Review of Week 7 and Preview of Week 8

Week 7

[by Makenna]

On Tuesday, Professor Seaman started class by saying comments on our drafts were on OAKS. She also recommended going to the writing lab to seek help to revise our drafts.

We then went on to discuss “Picturing Disaster” from Acting Out on pages 169-175.  We began our discussion with the question- “is there anything that isn’t specifically selected for you?” The discussion started to brew- some people said human behavior isn’t always conscious about it, but people have a way of being selected. Culture can sometimes be crafted, but Kathryn argued that some events can’t be selected rather that we experience.

Meredith goes on to say that nature can’t be selected, rather experience as well.

We end the discussion after many opinions, concluding that we are not completely guided by what we see. Every time we see an image, a slight bias or opinion is present whether we realize it or not.

We then went on to discuss the images of Katrina. The initial purpose was to warn people and reinforce that it is coming right at us and that it is not anyone’s fault. Slant or bias is a purpose or intent. Bloggers respond to captions of the pictures and fed into possible racial biases. Professor Seaman then asked the class what we thought these bloggers’ views were.

The bloggers argue that it isn’t socially beneficial because it is racist. Bloggers are also bias, arguing that the media should be honest, loyal, but other people would argue that media would be there just to entertain and make money.

We also talked about the differences between human interest and hardcore news. We discussed Katrina again and used the celebrities making it a human interest story into hardcore news as an example. Professor Seaman explained that the kind of treatment affects the kind of response it gets. If we no longer get caught up in the overall response, we can get caught up in the emotional response.

We also discussed a cartoon with the presidential staff during the time of Katrina. It suggests that the government is to blame for Katrina and also explains that it doesn’t seem to affect them whatsoever.

Then we switched gears and discussed our other assigned reading: “Wearing Your Identity on Your Sleeve” on page 158. We started with comparing pictures of the women walking in the 50’s to the typical picture of our society now. We talked about trends and how we are limited to what we are allowed to wear. By comparing the two eras, we realize that not that much has truly changed.

With about 30 minutes left of class, we then switched to reading sample essays to help guide us on our revisions for Project 2. We read 2 example essays from peers in our class and analyzed them and sorted out what they could have done differently or celebrated what they said perfectly. It was a great way to help us on how to revise our papers for Project 2.

Preview of Week 8

[by Dr. Seaman]

On Tuesday, we will begin work on the assignment that will fill the rest of the semester for us. During Fourth Hour, we will go over the assignment sheet for Projects 3, 4a, and 4b. Then you will get started on Project 3, which is a group assignment, which you will work on during Fourth Hour and then will meet with me to discuss during Fourth Hour after Spring Break next week.

During our regular class time Tuesday, we will shift from “How We Watch” to “How We Learn,” where we will spend the rest of the semester. This segment will include, along with what we read in Acting Out Culture, two films that address learning from different angles: the French film The Class and the American movie Freedom Writers. Tuesday’s discussion will address questions Miller raises for us about traditional education in the US, in his introduction, and then Kohn’s provocative essay in which he argues that grades in K-12 (and beyond) are not only not helpful, they’re actually damaging and limit student learning. We will consider his essay as an example of a researched argument, which is what you will be working on in Projects 3, 4a, and 4b.

The reading for Thursday’s class, the last before Spring Break, will be light: we will discuss “Putting the pieces together” based on They Say / I Say, pages 105-120. Further, we will cover, in light of your upcoming work on Project 3-4, “Generating a researched argument topic.” We may discuss sample Project 2 Revisions, though that is more likely to happen the first day back after Break.