Week Two: July 7-July 12
Monday, July 7
Wednesday, July 9
Friday, July 11
Saturday, July 12
- Read this reading and this reading on conducting interviews. Neither deal directly with the type of piece you’ll be writing, but they offer great insight on how to conduct the actual interview.
- After completing the above reading, you should be gearing up to actually interview your interviewee(s). Although your interview isn’t due until Monday night, I suggest you have the interview done by Thursday at the latest to give you plenty of time to work on the writing.
- Blog Assignment Five: choose two of the following interviews, one from each group: Group One--Profiles: Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon. Group Two--Questions and Answer: Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Eric Schlosser, Education, Frank Lloyd Wright, George R.R. Martin. THEN, using pages 21-39 in Writer/Designer, perform a rhetorical analysis of these two interviews (use the “Write/Design Assignment” on page 39 to get you going.
- Check out what your peers wrote in Blog Assignment Five. Did they see something you didn’t? Did you see something they missed? Leave comments! Discuss!
- Read Chapter 3: Putting your Project to Work in Writer/Designer.
- After the last couple days of reading, you should have a good idea of what makes a good interview. Go ahead and find some examples of your own and figure out why they’re “good”/effective, or why they’re “bad”/not effective. Then contribute to this class document HERE on good interview. This list should include not only the writing, but the layout, the pictures, the text. I will serve as the editor so don’t be afraid to be wrong and include something that might not be spot on; I can comment on it so it won’t lead anyone astray.
Wednesday, July 9
- Blog Assignment Six: First, write a blog post explaining your wants and needs as a reader/viewer/listener. Be specific. For example, don’t say, "I want information"; "I want facts." Those are things that many readers want! Think about about you, personally. Do you like pictures. If so, do you like pictures of people, animals, buildings? Do you respond better to humor? Do you prefer to be addressed in a casual tone or an academic one? Do you like to read about current world affairs, how to do stuff, the latest fashion trends? If you like "facts," what kind do you like? Why do you respond well to them? Spend some time thinking about you! Then write it down. (Hint: use these questions to get you thinking; don’t just answer them)
- Work on Interview Project
- Blog Assignment Seven: Read your peers’ blogs from yesterday to get an idea of what your readers want, then write a blog post about some aspect of your topic that appeals to your readers (your peers). This can be distantly linked. For example, if you wrote about why Oregon is awesome, you could make a short video of pictures of you and your friends having fun in Oregon with the hopes of getting the reader to visit. Feel free to experiment with different modes of communication! Remember that this blog post is specifically for your peers, not me. I am grading your success by your peers’ responses on this one.
- Respond to your peers’ blogs and let them know if you found it engaging and why. Think back to Blog Post Six and see if they meet your needs as a reader.
- Work on Interview Project
Friday, July 11
- Blog Assignment Eight: Pitch your project. Revisit Chapter 3, specifically page 56. Hopefully you’ve all done your interview by now. If you haven’t, get creative with this pitch. Either way, do it. Include where you think this piece might be published, and be specific. “On a magazine’ website” is not specific, but on the “Huffington Post website under the ‘Green’ category” is.
- Respond to five peers’ blogs. Give constructive advice, let them know what you think will work/won’t work. Tell them what is interesting and what seems boring.
- Work on Interview Project
Saturday, July 12
- Work on Interview Project, due Monday night at midnight.