Effective Discussion, Engaging With Readings

1. Effective Discussion, Engaging With Readings “Mickey Mouse as a Cultural Icon”

2. Open “Emailing Your Professor” • Also open and review “Successful Writers”

3. Social Media and Writing • What are some examples of social media sites? • Facebook • Instagram • Twitter • MySpace (Hahaha… right, Ms.Lawson…. Like anyone USES MySpace anymore…) • Tumblr • Vine • Various other blogging platforms (Wordpress, blogger, livejournal, etc.) • Message boards • Any other examples…?

4. What Social Media writing have YOU done lately? • Think back over the past week. Have you done any social media writing? • Have you read any pieces of social media writing? If so, what did you read/write? • My list might look something like this…. • Posted review of latest book I finished on goodreads • Responded to discussion of favorite Game of Thrones character on Tumblr • Posted the thrown together roast recipe I invented the other night on livejournal • Congratulated college room mate on new job on facebook.

5. Can Social Media help us with Academic Writing? • A arguable claim about Social Media Writing: • “The writing many of us do every day, whether on the internet or in some other informal setting, can prepare us for the work of academic writing.” • Do you AGREE or DISAGREE with the claim above? • Can you think of at least two point to support this claim? • Can you think of at least two points against it?

6. What can social media teach us about writing? • The writing we do is a representation of ourselves. • Just because we are using academic conventions (rules and accepted ways of writing) doesn’t mean that the writing should not express the writer’s individuality. • In our first project, we will be focusing on narrative writing, which is obvious form of self-representative writing, but all writing can be seen as representing the self, and by extension, the culture and time it was written in.

7. What does social media teach us about writing? • All writing needs to connect to (and know) it’s audience. • Ask questions and offer information that will be useful and relevant to your readers. • All writing needs to provide an appropriate amount of context. • Context is background information needed to understand what you are writing. • If you know your audience doesn’t need much context, you can leave it out, but if your audience might be unfamiliar with your topic, you will need to give them enough background information that they will be able to understand your points.

8. For example, what background information would be needed to understand the following tweet as evidence for racism in pop culture?

9. What does social media teach us about writing? • Culture defines writing. • Organization is important. • Context is important • Images can be an important rhetorical tool. • Information is worth being shared. • Sources should be cited.

10. What is “Academic Writing”? • Academic writing follows a set of conventions (remember, those are rules/expectations your readers will have of your writing in an academic setting), and it is appropriate for a school or research setting. • Academic writing is a WAY of writing, and is not limited to certain subjects or topics.

12. Common problems when transitioning to Academic Writing: • Not having a clear, explicit claim right from the start. • Example: “Many people everywhere are involved with pop culture.” • What is the problem with this sentence as a thesis for an academic essay? • In order to make a claim, you have to know what you think. In order to know what you think, you have to be familiar with the topic.

13. Common Problems in Academic Writing: • Lack of organization. • Otherwise known as “I have a lot of research and ideas, but I don’t know how to DO ANYTHING with them.” • Decide where to put your most convincing ideas. Would they be more effective first, or last? • Due to copy/paste, the standards for organized writing have increased. • Decide which ideas need to be explained before introducing other, more complicated ideas. • Think of your paragraphs as building blocks. You can rearrange them, move them around until you find an arrangement you like that also achieves your purpose. • “With great power, comes great responsibility” 

14. Common problems in Academic Writing • Lots of what other people say, not enough of what you think. • Learning to write in an academic way is a balancing act. • On the one hand, you are expected to do research and refer to what others say about a topic. • On the other hand, you are expected to offer your own responses to what others have already said. • Too much of others’ writing and not enough of yours is inappropriate, but too little research (others’ ideas) will make it look like you haven’t done your homework on the topic. • If you are wondering whether you got this balance right, ask. I’d be happy to work with you.

15. Break Time! • Please return in 15-20 minutes

16. Encouraging Effective Class Discussion • Have respect for your classmates, even when you disagree with their ideas. • Build our class’s understanding of the topic at hand by… • Adding an additional point or example to what someone else has said. • Connecting two ideas that have been discussed separately. • Challenging what someone else has said by countering his or her points. • Ground your discussion of a text by quoting specific, relevant passages of the articles we read.

17. Discussion: Small Groups to Whole Class • Often, when we do class discussion, I will have you brainstorm and talk about the topics in small groups before moving the discussion back to the whole class. • You can elect –or volunteer– a representative of your group to share the ideas, issues, and answers to questions that your group discussed with the wider class and myself. • Although not everyone will be comfortable talking in front of large groups, I do want everyone to try to contribute something. All opinions and perspectives hvae value! • Also, if you aren’t sure what to say ask questions! Sometime the best thing a group member can do is ask a classmate to clarify or further explain their perspective or point!

18. Class Discussion of “Pop Culture: An Overview” • What, according to the author (Delaney), is the purpose of popular culture? • What does it do for us as a society? • Do you agree with his observations? • How does popular culture help people to create identity? • What is the connection between pop culture, social media, and mass media?

19. Class Discussion of “Pop Culture: An Overview” • Both “folk” and “popular” culture are considered to be “of the people,” so what is the difference between “folk culture” and “popular culture”? Have you noticed anything from “folk culture” making its way into “popular culture”? • How has the movement of people from small, isolated communities into heterogeneous cities encouraged the growth of popular culture? • How does popular culture promote both individualism and group identity?

20. Preparing to Discuss the “Mickey Mouse” Essay • Due to some problems with the bookstore, we are going to save our full discussion of this essay for • Get in small groups. For a few minutes, do some pre-writing about the following question: • What do you think about Mickey Mouse and the Disney company as “cultural icons”? Do you have childhood memories of their films or products? • When you finish writing, share your thoughts with your small group: • How much of an impact does Disney seem to have on our culture/identities? • Why or why not?

21. “Mickey Mouse as a Cultural Icon” • What do you think that the popularity of Disney tells us about ourselves? (Remember, students of pop culture believe that the things that we collectively make popular reveal what we value/desire.) • What do you think of the criticisms that the author discusses? • What concerns does the author seem to have about Disney? (This is different from the concerns he discusses that other people have.)

22. Disney and Diversity • One of the criticisms of Disney that Forbes discusses is the fact that it has, historically, tended to reflect a predominantly white, middle class world view. While Disney has certainly recently attempted to tell stories about characters who do not reflect this world view, the criticism remains. • Questions to Consider: • What do you think of this criticism? • If it’s true, why might it matter? To WHOM might it matter? • How much responsibility does any writer/producer of media have to present a diverse, well-developed cast of characters? • And does Disney, because it is so powerful and influential, have more of a responsibility than most companies?

23. Brainstorming and Freewriting • Can you think of any aspect of pop culture (remember this has a very broad definition) that has had an influence on you, or an impact or your identity? • how you think about yourself, how you think about the world around you? • how you express yourself, and interact with people? • Tell me about it. (don’t worry, I don’t judge)

24. Homework For Next Week Week 3 – Thursday, September 12In-Class Topics: Pop Culture and the Self, Assign Essay #1, Brainstorming for Essay #1 Due:  • Reading MOA: “Define ‘American’” intro p.43-44 AND “Do I Look Like Public Enemy Number One?” p.45 • As usual, answer 1 of the Questions after “Do I Look Like Public Enemy Number One?” p. 49 *Are you registered for MyWritingLab? Do sections “The Topic Sentence” and “Developing and Organizing a Paragraph” in module “The Craft of Writing”