Literacy Podcast Assignment

For this assignment, I want you to write and record a podcast. This podcast will be an audio essay, similar to traditional essays, but will incorporate aural elements to reinforce your thesis and move your essay along. The essay will be personal in nature, delving into your own literacy experience. Essentially, it should use sound to tell a story about, make sense of, or offer insight into your personal literacy practices and values over the course of your life. Your essay can be either a sound portrait or it will be on your literacy obsession.

Podcast Formats:

1. A Sound Portrait: A biographical audio essay that will focus on an aspect of your life that is connected to literacy in some way [Example: The Literacy of Recipes].
2. Your Literacy Obsession: Show or tell why a particular literacy form or genre is closest to your identity as an artist or writer [Example: My Introduction to Love].

Since podcasts are an aural composition, you will need to compose your words, sound clips and music in a script before recording them. Your podcast should be 5-8 minutes in duration. Your script can be in any form you would like, but it must be useful to you in guiding your podcast smoothly. So, you could make an outline of talking points, allowing your familiarity with your topic guide a more improvised recording (you will probably still need to rehearse or go over your thoughts to reduce time spent editing out “uh’s” and other filler words. Another option would be to storyboard your podcast––make some visual or textual-visual representation of your podcast to guide your speech. Of course, your other option is to write an actual textual script. This option is not necessary to do; however, it may be the most helpful when revising your podcast later.

Keep in mind:

• Podcasts are much more involved than they seem by just listening to them, so be prepared to record, re-record, and edit clips as you go along. Even if your podcast lasts 5 minutes, for instance, it will take you hours to write, record, and edit for publishing to the web.

• You will listen to everyone’s podcast in class and provide feedback for your peers to help them reflect and revise their compositions.

Guidelines:

• Podcast topic must be about your own literacy background; either a sound portrait or a literacy obsession

• Other than recording your own voice, you need to include at least two other recorded aural elements (sounds or music) that contribute meaningfully to your essay and do not detract from its effectiveness or meaning (not distracting or confusing)

• Record and edit in Audacity, GarageBand, or something similar that allows you to record and edit sounds for publishing to the web

• Duration of podcast should run 5-8 minutes

• Script your essay in one of the following ways: a written outline, a visual storyboard, or a fully-written script

Evaluation Criteria:

• Met guidelines: Did the podcast meet the above guidelines?

• Time involved: Does the podcast reflect careful planning and a well-developed composition?

• Reflective of literacy practices: Does the podcast show reflective thinking on the composer’s part of their literacy history?

• Effectiveness: Is the podcast effective in conveying a clear and meaningful message?

Meme Assignment

For this assignment, I want you to create a related pair of memes! A meme is essentially an electronic poster that consists of an image of some sort and text. Certainly you have seen memes by eCards or others on Facebook, Pinterest, or another social networking website. What all memes have in common are multimodality and rhetorical purpose—usually to be persuasive and humorous, which will be your goal in this assignment.

Memes are typically original overall, though the nature of memes is that they are meant to share meaning and be built upon by others. This means that the picture may be reused from another meme to play off of it with new ideas, or the theme or wording structure may be reused from another meme and placed on a different picture to give it a whole new meaning. Your pair of memes must be related, using either the same image or the same theme/wording structure to show me that you understand the nature of memes’ usefulness in sharing and changing meaning.

An example of a meme that has been developed and redistributed around a picture is “Grumpy Cat,” which has a picture of a, you guessed it, grumpy cat, and each new meme author changes the text to create their own original meaning. An example of memes that have consistent wording structure but new pictures are the “Very Demotivational” memes, which parody the motivational office posters that have a picture surrounded by black border and white writing at the bottom.

You will be sharing your memes with your friends through either email or a social networking site, so consider your audience’s values and attitudes when creating the poster. Not all people find the same things funny, and not everyone will understand the same references. This is fine. However, your goal still needs to be to rhetorically appeal to as many people as possible without offending any of them.

If you do not use your own photo, you may use one that you have taken or one that is available under a Creative Commons license for anyone to use for distribution purposes, since you will be distributing this on the Internet.

Meme Guidelines:

1. Include an image or a manipulated collage of images that is still simple and not too cluttered––you do not want to distract from the overall message and effectiveness of the meme
2. Have visible text over the image
3. Use photo manipulation software like GIMP, Illustrator, or a Meme Generator (most user-friendly) to layer and edit the elements of your poster
4. Seriously consider the rhetorical effectiveness and appropriateness of your message for your audience
5. Ensure your choices for text, image, image effects, and font combine to create a clear meaning, and that no element detracts from your rhetorical purpose
6. Save your meme in its original format as well as one that is good for web (.PNG or .JPG)

Meme/Poster Assignment

For this assignment, I want you to create a meme! A meme is essentially an electronic poster that consists of an image of some sort and text. Certainly you have seen memes by eCards or others on Facebook, Pinterest, or another social networking website. What all memes have in common are multimodality and rhetorical purpose—usually to be persuasive and humorous, which will be your goal in this assignment. The meme to the left is one I have created as an example for you. I have not cited the photo since it is my original work, and I am fine with others reproducing it.

You will be sharing your meme with your friends through either email or a social networking site, so consider your audience’s values and attitudes when creating the poster. Not all people find the same things funny, and not everyone will understand the same references. This is fine. However, your goal still needs to be to rhetorically appeal to as many people as possible without offending any of them.

If you do not use your own photo, you may use one that is available for use with or without permissions, but you must cite the source at the bottom of your poster if it is not your original work. MLA Citation format will look like this: Artist. Title of Work. Date of Work. Image Source. Database/Web Site. Date Accessed. If there is no title, then: Artist. Photograph of a dog running. Date of Work. Image Source. Database/Web Site. Date Accessed.

Poster Guidelines:

1. Include an image
2. Have visible text over the image
3. Use photo manipulation software like GIMP, Illustrator, or a Meme Generator (most user-friendly) to layer and edit the elements of your poster
4. Seriously consider the rhetorical effectiveness and appropriateness of your message for your audience
5. Ensure your choices for text, image, image effects, and font combine to create a clear meaning, and that no element detracts from your rhetorical purpose
6. Save your meme in its original format as well as one that is good for web (.PNG or .JPG)

After creating your meme, I want you to write a 1-2 page reflection on your textual and visual choices, and who your intended audience is. Also, reflect on how your meme addresses and appeals to your intended audience.

 

Multimodal Poem Assignment

What is a multimodal poem? A multimodal poem is simply a poem that is reinforced and given deeper meaning by adding aural and/or visual elements. This form of poetry is becoming more common in our digital world, and you can find various examples of multimodal poems by doing an Internet search. Some poets compose using Flash, others use a program like iMovie or MovieMaker, while others use online tools like Prezi or Vimeo.

In this assignment, I want you to use your creativity, writing skills, and technological knowledge to compose a multimodal poem that includes text and at least one other modality. You may use videos or photos (visual elements) you have taken or created in a software program (Flash, Abode Illustrator, Paint, Photoshop, etc.). Consciously think about what images you include and how you piece them together. Ask yourself questions like, “Does this photo bring more significance to the text accompanying it?” and “Will this image I created fit well in my poem when following images I took (or have permission to use)?”

You may also incorporate audio—sounds or music (aural elements)—to help your poem make meaning for your audience. Like the visual elements, make sure your aural elements add meaning to your poem, rather than detracting from it by distracting or confusing your audience.

You will need to give credit in the final slide or image for any photos or music you use. You may only use photos/images or music that you have received permission to use from its owner/creator. Cite images like this:

Photo of woman on bench by Rachel Stevens, 2012. Used with permission.

If you find a photo that is from an open database that is under Creative Commons license (such as some found on Flickr), cite it like this:

Artist’s last name, first name. Title of artwork. Year. Name of institution/private collection housing artwork. Title of database or website. Publisher/sponsor of database or website. Medium consulted. Date of access.

Once you decide what program you want to use to compose your poem, get approval from me on that program. Please feel free to use your imagination, but keep in mind your audience and the meaning you are trying to convey to that audience. Since this poem will be posted to YouTube, your audience is potentially very broad. So, as you would do in presenting this poem to only me, it needs to remain respectful and inoffensive. If you have any question about the appropriateness of any part of your poem, please consult me before turning it in.

Finally, have fun! This assignment is fun if you make it so. Your name will be on this published work, so put your best efforts into it. Your effort is the most important component of this assignment!

Poem Guidelines:

1. Write 12-14 lines of text
2. Use at least one modality (visual or aural) other than text
3. Include a title page/slide that gives your name and poem title
4. Make conscious choices about your mixing of elements to create meaning
5. Consciously consider your audience
6. Give credit where credit is due!