Ideas for writing assignments

Last week Dr. Cauthen asked a very interesting question: "Why does the marketing industry seek to profit off "cool" elements in society in poor neighborhoods?  Several students offered compelling insight as to why this happens.  I see, or at least I think I see, a perfect prompt that is in direct alignment with Lindemann's chapters regarding developing writing assignments.  And here's why.  Lindemann suggests that effective writing assignments must and should be grounded in rhetorical components, even if the assignment never says that is what it is doing.  With a question or a prompt similar to Cauthen's, the writing assignment would involve rhetorical principles: purpose, audience, and a discussion or engagement with material clearly extending beyond the classroom.  In other words, this assignment would enable students to weigh in on events in our world, thus exercising critical thinking skills.  As an instructor, here's what I'm thinking.  To give the assignment some context, the prompt would begin with the exact portion of the poem Melvianne recited during our discussion and allow students to look at the documentary, or segments of it, as Leonard suggested.  I think Leonard said it was titled "Cool Hunting."  With those two forms of context for the essay, find a story, book, poem or article catering to the idea or question Dr. Cauthen asked.  From there, the assignment would look something like this:  For this final essay, students will write a well developed essay considering portions of the poem (the one Melvianne recited in class) and the documentary "Cool Hunting" (Leonard's recommendation).  You are free to use as many external sources needed to support your ideas.  You can either disagree or agree that marketing in poor neighborhoods is not a problem.  Consider your neighborhood and the consuming trends of your friends and family friends to further support why you agree or disagree with marketing strategies in a specific region or area.  You also may want to define the term "cool," "rad," "awesome," or "turned up" to  connect this attitude to generations using these terms.  Of course this is just a rough draft of the prompt.  What do you think?  Is it too much?  By the way, I'm thinking a word count of 1,250 words, due in two weeks, the level would be intermediate composition courses, and at least five sources, MLA, work cited page.