Lesson 2: How to use rhetorical imagination to change a community through writing.
Amanda Griffin
Definitions:
Public: The human community and some subsection of it.
Exigence: Defect, obstacle, or something that has a fixable solution or can undergo positive modification.
Audience: Rhetorical situations always have an audience. The audience is not necessarily those who are present and listening to the discourse but those who listen and have the capacity to be greatly effected or influenced by the rhetorical situation.
Assignment:
In this assignment you will be asked to resolve an issue you notice on the University of Denver Campus. You will construct a piece or writing that addresses this issue and somehow works to fix or solve it. This can be in the form of legislation proposed to Student Government or a project proposal outline for the Chancellor. At the end of this project you will turn in character profiles, a bibliography, and your piece of writing.
Steps:
Define your exigence. What is the problem or need in the community? What do you think needs to change?
Define your audience. Think about specifically what people you will need to convince that a specific solution to the problem needs to be created.
Develop character outlines. Research the people you will need to convince. If it is the president of the college what are his/her likes and interests? Will they be easy or hard to convince? You will need to use this information to adjust your piece of writing and make it more persuasive.
Decide on the type of writing you will need to generate in order to create the change on campus. Will it be a piece of legislation for Student Government? What will this look like?
You will need to come up with examples or templates for the piece of writing you are creating. Find a sample project proposal of piece of legislation. Go to the student government and ask them if you can look at prior legislations they have approved or denied.
Use your character outlines to further develop your writing piece. How will persuade the audience to approve your idea.
Examples:
Below is an example of a character outline. Notice the level of detail included in it. Be specific! The example provided was for a request for more funding from Nike to start up an after school program called Team Ultimate.
Easy:
Mike Hanson
Mike Hanson is a member of The Nike Outreach Committee. The committee consists of a board of Nike employees who are responsible for the allocation of funds to non-profit organizations who use athletics as a means of improving communities. He lives in the suburbs of Portland Oregon. He has three children ages 4, 6, and 9. All of his children participate in town soccer and he is the coach for his 9 year old daughter. He attended Reed College and played on their club ultimate Frisbee program. He was also on their Division 1 soccer team. In the last couple of years he has been on the PTA school board for the Portland Public Schools and is a huge advocate for after school sports.
Next is an example of a Project Proposal. As mentioned above the Project Proposal is for a request for more funding from Nike for an after school program called Team Ultimate. The cover page for this project proposal is not included due to formatting. First a sample project proposal was found and adjusted to fit the purpose of this project. This project proposal first describes the objective and background to starting a program like Team Ultimate and the exigence. It includes the goals that the program seeks to accomplish, as well as the solution to the exigence. The main purpose of this proposal is to provide the budget outline to see if funding can be granted. Lastly the project proposal discusses how the success of the project can be gauged.
Objective and Background
The objective is creating a Team Ultimate Chapter in Denver is to reach out to as many at risk young females and provide them with tools and strategies to allow to be successful. After seeing a great success in the Boston Chapter, Team Ultimate is hoping to expand and grow as a community project in the greater Denver area.
Team Ultimate has shown to be a great success in the greater Boston area. Currently the program includes over 300 participants in 5 different locations. Team Ultimate has gained over 78 volunteers for the four years that it has been in progress. Ultimate Frisbee has served as a catalyst for teaching greater life lessons to at risk young females. Keeping inner city females active in team sports brings power to them on both the field and in their day to day routine. It promotes a heathy life style which encourages better decision making and positive thought about their bodies. Ultimate Frisbee does not use a referee - therefor responsibility for judgement calls is placed on the players which teaches better sportsmanship. Ultimate Frisbee is also not an equipment heavy sport, which lowers the cost of the program. In conjunction to Ultimate Frisbee team building exercises are used to reinforce the skills being taught that session. The team building exercises allows the participants to work together and function as a team. It also allows participants to learn more about oneself and how each individual can contribute to the team. This allows for participants to take turns leading the exercises and becoming the “leader” for the day. Each participant “graduates” from the program with a certificate of achievement, a Frisbee of their own that they get to decorate, and their journal.
Journaling is another powerful tool used by Team Ultimate. Journaling acts as a vital method for reflection. Reflection allows the participants to de-stress and ‘leave their emotions at the door.’ Various prompts are used to guide the participants journaling. The prompts are centered around their goals, the qualities which their role models posses, and their aspirations. If the participant chooses the two volunteers running the program will read their journal entry and reply. The participant can also choose to keep their journal private. One way that team Ultimate gauges it success is at the end of each program a short survey is given to the participants. In the Boston Chapter when the participants were asked what their favorite part of the program was 87% answered the journaling.
Each program runs for 10 weeks and each session lasts for an hour and a half. The program is typically run why two volunteers who are female. Each session has a lesson plan that consists of a started, team building exercise, Frisbee throwing skill, game playing time, and journal prompt. A binder is given to each volunteer running the program. A binder has all lesson plans for the 10 weeks, helpful materials such as how to be a food role model, and a section titled “what to do if...” Sometimes when working with at risk young females, situations arise where the solution is not clear. Therefor as the program has developed all volunteers are asked to contribute to a document where they record all situations they encountered where they felt uncomfortable or did not know how to respond. The document also has two other columns with how the volunteer responded and what might have been a better solution. This provides a resource for new volunteers so if a similar situation comes upon them they will know how to react. The Binder also contains contact information for the directors of the program.
Along with a binder, a bin is also given to the volunteers starting the program. A bin consists of pinnies, handballs, frisbees, journals, cones, and equipment needed for team building exercises.
Goals
The goal is to expand the program to reach out to a new demographic of under represented minorities in greater Denver area and provide them with the following:
Positive Role Models
To play and learn through Ultimate Frisbee and other helpful team building exercises
Learning to handle day to day stress and anxiety through journaling
Reflecting on their own personal goals and aspirations.
A location for them to thrive, grow, and learn together as both a team and as individuals.
Solution
In order for the Team Ultimate Denver Chapter to become a reality an increase in funding is going to be needed. An increase in funding will be primary used to purchase all necissary equipment for the start up year. If the first year shows to be a success additional funding to help sustain the project will be requested. The funds requested for subsequent years will just include the price for Frisbee’s and journals. If the pilot year of the program shows to be a success then another location of Team Ultimate Denver Chapter will be started. If this happens then the funds needed to make another binder and bin will be requested.
Budget Proposal
The funds for the start of Team Ultimate Denver Chapter will be received from primarily Nike and BUDA. Other miscellaneous costs will be taken from the Team Ultimate overall funds which have been donated by United Way Youth Venture, and private donations through United Way. Again for subsequent years the price of Frisbees and Journals will be requested from Nike.
Team Ultimate Denver Chapter Budget Proposal For First Year Amount Needed Cost Per Item Cost for Total Items Covered By
Frisbees $425.00 Covered by BUDA and Nike
Pinnies $12.78 Covered by United Way - Team Ultimate Funds
Binder $2.18 Covered by United Way - Team Ultimate Funds
Journals $125.55 Covered by Nike
Pencils $7.50 Covered by United Way - Team Ultimate Funds
Jerseys $63.45 Covered by Nike
HandBalls $50.05 Covered by Nike
Plastic Cover Sheets $5.29 Covered by United Way - Team Ultimate Funds
Travel Expenses $32.00 Covered by Nike
Tarp $8.95 Covered by United Way - Team Ultimate Funds
Rope $6.78 Covered by United Way - Team Ultimate Funds
Glue Sticks $4.92 Covered by United Way - Team Ultimate Funds
Scissors $10.82 Covered by United Way - Team Ultimate Funds
Total: $755.27
BUDA Total $425 Previously Have Donated $500 per year for just the start up - Nike covers Addition Frisbee costs for following years
Nike Total $271.05 Also covers all Frisbee costs after first year
United Way - Team Ultimate Fund Totals $59.25 Funds will be allocated from Boston Chapter for first year. Second year costs will come from fundraising and donations.
Success of the Program
To gauge the success of the program a similar method used by Team Ultimate Boston Chapter will be implemented. A survey will be given at the end of the program to all participants. The goal of Team Ultimate to help promote a healthy decision making about ones body, learning individual strengths, learning to work and function as a team, learning strategies to handle day to day stress. The following questions will be asked in a survey:
Did you feel like you learned a lot in Team Ultimate?
What are you individual strengths as a team player?
What does it mean to be part of a team?
Did you like journaling? Why?
Did you like your leaders? What did you learn from them?
Name one thing you liked the most about Team Ultimate.
Name one thing you did not like about Team Ultimate.
No comments:
Post a Comment