Resetting *The Canterbury Tales* Assignment Description

ENGL1102/Spring 2010/Wharton
Individual Assignment 1: Resetting The Canterbury Tales

Overview:
The goal of this assignment is to create a multimodal composition that describes a new setting for the “General Prologue” to Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, and explains and justifies the rationale behind your choice of setting.  Your final composition will comprise three essential elements:

• A three-image slideshow that uses original images (i.e. images that you have created yourself) to depict and describe the new setting
• A 30-second audio track, incorporating either original or “found” (i.e., pre-existing, composed by someone else) audio, that describes, explains and/or justifies the new setting, and
• A 500-word essay that describes, explains, and/or justifies the new setting.

Assignment Description:
In our discussions of the “General Prologue,” we have explored how Chaucer’s choice of setting influences the meaning of The Canterbury Tales and how it might be seen as a response to and/or transformation or translation of Boccaccio’s Decameron.  We have also discussed how the setting of the “General Prologue” relates to Chaucer’s possible purpose in writing the Tales.
This assignment asks you to create a multimodal composition that offers your own interpretation of the “General Prologue,” an interpretation that should be shaped by your own thoughts on:

• the meaning of the “General Prologue,”
• its relationship to the social and historical context in which Chaucer wrote, and
• its significance as a “frame” for the Tales.

Rather than thinking of this as three separate compositions, consider it as a single composition comprising three multimodal elements, each of which can incorporate one or more modes from the WOVEN (written, oral, visual, electronic, non-verbal) spectrum.  So your slideshow might contain written as well as visual and non-verbal elements.  The audio track might use verbal as well as non-verbal sounds, and the essay could incorporate visual, oral and non-verbal elements, as well as written text.  To some extent, the entire composition will be electronic, since all stages and the final draft will be posted as a unified composition in a single posting to your individual blog.  As a whole, the composition should be constructed around and unified by your “thesis,” which is your interpretation of the “General Prologue.”

Elements of the Composition:
Three-image slideshow
--should consist of no more and no fewer than three (3) images
--should incorporate original images that you have created yourself
--can make use of photography, digital or computer generated imaging
  techniques, free-hand drawing, or any combination thereof
--should show consideration of the following:

• how do your images visualize your interpretation or re-interpretation of the “General Prologue” and/or The Canterbury Tales?
• what mood are you trying to evoke, and how does that relate to the mood created by Chaucer’s original setting?
• what adjectives are generally associated with the setting you’ve chosen, and how do those adjectives relate to the adjectives we’ve used to describe Chaucer’s original setting?
• what sort of characters will you find congregating in the setting you’ve chosen, and how do they relate to the Canterbury pilgrims?
• how does the slideshow work with the audio track and the essay to present a complete description and justification of your new setting?
• if you have incorporated written elements, how do those elements help to integrate the slideshow with the audio track and the essay as a single, seamless composition?

30-second Audio Track
--should be no longer and no shorter than 30 seconds
--may consist of found as well as original audio
--can incorporate ambient noise, music, spoken-word or any combination
  thereof
--should show consideration of the following:

• how does the audio track help to present and/or explain your interpretation of the “General Prologue”?
• what sounds are associated with your setting, and how do they relate to the sounds that might have been associated with Chaucer’s original setting?
• how does the audio track work with the slideshow and the essay to present a complete description of your new setting?
• how have you integrated the audio track with the slideshow and the essay as a single, seamless, composition?

500-word Essay
--should consist of no fewer than 500 words
--*****should state your thesis clearly*****
--should be organized around your thesis, with paragraphs organized around
  the main points of your argument
--should be relatively formal in tone and should provide specific evidence,
  drawn from Chaucer’s text, the source material, our class discussions,
  and the other two elements of your composition, in support of all of
  your major points
--may include visual, non-verbal or other modes of composition in addition
  to written text
--should show some consideration of the following:

• what is your interpretation of the “General Prologue”?
• how do the slideshow and the audio track help to present and/or explain your interpretation?
• how have you integrated the essay with the audio track and the slideshow as a single, seamless, composition?

Assignment Stages:
All drafts, including Stage 4 your final draft, will be posted to your individual blog.  Peer-reviews will be posted as comments to your peer’s individual blog.  Remember that all assignment stages must be completed in order to avoid receiving an unsatisfactory grade for an incomplete assignment.

Stage 1:  Slideshow Rough Draft (Posted to your individual blog as “Resetting The Canterbury Tales: Stage 1” by class time on Monday, January 25, 4 points)

• the rough draft of your slideshow should consist of at least nine (9) images that provide a visual description of your chosen setting
• “posting” the slideshow to your blog involves uploading photos to a site such as Flickr, Picasa, photobucket, or Smilebox, creating a slideshow, and embedding a link to the slideshow in your blog posting in such a way that the slideshow plays or can be played within the blog without transitioning to a new site or opening a new tab/window like this:

• the following links provide tips on how to create a slideshow and embed it in your blog:

           --Flickr
           --Picasa
           --photobucket
           --Smilebox

• if you use non-digital means to create your images, e.g. freehand drawing, you will need to scan them to create digital images that can then be uploaded to the web

In-class peer-review of Stage 1, reviews of two (2) peers to be completed in class, Monday, January 25, 4 points

Stage 2: Slideshow and Rough Draft of Audio Track (Posted to your individual blog as “Resetting The Canterbury Tales: Stage 2” by class time on Wednesday, January 27, 4 points)

• your second draft should consist of a new posting to your individual blog that integrates your slideshow (either the draft from Stage 1, or a revised version) with a draft of your audio track
• “posting” this stage to your blog involves embedding a link to the slideshow with audio in your blog posting in such a way that it plays or can be played within the blog without transitioning to a new site or opening a new tab/window
• Audacity, is a free, open-source program that you can download and use to create your audio track
• You can get tips on using Audacity, here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq

Out-of-class peer-review of Stage 2, reviews of two (2) peers to be completed by Thursday, January 28 at 11:00 pm, 4 points

Stage 3: Essay Rough Draft (Posted to your individual blog as “Resetting The Canterbury Tales: Stage 3” by class time on Friday, January 29), 4 points

• this third draft should be blog posting that incorporates a draft of your slideshow with audio and text that outlines your thesis and argument for the 500-word essay
• once again, “posting” this stage to your blog involves embedding a link to the slideshow with audio in your blog posting in such a way that it plays or can be played within the blog without transitioning to a new site or opening a new tab/window

Out-of-class peer-review of Stage 3, reviews of two (2) peers to be completed by Saturday, January 30 at 11:00 pm, 4 points

Stage 4: Final Draft (Posted to your individual blog as “Resetting The Canterbury Tales: Stage 4” by 11:00 pm on Monday, February 1, 72 points)

• the final draft should be a blog posting that integrates the final draft of your slideshow with audio and the 500-word essay
• *****your final draft MUST include a works-cited list that identifies ALL source material, including anything drawn from the texts we’ve been discussing in class, as well as the sources of found audio*****
• once again, “posting” this stage to your blog involves embedding a link to the slideshow with audio in your blog posting in such a way that it plays or can be played within the blog without transitioning to a new site or opening a new tab/window
• since this is the final draft, I expect all formatting and linking issues to be resolved at this point, wonky formatting and broken links, like typos and grammatical errors, will negatively impact your final grade

Stage 5: Reflection (Posted to your individual blog as “Resetting The Canterbury Tales” Stage 5” by 11:00 pm on Wednesday, February 17, 4 points)

• How did your essay evolve from one draft to the next in response to peer feedback and/or your own consideration of it?  How does your final draft use more than alphabetic text to convey your argument?  What composition strategies worked well for you in this assignment, and how might they work well in other rhetorical situations?

Assignment Goals and Desired Learning Outcomes:
Rhetorical Awareness:  The rhetorical situation comprises your purpose, audience and context.  The rhetorical situation influences the kind of arguments that you can make as well as how you make them.  You should have a clear idea of your audience, purpose and context before you begin composing, and your final draft (which includes all three elements) should reflect your awareness of all three.  Ideally, your composition should express your unique personality as an author, in addition to making a persuasive argument for your interpretation of the “General Prologue.”

Stance and Support:  Making an argument involves using appropriate evidence drawn from appropriate sources.  Material (summaries, paraphrases, quotations) drawn from all of your sources should be relevant to and integrated with your argument, and you should provide proper attribution in MLA format when you incorporate the words, work or ideas of another in your essay.  When you rely on your own personal experience and knowledge, you should clearly identify it as such, and such examples should also be relevant to and integrated with your argument.

Organization:  A composition follows a logical progression from introduction to conclusion.  Ideally, your final draft should have a form that reflects the logical progression of your argument and an awareness of the needs of your audience in understanding it, rather than one that follows a pre-determined formula (e.g. the slideshow with audio, followed by a “five paragraph theme”).  Consider how you might use text to introduce the slideshow in your blog and control where and when your audience plays it, “wrapping” your text around it so that it encourages your audience to see the slideshow and audio as integrated parts of your argument.

Conventions:  This assignment is designed to get you thinking about the conventions of multiple modes of communication and how those conventions influence a composition that incorporates more than a single dominant mode.  Ideally, your composition should reflect an awareness of the conventions of visual, aural and electronic media while also complying with conventional rules regarding citations and documentation, grammar, punctuation and mechanics in the textual component.

Multimodal Integration:  In this assignment, you will work with integrating multiple modes into a unified work.  Ideally, your final draft will demonstrate some understanding of how multiple modes of communication work together to create the final composition.

Grading Rubric:
I will use the attached rubric as a guide when grading your projects. Comments on your work will in most cases consist of a summary of how the rubric applies to your work, and extended comments on the final draft.