I’ve been using these three readings in my class and I thought others might find them interesting in discussions on metaphors (and a range of other topics on language use). I think these are applicable in a lot of the different 309s (and 306s), not just mine on language and identity. And these readings have generated lots of interesting discussion in my class. You may already have come across these, but if not take a look. These can also serve as a spring board for evaluating the way language is being used with respect to other current events.

Right now, I'm teaching a first-year writing class that is affiliated with an interdisciplinary first-year seminar in environmental science. Looking for articles to use in class, I came across this website http://www.counterbalance.net/. I haven't reviewed it in great detail but it seems like a good place to look for academic yet accessible conversations about interesting, contemporary issues.

I am currently evaluating rhetoric textbooks, handbooks, and readers for my class next year, and I realized how the best information tends to come from fellow graduate students, normally in random, informal conversations. It would be useful to collect this practitioner lore in one place where we can all access it. So, please submit your reviews of rhetoric handbooks here!

I'm currently reading Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition (2004) by Wysocki, Johnson-Eilola, Selfe, and Sirc.

It's an interesting book for anyone who teaches composition because each chapter offers possible assignments that fit various theoretical discussions.

Considering the way we're teaching first-year writing (RHE 306) at UT, one assignment in particular jumped out at me. It's called "Mapping Readings," and it fits really nicely with what we do in the first unit of RHE 306. For those not familiar, the first unit is about "mapping" a controversy. This means figuring out the territory that you as a student/scholar are about to enter into. Who's arguing? Why? What's at stake for these different people/groups? Wysocki's mapping assignment actually has students create a map "using any materials." She lays out the goals of the assignment:

I always assumed that being an English Graduate Student meant that I was going to sit around (under a tree, or at a coffeeshop, or in a bar) talking to other people about books. Wow, does that not really happen. I don't ever have a sense of what anyone else reads.

But I'm curious. And I'm hoping people might tell me here--especially when I ask the question this way: What is your dream text to teach? This can be a quick answer--just a title, or you can feel free to elaborate. Have you ever taught a dream text? Was it a good experience, or did it backfire? You know, that kind of thing.

While browsing wikipedia, I ran into the section on Wikibooks. These are books/textbooks on various topics. And, of course, they are edited on the wiki format. Check out the Composition Wikibook or the one on literary criticism. I wonder if these would be useful in the classroom. I also wonder if a good classroom exercise might be for students to write a section/chapter of one of these books.

General question, possibly with an obvious answer:

Do people have students read transcripts from court cases? Like, I'm thinking maybe in 306 this year they could read parts of Eldred v. Ashcroft, etc. I don't really see any problems with this, but I've never heard anyone mention that they do this.

For those who haven't heard, Mel Gibson recently removed any doubt about his anti-semitism. Upon being pulled over for drunk driving, Gibson let loose with a tirade of anti-semitic remarks including: "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."

Thanks to Jon Stewart, we can take special note about how this story gets talked about by bloggers and news organizations. Check out Stewart's breakdown of the news coverage of Gibson. As Stewart shows, it seems news organizations rely on clips of Gibson's films when talking about his reprehensible real life activities. Why show clips of Lethal Weapon when talking about this story?

Brian Bremen forwarded this on. It's Alan Liu's suggestion for a wikipedia policy for the classroom. It's not brand new - it was posted on Kairosnews about a month ago. We've had conversations on the blog in the past about calling certain sources off-limits, such as the dictionary. Liu doesn't make it off-limits, but he makes it clear what wikipedia is for:

http://kairosnews.org/developing-a-wikipedia-research-policy

[X-posted]

Have you seen An Inconvenient Truth? I just heard a story on All Things Considered discussing this new documentary featuring Al Gore's global warming lecture-like riff. ATC's host Michele Norris set the stage for opposing Gore's “showmanship” to the “truth” or “science” of his lecture. Certainly, Gore’s presentation has a stylistic or performative element; some people have even wondered where this Al Gore was during the 2000 presidential campaign. But why must the performative be separated from the factual? Doesn’t this precisely reduplicate the misleading binary that has been with us at least since Plato?