Maria Isela Maier, PhD Candidate
Scenario #1
You now have to write a letter to your grandmother telling her about the accident. Write this in the genre of a letter, whichever of those you would use to communicate with Grandma.
Scenario #2
Because of the car accident, you are missing your Biology midterm. Your professor is old and ornery, and you are pretty sure he said “if you miss the midterm or final, your grade is zero - no make-ups” at the beginning of the semester. You are stressed out! By the time the police clear the accident scene, the mid-term is over and you are headed home. Write an email to your Biology professor, explaining what happened and appealing to him for another chance to take the mid-term or to make it up somehow. Write the email, considering the audience and the situation.
Scenario #3
Write a text message to a friend – you are finished at the accident scene and need a ride. Write this in the genre of a text msg explaining what you need, why, and from where to where.
Scenario # 4
You are now writing about the accident in the diary/journal you keep to record your thoughts every night before you go to bed. You have had a rough day, and you’re trying to make sense of things before going to sleep. Write this in the genre of a “journal entry.”
Genre and Rhetorical Situation
In an effort to help students understand genres and the importance of choosing the right genre when they compose, I ask them to write to four different audiences. I use this story to get them started.
Earlier today you were in a car accident while driving your grandmother’s car on your way to take your Biology midterm. Luckily you were not hurt, nor were any others, but your vehicle and another have significant damage and are headed to the repair shop. Since you were texting your friend while driving instead of paying attention, you ran through a red light, so the accident was your fault. Police responded to the scene and your insurance company has been notified. Your grandmother’s car was towed away to get repaired.
Innovative Writing Assignment/Activity
Demonstrating Students’ understanding of the RWS-1301 Student Learning Outcome
At the end of each major assignment, students are asked to reflect on each assignment. The final reflection asks students to reflect on the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) set forth at the beginning of the semester. In their own words students are tasked with selecting 3 (three) of the 6 (six) SLOs and explain how they progressed towards these three SLOs, what activities or assignments helped illustrate that they have worked toward these specific outcomes and how each outcome is relevant to future writing.
Student Learning Outcomes: At the end of this course, students will be able to:
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Understand the theory of discourse communities.
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Engage as a community of writers who dialogue across texts, argue, and build on each other’s work.
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Draw on existing knowledge bases to create “new” or “transformed” knowledge. Develop a knowledge of genres as they are defined and stabilized within discourse communities.
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Address the specific, immediate rhetorical situations of individual communicative acts.
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Develop procedural knowledge of the writing task in its various phases.
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Engage reflection about their own learning.
