Framing 101: How to Take Back Public Discourse

y George Lakoff Excerpted from “Don’t think of an elephant! Know your values and frame the debate — The essential guide for progressives.” JANUARY 21, 2004 On this date I spoke extemporaneously to a group of about two hundred progressive citizen-activists in Sausalito, California. When I teach the study of framing at Berkeley, in Cognitive …

Fuzzy Feelings, Fuzzy Concepts: On “Inclusive Excellence”

I remember when I gave my first CCCCs presentation, I was super excited and proud (and of course, nervous). I don’t remember the details, but I do remember that I talked a lot about “community.” When Paul Heilker took me to lunch afterwards to recruit me for the PhD program at Virginia Tech, he gently …

Improve class discussions with Bloom’s Taxonomy

So many class discussions could become an improved learning experience for students with a little more guidance from the instructor. That assessment is based on observing classes as a member of the University of Florida Graduate Student Teaching Awards Committee. I’ve been listening to class discussions in a wide range of disciplines – psychology, educational …

writing for publication – finding an angle and an argument

This is a story, a my story, which leads to eight pointers about writing for publication.  I’m currently writing a paper. Well, yes, always writing something. But right now it’s a paper. A paper designed to do some thinking work that will then inform a book. I’m not writing this paper by myself, but I …

What Does It Mean to Write in an Everyday Life?

There is a paradox to literacy in our contemporary societies. This generation – sometimes called digital natives – read and write more than any other in history; yet, they are also as adverse to writing activities as all others. Go ahead, and ask any student on any college campus when was the last time they …

Metaphors of Writing and How We Actually Write

To think that writing comes from genius or inspiration is to misrepresent writing and do a disservice to writing and dissuade writers from writing. I see the way that the “writer-as-genius” metaphor stops students at university from putting in the time and effort needed to accomplish writing.