Sara Gibson

Gibson 1

Professor Jan Rieman

UWRT 1103
September 22, 2014
Framework to Success: An Assignment in Three Genres
Since I was not present for the peer workshop, I am a little nervous turning this in as my
final draft. Overall, however, I am happy with what I have written. I think it is informative and
concise and I think I understood the goal of the assignment well. I also believe that I explained
not only my groups analysis process well, but my own analysis process. And how we used the
skills in the Framework to Success article in completing the project.
The better command of genres, the more freely we employ them, the more fully and clearly
we reveal our own individuality in them (where this is possible and necessary), the more flexibly and
precisely we reflect the unrepeatable situation of communicationin a word, the more perfectly we
implement our free speech plan. Undoubtedly, the study of genres has always seemed rather
important to me as a writer, and also as a student and general member of society. Though, I must
admit, before this assignment I did not truly understand what it meant. Genres always seemed to be
broad and frankly, they were something I always ignored. Or so I thought. For in truth, I
unconsciously use and analyze genres everyday. We all do. Through this assignment I was able not
only to analyze genres and how they affect others but also to analyze how I use genres and how they
affect my everyday life.
For the sake of this project, my group was told to create three different genres that
exemplified openness. Before my group could begin, we had to first define what openness meant to
us and what it would mean to our audience. The general definition of openness is, the willingness to
consider new ways of being and thinking in the world. To myself, a 18-year-old African American

teenager born and raised in the South, being open ( or to have an open mind) means to be accepting
to all types of people and all types of lifestyles. To one of my group members, however, being open
meant that you did not have to necessarily respect or accept that there were all types of people and all
types of lifestyles - but only that you need be aware of their existence. So before we could begin our
project we had to collectively agree on a general definition of openness that would be most relatable
to our audience. We decided to go with the idea that there were millions of different cultures around
the world, and each of them contains their own types of lifestyles. We decided not to delve into how
you should react or not react to them. We wanted to keep it simple, because the teenage students we
would be communicating to most likely wouldnt care too much. Our use of rhetorical knowledge, in
this sense, paid off when we began planning our actual genres.
The actions that followed strongly correlated to the use of critical analysis. Our group now
had to decide what our genres were going to be. We used generalizations of our audience to analyze
what genres would be most effective in communicate with our audience. Generally, adolescent age
students have a short attention span. They enjoy visual representations of information rather than an
oral or textually based representation. They prefer activities over lectures and in general, their most
used form of writing comes in the genres of social media posts, text messages, and Snapchat.
Therefore, we wanted to choose genres that would appeal this type of audience. After much
conversation decided upon a Twitter page, a collage, and a to - do list. We agreed that these genres
were brief, interactive, relatable, and visually appealing. All things we thought would appeal to our
potential audience.
I chose to take responsibility for creating the collage.
Research for the collage wasnt very extensive. I already had a fairly well developed idea that
I wanted to do with it. When I heard the word openness, the very first thing that came to my mind
was the quote, The mind is like a parachute; it only works if its open. From there, I began to think
of ways that could explain my take on this quote visually while still connecting with my audience. I

wanted to create something that would not only be easily recognizable - but also, unconventional,
appealing and thought - provoking. That is where my idea to base the collage off of the map of the
world came from. I wanted to say something meaningful without the use of words. This proved to be
more difficult than it might sound. I printed out multiple pictures of different individuals, cultures,
places, religious relics, social and political issues, cultural anomalies and controversial pictures
throughout history and in modern society. At this point, I had to decide how I would depict the
modern perspective of openness. Before, I realized what I was doing I was cutting. Cutting all the
pictures into small pictures, and placing in them in spaces on the map. The modern perspective of
openness, in my opinion, is jumbled. People cant and dont want to make sense of what doesnt
already naturally make sense to them. As a society we are close minded and subjective. We are all
opinionated, but it seems to me as if we are all in a pitch black room screaming our opinions with
headphones in our ears. Blind and deaf. My collage seemingly represented the quote I originally
thought of quite well. Our minds cannot work if they are not open. Seemingly, our thoughts, our
opinions, our minds are jumbled and disconnected.
Overall, I think the collage represented our habit of mind well. And I believe all of our genres
were able to connect with our audience in a way that will be memorable and engaging.
This assignment truly allowed me not only to assess an audience we were trying to connect
to, but myself and how well I am able to analyze and use the skills mentioned in the Framework to
Success article. Conclusively, I am glad that we were able to participate in this assignment and utilize
these necessary skills.

Sara,
This was a difficult assignment and one that folks wrestled with in peer workshop. Not having had
the benefit of that, its understandable that you are a bit unclear on what to do here. First thing is to

revisit the assignment sheet and clarify what the goals of this assignment were. See my comments
throughout and respond with a talk back.

Dr. Rieman,
I agree that it was difficult to write this assignment without the benefit of the peer workshop. Overall,
do you think I am going in the right direction? What would you suggest I change, if anything? Did I
go into too much detail in one aspect over another?