BA #1 - Positioning Preparation

This assignment should be posted to your own blog by 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, 1/27/11 (note: extended to 11:59 p.m. on Friday, 1/28/11).

Purpose and Context

The first Blog Assignment asks you to either analyze or synthesize particular texts from the first few weeks of class. This is primarily an opportunity for you to demonstrate what you have learned from closely reading these texts, to apply what you have learned to your understanding of civic engagement, and to “try on” some of the methodologies for reading and writing that will guide you through the major assignments in the course. This is secondarily an opportunity for me to give you early feedback on a low-stakes assignment before you embark on longer works, so I encourage you to do as well as you possibly can.

The Assignment: Option One - Analysis
Analyze how either Joan Brumberg’s “Body Projects” or Denny Taylor’s Toxic Literacies reflects, challenges, or complicates one key concept from Fieldworking (pp. 1-14, 42-55, glossary). Rather than regurgitate what the textbook says about that concept, your analysis should demonstrate a genuine and sophisticated understanding of the concept by drawing on, citing from, and meaningfully relating to the text that you choose.

The Assignment: Option Two - Synthesis
Bring one of the following authors (Quinn, Prendergast, Bennholdt-Thomsen and Mies, Killingsworth and Palmer) into conversation with one of our service-learning authors (Heilker, Bridwell-Bowles, Franklin) in order to explain how you understand civic engagement at this point in the semester. By “bring into conversation,” I mean you might compare how two different authors discuss the same concept, or you might discuss how one author illuminates the ideas of another author, or you might demonstrate how something one author says represents a problem for the other author. The important thing is that you implicitly answer the question of “What do I think civic engagement is?” and that you draw on, cite from, and meaningfully relate two authors in the process.

Evaluation Criteria
This assignment will be evaluated according to the “plus” system discussed on page 4 of our syllabus. The assignment is fairly flexible and I will accept a broad range of responses. Please be original, but please keep in mind the following criteria:

• Depth of Response – your response to this assignment demonstrates an in-depth reading of two texts, and demonstrates your ability to work with particular passages or concepts, rather than to do a superficial reading
  
• Focus and Coherence – your response is thesis-driven (even if that thesis statement is implicit) and your supporting claims are well organized to develop that thesis
  
• Evidence and Justification – your response provides and appropriately cites specific passages from both texts to illustrate the claims you want to make
  
• Clarity and Style – your paragraphs are well focused, your sentences are grammatically sound, and your writing has a sense of polish, as if you have thought carefully about what you want to say and how you need to say it
  
• Blogging Guidelines – your assignment follows these and uses them to your advantage