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what is rhetoric? what is the history and theory of rhetoric? What do
you want to do with the content from this course?
I can still hear my professor Dr. Heard from the University of North Texas tell me:
"Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is the act of arguing and arguing well; and for rhetoricians like Socrates, it's not necessarily what you say, but rather how you say it."
The history of rhetoric comes from the Ancient Greeks, you know, the boys: Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, etc. These are the gentlemen who made rhetoric, or the art of persuasion essentially a game, if you will. In many instances Plato details conversations between Socrates and younger boys (or trainees) where Socrates will teach the younger male how to argue, how to persuade, and in some cases he does it with a sense of humor.
The theory of rhetoric is a bit more complicated to answer. I would argue, because of my previous professor, that the major theory or idea behind rhetoric is not necessarily what you say, but how you say it. That a person can argue that the sky is purple, and his audience will believe him, not necessarily based on scientific facts, physics, statistics, or mathematical equations the presenter might throw out to his audience, but rather it is through his word choice, through his tone of voice, through his presentation of the argument. It's analyzing the author's intentions, bodily movements, word choice, and it can even come down to clothing choice. I mean imagine this, if you're a presidential candidate are you going to wear a backwards baseball cap, blue jeans, sneakers, and a Nirvana t-shirt? No, you're going to wear a suit and tie. Your shoes will be polished, your clothes will be pressed neatly, and your overall physical appearance will look presentable and professional. When speaking, are you going to use words like "yeah, um, I dunno, sure, probably, fixin' to, etc." or will you use more aesthetically pleasing and erudite words? This all stems from the theory of rhetoric given to us from the classics. At least that's my opinion in terms of classical theory. While I'm sure it differs in composition, the foundational principals remain. I wouldn't submit a final research paper unedited, with short hand text, and lacking formality, incorrect grammar and syntax. I also don't present at conferences or attend class in clothes that I wear mowing the lawn.
With the content of this course, I would like many have already said in our email chain, learn more about integrating digital writing in the classroom. As I sit here typing this I realize that it is my blog, it's informal writing, but is it? I'm going to go back and reread and edit this post, but many new writers wouldn't. So I guess one thing I'd be interested in learning is teaching how to cross the boundaries between formal and informal writing. I won't respond to a text message that uses "u" or "r" or even "lol". As a high school teacher, I wouldn't accept final papers with contractions in them because I learned while writing my Masters thesis that I was forbidden from using contractions. So really my question is, what constitutes formal writing versus informal writing? As you can see here, I've used contractions throughout this blog post. But I have a generally solid command of grammar and syntax. So which would this blog post be considered: formal or informal?
In addition to integrating digital writing in the classroom, I would also like to learn how to persuade my students away from laptops and digital writing. I recently read an article from the Huffington Post about a study that showed people who took notes by hand had a significantly higher content retention rate than those who took notes digitally. Here's the article I read: (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wray-herbert/ink-on-paper-some-notes-o_b_4681440.html)
Lastly, one question I was always faced with as a high school teacher: "Why can't I just Google it?" This question was asked in regards to literally EVERYTHING, from spelling of words, to studying vocabulary, to doing research. Heck, it was even asked when I asked my students to write a summary of the novel we had just read. I'd really like to figure out a way to engage my students in the learning, exploring, investigating, wondering, and creating process that doesn't necessarily involve such a heavily, almost annoying, reliance on Google.
