Welcome to my site! This is a central space where I discuss and archive my investigations in the field of rhetoric and writing, but it is also a place of exploration between the realms of academia and the many diverse communities of “play,” technology, and learning where I often venture. Feel free to look around and explore along with me.
Getting Contextual with Rhetorical Appeals
Sonic Encounters of the Turtle Kind
Discussing rhetorical appeals with students often becomes one of my favorite conversations because so many opportunities exist to demonstrate how they operate in everyday life. As a scholar invested in First-Year Composition (FYC) and professional writing, this also presents a good opportunity to explore avenues of culture, community, WID, multimodal, and game-based learning as an entry point into discussing rhetoric.
Embracing Resistance and Channeling the Inner Beast
Depending on the class, games such as The Resistance and Werewolf momentarily break away from textbooks and articles to give students a rhetorical exigency that prompts a myriad of logos, pathos, ethos, and kairos from students as they try to determine their peers’ intentions and arguments. After a few rounds, we can “press pause” and discuss how we utilized these appeals to persuade a specific audience.
This can work well for an active class and it poses an often fun and experiential way to lead into more formal instruction. Plus, it’s always a rewarding moment when someone’s eyes light up as they recall how Sally used her ethos as a respected and ethical leader to make key decisions that saved the team…or that intentionally led them to a more unfortunate conclusion. A lot of fun discussions come out of this one!
Last summer’s Digital Field Methods Institute at The University of Texas at Austin centered around sonic methods and ways to use this methodology in our research and teaching. I took a liking to sonicscapes, alternate fields, and rhetorical ways to remix audio compositions-all with the help of UT’s famous turtles.
The pond lends to a serene and natural space where a variety of turtles call home as they tend with the daily crowds. And beyond just the visitors, the sonic domain reveals many human made process which maintain the ecology of the pond. Through this exploration, I gained insights into both the harmonies and tensions that make up otherwise innocuous spaces on campus.
I came away from the July sun and wonderful group at DFMI with a great many thoughts about how my students might learn more about their spaces and the modes at work in them through exploring these practices-especially as a remix project.