the view of genre that simply makes it a collection of features obscures how these features are flexible in any instance or even how the general understanding of the genre can change over time, as people orient to evolving patterns
writing is never going to be a straight forward formula, it is always subject to change and evolution
how do you learn how to use the genres that function in your particular writing environment with greater competence and fluency?
It can be difficult to try reach past what we are already comfortable with or good at in order to improve because it will push us out of our comfort zone. Still, I think it must be done.
it is one of a number of genres that work together to create a whole “biosphere of discour
I like the comparison to the different levels of the natural world.
rhetorical ecosystem
Consists of similar genre sets that affect/depend on each other.
looking at the genre as a formulaic, standalone artifact—does not show very well is how the genre actually functions in an environment.
Once again, the context is much more important than the formula. It doesn't really matter if you imitate other work in the same genre structurally if the writing itself has no meaning.
genres are both stable and to some degree fluid and evolving, just as human communication itself is both predictable and unpredictable
i think it's about finding balance between the two.
sometimes when you write, the genre is a choice that’s already made for you.
We often don't even realize it.
But the writer also—perhaps in minuscule ways—might adapt and reshape the genre, which potentially shifts the genre’s stability.
thought a specific genre has been set, there are still blurred lines allowing us to take slightly different approaches creating variety within it
knowing that there are genres—typical ways of using language that recur in the situation—can help a writer assess how to respond, and to figure out what genres are typically used in that situation.
if we don't know what genre we should be using, clues from the situation itself can help us figure out what it is.
situation chooses those for you, and all the people who are doing similar work to you use the same genre
even work within the same genre can be slightly different. I. wonder if that will be talked about later in the article.
A genre is a typified utterance that appears in a recurrent situation. A genre evolves through human use and activity to be a durable and usable form for carrying out human communicative intentions in fairly stable ways.”
Though i understand this definition, I, don't see how it ties into the traditional definition fo genre (or at least to what society has taught us that genre is).
situations seem to call repeatedly for a kind of writing that answers the needs of that situation.
every situation is different thus requires a different kind of writing whether that be more formal for a school report or more casual like when tweeting.
the formal features or markers don’t define the genre
the context and content is what's most important
Genre is a word we use when we want to classify things, to note the similarities and differences between kinds of writing.
I personally like classification by genre because if you find something you enjoy it is easy to find other similar things of same category
The term genre means “kind, sort, or style”
i like how simple and to the point this definition is
The names of the things you write—e-mails, messages, record or application forms, order forms, lab reports, field observations, applications, narratives, text messages, and so on—can be thought of as individual compositions, large or small, that happen incidentally in the course of other activity.
I guess we kind of write in response to something. Whether that is an idea, a request, literally anything
A life story is written in chalk, not ink, and it can be changed.
goes back to what i said at the very beginning about changing the stories in our book as time goes on
Similarly, the way someone imagines his future seems to affect the way he sees his past, at the same time as his past informs what he expects for the future.
i can see how this is possible considering we don't really expect things to change. A person with a happy past wouldn't want to imagine a sad future whereas for someone with a negative past it might be difficult to believe that things could get better. however, i believe this to be a generalization because not everyone follows this thought process
The look your partner gives you means a fight is on the horizon, that compliment from your boss means you’re on track for a promotion, all the little things you’ve forgotten over the years mean you’re definitely going to get dementia when you’re old.
when do you know whether these signs are true or not?
alse memories, who’s to say that the plot points in someone’s life story really happened, or happened the way she thought they did, or really caused the effects she saw from them?
it's in our nature to slightly alter our experiences when talking about them so they will more closely resemble how we wish they actually happened
“If our stories are about us as triumphant agents going through life and overcoming, and they underplay the role of other people and the role of institutional support in helping us do those things, we are likely to be less good at recognizing how other people’s lives are constrained by institutions and other people,
this is why it's so important to never forget how you got to where you are because more often than not there were those who helped you get there and shouldn't be disregarded now that you've reached whatever it is you strived for
framing our lives as a narrative is neither positive nor negative, it just is
It's the perspective we decide to take that can affect how we tell our story
but it doesn’t really give you a positive view of who you are. It may be true in the moment, but it’s not something that propels someone towards growth.”
maybe if her perspective on the situation were different her self reliance would be seen as a positive. from her wording we can assume she is resentful towards her mother. though she has every right to be, it did make her independent which is a good quality to have
“The listeners did not like that.”
everyone wants a happy ending
The redemptive American tale is one of privilege, and for those who can’t control their circumstances, and have little reason to believe things will get better,
The wildly popular redemptive American tale is not realistic for everyone. we need to normalize telling different stories. Just because a story isn't about a privileged person standing in the spotlight doesn't make it not interesting
American optimism
kind of what I assumed about hope earlier
redemption in particular is a popular
maybe it's popular because people need hope
they stigmatize anyone who doesn't follow them to a T
this is very common but shouldn't even be because these stories are the interesting ones because they are unlike anything else anyone has seen/read
people tailor the stories they tell to their audiences and the context.
maybe to make it more interesting or get out of trouble, we will always tells stories differently to different people
The way people recount experiences to others seems to shape the way they end up remembering those events
everyone's perception of what happened is different so technically there is no real truth because it will always depend on the perspective
people enjoy different types of fictional stories at different ages
we enjoy what we can relate to and that changes as we grow
people are “actors.”
our past has predetermined some of these roles while others are a result of society's influence
young adults tended to tell more stories about change.
this stage in life is all about new experience and change so it's only natural they talk about more often while older adults have already gone through that
people have developed some of the cognitive tools they need to create a coherent life story
as we grow older, the story becomes more complicated, our minds are no longer as simple
I have a child who can really take an hour to tell you about Minecraft.”
shows how simple a child's mind can be. they don't care if you are not interested in what they talk about, as long as they like it there's a story
different narratives for different realms of her life—career, romance, family, faith.
I love how this is phrased because it's one of those instances where you think no else will understand when in reality a lot of people also think this way
life rarely follows the logical progression that most stories—good stories—do
this goes back to the opening of the text, how life is often not what we expect it to be
In order to have relationships, we’ve all had to tell little pieces of our story
this is exactly how we get to know people, i think that anything you have to tell about yourself is part of your story
there’s huge variation in the degree to which they engage in narrative storytelling in the first place.
just because i believe that everyone has a life story doesn't mean that they themselves believe it because we are all so different
Is there anyone out there with a life story that's not a story at all
to answer the question, i personally don't think so
that’s just how humans communicate
story telling is a way of communication
A life story doesn’t just say what happened, it says why it was important
the stories we remember and share with other is because they left a mark and influenced us one way or another
weaves them back together to make meaning.
I can relate to this because I love looking for the meaning of things that go on in my life (everything happens for a reason/has a purpose)
They are personality,
We are not defined by what happens to us but by how we choose to act and grow from it. (I'm pretty sure something similar to this quote already exists, so credit to the original author!). That is what makes up our personality.
In telling the story of how you became who you are, and of who you're on your way to becoming, the story itself becomes a part of who you are.
I love books so I want to make a small analogy. Our past is a book and every chapter in it is a different experience. As we grow we read to others from that book which results in changes such as erasing or adding chapters. All of it is who we are.
It’s just not how I expected my life would be
I'm pretty sure we have all had this exact thought at some point in our lives. I think people who tend to be planners and over analyzers might relate to this the most because they tend to already have an image in their head of what they wanted their life to be like.
all people feel safe andrespected and all voices are honored,
it's important we follow these guidelines because this class (at least for me) is one of the few that are in person so we need to make the most of it
ddressing different audiences and situations
maybe this will involve different ways to engage and pass along the specific purpose of what we write depending on the type of audience
appropriate to various writing situations
I think this is important because there are ways to address the different situations we might be in
ervice learning section
what exactly does this mean?
clarify our ideas
this is exactly what I need to work on: learning to express in words what I'm thinking/my ideas