Learning Log - Unit 1

Day 1: January 25, 2021

“Language Matters: A Rhetorical Look at Writing” by Christ Blankenship and Justin Jory

1. “The fact that language is generative is why it’s worth paying attention to; it’s a

resource we can use to do things, make things, and be things in the world.”

2. “Thinking rhetorically about audience, purpose, and context can give us further

insight into this rhetorical problem.”

3. Grammar is part of our everyday lives. Now more than ever, we are competitive

human beings. We are constantly having to make decisions and wanting people

to choose us. A job description can sound exciting thanks to grammar but can

also sound miserable. A product description can make someone want to buy it or

never want to. Life is all about grammar in the smallest of ways.

4. Gramma is a skill you constantly have to learn and practice. Rhetoric helps ease

that process. Learning grammar can help us understand the complexity of

language and can help further our communication skills.

Day 2: January 27, 2021

“Genre in the Wild--Understanding Genre Within Rhetorical (Eco)Systems” by Lisa

Bickmore

1. “The genre is built into the writing situation—when you’re at home in a writing
 situation, the genre is simply part of your accustomed toolset, and you know very

well which tool to use. “

2. “When a writer decides or intuits that a particular genre is called for by the

situation, he or she takes up the genre and uses it to frame a written response to

the situation.”

3. I don’t believe genre makes our writing robotic whatsoever. I think genre creates

a path for our writing. I also believe genre helps the right audience find our

writing. Choosing a genre can help you write your piece. There are many ways to

differentiate your writing and genre doesn’t hold you back.

Day 3: February 1, 2021

“Writing for Community Change” – Elisa Stone

1. “Students can combine service and learning to gain valuable skills that will make

them more employable, help them have an impact, and come away with a sense

of satisfaction knowing they truly helped someone who needed them.”

2. “Hart Research Associates indicated they would be more likely to hire a recent

graduate who has completed various types of “applied and engaged learning

experiences—such as a comprehensive senior project, a collaborative research

project, a field-based project with people from other backgrounds, or a

community-based or service-learning project.”

3. If money and time were not an issue I would like to go to Colombia and help

further their education system. Colombia is very dear to my heart since I grew up

there. While living in Colombia, I was very privileged. Although I had a great
 education I saw how others around me did not. My grandma is a teacher in a

very small town and I would like to help her. They do not have the funds for many

things that we take for granted. A good education can help young students

become successful in the future.

Day 4: February 3, 2021

“The Elizabeth Smart Case: A Study in Narrativized News” Clint Johnson

1. “Sadly, many such cases suffer from few developments and whisper into nothing,

with no resolution whatsoever to comfort grieving families.”

2. “This same story dynamic is a fundamental component of any method we use to

understand our world: from journalism to gossip, in history and religion.”

3. I believe this story is so iconic because we often hear of kidnappings but rarely

hear of the kidnapped actually escaping. The plot was set like a movie scene.

There was a villain, a hero, and a victim. Although devasting, the audience found

it fascinating and it went viral.

Day 5: February 8, 2021

“Making Choices in Writing: Decisions / Decisions” Jessie Szalay

1. “By writing, you are entering into a conversation with your readers, with others

who have written about the topic, and others who know and/or care about it.”

2. “When we write, we start out in one place. But as we write, we return to the

problems, ideas, or questions that inspired us to write in the first place. When we
 come back, we’re not the same person we were when we first chose a topic, and

we’re not in exactly the same place. We’ve grown.”

3. The first strategic choice I’ll be using is word choice. I believe the words we use

can make or break our sentences. It makes our writing exciting or

underwhelming. I will create some sort of survey to not only talk about my opinion

but also captivate the opinion of my peers. Since this is going to my principal I

will also use personal experiences that I know he has witnessed to engage him

more. I would also like to cater to my audience. In no way do I want him to feel

attacked I just want to feel heard. I will lastly have a call to action so it is not just

me telling the principal what he has done wrong but rather what he can to do to

fix it.

Day 6: February 10, 2021

“Writing Is Recursive” Chris Blankenship

1. “It’s also why college writing teachers often emphasize the idea of process in

their classes in addition to evaluating final products.”

2. “Although your future professors, bosses, co-workers, clients, and patients may

only see the final product, mastering a complex, recursive writing process will

help you to create effective texts for any situation you encounter.”

3. I would say my weakness is definitely the revision. I will write the last sentence of

my essay and automatically turn it in. I’m so tired of seeing my text over and over

again that the last thing I want to do is re-read the essay. I find that this is often

because I’m in a hurry but I have found that when I do revise my essay I find silly
 mistakes and am able to fix them and eventually get a better grade on my essay.

Day 7: February 16, 2021

“Revision Is Rewriting: That Is All” Lisa Bickmore

1. “If I’m willing to dive in, look at the connections (or lack thereof), the order (or

patent absence of it), the words (imprecise, not quite right), and hack away, I

might find myself with a better draft at the end.”

2. “There’s not one writing process, there are many. Pretending that there’s one

standard may not be particularly helpful.”

3. Step away, get feedback- You may feel exhausted after spending hours on an

essay. Take a break from your writing, look at something else even if it just for a

minute. Then seek feedback. While getting feedback you will get a fresh new

view of your writing.

4. Return to Reading Material- When stuck on a question, a simple solution is

seeing how others answered them. You can read a piece alike yours and see

how they outlined their writings. You can gather inspiration and answers from

them without plagiarising.