instructor: Jentery Sayers 
~ classroom: smi 309 
& ougl 101 ~ TTh: 9:30-11:20
Response Paper 2.1: Now Hear This! (Speaking "About") [ Submit It Now! ]
Due: Tuesday, March 4th (length: two to three pages)
Over the last five weeks or so, barring the temporary closure of your site, you have been conducting service-learning at a local Boys and Girls Club and documenting your service-learning experiences through blogging and podcasting. Given that the class archive of blog entries and podcasts on service-learning has developed, you now have the chance to listen to your peers’ podcasts, unpack them, and speak about your experiences at a local Boys and Girls Club for a broader audience.
The goals for Response Paper 2.1 are:
- To use sound and agile listening in the service of writing.
- To become more aware of your peers’ service-learning experiences and practices.
- To connect service-learning with social issues.
- To use your peer’s work as evidence in the service of genre awareness, particularly writing for and speaking to a public.
For Response Paper 2.1, you will be assigned a peer collaborator and asked to listen closely to her or his podcasts on service-learning. (There should be three podcasts per student at this juncture in the course.) As you listen, you should take notes, highlighting your peer’s commentary on specific service-learning experiences, as well as how your peer articulates those experiences (e.g., inflection, range, and pauses/silences).
When you have listened to and taken notes on all three podcasts, then you should return to and repeat the above steps for each of your own podcasts: Listen closely, take notes, and unpack what you said and how you said it.
Once you have listened to each of the six podcasts (and perhaps re-listened to them), identify a particular social issue that you find resonating between your and your peer’s podcasts. (If you are having difficulty finding resonance, then simply focus on your peer's podcasts. No worries.) Choose an issue that you and others will find interesting, because you will be broadcasting it via iTunes U ! (Well, you don’t HAVE to, but let us imagine that’s the case, ok?)
Now that you have your issue in mind (and in ear), please write a two- to three-page script that you could read for an audio podcast on iTunes U . Consider your audience here.
Ultimately, your podcast script should:
- Mobilize your peer’s podcasts in the service of giving information about an issue to your iTunes public,
- Demonstrate your awareness of confidentiality and how you are speaking not only about your peer, but also about local Boys and Girls Club youth and staff,
- Exhibit an understanding of your audience and how they will be listening to your script,
- Include a complex claim that tells your audience why they should care about your issue and its relation to your Boys and Girls Club, and
- (OPTIONAL) Intertextualize your and your peer’s service-learning podcasts to enrich your iTunes U podcast script.
Three things are rather tricky here:
- “Translating” personal experiences and service-learning podcasts into a persuasive text for a public. How will you speak? How will you select evidence?
- Confidentiality. To respect the privacy of Boys and Girls Club youth, please do not include their names or any identifying information. Consider the use of pseudonyms.
- Writing for listening. Remember: Your audience (i.e., the listeners of iTunes U) will not be able to read along. I suggest that you read your paper aloud (perhaps to someone else) before submitting it.
Finally, for extra participation credit, you are encouraged to create a sonic version of Response Paper 2.1. If you wish, then you can splice your and/or your peer’s service-learning podcasts into your iTunes U podcast.
Targeted Outcomes
- Your paper should demonstrate an awareness of your audience’s expectations and the fact that they will be listening—and not reading—along.
- Your paper should use your peer’s podcasts as evidence in the service of your claim.
- Your paper should be based in a complex claim that emerges from a particular social issue.
- By using your peer’s podcasts as evidence, you should be helping both your peer and yourself prepare for your final e-portfolios.
Are We on the Air?
Your Response Paper 2.1 should be two to three pages with one-inch margins, typed using twelve-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, and spell-checked. Please submit the paper via the class drop box by Thursday, February 28th.
uw english | jentery at u.washington.edu
