Sunday, February 27, 2011

Update, Feb. 27, 2011

  • Steve Amidon
    OK team--because of various sicknesses, the ice, the roads tonight, midsemester malaise--I'm canceling class tonight. Go ahead and do the reading and writing for next week per the syllabus. We will move the midterm back one week. If you want, send me your papers which were due tonight by e-mail.
      • Melissa Hirsch Did you have any figures/tropes for us to post on for Monday?
        Friday at 10:29am ·
      • Carrie Brooks dont give him any ideas melissa
        17 hours ago ·
      • Steve Amidon No-nothing--just the assignment from the book. We'll concentrate on the midterm review.
        a few seconds ago ·
  • OLDER POSTS
  • Ryan Quandt
    Irony: "Who lost the remote!?!?... Did you check your pocket?..."
    I guess I lost it."
    Parolipsis: You don't want to know what I saw last night, but your girlfriend's hair looked really cute.
    Anadiplosis: It is by thought that we decide, by decision that we become impassioned, by passion that we act and it is our actions that we are judged by.
  • Melissa Hirsch
    Second: example of paralipsis
    Watch the whole thing -- it made me laugh! :)
    maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com
    Lots of examples here, but I think this demonstrates it well:
  • Martha Eagleson
    Irony: She was ignored by her loved ones.

    Paralipsis: I can't tell you my daughter's big secret, but I can tell you that I'm going to be an awesome grandma. (var. from "Steel Magnolias")

    Anadiplosis #1: I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. (Paul Atreides - "Dune")

    Anadiplosis #2: It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains. The stains become a warning. It is my will along I set my mind in motion. (Mentat Mantra - "Dune")
  • Deakin Chipps
    Irony: "I'm aware of the irony of appearing on TV in order to decry it."

    Paralipsis: "I know who did it, but I won't mention Bill's name."

    Anadiplosis: "When I give I give myself." (Whitman)
  • Melissa Hirsch
    Another song about irony. Go ahead Shem Hinkle, and make fun of my Dave Matthews selection. :) Couldn't help it.
    www.youtube.com
    dave matthews band funny the way it is with lyrics. song requests are accepted in the comments. this is my third lyrics video.
      • Shem Hinkle I actually don't mind Dave Matthew's Band. In fact, I burned the full discography for Amber and have it on my ipod still.
        February 20 at 10:22pm ·
      • Melissa Hirsch Oh good! I thought it was you who had teased me before... must have been someone else. :) Ha!
        February 21 at 7:08am ·
  • Shem Hinkle
    Irony: The sharpest tools get more blunt the more you use them.

    I found this and thought I would share... "Is it ironic that a website devoted to educating the public on the proper use of irony is full of examples the readers deem ironic, but has reached the verdict on nearly all of them that the examples are "not ironic"... or better stated, is it ironic that I must wait to see the verdict on this example to figure out if I know the definition of irony based on this website?..." (google site)

    Paralipsis: I don't mean to sound harsh, but you have completely and utterly screwed things up!

    Anadiplosis: "Information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, wisdom is not truth, truth is not beauty, beauty is not love, love is not music and music is the best." — Frank Zappa
  • Matthew Willits
    Irony: "I'm not even angry.
    I'm being so sincere right now.
    Even though you broke my heart.
    And killed me." (lyrics to "Still Alive" from Portal)

    Paralipsis: "I'm not saying I don't trust you, but I don't." (Charlie Sheen, Hot Shots! Part Deux)

    Anadiplosis: "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." (Yoda)
      • Leigh Yerkes ‎"No more training do you require. Already know you that which you need."
        February 21 at 12:38am ·
  • Melissa Hirsch
    3rd: IRONY.
    Ah, Miranda... what goes around, comes around. :)
    www.youtube.com
    Music video by Miranda Lambert performing White Liar. (C) 2009 Sony Music Entertainment YouTube view counts pre-VEVO: 152
  • Melissa Hirsch
    I'm going to my posts a little different this week. I love music and have been listening to it a lot over the past few days while hanging out with my boys and writing some poetry for class. So -- I'm going ot use all musical examples. :)

    First:

    Anadiplosis: from the lyrics from the Jason Mraz song “Life is Wonderful”...

    “It takes a crane to build a crane, It takes two floors to make a story, It takes an egg to make a hen, It takes a hen to make an egg, There is no end to what I’m saying”
  • Tricia Day
    Ironic: the irritated couple sat down to have a friendly argument

    Paralipsis: My teenage daughters often use the rhetoric tool of paralipsis- Mom wait before you say no. . . . (I will promise to clean my room or I promise I will never do that again.)

    Anadipolsis: My conscience hath a thousand several tongues
    and every tongue brings in a several tale
    and every tale condemns me for a villian.
    - Shakespeare Richard III
  • Carrie Brooks
    Irony:as clear as mud
    Paralipsis: Not to mention her family, of course.
    Anadiplosis: "I am Sam, Sam I am." (Dr. Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham)
  • Andrew N Johnson
    IRONY: Women seem to like me more when I am unavailable.
    PARALIPSIS: I don't want to give away the ending, in case you may want to watch the show sometime in the future, especially if you like happy endings...
    ANADIPLOSIS: Take Coliseum to State, State to Reed, and Reed to Lake.
  • Leigh Yerkes
    Irony: My attempts at relaxation are often accompanied by the dulcet tones of my complaining teenagers.

    Paralipsis: I don't like to discuss my political opinions on Facebook; like the one I have regarding the numb-nuts at the State House and some of their proposals affecting the Indiana educational systems.

    Anadiplosis: With the toe bone connected to the foot bone, and the foot bone connected to the ankle bone, and ankle bone connected to the leg bone. Oh mercy how they scare! ~ James Weldon Johnson, "Dem Dry Bones"
  • Steve Amidon
    I posted this to my writing instructors this week. I think it touches on many of the subjects we've covered in this course.

    Some of you know I've been meeting monthly with the writing directors of all of the IU campuses. We've been discussing the first year course, trying to identify the common ground. As we've centered on the moves we want first year writers to make, I've though hard about our ENG-W131 course. Here are my thoughts--not policy, not the view of the composition committee--just my thoughts. I'd welcome your comments.

    My view of the course is that it should start with a reflection of some kind, where the students can position themselves in relation to the subject of writing, and the instructor can begin to evaluate their student's individual needs. Many instructors find a memoir of some kind, or a literacy narrative as a good place to start.

    The next move the course makes is into analysis and engagement with a complex nonfiction text. One cannot become a strong writer without becoming a strong reader. I personally think the text should be non-fiction, and it could be an assigned reading, or students could choose. I like to avoid scholarly articles here, because scholarly research is the focus of W233, and many W233 instructors have their students analyze scholarly articles. I know our move away from the scholarly research paper in W131 has caused some controversy, but what I usually observed in student research papers was simply a lot of library research, in the form of summary, quotations, and paraphrase, connected with transitions and some meagre arguments. In my view, our decision to focus on analysis and argument in W131 is because we felt students needed to be able to achieve competence in these areas before even being introduced to scholarly research. This why the rhetorical analysis is a required paper for all W131 classes.

    The move into argument is a complex one. I know some people think argument is about taking a position and supporting it with expert testimony. Others think it is about formal logic--the enthymeme--or about Toulmin's theories.

    My own view is that true argument is less about these moves (I rarely see Toulmin, or formal logic anywhere other than academic papers arguing about the subjects), and more about the writer placing themselves into the middle of the argument, analyzing the argument by identifying the stasis where agreement and disagreement exist, and supporting it with definitions, examples, personal experience, as well as the testimony of experts--Aristotle called these moves the Common Topics or Topoi because they were moves available to all writers and speakers. This move away from lots of quotations and experts is challenging, because students really need to learn to rely on their own wits! This is my view of what the required position paper in W131 should look like.

    Finally, I think the class should end as it began, with reflection. I really want students to be able to talk about their learning, about the outcomes of the course.

    Are these the moves your course makes? Please feel free to discuss the moves you think are important, and how you achieve them!!!!

    Dr. Stevens Amidon, Director of Writing
    Associate Professor, Department of English and Linguistics
    Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
    2101 E. Coliseum Blvd.
    Fort Wayne, IN 46805-1499
    260-481-6089
    amidons@ipfw.edu
    http://users.ipfw.edu/amidons
    • Melissa Hirsch likes this.
      • Leslie E. Mackey
        While I'm not an instructor yet, a lot of your course process reflect many of my own thoughts on how to develop first year writers' skills. From my own experience as a student and then as a writing center consultant, I've seen the struggle ...See More
        February 19 at 12:13pm · · 1 person
  • Mike Brewer
    One day I'm going to take the time to do a Marxist reading of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I'm intrigued by the idea that this work is an allegory of late-19th, early 20th-century populist politics and monetary policy--full of symbolism. The idea is that each character is a metaphor for relevant people, groups, ideas: such as Midwestern farmers (Scarecrow), urban industrial workers (Tin-man), Emerald City (Wash. D.C.), Yellow Brick Road (the gold standard), Wicked Witch of the East (industrial giants and eastern financiers), etc. Of course I read it many years ago, but not through this lens. Fascinating!