Assignment Ideas

I have been pondering some ideas for the three Rhet 5361 assignments, and I think I could really have some fun exploring in areas of personal interest. For instance, I could apply rhetorical theory to the writings of psychology papers; collect and analyze stories from medical school students; audiotape, code, and assess doctors' verbal communication in a particular setting; request war stories from people I know and look for a certain rhetorical connection; videotape training sessions in the workplace; assess psychological techniques by looking at verbal and visual rhetoric; explore the relationality mental model of psychology with some rhet theory approach; compare rhet strategies through a historical look at the birth and progression of the field of psychology; analyze video of relationality in practice; or listen for approaches counselors use when proposing a suggestion to patients.

The question is: "What areas do I want to explore formally?"

Knowing myself, I can easily get wisked away in side topics or go off on learning whims. So, I like the idea of establishing our assignments now so that I can start on my side tours and fun tangents but know the expectations and deadlines ahead. Hopefully this will help me keep focused and build the project(s) bit by bit while getting to explore.

As I go back through my notes, most of my ideas point to one topic: the psychological mental model of relationality. And this is likely the most useful area for me to explore as well as the most likely to yield productive, quality work because I already have IRB approval to (a) audiotape therapy sessions and (b) videotape training sessions. I could tape in formal workplace settings that help establish some consistency for some type of case study approach.

While I do not have the exact details of the assignments figured out, here's what I'm brainstorming. The projects would be separated into three assignments that build on each other but have distinct purposes to each. The larger scope would be "Analyzing the Rhetoric of Relationality". This project would be helpful in my current interests as I want to design and implement an assessment tool for this mental health model. Assignments could be:

1. Review the historical view of the field of psychology. I'd use the rhetoric and writings of the most important figures in psychology to compare, say, the canons of psychologists through the ages. My goal would be to establish background in my area of interest and lead that to the current mental health model that I'd like to work with: relationality. Then I'd build on that further with the next assignment. Deliverable: paper

2. Get to know the relationality mental health model. (I have read and worked with this model so I have a start here. I'd get books and articles that I've not yet read.) Here, there would be reading, watching video, and talking to practitioners. But I think I need to go farther here and create video myself. And this could fall under my current IRB with TTU and Greenbrier Academy (www.greenbrieracademy.com). So I would take all of this information and do an analysis. (Rich, I don't even know rhetorical theory well enough to suggest the type of analysis, but I'm sure as I learn in class and do research outside of class, I could figure it out.) I would present the results of this analysis as well as offer some sort of literature review woven into my understanding of rhetoric through course readings. Deliverable: literature review with video appendices???

3. Video (or audio record) actual therapy sessions (which I currently have permission to do). Code these sessions using Aristotle's Appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos. I do have a couple sessions recorded so I'd have to add a few more to have something to actually work with here. I'd take the coded session information and compare that to the data and info collected in #2. I think it also be useful to code the information from #2 and compare the codes. That way, I could look at the Appeals from a written and expected standpoint (i.e. what the counselors, researchers, and other practitioners say the relationality model is supposed to look like and what it actually sounds like in a real session. Deliverable: comparison of coded data

Maybe at the end, to give back to the company that would be letting me record and ask and analyze, I could make a video of the projects and their progression. I don't think I'd promise this to the company because I'm a bit hesitant to commit to it with my videography skills (and no more access to a Mac)! But it would be a fun way to pull everything together and present the rhetoric of a mental health model at one particular location.

So that's the brainstorm. Now I'm going to start digging into some rhetoric webpages and start learning about this subject. The beginning of the course as well as getting our text books might impact the direction of these assignments. Please feel free to let me know your thoughts.