I have to say that, although it's early, I think this may turn out to be one of the most valuable assignments that we do. This is because it has application to more than just writing. One of the flaws of many general education classes is their lack of interconnectivity among other courses. English is JUST about writing, Biology ONLY about science etc. Teaching this way is fundamentally flawed and lacks real world application. In the real world we often have to combine multiple different knowledge bases and skill sets in order to produce the kinds of works that employers search for.
Right now my topic and the way I plan to re-genre it is of particular interest to me. As many of you know I've been working on the militarization of law enforcement. Basically, this is the policy of old military equipment being given to police units across the nation. This ultimately creates a lot of otherization and is not conducive to the goals of the justice system, in particular serve and protect. While an essay can articulate the links that exist here and begin to make someone understand, they ultimately fail to capture the big picture alone.
That's why it's important to repurpose this essay into a powerpoint presentation with a speech. The powerpoint allows an audience to see the full image of destruction that militarization creates which one can also couple with statistics and stories in a speech to create a powerful multi appeal presentation.
Actually, as I type this I am about to go work on an application to speak at Ted-X. Ted-X has a huge emphasis on the ability to combine these skills to articulate some point. This assignment comes at just the right time to get some practice in for this.
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