Entry #9

For my entry this week I wanted to discuss the group presentation on the persuasive genre.  Prior to reading this chapter and watching this presentation I thought to myself, “this never gets used in schools.”  I could only remember writing one essay in elementary school that was deemed and labeled as “persuasive.”  However as I continued to read the chapter and participated in the wonderful presentation put on by my classmates, I realized that the persuasive genre is not so absolute.  The examples shared in class really reminded me of how present persuasive writing really is.  I thought about how my cover letters and job applications are glorified persuasive writing.  This is something that I am very familiar with, and have spent a lot of time engaging in this genre of writing.  I also thought about how many text messages and emails that I send are persuasive in nature.  I also continued to make connections to the fact that debates and petitions are also persuasive.  After my conception of the persuasive genre was widened I realized that my graduate portfolio that I am creating could be considered persuasive.  I have continuously persuaded the reader that I have achieved the different aspects of Danielson’s framework in my domain statements.  I also continued to think about how one of my genre pieces is persuasive, as I encourage people to come and vacation in Thousand Island Park.  I am really glad that I have broken though my skewed view of the persuasive genre as I widened and deepened my understanding.  I now know that a persuasive essay is just one component to this genre and there is so much more.

In addition to discussing this week’s genre presentation, I wanted to discuss the work I have done with my partner for our genre presentation.  We both took time to read our chapter and look for examples of our genre this week.  We came together during writer’s workshop today to plan our attack.  This collaboration really helped to make our presentation better.  I found that we both had ideas that were just all right, but after discussing them and talking them over with each other we came up with ideas that were great.  The combination of our ideas, really helped to make our presentation come full circle and be the best it can be.  I know many times people resent working with partners on group projects.  The argument is that it is hard to find time to collaborate, and that one person pulls all the weight.  However the benefits of two minds working on one thing is extraordinary.  My partner and I planed the format of our presentation and split up the work.  I think that collaboration will be easy, as this class showed us many ways to use technology to share documents and collaborate on them.  I look forward to continuing to collaborate with my partner and continue to prepare for our presentation.