Seeing & Writing Online Community - Chapter 6: Reading Icons

Surefire Class: Reading Icons

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 08:06:15 -0600

I ask students to write for 10-15 minutes in their journal (listing and brainstorming) about icons they identify with and why. Then, I ask them if any of the icons they wrote about are people. (Actors, Musicians, Sports figures, etc.) Usually, they will have chosen to write about some people in their journal, and if not, I have them write down a few. Next, I ask them write about how and why they think these people have influenced their lives.

SUREFIRE CLASS: Playing With Metaphor

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 08:00:50 -0600

I’m a sucker for good metaphors. When one student wrote an essay about how becoming friends with certain people in high school (e.g., jocks, brains) was like having beneficial mob connections (“jocks�? to watch your back, “brains�? to help with accounting homework), something inside of me became all warm and fuzzy. I try to encourage such moments as often as possible in class; I particularly want students to think about how metaphor can be used to re-see for hypothetical and practical purposes, and several sections in Seeing and Writing help me do that. After discussing the "Visualizing Composition: Metaphor" section, we turn briefly to the photographs by Tibor Kalman to talk about how the reversal of race in these images helps us see the familiar in a new way; because these images present a different take on what is real, they provide a playful launching point for ways to re-see. I point out that metaphors can do the same. We then turn to the anti-drug ads in Ch. 7. Even if students have never seen the 1987 ad, they’re familiar with the metaphor--the frying egg representing one’s brain on drugs. We talk about the frying egg as a metaphor: What does it mean that the brain is an egg? What assumptions are being made about the brain? What about drugs for the frying egg? Would all illegal drugs have this effect? I ask students to come up with other metaphors for the effects of drugs on the brain on their own, and then I put them into groups to discuss their work: How do these influence their perception of drugs? of the brain?

Surefire Assignment: Reading Personality

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 07:58:38 -0600

I have the students bring a family photograph or photograph of friends to class (do not have students read the Davenport essay before class). Ideally, the photograph will be posed rather than candid, but need not be professionally made: any snapshot will do.