Class Pics

Dearest Writing 2rs,

The pleasure's been all mine!  Thanks for a kickass quarter.  #genre #conventions #rhetoric #moves #readinglikeawriter #disciplinarity #transformation #trusttheprocess

(Did I do it correctly?!)

- Z

Crunching Your Survey Data!

Crunching the Survey Data – Spring ’16

I’d like to show you the:

• ·      names for “reading approaches” section
• ·       WP pie charts

Quantitative:

• ·      91% found Navigating Genres helpful for studying/learning writing.
• ·      81% found How to Read Like a Writer helpful for studying/learning writing.  (1 person didn’t read it.  ahhhhhhhhhhh!)
• ·      76% found the “Mark Smith’s Murder” activity super-interesting!
• ·      95% thought the horror-movies-as-genre activity was interesting; 76% thought the The-Rock’s-People’s-Elbow-as-a-move was interesting
• ·      75% said the music helped you focus.  (No one said it distracted them!)
• ·      84% loved the structure of class!  (No haters either!)
• ·      88% of yound found the online lesson plans helpful!  woot woot!
• ·      86% of you liked posting your journal to the anonymous GDoc! (68% chose a “5”!)
• ·      81% found the “nesting dolls” to be super-helpful; 19% super unhelpful!  (Wow!!)
• ·      85% found my feedback helpful.  1 person picked a “2” on the unhelpful side (that’s a first!).
• ·      66% of you thought the time/energy that you spent in the class was worth it.
• ·      90% of you feel like you developed as a thinker!

·       

With Regard to Our Course Readings:

Students who liked/understood/appreciated their connection	Students who didn’t
I knew that Z selected these readings for a reason. They're not just busy work, they're there to help us grow as writers. I always try to get 100% out of a class and really push myself to improve, and that includes taking advantage of all of the resources that I'm given.	There was no purpose to the readings except for including citations in the written projects.
When we were discussing topics in class I wanted to sound like I knew what I was saying. Also when we were doing group activities I didn't want to be the one that wasn't contributing so I was motivated to do the readings. I think that I would have been majorly motivated if we discussed all the pieces in class.	Technical writing is not something that I'm very interested on. I like free style writing, or writing that takes place in a more relaxed settings like writing a short story or a novel, etc.
I was more than slightly motivated to complete the course reading because they were very essential in writing our WP's. Without the course readings, one could not successfully complete the WP's.	Academic writing is boring for me so that's why I didn't feel interested at all to read the course readings.
	Although I read them, I don't think the material was stressed very much in class and that it seems like you could get away without reading them.

Excellent Insight!

• ·      [Looking at samples of students’ work] can be tricky though because sometimes, students can get an idea in their head from this that may prevent them from thinking outside of the box.
• ·       Genre has layers and levels, Russian nesting dolls have layers and levels. It just makes sense.
• ·       Telling me to rank my ideas in order to raise the stakes of my argument was really really helpful for me
• ·       I need to answer the "So what? Who cares?" question. It's hard to write a strong paper without a strong thesis statement.
• ·       I don't know, I don't specialize in teaching or education so I don't know what is more efficient [in terms of basing FYC on studying genre]. Also, I'm a first year, so I have no idea what skills I'm going to need in my future classes

Interesting/cool idea.  I’m really going to think about that…

• ·      I love the idea of thlogs because they really do help me process information but I was sometimes caught up in getting them on time. Maybe require 10 thlogs but they can be on any thing that you did in the whole course rather than per week. I know I could have written 3 separate thlogs son one week of class so I felt like I was sometime holding things back but those ideas could have been good.

:)

• ·      (In response to the “reading” approaches question) I don't really know what you were asking though, because all the side notes made this question confusing to read. Remember you have to think of your reader when you are writing (; and I don't think this question was super reader friendly.
• ·       I loved talking in small groups as well. I'm not normally someone who reaches out and socializes with classmates so not only did I get a newrange of opinions, I was forced to step outside of my social comfort zone and meet new people.
• ·      honestly I really liked the way there was specific lesson plans so I never felt lost or unsure about what was happening.
• ·       I like how structured the class is in the first place. The structure itself is very engaging, I like how the activities we do are varied, and how our activities keep on being shaken up. For instance, watching videos, doing group activities, responding and reflecting in our journals, etc.
• ·      I liked [the anonymous journal ~> GDoc] a lot because I did not have to worry about what others would think of my answer, since nobody knew it was me. This aspect helped me be more creative and let my guard down a little, even subconsciously I think, when answering the questions.
• ·      That example opened my eyes­­ not just because my mom has tons of those dolls around my house­­ to specificity and it really defined what you wanted in terms of the WP1 and a few of the PB's were specificity is crucial. It also helped me understand how to define genre and how multiple genre's can stem out of one hierarching one.
• ·       I liked that you phrased your comments in the form of questions because I think it makes it easier for me to look back and reflect on what I’ve written when you’re trying to guide me in a specific direction without necessarily giving me an answer
• ·       Even though I try to be a person with equality with everything, i caught myself realizing every convention towards everything. For example, that math teachers, and their super geekiness, and poor outfit choices.

:(

• ·      Sometimes the activities feel rushed, and sometimes you are harsh when it comes to picking out answers on the google doc, so I feel like I'm less likely to take risks during these activities.
• ·       I did not like the Bob Ross videos at all. I think that there are more effective ways to explain to students how important it is describe moves and to think like an artist. Same with the Disney Artists, it just felt like a too long way to get to a point that was really important.
• ·      (Talk to me!  Reach out!  Teachers are here to help!)  The comments that helped me the most were the ones on sentence structure and putting in information. I have gotten feedback in other classes about my sentence level/structure etc. but I still don't know how to fix it. Having you comment on that made me realized I really suck at it because I am being told by multiple people I need to fix it.
• ·       the ones were you were mean, and could have totally explained things in a different way. I think there are better ways to say that something bored you or a paragraph was too long. The mean comments made me feel self­conscious about my writing, and made me less motivated to write, because I knew that you were going to tear it apart. I didn't personally cry about anything, but I know people that did. Also I just felt less encourage to participate in class if you were just going to tease us about it.
• ·      I understand that you have a sarcastic personality and I am used to it, because I had a coach in high school that was super blunt about things. I think that people feel more encouraged about writing with more positive reinforcement. The times I did ask for questions i felt like you were hesitant to answer them, so I didn't really want to ask questions. 
• ·      You did a great job, I wish I applied myself more in this class
• 
  

Yeah, for sure…

• ·       I wish we would have spent a little bit more time going over the reading in class and discussing possible ways to use
• ·       Maybe if you had like a quick 5 minute break it would help students.
• ·       I'm still pretty confused about moves honestly, I wish there was a more concrete definition for it for me to reference.
• ·      [I think we could have benefitted from more practice on] Citing and formatting properly

True, but teaching/learning is tough, and there are always so many inevitable trade-offs…

• ·       comments [were unhelpful when they] ask[ed] questions that were answered one sentence later. This was frustrating because it made me feel like I did not include something that I should've, even though I did.
• ·       Honestly, after putting so much effort and seeing in a table that you didn't meet almost any expectations is hard. I didn't feel any motivation in putting more effort in my next projects. If I knew that I didn't put enough effort in something and I got a bad grade, that's ok. But, if that's not the case you just realize you must suck at writing and there's nothing that will dramatically change that for the next WP.
• ·      Time. Time is always too short to finish the things that we are asked for.
• ·       Personally I do not do well with having lots of assignments, it overwhelms me and then I just end up doing a bad job and even not doing anything at all.

I appreciate that, but… let me give more context—maybe that’ll illuminate what’s happening here.

Your Comment	My Response
the amount of pages we need to have open gets crazy sometimes, maybe embed journals into the lesson plan?	I can’t, really—It’s either “the owner of the doc can edit” or “everybody can edit”
I'm not a huge fan of the think/pair/share, mostly the pair part. I'm a social person and have no trouble talking to a partner. I just have always felt like I don't get anything out of this step and it always seems like nobody wants to do it or takes it seriously. Maybe instead of peer review work, we should get time to work on our own papers in class. If we are having trouble with something, we can then ask Zack.	By communicating your ideas, you force yourself to put your knowledge into words.  You can also learn a hell of a lot from other people!  And if you think you’re “smarter” than they are, help them!  Being ablew to teach/explain something is one surefire way of determining how much you understand it.
To improve [the course] I would recommend a stricter/ impossible to even confuse prompt for papers. A lot of students (especially me) when reading over the prompts are so used to the structure of other classes that the organization of papers becomes more focused on understanding the prompt than the actual writing, for example the academic source vs pop source writing project. Maybe a prompt for dummies?	1. Talk to me! 2.  Critical thinking = responding to ill-structured problems (problems without 1 answer)
It always seemed that Zack wanted us to find and analyze the smallest Russian doll and a lot of times I didn't know if I was getting as small ­ specific as he wanted to. I think the doll example is perfect, but maybe Zack could always be a little more clear on how to know how far in getting specific we should get.	Sorry to confuse you—the dolls were a metaphor more than anything—just another way of thinking about how genres can get more/less specific.
I didn't like comments like yawn, it made me feel bad about my writing, I didn't always like the assignment and found it boring to write the WPs, but just straight docking my grade for it not entertaining you was harsh and just made me sad, didn't help to read things like that	I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings here—was just trying to bring some humor to the tabe. Hooks don’t need to be “entertaining” only—it needs to get your topic/argument moving forward in a purposeful way!
sometimes I think you should pick your battles wisely, knowing that a student will eventually become annoyed with a ton of comments bashing his/her work. Also once one mouth is talking for a while it starts to get filtered out by the ears.	You actually will need to filter it in—you’ll be replying to my comments in your revision matrix for the portfolio!
The matrix is vague and doesn't include all of what it seems like you grade for, I hit all the requirements but my grade didn't show this so something is missing here	A few comments: for starters, don’t forget that  the portfolio is our course “final”—you get a chance to re-submit it and get a ton of more points.  My feedback is intended to help you maximize your paper’s potential for the portfolio. Next, what grading scheme ISN’T vague?  Do you want a grade based on a word count?  The # of sentences?  A challenge to you: if you give create a matrix that isn’t somewhat vague (i.e., that’s absolutely perfect), I’ll bump up your grade!
I think that there should be a more tailored writing course for each subset of disciplines (social sciences, STEM, humanities, etc) I think it was a really large net cast for a broad range of students and it wasn't the best approach to teach everyone in one way about writing. I think it would have been more effective to learn things more specific to my discipline.	That’s what you have writing-in-your-discipline courses for!  Genre and rhetoric appears, literally, everywhere!  It’s as good as you can get for a FYC design!
[thlogs] were fine except that you were extremely specific with what you wanted and it turned into me answering the thlog questions on the syllabus instead of me truly keeping a though­blog week to week.
I think the country music thing can be changed to a genre of music that more people in college are interested in. I've noticed that when I ask my friends what kind of music they like they usually respond with "everything but country".	And then I play Top 40 Billboard hits, and… 5 people don’t like it.  And then I play rap, and… 5 people don’t like it.  And then I play heavy metal, and… 5 people don’t like it.  And then I play… (C’mon, dude/sister...)
A way to better your writing from a creative writing perspective. We did no creative writing	I love creative writing and highly recommend checking out a course or 2 as an elective, but… that’s not this course!
Maybe don't be so nitpicky [with including the feedback matrix in the WP submissions], things like that end up angering students who have been trying hard but get docked points for silly things that dont matter in the scope of the whole class	Adding the feedback matrix to your WPs is (1) just a simple matter of following directions, which I think is important, and it’s important because (2) it saves me time!
Maybe more aspects with grammar and structure, things along the lines of parallelism. Maybe once a week you could go over a new grammar rule or idea like that?	This is tricky.  I try to touch on this with my daily “tips” but if I spend too much time on it, it probably won’t have an effect (“grammar” instruction needs to be tied to YOUR writing so that YOU wind up understanding what happened) and we’ll miss out on most of the higher-order learning.

Gah!  Really?  I think there was a communication breakdown here…

• ·       There was no purpose to the readings except for including citations in the written projects.
• ·       The Rock video was interesting and funny, but I was still pretty confused after watching it about moves and how it related.
• ·      I would have preferred more big group discussion,
• ·        I was honestly confused all quarter about how those dolls were relevant to the class.
• ·       I think just telling me that my my thesis is weak wasn't very helpful because I've always had trouble formulating a strong thesis and I just don't really know what direction to take when trying to strengthen my thesis
• ·       The matrix showed me exactly what you expected which was nice but I did not think they cohesive with the prompts you gave us.
• ·       Moves kinda suck and they remind me of AP literature. "the author did this blah blah blah to evoke this blah blah blah from the reader. When will I ever be writing about why an author writes a certain way. Why can't this class be based on my own response and my own analysis to things I want to write about? Yes I got to pick the topic most of the time, but I still found myself writing about writing concepts that were related to the topic as opposed to other issues within the context.
• ·      Reviewing anybodies work is hard, but because most of us probably feel like we suck at writing (that's why we are in writing 2) that our feedback isn't valuable because it is supported/educated.
• ·      Nah, [I have no suggestions for improving your teaching approach/philosophy] but if you haven't done so you should go to a Safe Zone Training.  (I think/hope you’re just advocating how cool/important that training is—which is great—but if you think I violated in this in some way, please, please, please talk to me…)

Woo!

• ·       I thought that the course readings were fun and helpful. I was expecting dry, academic article about writing to be included in the reader and I was pleasantly surprised when I began reading.
• ·       The group work is awesome and if I said any of these activities didn't help me or clear up any questions about the future task that it was preparing us for I'd be lying. good job.
• ·       We did a lot of meta­cognitive reading, meaning that we were aware of how we were thinking when we were reading, which is very important, since we had to read many genres through different perspectives (such as an employer reading resumes, a biologist reading a case study, etc.).
• ·       We learned how to read like writers!!! This is the most important thing that I learned in this class and it's a skill that I've already noticed myself applying outside of class. It's improved not only my ability to read, but also my ability to write. 
• ·       The time I can think of that something clicked was when you or someone else in class explained why we were watching those artist videos. It was not because the artists were making moves and so do writers. It was because we were going to be artists creating a writing piece in which we use moves and explain why we use them.
• ·      I wouldn't say that I really had an "aha!" moment in this course, but I certainly never felt lost. We started broad ­ genres ­ and got narrower and narrower throughout the course. Every concept built on the concept and it was super easy to follow.
• ·      [What clicked for me was] How to use dashes definitely. Commenting on my google doc after rereading it. highlighting the fuck out of my paper REALLY helped me.
• ·       When you took a piece of paper, rolled it and pretended it was a monocular (I don't know if that's how you call it, but yeah that). I could see how we were supposed to look at a piece and analyze it in a better way.
• ·       A fresh set of eyes is super beneficial when writing a paper. We're cooped up in our rooms writing for so long that it's easy to get too attached to an idea. We wrote about it, so of course WE understand it. It's easy to forget that there's a reader who's completely unfamiliar with the topic. Perhaps the way we conveyed a concept isn't as clear to an outsider.
• ·       I loved your laid back style. I felt so comfortable participating in class and speaking up. Some professors are super intimidating and it really hinders my ability to learn.
• ·       [My favorite part was] The choice of freedom in picking topics because we write about what we want to write.
• ·      Thanks for giving me a name for the crazy analyzing I already do in my life. #moves #rhetoric

Scholarly Journals in the Composition Field

Writing 2rs,

For WP3, we're going to be applying our genre knowledge by transforming a scholarly piece from the composition field into two genres -- one tailored to an older audience and one to a younger audience. 

If you're still not satisfied with the options in the list I provided, that's totally cool -- you can choose other scholarly pieces from the composition/Writing Studies field.  Make sure, though, you shoot me an email just so I can give you a thumb's up on your pick.  Here's a super-useful link to a site that provides a comprehensive list of the journals in my field.  Below is a more curated list of some of the more popular journals -- at least the ones I'm most familiar with -- that you can find within that aforementioned link.  The ones that aren't hyperlinked aren't "open access" -- they require a library-authenticated sign-in.

• College Composition and Communication
• College English  
• Across the Disciplines 
• Written Communication
• Kairos

Lastly, as far as PB3A goes, try not to over-think it or psych yourself out toooooo much: your only job at this point is to pitch your WP3 Genre Transformation idea.  Tell us (your classmates and I) what your scholarly piece is all about, then describe which two genres (one to/for an older audience, and one to/for a younger audience) you're planning on creating and why.  Then: what will you do in the transformed genres?  What ideas from the scholarly piece will you "foreground" and why?  As always, be as specific as possible.  

On Thursday (the day after PB3A is due), I'm going to provide some feedback to your ideas.  Also, as I mentioned in class, I'd like you to finish commenting on each other's PB3A blog posts by 5pm on that Friday.  (I'll be commenting throughout the morning/afternoon on Thursday, so if you hold off til Friday afternoon, you'll be able to get a glimpse into my thought process in the comments that I leave on everybody's PB3A posts.)

Okey dokey, artichokeys.  That's all for now.  Hang in there and keep working hard -- the quarter's almost over.  :)

Z

"Painting Trees" with Bob Ross and 4 Disney Artists

These videos can help us get at “rhetorical decisions” and “moves.”  They show artists describing their composing process—the artists lead us through their thoughts and their actions.  No matter which option you choose for WP3, I want you to lead me through your moves in your follow-up self-analysis, so while you watch these videos, I want you to consider:

• What are some "moves" you see in these videos?
  
• How do these artists (Bob Ross and the Disney painters) describe what they’re doing?  What do the artists refer to while they describe their work?  What do they talk about?  What do they direct our attention towards?
  
• How would you characterize each artist's style, and what impact does their style have on you (a viewer/audience member)?  How have these artists chosen to portray their subject matter?  

Bob Ross and His "Happy Trees"

4 (Disney) Artists Paint One Tree

Prepping for WP2: Pop Culture-y Sources on the Web

Here's a list of possible pop culture-y (non-academic) publications.  Please know that they don't all represent the same standards for "journalistic integrity" and/or objectivity -- these sites focus on a wide range of content and perspectives, tailored to different audiences.

Poke around and find something you like!

• ESPN
• Esquire
• Vogue
• GQ
• Rolling Stone
• The Atlantic
• Slate
• Vice
• Harper's Bazaar
• Politico
• Huffington Post
• Drudge Report
• SB Independent
• Ed Hat
• LA Times
• NY Times
• Washington Post
• Philly News
• Wall Street Journal
• Mother Jones

"Moves"

I.  Love.  This.  Lesson.
#omfg
#truestory

Whether you realized it or not -- and whether I, the writer, realized it or not -- I made some "moves" right there.  I tapped into my pop culture resources and used some informal conventions of the modern "millenial" generation to (1) reach you, my target audience, by writing a somewhat unusual teacher-to-student "hook" in the beginning (2) let you know that I'm honestly juiced up to teach this lesson... perhaps my enthusiasm for this will be contagious, and (3) let my hair down for a change.

Some other moves I made right there?

• put the key buzzword in boldface for added emphasis
• #'d that list so you realized that there were only a few things you had to get through
• #'d that list so that my punctuation (commas) would come across more clearly -- the #s allowed me to separate each "thing" without using commas.  By using #s, I can save my commas within each item/thing so you (probably) wouldn't confuse them as an additional unit/thing
• used the "rule of 3" (a cheap trick that most readers seem to enjoy)
• finished the list with a joke.  If I started that list with my "long hair joke," would it have been as effective?  Probably not -- punchlines usually work best at the end.

OK, so Writing Project #2 is coming up, which requires you to analyze and evaluate what's gained/lost between scholarly and non-academic texts.  To most effectively do this, I'd like you to consider each writer's moves -- what they're doing, how they're doing it, and whether you believe that it was effective.

By studying this, my hope is that you'll be able to detect writers' moves more clearly and, in doing so, consider adapting what you find to be effective.  Think of this as a way to open up your tool kit.

Ever hear of two musicians "jamming out"?  Well, this is essentially what you're doing as a (good) reader.  You're listening to what the writer/musician is trying to communicate, and if you like what they've done, feel free to "borrow that lick."  (But remember: if you're borrowing their ideas/research, you need to attribute that work to them in a citation!)

Blah blah blah.  Here are some videos that can help us start thinking about "moves."

#thisissocool

Click here for the MJ video on Vimeo.

Epic Wins: Concepts, Conceptual Definitions, Operational Definitions, and Addressing the "So What? Who Cares?" Questions

Here's a link to the video on "epic wins" that we checked out last class!  Remember: why did we watch this?  It's a way for us to think about how researchers need to "get concrete" as they move from concepts, to conceptual definitions, to operational definitions.

(Plus... who doesn't love an "epic win"?)

"In Defense of Rhetoric" Video

As we continue to build our genre awareness, it's important that we get a firm hold on the term "rhetoric."  Rhetoric goes hand-in-hand with genres, their conventions, and how writers choose to communicate their messages.

An Animated Video of a Blogger's Writing (and Thinking and Researching) Process

My beloved Writing 2rs, this is "must-see TV."  (See what I did there by hyphenating "must-see"?  It's certainly not that important in the grand scheme of things, but it's just one of those little meaning-making writing tips that I'd like you to keep your eye on so you can, hopefully, put it into your tool kit.)

Here's an animated at a(n incredibly thorough) blogger's writing process.  I honestly think this could help you (re)think about how you approach your writing (and thinking) in our course and in your others as well!

Genre and PB1A

Writing 2rs,

I wanted to post a message here that can, hopefully, help you think through your upcoming PB1A assignment (due Monday, before the start of class).  

The best place to start is by asking, "Well, what exactly is a genre?"  This is a great question, and we'll be thinking about it all quarter long.  (Really.)  On the most basic level, a textual genre is any piece of writing that's bound by similar patterns in its form (the "look" of it) and content (what it's about).  Another way to distinguish between genres is to consider their social action -- what they do in the world and what they're intended to accomplish.

Let's take a quick look at two genres: "Get Well" cards and car advertisements.  One is intended to express sympathy and love; the other is trying to swindle you out of your hard-earned $$$.  One is very personalized and generally short/sweet; the other is also probably relatively short but it's usually not tailored to a specific person -- I can't remember the last time I opened up a newspaper or a magazine and a car ad said, "Yo, Zack!  How's that commute from Calabasas to Santa Barbara going?  We've heard that you'd like to swap your "folkswagen" for a truck!  Well, check this puppy out!"  Car ads are generally depersonalized.

These are lots of other ways to analyze these two genres.  You can consider what media they typically appear in (car ads occasionally appear on TV commercials -- have you ever seen a "Get Well" commercial?), what kind of specific (or broad) audience they're targeting, and what appeals or types of evidence they use, if any, to do so.  Genres can be broad, loose, and somewhat vague or they can be nuanced, tight, and very specific.  At its best, the concept of "genre" is an analytical tool that we can use to better understand texts and how/why the function in the ways that they do.

All in all, at this current point in the course/quarter (less than one week in!), I just want you to gain added practice with exploring genre.  If you're still a little hesitant about "genre" and what it is/isn't, go back to Dirk's Navigating Genres piece and give it another read.  (That's a million dollar study tip!  It never hurts to slow down and revisit the material multiple times.)

There are a bunch of textual genres out there in the world.  Wherever you can "see language," there's a 99% chance that it falls into some kind of genre.  Sometimes, even when you're "hearing language," it's coming from a textual/written source and it comes right back to a textual genre.  News broadcasters, for instance, are typically reading a report that's been written, which has then been posted onto a teleprompter.  (Genre is an incredibly "Matrix-y" idea.  Once you begin to really see/understand the world through genre, it's almost impossible to un-see it.)

Before I bring this babble fest back down to Earth and get to your PB1A assignment, let me add a couple more dimensions to genre and genre theory that can help you dig down even further.  By considering a genre's affordances (what it enables, such as bottom-up participation by its users/readers -- think of the co-creation that's enabled by a wikipedia entry or possibly how some commenting forums on online message boards can shape the ensuing analytical "conversation") and its limitations (what is restricted, disabled, or unavailable), you'll be able to evaluate a given genre for its strengths and weaknesses.  One other way to explore genre to its fullest extent is to think about how its historical evolution and how it's been shaped over time.  (PS: I'm not expecting all this for PB1A!)

Now, for PB1A, I want you to pick one specific genre -- and analyze an actual example(s) -- you're already fairly familiar and then gain practice with studying, deconstructing, and analyzing it.  I'm basically asking you to take a long, hard look at one specific genre and then: 

1. break down its conventions (just like we've been doing in class with the country tunes, the horror movie clips, and the letter of recommendation requests) and then take a shot at explaining why some of those conventions exist.  One convention of (most of) the letter of recommendation requests was a formal tone.  Why?  To signal respect for the reader -- the person who would be writing the recommendation.
   
2. analyze its rhetorical features which include its intended audience, the author's/writer's purpose for producing it, the greater context in which, and any stylistic patterns.  The reading that I've assigned for Monday (Carroll's "Backpacks and Briefcases") will help you better understand what "rhetorical features" means, so make sure you read this before you begin writing your PB1A.  (Rule of thumb: always read the assigned readings first!) 

In our course reader -- and on Gauchospace -- I've included a badass document that can help guide your genre analysis for PB1A and beyond.  It's called... "Genre Analysis" and it's got a bunch of super-useful questions you can consider to help you "get at" genre.  It's located somewhere towards the end, close to the letter of recommendation request (which, again, represent a distinct genre for all those reasons we discussed in class).

I hope this message helps you.  Try to have fun with this (and all) our assignments and feel free to "go for it" and pick a weird/unusual textual genre.  If you can, include a screen shots, scans/pictures, or links that represent a small sample of whatever genre you've chosen so we can actually see what these genres look like.  Also, making specific references -- think: direct citations or quotes -- from them could really make your PB1A an outta-da-park homerun.  

G'luck!