Using Rhetorical Media to Meet Outcomes
and Satisfy Stakeholders
The Documentary Film Project
In the “Rhetoric/Composing?” section of this text, rhetoric/composing was shown to prevail over writing/composing as the most appropriate approach the First-Year Writing, in part because it is most able to respond to the communication needs in the technologically advanced world of today. Throughout the discussion in that section, rhetoric was repeatedly acknowledged for its ability to be flexible and readily able to meet emerging communication needs. Along with this ability on the part of rhetoric, a strong need for multi-modal composing opportunities continued to arise from the discussion.
Therefore, it seems that the business of the composition course might best be described as “rhetoric/composing in multiple modalities.” For this reason, rhetorical media arises as an appropriate emphasis for the first-year writing class. Here, “rhetorical media” is used to refer to communications that is able to choose from a full range of modalities to fulfill an exigency, based upon the unique demands of that exigency. These modalities might include prose, audio, visuals or multimedia. This media, ideally, is developed as a result of careful consideration of the rhetorical situation with emphasis upon making choices in style, arrangement and delivery that are tailored to the specific audience and purpose.
Before The Project
To provide a case study to advocate for this approach, this section draws on data before and after the implementation of a documentary film project in a second semester composition course to show how rhetorical media can be used to meet the demands of course stakeholders.
Prior to the implementation of the film project, second semester composition courses taught by the author of this web-text used a traditional “modes of writing” methodology. Students wrote traditional essays responding to literary and social topics. The length and scope of the papers grew as the semester progressed.
Out of three sections of second semester composition, taught during a spring semester, there were 19 students (24.3%) who were unsuccessful in completing the course with a grade of “C” or higher. Only three of these students were unsuccessful as a result of skill deficiencies. Six students stopped attending and withdrew before the 60% point in the semester; therefore, these students received a grade of “W.” Another seven students stopped attending before April 15 (thus, did not submit their final essay). Still three more students stopped attending during the last week of class and also did not submit their final essay.
While the success rates in these courses (74.7%) might be considered a respectable number, some students were still failing to reach their goals (particularly those echoed by administrators). More often than not, unsuccessful students would seem overwhelmed and express concern over the pressure of balancing their final paper demands with their work, home life, and other courses. Therefore, often the students who were struggling would simply give up, rather than seek additional help on their final project.
Students who withdrew from the class early in the term tended to have few connections with classmates. When the class was asked where one of these students was or whether anyone had seen one of them, others would be uncertain who the class was talking about. It seemed that one of the community’s interests, in successful collaboration, was clearly lacking from the course dynamic. Very few group activities were regularly implemented.
Most importantly, the course failed to recognized the values of the instructor with respect to the importance of multi-modal composing and rhetoric. These courses emphasized little rhetorical knowledge beyond the basics of audience and purpose.
The implementation of the film project changed the outcomes of this second semester class. To learn more about those changes, click the link on the right for “Film Project After.”
