Rhetorical Situation In-Class Writing

You are an assistant coach at a nationally known college football program. After the final game of a winning season, you throw the players a small party at your house. Your university has a strict policy against staff members providing alcohol to students, so you don’t purchase any beer for the party. At the party, however, a group of players finds a partial case of beer in your garage refrigerator, and they help themselves. When you discover the students drinking, they plead to be allowed to drink one beer each. Since all of the students in the garage are over twenty-one, you decide to bend the rules slightly and allow them to finish the beers they started. You drink one beer as well.

After leaving the party, the team’s star quarterback, Bert Foster, is stopped by police. The officer smells alcohol on Bert’s breath and administers a sobriety test, which Bert passes. Bert insults the officer, however, and this leads to his car being searched. The police discover a suitcase full of cocaine. Bert is arrested.

Your job is to explain what happened as you would in your group’s assigned situation:

1. Bert called you from jail to tell you he has been arrested. You called the head coach immediately, but he did not answer. Write an email explaining the situation to him. Assume the head coach is a close personal friend. The national media have not picked up the story yet.
2. You went to the jail to see if you could bail Bert out and keep the story out of the papers. Text your spouse to explain where you are.
3. The police visit your house the day after Bert’s arrest. As part of their investigation, they ask you for a written statement of what happened. Write that statement.
4. The story is all over the national media. Your sister (with whom you have a close relationship) emails you to ask what happened and if you are okay. Answer her.
5. You have been fired (unfairly, you believe) from your assistant coaching job for providing alcohol to students. The local newspaper invites you to tell your side of the story.
6. You fail to get your job back and go on to a modest career as an advertising sales representative. Twenty years later, Sports Illustrated invites you to tell your story as part of a where-are-they-now article. Tell your story.

Before beginning your explanation, jot down the answers to the following questions:

1. Exactly who is your intended reader? Be as specific as possible. This will be more challenging with situations 3, 5, and 6.
2. What do you know about your reader? What is the nature of your relationship? Think about issues of power, authority, trust, familiarity, and knowledge of the situation.
3. Exactly what do you hope to accomplish by writing your explanation?