English 51 Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Free-write Today is “Get a Different Name” day. If you could change your name, would you, and why? What would you change it to?

Agenda for the day Introduction to chapter 3: “Learning by Sorting it Out” Brief Presentation: Rhetorical Analysis Activity

TEXTS AND CONTEXTS Chapter 3: Learning by Sorting it Out

Classification Is the technique of putting things into categories for easier identification or analysis. Let’s take books, for example. That’s a large category. How can we simplify that, or classify books into separate genres?

Making Inferences In most of our daily actions, we govern ourselves as though our lives were surrounded by certainties—truths we can count on absolutely.

Mary Mary sets her electric clock for 6 am, certain that its alarm will go off at that time. She is certain that she will be able to take a shower when she gets up and that the food she has bought will still be there for her to eat at breakfast time. She is certain that her car will start, and she is certain that when she arrives at work, her job will be waiting for her. Her only concern is that sometimes the traffic is so bad, because of accidents or stalls, that the time it normally takes her to get to work may not be sufficient. Usually, however, it is.

Probability It is probably true that Mary’s morning will go according to plan, but no certainties. High probability: Low probability: The closer something becomes to being certain the higher or lower its probability Ex. If a math teacher has scheduled 6 quizzes and the first 5 were given as scheduled, there is high probability that the 6 th will be given as scheduled Conversely, there is low probability that it will be cancelled.

Exercise With your neighbor, do the exercise at the bottom of page 84.

Short Writing Activity Do the exercise at the bottom of page 85. After you rate the statements, answer the question in italics on a separate sheet of paper to turn in.

Inferences and Guesses An inference is a conclusion drawn from evidence A guess is a decision based on inadequate eveidence.

Good and Bad Inferences Good = legitimate or reasonable – Based on adequate evidence or at least a well- consideredjudgment of the evidence Bad = illegitimate or unreasonable – Usually overgeneralized from too little evidence

Why is it Important? We often use inferences to help us classify information. That is, we sort things into categories to be able to make sense of them.

Exercise Please do the exercise on page with a partner.

Classifying to Discover Classification is a system for organizing things or ideas into groups according to their similarities to make them more manageable or understandable.

INTRODUCTION TO RHETORICAL ANALYSIS Or – a sort of introduction to our first big essay assignment

What is Rhetorical Analysis Rhetoric = the skill in the effective use of speech Analysis = separation of the whole into its component parts Rhetorical analysis = the breaking down of speech to examine its component parts

Why does it matter For your first essay assignment, you are going to be asked to look at advertising and determine, based on a reading assignment, which ways advertisers target consumers. So, we need to start by taking a look at how this analysis can be done

The Rhetorical Triangle

Rhetorical Appeals Logic (logos): reason, facts, evidence Emotion (pathos): trying to sway the audience by using emotion Credibility and Morals (ethos): the speaker’s credentials, as well as appealing to the audience’s sense of morality, or what is right

Activity We’re going to take a look at 2 things in the magazines I asked you to bring with you today. – 1. Rhetorical analysis – 2. Classification – PLEASE don’t tear pages from MY magazines. I can reuse them in other classes (if you brought your own, do what you want with them).

The homework from this chapter will be focusing on model essays of classification, and will be asking you do some work along the same lines. Please note: do NOT do the essay assignments at the end of each reading. We will be working on one essay per chapter.

Homework NOTE! This assignment is different from what appears on the syllabus Read Pgs in T&C. Do not do the writing assignment, but turn in your pre- and post-reading. Ender’s Game: chapters 6 and 7. – Vocab – journal