Hey y'all. How are you doing with your visual rhetorical analysis? I felt SO BAD for not being able to be in class today, because I felt like you all needed that time to help each other out, and that you might be frustrated with this assignment. I had some good ideas to help you.
Before I go on, full disclosure: I took a vicodin a few minutes ago, so before it hits, I wanted to touch base with you. I'm guessing the effects of it will be obvious if I write too long...
I was laying on a hospital bed today at 2:30, telling a friend how I needed to be there in class with you guys, and what we wre supposed to talk about today. She stopped me and said, "Ummm, dear, you're waiting to find out if you're going to have an unexpected major surgery and you're worried about your students???"
Well, ummm DUH! Because you all try hard for me, and if I can't be there to give you what you need, I'm not being there for you and that's not okay with me.
Without going all TMI, the good news is I'm going to live...as far as we know. The bad news is I might end up with a major surgery in the next week to a month that will keep me out of the classroom for a week or two. During that time you might have to teach another teacher how to have fun, to cuss, to sit on the desk. :-D I don't know anything for sure, except that I look forward to finishing our class together. You might have a sub as early as Friday, but I won't know anything until tomorrow. If you do, just roll with the changes, know they are temporary, and that even if I have to be recovering for a bit, I'll still be available online and be grading your papers. Okay?
SUGGESTIONS FOR HOW TO WRITE YOUR VISUAL RHETORICAL ANALYSIS
For those of you who want more structure, think about this:
You can think of what you write about your visual as a report. Its parts would be: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion.
The logic of the written part of the visual rhet analysis is that you need to tell us what methods you used to analyze your visual. There are many ways you can do that. It can be fun! For example, you could look at the visual and divide it into major components. WHat are they? There are tons!
Color could be one. What does color mean in your profession? In our culture at large? Like red, its a warning, right? How is red used well or badly in your visual? What about green? Others?
Shapes could be another one.
Styles could be another--like way back in the good ol' days, the dude who first started using data displays created them using watercolors because watercolors were esteemed in that culture as high class and totally legit. What can you find in your visual that is like that? We'd call that "borrowing ethos." Does the visual incorporate something that is already respected in your field, to cause people to see it and instantly add credibility? (like the ISU logo--wherever you see it you know this is a university-backed thing so it's to be trusted, right?)
What about genres? Does your visual look like a cartoon? why? What audience would that appeal to? Why is that important? Does it have to be funny content? Will people take ideas seriously if they are displayed as cartoons?
What other pieces of genres can you find in your visual? Show it to us. Describe it. Tell us what it means.
the bottom line is that you are reporting on your findings. Hear that? It's important! Not reporting on the piece itself like the reports you used to write in high school, but reporting to us your process of analysis, your findings, the methods of how you came to those conclusions. Don't fear being wrong. Just use your ability to do rhetorical analysis!
Alright, I'm fading here. And no i"m nog toing to re-read and fix stuff, because I'll make it worse now that the medicine is working. Yep, your teacher does bad writing too. Shitty first drafts, people, they are okay. Work on yours more. We'll talk about them in class on Friday, before we tell stories, of course!
Have a good evening. I really hope to see you in class Friday. Teaching you all makes my day, it really does.
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