In-Class Activity for Thursday, April 21, 2011

At this point, the only three things I want to make sure you know how to do in Prezi are 1) how to create frames and group different items together, 2) how to create a path for presentation, and 3) how to invite me view your Prezi if you are keeping it private so that I can grade it.  There are lots of other tricks you can do with Prezi, and you should feel free to try them.  Just know that I am not expecting you to do any of the fancy stuff.  If you can do the three things here and the things I listed last time, then you can do everything I expect you to do for this project.

One thing you may want to do is explore Prezis by other people.  Even if they are on completely strange and bizarre topics, they might do something in such a way that inspires you or teaches you something.

In-Class Activity for Tuesday, April 19, 2011

By now, everyone should have watched the first video on Prezi's learning page (and linked to in the last Action List).  By the end of class today, you need to make sure you know how to do the following things:

1. How to create a new Prezi.
2. How to give your new Prezi a title.
3. How to give your new Prezi a description.
4. How to add text.
5. How to delete text.
6. How to edit text.
7. How to insert an image.
8. How to move text and images.
9. How to change the size of text and images.
10. How to move text and images.
11. How to move around the Prezi canvas.
12. How to make your Prezi private or public.

If you can do these things, then you are right on track to knowing what you need to know to create the Visual Essay.  I am always happy to answer questions, but this is also a chance for you to learn how to find answers on your own by using Prezi's help pages and ordinary Google searches.  This is an opportunity for you to impress yourself with how much you can learn about something new!

Class Links for Thursday, March 10, 2011

In the last unit, we used Nancy Gibbs as our test case in the last unit.  For this unit, I think we will use Congressman Ron Paul for no reason other than 1) he is the representative for the district where I grew up and 2) no one in class will be writing about him.

Introduction to Classical Rhetoric

Introduction to Classical Rhetoric on Prezi

Class Links for Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I am providing this clip as an example of what Foucault sees happening at the end of "What is an Author?" Authorship is less and less important as we begin to ask the questions he asks at the end of the article.

Defining Rhetoric

1. Go to Google or your favorite search engine and search for the phrase "rhetoric is" while including the quotation marks.  I recommend that you do it in a separate tab or window while also keeping this blog open.
2. Look through the various links and read through several definitions of rhetoric.  If you have trouble finding the place where "rhetoric is" on the page, and you are using Firefox, you can go to Edit and select Find.  Type in "rhetoric is" and click "Highlight All," and you can see all the places on that page where the phrase is used.
3. Find a definition that you find provocative for whatever reason.  Come back to this blog and click on comments beneath this post.  When the comment box opens, copy-and-paste the definition that you find interesting.  Then, copy-and-paste the URL for the page where you found it beneath the definition.  After that, write a couple of sentences about why it stands out to you, whether you find it smart, strange, useful, different, or whatever and a brief reason about why.
4. Select "Name/URL" from the pull-down menu beneath the comment box and type your name (your first name or first name with last initial is fine).  Then, click "Post Comment."
5. Prepare to say a little about what you chose and why.  When we are done, I will show the comments on the screen so we can go over them and you can introduce yourselves.