1. Becoming a Strong Reader
First, let’s start with what you SEE and examine how the way we read is changing our brains.

2. Becoming a Strong Reader
Which of the following examples do you find the most credible?

3. Example A:
“Another good example of the devastating power of immigration is the incredibly rapid dispossession of the Palestinian people by a massive Jewish immigration invasion and then when their numbers became great enough, dispossession by force and terror. Palestinians in Israel who owned 95 percent of the land in 1945, now own less than 5 percent. And in 1967 Israel expanded her borders again and put about one and one-half million people under an oppressive military occupation. The West Bank and Gaza are really nothing more than a huge concentration camps.”

4. Example B
“The Germans [who come to the United States] are generally of the most ignorant stupid sort of their own nation.”

5. Example C
“There comes a time in every father's life when he has to step back and let his children start thinking for themselves. You boys are getting older now, and your mother and I won't always be there to remind you about us and them. Before long, you'll both be off at college, so I hope you've been paying attention to all the things I've told you kids about Mexicans, Arabs, and the blacks It's time you started making bigoted, hateful judgments about other races for yourselves.”

6. Does it make a difference . . .
. . . to know the context and the character of the author? Consider this:

7. Example A: David Duke, 2008
White supremacist and former KKK Grand Wizard
Formed the NAAWP (National Association for the Advancement of White People)
Anti-defamation League
calls him “racist,
antisemitic, sexist and
homophobic”

8. Example B: Ben Franklin, 1753
One of the Founding Fathers of our country
Diplomat, inventor, author, statesman

9. Example C: The Onion, 2009 Fake news organization
Offers satirical commentary on world events in a style similar to The Daily Show or SNL

10. How to READ. No, seriously. You need to know this.
(READING is not just skipping through the text, merely acknowledging that there are, in fact, words on a page. Real reading will make you a better writer.)

11. What to consider: REALM
Colorado State University has come up with a brilliant acronym to help you remember what to look for when doing rhetorical analysis. It’s called REALM:
READER
ESSAY
AUTHOR
LIMITATIONS
MOTIVATION
(please note that on the following slides I quote directly from Teaching Guide)

12. READER
Can you define the probable readers in terms of age, gender, occupation, education, position of power? What values do target readers share with the writer? What range of positions might target readers hold before reading?

13. ESSAY
What features of the text seem most crucial to understand--the claim, the arrangement of arguments, the supporting evidence, the appeals, the style? What features of the essay make it a more convincing or persuasive argument? What parts of the text are most difficult to read? Why? What parts are most appealing? Why?

14. AUTHOR
What do you know about this author? What specific qualifications does the author present to build credibility with the target audience? What appeals to the author’s character do you see in the essay? In what ways does the author identify with the readers? Does this level of audience connection help the essay? How?

15. LIMITATIONS
Given what you can discern about target readers, what limitations does that audience impose on the writer? How do the author’s background knowledge and experience limit the argument? How do the author’s character or values limit the argument? How does the larger context (its history or its social, political, and economic context) of the argument constrain the writer?

16. MOTIVATION
What seems to have prompted the writer to present this argument? What, if any, is the writer’s history of work on this topic? What event might have prompted the writer? What value(s) might have sparked this essay?

17. Let’s try a Tweet.
Reader?
Essay?
Author?
Limitations?
Motivation?

18. Let’s apply this to music
Go to REALM practice: Kimbra “Settle Down” music video on EdPuzzle (login codes are on my website). This is your homework for tonight. 