Unit Reflection #2

What even is a rhetorical analysis? Why are we doing this? Can I just not? All are thoughts I was thinking with the introduction of this unit. We did rhetorical papers in high school, but all I remember is that a “writer does not use ethos/pathos/logos, the writer appeals to ethos/pathos/logos” (random AP teacher junior year). Can I write a paper on uses vs. appeals to? How do I even choice a column? What the heck Mrs. B.

Picking an article was the hardest part. To find something you were interested in, written in a way that you could critique, and somewhat enjoyed was not an easy task. I really did not want to do anything on the election so that narrowed my choices down quite a bit. Once I picked my article I become somewhat immersed into it. My article was about what the human population was doing to our Earth. Friedman argued that without drastic action, and soon, the world as we know it will cease to exist. I started pointing out things in my everyday life that related to the article: the gas you see come out of the exhaust of the OUT busses, plastic in the trash can instead of the recycle bin, and news about another endangered species getting closer to extinction.  Unfortunately, the analysis had to be on “rhetoric”… whatever that is.

Rhetoric. The more you say it, the weirder it sounds. Regardless, I still had no idea what it meant. Ethos, pathos, and logos are words I have heard time and time again, but it is so hard to remember which one is which. I finally got it drilled into my head that ethos is credibility, logos is logic, and pathos is emotions. I always thought my problem was mixing them up, but even when I knew which was which, it was sometimes still hard to distinguish if the writer was using ethos or logos. Even after distinguishing between different rhetoric techniques it still became difficult to add in the commentary part of the paper. What do I say? Comment on what? He’s the writer, not me. I was not feeling confident at all in the paper, but the post review email made me feel much better and give me the strength to finish strong. Or at least I hope it was strong…

I think the two most helpful parts of the unit were the introduction gallery walk and an in depth editing session with my sister. I did not get too much feedback from peers, but reading other students’ papers really helped me. I saw a lot of techniques that I liked and would not have thought of. The weekend before the paper was due, I went to my sister’s house and she ripped it apart. I figured the process would be discouraging, but instead it was uplifting because I felt the progress we were making.

All in all I actually really enjoyed the unit. I feel now when I read articles I can look at it in a more academic way and critique it in a more profession and scholarly manner. And I feel like “claim -> evidence -> commentary “ will be forever imprinted into my brain.

;aksdjvn

I hate when all people comment on my stuff is “this is good” “nothing is wrong with it” I DON’T BELIEVE YOU

Anyways, I liked the way Solomon introduced his paper with an outside quote that related to the column.

I think I need to build more ethos for Friedman that is relevant to this particular column.

Also the comments on NYT are super helpful and I am going to use them to continue the paper.

Synthesizing Life

At the beginning of this unit I was confused about the term “synthesis”. I had never really heard it before, or maybe I did, but didn’t know what it meant so I just breezed over it. I came to learn the word to mean connecting two pieces of literature in a way that not only compares, but explains the significance of the comparison. Later we learned, we could relate an article with a video. Pretty cool. But last week I learned I could relate an article, or video, with my life. I began to synthesis the passing of my grandmother with the passing of Frank’s dad, even though that was never an assignment. I saw things differently and used Frank’s struggle with identity after the loss of his parents to help me with my own personal struggles. I’ve never met Frank Snake Church, but if I did tomorrow, I would thank him for helping me cope with my current family situation.

To be honest, I was getting annoyed at the beginning of the unit with the kernel essays. It crossed my mind to drop out of college once or twice. But, when it came time to write the final paper, it became so clear why we did all the kernel essays. I would say writing those were the most helpful in preparing me for the turning in of my synthesis paper. Without those I feel like I would have been lost on where to even start my paper.

I didn’t really have a writing partner due to being absent from class, but I used Alexie as a writing partner and reviewed his work to better mine. When Alexie became too silent (get it? because books can’t talk), Kaitlin helped me a lot in the peer review. I feel she wasn’t totally harsh enough however, which was good for my self esteem, but I’m not sure as good for my paper. Also, having a teacher that cared enough to go on my google doc and make comments and help me better my paper meant the world to me. I loved being reassured I was on the right path, but being pushed to dig a little deeper.

Take aways? Assignments have value that you may not see right away, but will reveal themselves eventually. The power of peer editing is something not to be taken lightly as it could lead to something wonderful. Turns out that what we learn in college, really does have real life appeal. Don’t take anything for granted. Remember to tell your loved ones you love them, no matter how much you think they already know, because you never know when you won’t be able to anymore. But some of these may not be writing related…..