Iris Farrou

Teaching Activities for Boyd

ITC Fall 2015

Boyd’s Argument and Claims

• Discuss the topic of the text, Boyd’s rhetorical situation and her main argument. Use video(s) to introduce the theme, look at resources on Boyd to understand rhetorical situation and make use of specific questions to guide the discussion on the main argument.

• Move on to the rest of the text and ask the students to work in groups so as to compare notes on what the sub-claims they have found are. See how these connect to the main argument and what are some of the moves Boyd uses to advance them.

• Discuss some of the sub-claims and 1-2 of the moves used to build them in detail. Try to make connections to the videos we have watched and determine in what ways they connect to Boyd’s text. Possibly bring in ideas from Thompson to further the students’ understanding.

Bringing in Outside Sources

• Provide the class with one source used to extent/complicate etc. Boyd’s argument and assign homework to find main claim and some specific textual evidence that demonstrate the source’s response to Boyd. Ask them in class to write a brief response on how they see this source connecting to Boyd.

• Divide the class into 4-5 groups and assign another outside source to each group (before next class). In class, ask them to present the argument of this source, some rhetorical strategies used by the author to advance the argument, and discuss at least 2 points from the text that show a clear connection to Boyd’s text. Elaborate on this connection and see how it affects Boyd’s argument.

• Assign homework for each group to write a response on this second source; how do they see it furthering/clarifying/complicating Boyd’s claim? Make sure textual evidence is used and analysis is built.

Moving on to Research

• Have a small workshop on how research works and ask each student to find a text by the next class which they think responds to Boyd. Homework summary of this text due (must include main claim).

• In-class workshop with short assignments that use the students’ own source to discuss how it affects Boyd’s argument. Peer-review with instructions.

Putting the Paper Together

• Discuss how the paper should look like, what are the basic elements that it is expected to have.

• Short discussion on how they see all the outside sources working with Boyd; what weaknesses have been identified in Boyd’s argument? What strengths have been noticed? How do the outside texts help our understanding of the topic?