Going for the Look

Getting Ready to Read Getting Ready to Read (in your journals…) In pairs, look at the advertisements you have been given. Discuss “the look” you think the companies are trying to project. Take five minutes and respond to the following prompt in your journals: –Should companies be able to hire only people who project their image? Writing 2.3: Exploring significance of personal experiences, events, conditions, or concerns by using rhetorical strategies..

“Going for the Look”

Surveying the Text What does the title “Going for the Look, but Risking Discrimination” tell you that the article will be about? The article was published in The New York Times. What do you expect from an article published there? Will it be interesting? Will you be able to believe what the author says? What can you tell about the article by looking at its length and the length of its paragraphs? Reading 2.1 Analyze features of texts.

Making Predictions & Asking Questions Read the first five paragraphs. What are they about? Now read the last paragraph. Melissa Milkie asks, “Whether that’s morally proper is a different question.” What is it that she’s wondering about? Reading 2.3 Verify facts

Making Predictions & Asking Questions What do you think this text is going to be about? Who do you think is the intended audience for this piece? What other audiences might be interested in this topic? Will the article take a position on the topic on hiring people to project a certain image? Why do you think so? Turn the title into a question (or questions) to answer after you have read the text. Reading 2.3 Verify facts Reading 2.3 Verify facts

Introducing Key Vocabulary 1.discrimination 2.“classic American” look 3.retailers 4.“project the brand” a.A preppy look b.Reflect the store’s image c.Stores that sell to the public; not wholesalers who sell to businesses d.Treating one group differently than another group Word Analysis 1.1 & 1.2

Background Information Abercrombie & Fitch is a retail clothing store founded in 1892 as a sporting goods store, that has been carefully rebuilt as a teen apparel merchandiser. The company began opening stores in upscale malls across America in the early 1990s, targeting teenagers and college students aged from higher-income families. The store encompasses four brands: Abercrombie & Fitch, Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and Ruehl 925. For four years, Abercrombie & Fitch has faced accusations of discrimination against minority employees. A 2004 lawsuit accused the company of discriminating against minority employees by offering desirable positions to white employees. The company agreed to a settlement. As part of the settlement terms, A&F agreed to pay US$45 million to rejected applicants and affected employees, institute policies and programs that promote diversity in its workforce and advertising campaigns, appoint a Vice President of Diversity, hire 25 recruiters to seek minority employees, and discontinue the practice of recruiting employees at primarily white fraternities and sororities. Writing 2.3: Exploring significance of conditions & events.

Read the Text Let’s read paragraphs 1-10 together. Now, you read paragraphs silently. After reading, consider the following questions: –Think back to your original predictions. Which predictions were right? Which ones did you have to modify as you read “Going for the Look”? –Find the most significant sentence. Why is it the most important sentence in the article? –What is the main idea of “going for the Look”?

Reading the Text Highlight the following parts of the text: –Where the introduction ends –Where Greenhouse tells you what the issue or problem is that he is writing about. –The examples he gives –The argument of the retailers –The advice of the lawyer –The customer’s viewpoint –The conclusion In the right- hand margin, write your reaction to what the author and the people he quotes are saying. (The parts you highlighted.)

Reading the Text Switch articles with a partner. Read your partner’s annotations and reactions. Compare your main idea statements.

Rereading the Text: Analyzing the Idea Structure You now have a new copy of the text that has been broken into sections. In groups, respond to the following : –Describe the content of each section –Describe the rhetorical purpose of each section Reading 2.1: Analyze features of texts. Reading 2.2: Analyzing clarity

Rereading the Text: Analyzing Stylistic choices Brand representative Ambassadors to the brand Natural classic American style Social experience for the customer Brand enhancer Walking billboard Enticing the community Salesperson A preppy style that looks like the clothes of wealthy, white Americans Making shopping seem like being with friends Something that makes a brand seem more desirable A person that acts like an advertisement for the store. An environment that makes people want to come into the store. Words: What do the following phrases really mean? Why do marketing experts use jargon? Reading 2.1: Analyze features of texts. Reading 2.2: Analyzing clarity

Rereading the Text: Analyzing Stylistic choices Sentences: Greenhouse writes about Elizabeth Nil, “She looks striking. She looks hip. She looks, in fact, like she belongs in an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog” (para. #3). Why does he repeat”She looks…”? Why does he say the third time, “She looks, in fact, like she belongs in an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog”? Reading 2.1: Analyze features of texts. Reading 2.2: Analyzing clarity

Rereading the Text: Analyzing Stylistic choices Sentences: In paragraph #19, why is “too ethnic” in quotes? How is that different from the use of quotation marks in “classic American” look in paragraph 10? Reading 2.1: Analyze features of texts. Reading 2.2: Analyzing clarity

Rereading the Text: Analyzing Stylistic choices Paragraphs: Look at paragraph #16. Why do you think it is only one sentence? Reading 2.1: Analyze features of texts. Reading 2.2: Analyzing clarity

Rereading the Text: Analyzing Stylistic choices Essay: Greenhouse quotes several different people. With a partner, read what they say out loud using the tone you think they would use. (Refer to your handout.) Answer the following questions after reading each one: –What kind of person do you think he/she is? –How much do you think you can trust what he/she says? Why? Reading 2.1: Analyze features of texts. Reading 2.2: Analyzing clarity

Post-reading: Discussing Ideas Critical Thinking In groups of no more than five answer the groups of questions on your handout. Designate a secretary to record your answers. Designate reporter to share your answers with the class when you have finished. Reading 2.4: Making assertions about argument. Reading 2.5: Analyzing assumptions. Reading 2.6: critiquing arguments.

Final Reflection What were your most significant learning experiences? In other words, list content, themes, literary elements, and habits of mind that you felt were most enriching or enlightening. Now staple all papers together & be sure your name is noted.