Where should we shop From Factory Store Rack to Social Conscience A placebased approach to the teach

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Where should we shop?From Factory Store Rack to
Social ConscienceA place-based approach to the
teaching of writing

• Dr. June Johnson-Bube
• Tara Der-Yeghiayan
• Seattle University

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Goals for Core Freshman Seminars

• A. To welcome students into the academic
  community and intellectual life of Seattle
  University
• B. To connect students to Seattle and the
  surrounding region
• C. To extend the learning of the course outside
  the classroom through co-curricular activities
  that are integrated into the academic content
  of the course
• D. To foster a spirit of community and build
  rapport among the students and the faculty
• E. To provide a rigorous and memorable learning
  experience

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Specific Goals for our English 110 Global
Exchanges Seminar

• Thematic Goals
• This course will equip students to
• reflect, speak, and write on the ways that the
  thematic readings of the course have opened up
  thinking about the relationship between local and
  global issues
• think about these issues complexly in terms of
  multiple views and many stakeholders
• reflect, speak, and write on the contention that
  Americans need to be global citizens
• both apply the ideas of the supporters and
  critics of globalization and question them by
  drawing on course readings, films, and individual
  research

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Goals for English 110, continued

• Rhetoric/Composition Goals
• This course will equip students to
• initiate effective writing by framing
  significant, complex questions and become
  invested in these questions
• use active critical reading to analyze other
  writers arguments and respond thoughtfully to
  them
• use writing as a way to learn and to discover
  ideas
• use the key critical thinking and rhetorical
  moves of academic writing posing questions,
  summarizing, critiquing, analyzing, synthesizing,
  and constructing reasoned arguments
• direct their writing to a specific audience, with
  a purpose, and in a genre and style appropriate
  to the rhetorical situation

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Rhetoric/Composition Goals for English 110,
continued

• learn to use the writing process---including
  brainstorming and drafting, revising, and
  editing---to produce their most effective writing
• do purposeful research and wallow in the
  complexity of an issue by using the resources of
  the library, licensed databases and the Web and
  evaluate these sources
• construct thoughtful, well-reasoned arguments
  directed toward specific audiences

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Overview of the Course Units

• Unit I Introduction to Globalization and
  Exploration of Consumerism, Free Trade, and
  Sweatshops and Introduction to Rhetorical
  Problems and Important Moves in Academic Writing
  and Civic Argument
• Unit II Exploring Outsourcing Writing Analyses
  and Critiques
• Unit III Exploring Immigration and Human
  Trafficking Exploratory Essay
• Unit IV Exploring Cultural Rights and Diseases
  in the Global Community Researched Arguments

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Questions for Workshop Participants to Ponder for
Discussion

• What experiences in the Seattle area have helped
  you discover the possibilities of alternative
  modes of production and marketing?
• How would you expose students experientially to
  alternative modes of production and marketing?
• How would you design an activity to assist
  urbanites in understanding the larger social
  justice consequences of their consumption
  patterns? (Light 46)
• How would you respond to students who retrench in
  their comfortable, familiar consumption habits?

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Assignment Sequence

• Co-curricular group fieldtrip (see handout)
• Writing Project (see handout)
• Informal, incremental writing assignments and
  class activities

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Bonnie RiverA Fair Trade World Friendly Store

• A fair trade boutique where you can purchase
  fairly traded crafts, artwork and clothing.
  Bonnie River is located in the heart of
  Wallingford, an upscale neighborhood in Seattle
  known for its homey, friendly feel.

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The faces behind the products

• Students were asked to visit Bonnie River, an
  urban space offering alternative modes of
  production, where the owner proudly displays
  photographs of the craftsperson behind the
  product.

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Students Responses to fieldtrip questions

• About Greener Lifestyles in Ballard
• Items sold Couches, foot cushions, hanging
  lamps, wall lamps, wall-mounted light panels,
  wood floor tiling, cork floor tiling, mattresses,
  chairs, coffee tables, push screens, stools,
  dining tables, rugs, baskets, benches, towels,
  linens, yoga mats
• The store is pretty small. Its a long rectangle
  with furniture lining the sides. They have their
  wall lights mounted on the walls. The store
  feels like a cool and stylish place. Their wood
  floors and aesthetically pleasing furniture help
  build this feeling. The store has a skylight so
  it doesnt rely completely on electrical
  lighting, which makes sense because the store is
  supposed to be environmentally minded.

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Fieldtrip response to Greener Lifestyles,
continued

• The immediate area didnt have a lot of
  mainstream stores, and I heard one girl passing
  comment, Look how much this place has changed.
  The immediate area is pretty quiet, and were
  guessing that the locals favor the smaller,
  unique store to the larger mainstream franchises.
  These are probably the type of people who are
  also more concerned with fair trade and with how
  those larger corporations take advantage of cheap
  laborers. The population is also probably older
  in age. At least, the taxi cab driver told us
  that old people liked to visit the bars in the
  area and get drunk.

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Greener Lifestyles, Students Rating

• Wed give the store a 4 out of 5. Like Jamba
  Juice with its vivid colors and wooden floors,
  Greener Lifestyles has a stylish interior and
  cool lighting to set it apart from other stores
  and convey a sense of class. It met our
  expectations and its attractive products appeal
  to everybody, not just those who are looking for
  some greener fair trade items.

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Incremental Writing Assignments

• Informal Writing Assignments
• Rationale
• To help students process and synthesize ideas
  from the course readings, class discussion, and
  the fieldtrip
• To give students warm-up writing practice
• To give students practice working with argument
  concepts

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Informal Writing Assignment I

• 1. Thinking Piece Do the Peter Elbow
  Believing/Doubting exercise with one of the
  following claims. For the first twenty minutes,
  believe the claim and write in support of it,
  adding your own reasoning and examples. Then
  write for twenty minutes doubting the claim,
  challenging and questioning it. The key to
  success with this thinking/writing exercise is to
  write in the first person (I) and use specific
  examples. Try to avoid big, general, vague
  statements.
• A. All corporations should be required to tell
  consumers where and how their products are
  manufactured.
• B. American consumers should actively pursue
  alternatives to free trade such as fair trade.

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Informal Writing Assignment II

• 2. Thinking Piece In a one-page, single-spaced
  informal piece, describe your favorite store (for
  clothing or food) and discuss what this store
  wants you to focus on when you are shopping. What
  marketing gimmicks does this store employ?

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Informal Writing Assignment III

• 3. Based on the ideas you encountered in the
  documentary The Corporation, create an argument
  frame, using this claim
• Claim The Corporation is a dangerous
  institution that needs to be more regulated.
• Try to generate at least three reasons as because
  clauses and provide the unstated assumption
  behind each reason. In addition, list the
  support you would use to develop each reason (the
  grounds), and also anticipate objections from the
  business world and stockholders (conditions of
  rebuttal)

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Samples of Student Guest Editorials
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Sample I Village of Values

• A whiff of old carpets and furniture splashes
  my face as I enter the two door entrance. The
  faint aroma of a new pair of shoes intertwined
  with the dusty tang of a thirty year old attic
  fills my lungs. This place is a dream, a bargain
  beyond riches, a place of treasures and memories.
  Vinyl upon vinyl Berlioz, Mozart, Garland, and
  Sinatra each carry a varying amount of creamy
  dust on the surface. Knitted scarves revealing
  tedious finger work grace numerous plastic racks.
  Coffee-stained pages of vintage edition novels
  topple across bookshelves of disarray while
  opposite, chipped chinaware await gentle care.
  It is a village of values, recycled products
  awaiting a new owner and journey at inexpensive
  prices. Some people believe that purchasing
  these old and recyclable products at thrift
  stores, such as Value Village, is disgusting and
  impedes the global economy. I beg to differ.

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Sample II The Power of Choice is Yours

• Its a normal Saturday afternoon down at the
  mall when suddenly I hear Justin Timberlakes
  newest song playing loudly from a store that has
  bright lights coming from it with red sale signs
  everywhere and trendy clothes that I see the
  girls on MTV wearing. Immediately I walk towards
  the direction of the store. How could a teenage
  girl resist, right? Rummaging through racks and
  racks of cheap and stylish clothes that would go
  great with my new boots, I envision a girl my
  age, maybe even younger, sweating, in pain,
  struggling to reach her quota, sewing these
  clothes. My heart stops for a second while I
  recall what I just learned in class about
  sweatshop workers and free trade. I didnt need
  another cute blouse to add to my already full
  closet. I put it back on the overly-stuffed rack
  and walked out of the store.

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Sample II The Power of Choice is Yours,
continued

• We, as consumers, can make a positive change in
  this world by shopping at fair trade stores at
  least once a month, instead of only free trade
  stores because they are more convenient. Just
  recently I visited a fair trade store called
  Bonnie River. There was only one worker present
  at the store and to my surprise she was the owner
  of the store. There were no huge marketing
  gimmicks, loud pop music playing in the store, or
  sales associates walking around trying to
  convince you to buy something. Instead, the
  store felt homely and comfortable. Mrs. Riley,
  the owner of the store was there if I had any
  questions, but she wasnt there trying to sell
  her things. Before entering the store, I expected

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Sample II The Power of Choice is Yours,
continued

• it only to have weird cultural things that
  someone my age would care nothing about.
  However, there were many items that caught my
  eye. For example, she sold fair trade chocolate
  from Peru, beautiful hand-crafted jewelry,
  coffee, stuffed animals, cute hats, and uniquely
  designed blankets. The one thing that amazed me
  the most was when I was reading the tags on some
  of the clothing. These tags actually said who
  made the particular article of clothing and some
  of them were even signed by the workers
  themselves! I also came across handmade bags.
  On the shelf below the bags there was a
  photograph of the man who made these bags and he
  was holding his products with a big smile on his
  face. Just seeing this made me feel overwhelmed
  with joy. Knowing that these people are paid
  fair wages and work in decent conditions makes it
  worth paying a few extra bucks for a bar of
  chocolate or a cute bag for your mothers
  birthday.

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Sample III Responsible Consumption Peace of
Mind at a Students Price

• So, if you cant afford Italian shoes or the
  mark-up for fair and organic goods, what is a
  Seattle University student to do? On Capitol
  Hill there are vintage clothing retailers like
  Red Light, Backstage Thrift and Value Village.
  They are inexpensive, trendy and some are even
  charitable. Value Village works predominantly
  with the Northwest Center for the Retarded and
  helped raise 100 million dollars last year
  through its various branches. Also, Backstage
  Thrift donates a proportion of its profits to the
  Northwest Actors Studio. Some may not consider
  this in the line of responsible consumption.
  However, the reuse of clothing delays the time
  before it goes into the dumpster and saves the
  resources of producing a new garment. Even
  though most of their clothes were made by
  sweatshops, not a penny of the revenue rewards
  the manufacturer for doing so. If anything, it
  damages income to the majority of present
  producers selling clothing made in unmonitored
  sweatshops abroad.

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Sample III Responsible Consumption Peace of
Mind at a Students Price, continued

• Not into vintage? Note even new fashion? The
  solution is the many ethnic retailers peppered
  across Seattle. Their wholesome products are
  timeless and inexpensive. Retailers such as the
  non-profit Ten Thousand Villages can offer you
  things from soap to armchairs and show you the
  guy who made them. They, in particular, manage
  production with the workers to reach an
  accommodation. The workers are paid a minimum
  salary and half of it is given before hand to
  discourage rushed work and promote a sustainable
  lifestyle for the workers. All of Ten Thousand
  Villages prices are fairly low and there is even
  a array of items that are more discrete about
  their origins, for those who arent into the
  ethnic image.

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Pedagogical Reflections

• The Fieldtrip- What worked?
• Students seemed happily surprised and encouraged
  by how knowledgeable the fair trade stores
  owners, workers and volunteers were and equally
  impressed by their enthusiasm and willingness to
  speak at length about their products, goods and
  the people who are impacted by this method of
  trade.
• Many students noted the lasting impression they
  were left with after seeing photographs of
  workers behind the products.
• Many students located products they could swap
  for name brand items they usually purchase- from
  Converse to No Sweat high tops, for example.

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Pedagogical Reflections

• The Writing Assignment- What worked?
• Most students wrote with a strong sense of
  audience, argumentatively communicating to their
  fellow students why they should or should not
  support a particular store.
• After attending the fieldtrip, students felt more
  invested in the assignment and wrote with a
  strong sense of voice.
• Their freshly acquired, firsthand knowledge of
  fair trade availability and experiential learning
  of place allowed students to build a positive
  ethos.

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Pedagogical Reflections

• What were working on
• Addressing some students concerns that they are
  being guilt tripped (as one student mentioned
  in his thesis-claim) into supporting fair trade.
• Challenging students to invent a fresh and new
  approach to this issue that is becoming more and
  more familiar, especially to students in the
  Seattle area.