EWRT1A-25: appeals and a survey

If you want another look at the appeals handout I was projecting on the overhead tonight, you can get it here. I also have a list of transitions to supplement the one in your book.

I also wanted to offer a little unofficial survey. Keep in mind that the following numbers are based on a quick browse of the papers and may not be entirely accurate. Of the students who offered a clear opinion in reading response 6, fourteen agree with Miller and Swift that the gender bias that they point out in English does negatively affect women; one student agrees with the basic premise but thinks Miller and Swift argue it poorly; nine students discuss the audience of the essay and so don't offer an opinion. Only four students were unconvinced by Miller and Swift's argument.

I have a few reasons I want to share this with you. One, we are discussing voice and I wanted to make everyone's voice heard on this matter. Two, judging by the class discussion one could easily assume that the entire class disagreed with the ideas argued the essay. I certainly assumed that. Apparently (assuming everyone was honest in the reading responses) that's not true.

This then brings up two other points. One is about education, classrooms in particular, and how voices can be silenced. Obviously the class discussion did not elicit everyone's voice and so certain voices went unheard. Perhaps that was because of the way the discussion was handled. Or maybe people just don't like to talk. Or maybe people weren't sure at first what they believed. Or perhaps they felt intimidated by the more vocal members of the class. I'm not sure which answer is correct and it probably varies from student to student anyway. What do you think?

But this brings me to my second point and that is that voice is not only expressed by speaking. Voice is also expressed by writing and that was what the reading response was for, to allow a space for every student, no matter how shy, to make his or her voice heard. And this is one of the purposes of writing: it is a way of having a voice. This obviously relates to the theme were are reading about, but it also relates to what the entire class is about. Learning to write better is not just about getting better grades; it is about developing another way to make your voice heard.