Griman 1 Tess Griman Ms.

Ingram College Genre Analysis 1101-049 25 October 2013 The Parent-Student Handbook I went to a small private Catholic high school in Raleigh called Cardinal Gibbons. At the beginning of every year, our class schedules would be mailed to our homes a week before school started along with the parent-student handbook. The handbook listed all dress code rules that students were to abide by as well as the grading scale, and all policies that they had. This text could have been the work of a collaboration of authors: the board of trustees, teachers, parents, administrators, or the Franciscan brothers who were originally in charge of my school. Due to the way the sentences are phrased, it is clear that school officials wrote this. Every sentence is written in a way so that it leaves no room for confusion or any unanswered questions. The authors thought out every sentence carefully before writing it down. Student pregnancy is a sensitive issue requiring charity and understanding. Every effort, (tutorial or in-class) for the student to continue schooling up to the delivery is to be made by the principal. The principal shall work with the student, parents/guardian and Catholic Charities or social service agency to provide counseling and medical services that may be needed. After delivery, the student shall be received back in school, if the infant is being adequately cared for by an appropriate adult. Although having a child out of wedlock is frowned upon in the Catholic Church, my school has tried to make an effort to be accommodating and respectful of the commonality of teen mothers these days by giving them

Griman 2 options that dont limit them, or force them to become a teen mother without a GED. The intended audience is quite clearly stated in the title of the handbook: parents and students. Although an argument could be made that the real audience are students, since they are the ones that are attending the school and should therefore be aware of the rules. High school is also supposed to help adolescents to mature more by assuming more responsibility and relinquishing some dependency that they have on their parents. A responsible student would read the handbook so that they may know what is and isnt acceptable. My school was established over hundred years ago on certain principles, values, and traditions that the authors saw were important to continue to carry on through the generations. Cardinal Gibbons High School is a college preparatory school of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh. We embrace the mission of Jesus Christ: to form men and women of faith, service, and leadership in church and community. The handbook was created to detail these values and to also inform students of infractions that can be avoided by simply reading the fine print, conveyed in only thirty-five pages. Both the implicit and explicit messages can be found in the Philosophy and Goals and Objectives section. Cardinal Gibbons is a co-educational high school in the Diocese of Raleigh that shares the Good News through quality Roman Catholic education. Under the guidance and leadership of lay and religious faculty, staff and administration, Cardinal Gibbons seeks to prepare young men and women to live out gospel based values. We believe that quality education calls us to integrate Gospel teaching and values with real life. We seek to foster these values with emphasis on Roman Catholic identity and the teachings

Griman 3 of Jesus Christ. We recognize that parents are the primary educators and work closely with them in both school and parish. Cardinal Gibbons welcomes families of all faiths, ethnic origins, and economic levels. In the objectives section, the reader can see that they value the same characteristics that Jesus possessed: charity, love and purity. The authors want to mold young students into caring and loving individuals. Similar to the objectives are the goals, which reiterate that the schools number one priority besides educating young minds is shaping young minds into Christ like replicas, people who are giving, kind, and selfless, people whom Respond to needs of others through service to school, Church, and community. Gain the information and values necessary for an appreciation of family life and human sexuality. Demonstrate social responsibility and awareness of global interdependence. Understand and appreciate various cultures by growing in the understanding of social problems concerning race, poverty, and religion. Recognize the responsibility to be good stewards of the environment. When writing this, the authors intended goal was probably for students to read and become familiar with their guidelines and certain core values so they may uphold them and appreciate their foundations. This informational genre exists in the forms of a booklet as well as a PDF, making it easily accessible to everyone. Besides the small font, rather lengthy explanations, and the fact that most students are already familiar with proper conduct and dress code, due to being constantly lectured by teachers, there arent any other negatives to the pamphlet. If you needed to reference a specific rule, you would have no problem doing so because there is a Table of Contents that has organized everything you need to know

Griman 4 into chapters. Overall it conveyed the necessary information in a professional and well thought out manner. College Brag Sheet The high school that I attended in Raleigh required that at the beginning of senior year, all students are to complete a brag sheet. The directions to the brag sheet listed questions that needed to be answered and typed up. The answers to these questions would then be taken and turned into a letter of recommendation by your assigned guidance counselor. This letter of recommendation was especially beneficial to the students who only had one teacher recommendation. For those who had more than one, it served as additional confirmation to their good character and excellent academic standings. At the bottom of the introduction it insists that the sheet be turned in to your counselor by the first day of school. It can be assumed that this and the usage of we are definite indicators as to who the author or authors of this are, none other than the guidance counselors. The introduction to this two-page questionnaire also details that your answers would help the counselors, accurately tell an admissions officer the type of person you are. They encouraged that our answers be honest and detailed to assure we were accurately portrayed so that our chances were stronger of getting into the school we wanted. Please carefully consider your responses to the following questions as they are extremely valuable in helping us assist you through your college admissions process. The more information you provide, the stronger the letter of recommendation can be. The text could be separated into three parts: The first, the resume, was understood

Griman 5 to display your maturity and responsibility. This was done by showing that it was capable for students to balance a job and maintain a constant and steady achievement level in school. My high school required that every year you were to participate in an assigned volunteer activity with your Theology class that was mandatory in order to graduate. After my freshmen year activity, where I interacted with children in a low-income day care, I felt a sense of fulfilled purpose and a calling to become a volunteer elsewhere. I began to see the importance of service in the community, so I sought other opportunities within my own community where I could be of service. I was a volunteer for the Town of Cary all through High School, logging about a hundred hours of service by the end of my senior year. On my resume, you would find all the activities that I participated in, as well as the name of the Town of Cary festival coordinator that I primarily worked with. They titled the second part Hodge Podge, questions that were meant to help the counselors get to know you better. They asked for simple answers to straightforward questions like: what is your favorite: book, color, t.v. show, quote and section in the newspaper. The way I did those questions was by writing two to three sentence explanations of my reasoning. I can easily say that my favorite novel is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. This is so because I have always had an affinity for British Literature. I especially love this untraditional love story because it has this sense of paradoxical realism to it. Bronte was able to tell the story of two lovers without all the frills that other British Literature authors, like Austen, incorporated. The intention of these were solely for the counselor, so that they could get to know the person they were writing for, these could also be labeled as the preamble to the lengthier questions in part three. Part three was comprised of the personal questions. These questions were supposed to be answered in paragraph form, the purpose being to provide enough material for the

Griman 6 counselors to work with. All the questions dealt with why? They wanted to know why you liked a certain subject in high school, why you participated in a certain club/ other extracurricular activity, and why you chose the three adjectives you chose to describe yourself. The use of why was intentionally used to get the student to open up so colleges could determine if you would be a good fit at their institution. One of the questions asked you what your guidance counselor might write about you in their recommendation letter. To Whom It May Concern, After learning more about Tess Griman, I can ascertain that she has a deep and profound love for her community and the arts. She is an active member in her community, and is constantly looking for more opportunities to be of service. Her willingness and desire to become a Town of Cary volunteer of her own accord show maturity and responsibility. When she finds a cause that she deems worthy of need, she will show passionate dedication to help out in any way she can. It is also clear to me that her affinity for all forms of art has added great depth to her character. Because this text is looking for very specific information about the person filling it out, I would classify it as informative; it is informing the people/person who will be viewing it. It is clear that this brag sheet is advantageous to all the students who fill it out, however, the majority of the questions asked about the person you are now, not the person that you will be or want to be in the future. I see this as being important because this sheet was due at the beginning of the year, and a person can change quite a bit in the span of one school year and one summer. It could also be argued that the generic questions limit the student in expressing who they really are.

Griman 7 Overall I would say that what I chose to include about myself in the brag sheet were well thought out and well written answers. The questions were straightforward, the type that colleges like to read the answers to. I was able to answer all the questions with ease and not a great amount of thinking. I appreciated the last three questions that asked about what my most treasured item in my room was, what my favorite memory with my friends was, and anything else I needed to say about myself. This may have made up for the lack up personalness in the other questions. There I was able to share a bit more about myself and express who I am to the counselors and admission officers. Conclusion Looking back at part one and two of my genre analysis, I notice that the purpose of both was to inform the reader about imperative issues that needed their attention. In my high school genre analysis I examined my schools conduct book as a piece of literature designed to let students know what was and wasnt acceptable in that specific academic setting. In my second analysis I analyzed a document that was meant to inform the reader on more positive topics. Topics that were specifically chosen to not displease the reader, but impress. The informative genre exists today to help people better understand what it is that they cannot comprehend. When a teacher assigns a project or assignment, the purpose of the rubric is to detail the assignment parameters. These days, if you see something unfamiliar, the answer can be found through modern day search engines like Google, that predominantly have articles and other sites that can be classified in the genre that is informative.

Griman 8 I believe that the author should decide the rules for how a specific genre is to be written. There should be certain guidelines to follow, like certain aspects that should be included for the reader to clearly decipher the literature and be able to tell that it can be classified as that genre, but for the most part, authors should be given free reign. All writers write something with a specific audience in mind. That being said, I think that the most important rule that any author should follow, is knowing their audience. For example, if the target audience is students, authors should remember that they rarely possess great amounts of time. What my high school genre authors did well, was organizing the handbook into chapters so that if needed, a rule could easily be looked up without wasting a lot of time. Writers who examine these genres should learn to take from them what will later be valuable to them. I would suggest that they not get overwhelmed by fine print, but rather focus on specific details used to emphasize what the author is trying to convey about the desired response. I have found that the genre that most relates to academia is informative. Our textbooks and assignment sheets are two major items that can be classified under this category. It is clear that this genre may be the most common genre that I will continue to encounter throughout the rest of my academic career. This assignment has proved to be very advantageous to me. I believe that the most important thing I learned was that all text can be categorized into a genre, no matter how short or inconsequential it is. The key is to look for specific phrases or words that tell the reader what its purpose is.