Essay 'I' M Your Teacher, Not The Internet-Service Provider

Words: 684
Pages: 3

In Ellen Laird’s essay “I’m Your Teacher, Not the Internet-Service Provider,” she uses point-by-point organization with transitions; rhetorical devices, such as exemplum and anaphora; and informal speech and various sentence structure to convey that teaching online courses is definitely different and more challenging than teaching in person. By comparing and contrasting teaching online courses and teaching in person, she explains to teachers considering teaching online courses the differences and challenges of teaching them. Not necessarily is Laird aiming to warn the teachers, but she is trying more to advise them, to make sure they fully understand the differences of teaching online courses instead of classroom courses, to prepare them for …show more content…
She writes in a conversational ranting tone. Laird does this because she is not trying to advise the President of the United States. She is sonly trying to reach out to colleagues or friends, so formal speech is not necessary. Laird’s style of writing is made up mostly of complex sentences. Every now and then a short, powerful basic sentence will pop up out of nowhere. For instance, Laird writes the entire second paragraph in long compound or complex sentences, except the last sentence. In the last sentence, she incorporates a short basic sentence. Later, she begins the tenth paragraph with the sentence “Not so with my online students” (2). She does this to vary the sentence length, so that a break appears amidst the complex sentences, but mostly Laird does this to emphasize the difference between her online students and her classroom students. Transitions are a major part in her essay, as well. Throughout her essay, Laird incorporates various transitions such as however, at the same time, and after (1—2).These transitions allow the audience to easily follow her essay. Laird’s organization, rhetorical devices, informal speech, and various sentence structure allow her to easily accomplish her purpose of informing teachers considering teaching online courses of the differences and