TOW Post #28- Documentary Rhetorical Analysis

           

             The documentary that I watched is called Waiting for Superman. One might think that this documentary must be about either a love story about a women waiting for the man of her dreams, or a spin off of one of the greatest superhero movies Superman. Yet this documentary is actually about education. In today's world wide society, education has grown to be one of the most important aspect of life; it is the key to a successful life. In this documentary the speaker is a professor and also retired superintendent. Throughout the documentary the speaker changes often from this superintendent to a narrative voice of the documentary creator, to families included in the documentary. This documentary touches base on many issues today in the education system. Some of the issues discussed are bad schools because of bad low income neighbor hoods or vice versa, schools not being able to advance because of bad teachers, and the struggle of families trying to get their children into the best school near them, such as charter schools. After watching this documentary the creator of this documentary was bel to open my eyes about the flaws in the education system.

            One key strategy that the filmmaker included in order to make this film more interesting instead of a two hour talk about education was what the filmmakers decide to show when ever they were stating data. Throughout the entire documentary they used the same type of animation style to not only make the statistics more interesting but also to give a great illustration and picture of the actually statistic itself, using symbols and graphs. This strategy was clever and stands out from other documentaries considering it's a huge contrast to the rest of the documentary which is real and not cartoon style. By using this strategy, the filmmakers made the documentary more eye-catching, thus allowing them to directly expose that the education in hindsight needs to be reevaluated and changed for the better.

            To strengthen and improve the filmmakers purpose, the follow the struggles of four families slowly yet progressively throughout the documentary. The filmmakers were able to smoothly tie in these stories of the four families and their struggles and relate it back to the data they is often presented. This weaving in of the families stories is able to bring some life to these statistics and adda sentimental factor throughout the documentary. Unfortunately these families were the percents of the data that were bad and unfortunate, such as only 6% percent of a high school class in LA would graduate; thus one of students in one of family would be borderline of this 6%. In the end of the documentary most of the families being documented were not selected for their child to make it into a charter school, therefore certainly not supporting the assumption that the educations system over all is successful. 

            Unfortunately we as a nation especially have not reached our goals of providing the best education. Maybe we have for a small percentage of students in America but not for every student. Education should be everyone's first and major priority considering the fact that we students are the future of the United Sates. Although the audience of this documentary could be students like myself, teachers and families who are also struggle, the real audience might just be those who have the power to change the education system and make a difference.

TOW Post #27- TOW Reflection

           

            Through out the year of AP English, I have adjusted to the ongoing Text of the Week Posts that we had to do every week. At first I thought that having to do a blog post on a reading every week was a waste of time and not going to be beneficial for me in regards to the AP English Exam. I thought to myself, how is doing the same thing repetitively for months going to help me do well on the exam, since its not exactly how the exam will be like? But I have come to realized that the TOW posts have made me read many readings in a different and more analytical way. Also these TOWs help me strengthen a work on writing skills that I needed more practice with.
            Beginning with the first marking period there was a major difference between my second marking period posts and especially my third marking period posts. One of the characteristics of my first marking period trends seemed to be that I used new articles, in stead of writing that is easier to analyze rhetorically, such as opinionated essays. This trend quickly ended with in the next marking period. Besides the type of writing pieces I chose, another trend and difference compared to the other marking period posts was that I used a lot of quotes in my posts. This showed that I really didn't analyze much of the writing piece, instead I was just re-staing things in the writing piece. One last thing with in marking period one trends was that I did not have conclusion paragraphs, leaving my TOW post with no ending and just open. As the second marking period came around, my TOW post introductions were coming along, yet my posts seemed like lists when coming to explaining the rhetorical devices that were used. But as time passed i slowly began to integrate my rhetorical devices and connection them together, making a smoother TOW post. The third marking period posts are more detailed and began to get better with the "so what" aspect regarding the author's purpose. From the first marking period to the third marking period, my TOW post have changed for the better.
            Although I have made progress with my TOW posts, i believe there are still some things that I need to work on improving; one of them being the ultimate message of the author purpose. In other words the "so what" is a key aspect in writing that I need more practice with. But I have made progress considering I did not attempt to address a so what with my earlier TOW post. I also need to improve on connecting my rhetorical devices/reasonings a little bit more. Yet I do believe that I have mastered introductions. Coming into AP English writing introductions was a concern of mine, and shown through the TOW post, I have gotten a lot better with them.
           The TOW posts initially sounded like a bunch of work, just to keep us AP students busy, but I benefited from these TOW assignments each week, even though they might have been a bit of an annoyance. When the AP Exam came around last two weeks ago, I do believe that being prepared for the writing (and also reading) part of the exam was partially because of these TOW assignments. Not only have the TOWs may have helped me with my AP Exam, they have also allowed me to look at readings more analytically and become more interested in non-fiction reading.

TOW Post #26- Visual Text: "Cigarette Advertisment"

           Years ago when the first cigaret came out on the market four the public, it was a big hit. There many poster and television ads that advertised the new product. Celebrities anreven doctors were used as strategies to get the public to buy cigarettes. But many years down the road doctors began to discover how unhealthy and dangerous that cigarettes can be. Today there are barely any advertisements for the use of cigarettes, but there are now advertisements for the stopping of smoking cigarettes. In the advertisement above, the author of the image is clearly trying to advertise that smoking is overall a poor choice that needs to be stopped. The author is able to achieve his purpose through the use of color and symbolism.
             Color is known to represent and have an effect many things; yet in the advertisement above the color plays a key role into creating a certain feeling and mood. In oder to convey the message that smoking is bad, the author used dull and dark colors such as grey and black. Usually when something or someone is colorless it indicates a negative mood. By creating a negative tone and mood through these colors the advertisement is  affecting the viewers; the viewers realizing the negativeness of smoking and how serious the situation is.
            Communicating with the viewers of the advertisement is key to successfully convey the message and purpose of the advertisement. Symbolism is a great tool used to communicate a message. In the advertisement above the ashes from the cigarette symbolizes the person who is smoke the cigarette, and how its bringing them down. Cigarettes are health hazardous and can count one's life short: slowly bringing the person down.
           The creator of this advertisement successfully conveyed his message on the fact that smoking is bad and should be minimized and ultimately stopped. By incorporating rhetorical devices into the advertisement the creator is not only to get out his message but also to guide people in the right direction, saving more lives.