Rhetorical Pedagogy Response

"Do I know what rhetorical means?" - Homer J Simpson (I must admit this quote was the first thing I thought of when I saw we were studying rhetorical pedagogy)

I've always thought that rhetoric is the study or mastery of the spoken word, specifically in regard to argument. It seems that I am not far off from the classical definition of the word. Within the readings, I was intrigued with Booth's concept of balance. I specifically liked how he draws a connection between the classical and modern conceptions of rhetoric in writing about a writer's voice. Near the end of his essay he writes, "What makes the rhetoric of Milton and Burke and Churchill great is that each presents us with the spectacle of a man passionately involved in thinking an important question through, in the company of an audience" (170). A writer's mastery of his or her own voice seems to directly correlate to his or her own mastery in writing. By mastery in writing, I mostly mean being comfortable with and not intimidated by writing. Giving structure and encouraging expression seems to be a good combination of pedagogical approaches to writing.