advanced composition > sample lesson plan
the context
topic: genre and arrangement
This lesson fell during the fourth week of class, after students had read foundational essays on the place of classical rhetorical theory in composition studies, including Janice Lauer's "Dappled Discipline," Kenneth Burke's "The Five Key Terms of Dramatism," and Edward Corbett's "The Usefulness of Classical Rhetoric."
The lesson was designed to get students thinking about the different purposes of writing (from a classical perspective), and how those purposes often determine the writer's choices for genre and arrangement. Rather than limiting the conversation to the written text, however, we also discussed genre in more forms more recognizable from students' daily lives.
It is important to note that this course was taught in a computer classroom; students each had their own computer, and I also had a computer and projector for use in the class.
assigned readings
Kinneavy, James E. "The Basic Aims of Discourse." College Composition
and Communication 20 (1969): 297-304.
Winterowd, W. Ross. "Dispositio: The
Concept of Form in Discourse." CCC
22.1 (1971): 39-45.
the lesson
movie trailers
I began the 75 minute class session by introducing the concept of genre using examples from movie trailers. I had recently heard a report on NPR about a series of satirical movie trailers that took well known films and previewed them in ways that reframed the intended audience's expectations about the film. By using actual film footage and pairing it with different music and voiceover narration, these send-ups depicted the classic horror film, The Shining, as a romantic comedy, and Titanic as a horror film.
I first showed the students the original versions of the movies' trailers and asked them to note the different conventions used to inform viewers of what to expect from the film. I then showed the students the re-vamped versions of the movie trailers, again asking them to look for the conventions used to reframe the perception of the film. To see the original and revised versions of the film trailers, follow the links below:
original
trailer for The
Shining
revised trailer for The
Shining
original
trailer for Titanic
revised
trailer for Titanic
After we viewed the revised versions of the trailers (and laughed a lot), we discussed the ways in which the creators of the revised trailers made choices about music, film clips, and narration to change the viewer's expectations and adjust the perceived genre of the film. This helped students see that the same text (or in this case, film) can be manipulated to suit the writer's purposes and meet the needs of a specific genre.
applying generic knowledge
The conversation about movie trailers paved the way for the in-class assignment students completed that asked them to apply the concepts from their readings to specific texts. Students were given one of four pieces of writing (available online) to evaluate, and I asked them to identify which genre they believed the text fit using Kinneavy's model of the basic aims of composition. I also asked them to look for evidence of generic conventions or patterns within the text to help them. The students were given the following directions and resources, and worked together in groups to answer the questions:
Read one of the resources provided below.
- Jamaica Kincaid, "Girl"
- Anna Quindlen, "One Day, Now Broken in Two"
- Project for the New American Century, "Letter to Congress on Increasing U.S. Ground Forces"
- Popular Science, "Massive Project Will Reveal How Humans Continue to Evolve"
Using Kinneavy's model of the basic aims of composition, identify what you think the aim of the piece of writing. Use the communication triangle illustrated on p. 302 of Kinneavy's article (p. 96 of the coursepack) to support your answer.
Re-read the text, looking carefully for form (as Winterowd outlines).
Identify the pattern (or patterns) that you see emerging from in the text? (Think about how the author(s) used examples, specific words or phrases, etc.) How would you describe that form? Do you think it's effective? Why or why not?
Do you see any traces of the invention strategies we talked about on Tuesday (Burke's Pentad or Young, Becker, and Pike's notion of particle/wave/field)? How do those contribute to the form of the writing?
Once the students completed the assignment, we discussed their responses as a class and outlined the generic conventions demonstrated by the texts they read.
reflections
This was a very productive class day for several reasons. First, it started well. Students really enjoyed watching and discussing the movie trailers, and it was a good way to open the discussion of genre and arrangement in a way that was familiar and entertaining to the students.
The group activity was successful, as well, because it forced the students to apply the concepts they read about in Kinneavy's and Winterowd's essays to texts they would likely encounter in their daily lives. Likewise, they were able to negotiate their own understanding of the texts and concepts with each other, and they came away with a richer understanding of the concepts as a result.
The lesson was informative to me as well. I chose the sample online texts thinking they fit neatly into Kinneavy's categories--fiction, expressive, persuasive, and referential. My students, however, were able to see elements of other genres in each piece, which helped me to see that a cookie-cutter approach to evaluating genre is not enough, and as a teacher, I need to help my students discern the sometimes subtle differences between genres so that they can make careful, intentional choices as writers themselves.