people in general, I instantly freeze. I would have to agree with the statistic that states that most people would die than have to get up in front of a group of people and speak. So as you might be able to tell I have some trouble in this area. That’s probably why I found this chapter a little more interesting than the last two. I have to admit that telling me to look to Obama and other orators as models was weak advice. I did find it interesting how they used Steve Jobs as an example, I always thought it would be so hard to get up during the presentations and not mess up. I did start to think about the various strategies that Steve Jobs used at Mac World each year; maybe his turtleneck was part of his strategy. I liked how the concepts “audience”, “purpose”, and “persona”. I never even thought about those concepts having anything to do with speech. I don’t mind writing speeches or papers, but when it comes to speaking them I’ve always been subpar. I guess this chapter challenged me to form my own strategy. I believe that giving a speech verbally connects more to listeners because the tone of voice, followed by body language, conveys a deeper message to the audience. While I may not be the greatest speaker there is always time to improve.