Yeah, but can you put it on a Scantron?

Moreover, I propose that we draw on our familiarity with rhetorical tropes--and specifically with the tropes of metaphor and metonymy--to provide us with a language with which to talk to our students about the effectiveness of their work. (Madeleine Sorapure)

I found Sorapure's thoughts on assessment to be interesting and original: I would have never thought of utilizing metaphor and metonymy as tools of assessment. Although I'm still wrapping my head around it, I like the creation of a brand-new language of assessment to address brand-new media types.

Following in Sorapure's footsteps, I will now play in this newly discovered assessment space by "grading" the digital collage Elissa and I created. Scot, feel free to use this in the tabulation of my final grade (Elissa might disagree with this idea, however).

by Elissa and Jeff

This image works by employing a central metaphor (and a play on words): composition as composting (as in reusing and re-employing organic material), or decomposition (again making a metaphoric connection between organic decay/rebirth and writing). This is a strong, unique metaphor (and, to give credit where credit is due, a metaphor that was Elissa's brainchild). As strong metaphors do, this relates two unlikely conceptual elements. By making composting/decomposition as the vehicle for illuminating the writing process, this metaphor allows the audience to consider the organic implications of writing. That this piece was composed using digital technology only highlights the connections and disconnections between the organic act of creation and the technologies required to foster this creation.

There are some metonymic connections made, mostly relating to the central metaphor. The writing being produced by the image in the digital collage is a garden. A beautiful, ordered garden is metonymically related to the finished piece of writing. Likewise, images depicting the process of composting are metonymically related to the manner in which a writer makes use of all his or her experiences and influences.

The metonymic connections in this piece, however, are fairly limited in scope, and are all directly related to the central metaphor. Metonymy, here, is used to reinforce and not re-imagine. A bolder, more visionary use of metonymy may have provided this piece with more depth.

An area of assessment which Sorapure for the most part neglects in her article is aesthetics. Visual images prompt an aesthetic response: this is part of the experience of viewing art. I think this digital collage would score relatively high on this scale-- it is thoughtfully composed and the contrast between color and black and white works well. However, the execution is sloppy at points, as highlighted by the chucks missing from the writer's body and the somewhat boring use of repetition in the "garden" being created by the writer.

Final grade: B+