WRITING STUDIO EXERCISES FOR BEDFORD BOOK OF GENRES

Raising Student Awareness of Genres and Conventions in Freshman Composition

In Spring 2014 I began teaching with Amy Braziller and Elizabeth Kleinfeld’s Bedford Book of Genres.  The book has many strengths. In particular its format allows for repeated development of the language of genre and convention as well as rhetorical reading strategies for multiple genres. I teach it along with danah boyd’s it’s complicated: the social lives of networked teens in a freshman writing class (boyd has a free pdf-download on her site or the book is available to order on Yale UP’s site for $15.00) and together these books add up to a rich experience for students that engages them in an accessible but scholarly text about 21st century social networking and also an accessible and detailed instructional text with a “maker ethos” that students find useful.

I’ve also used Anne Wysocki’s compose, design, advocate. The assignments below have developed out of both of these textbooks and my students’ work with them.

About Anticipating Your Audiences

ABOUT THE BOOK SCRIPTORIUM

INFOGRAPHIC ASSIGNMENT

ANALYZE AN ADVOCACY WEBSITE ASSIGNMENT

EVENT PROJECT PLANNING ASSIGNMENT SHEET

FAQ ASSIGNMENT SHEET

ADVOCACY WEBSITE ASSIGNMENT SHEET

RUBRIC FOR WEBSITE REMIX