October 2020

At the rate of technology, people especially kids spend all their time texting people rather than actually speaking to them. In the 21st century, there is a drastic need to know how to communicate and the speaker believes that people do not know how to do that in this day and age. The speaker continues and says there is no way to show people that you are listening if you are not actually listening. Giving eye contact, think of interesting topics, and nod and smile these are not skills to show that you are paying attention. She teaches us to interview people so we can have more engaging talks and interactions. Her first step is to not multi-task. I think it is a great step because like she says “do not think about your anger with a boss, or play with our keys.” She is trying to get across that in order to actually listen you have to be completely there physically and mentally. Another point that stood out to me was number six. She said to not equate our experiences with others. She makes a really good point and says that just because you think you have the same experience it is not the same. By the end of the Ted Talk, I feel like I know now how to have and carry a proper conversation. I know what to say and what to not say. I know listening is the most important step of them all.  

Essay 1

Grade:C+

Explanation: I think the essay was good and it explained the prompt provided. I think the student could have gotten a higher score had the grammar been better. It was very hard to read in some areas because i was having a hard time trying to figure out what the author was trying to say. I think the author could have had more evidence and/or sources. They had an example, but it would have been nice to see evidence. Also the example given i feel shifted a little from what the prompt was. The author did try to tie in the similarities, but he could have used a better example. Overall the essay was nice, I understood what he was trying to say, but it was areas the author could have wrote better. I think the score I gave was so high because I feel he tried to execute the prompt to the best of his abilities.

 

Essay 2

Grade: A

Explanation: I think this student effectively examined and answered the prompt provided. I was wearisome because I did not understand the direction the student was taking, but they seemed to have turned it around. I think not only did the student answer the prompt they also made their essay flow as well. It was understandable and easy to read. I think if the student had talked about the hackers sooner the grade could have been even higher. Overall I have no critiques besides those mentioned above. I think this essay is great and had all of the qualities of an A. 

 

“How Many Licks” 

 Commercial: https://youtu.be/O6rHeD5x2tI 

My Rhetorical analysis is on the Tootsie Pop “How Many Licks” commercial. I chose this because it is such a classic commercial that literally everybody knows about. Meanwhile it also does have some rhetoric in it. The Commercials theme is too seeing how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop. The kid is walking through a forest of some sort asking wild animals “How many licks do you think it takes to get to the center of the tootsie pop,” and each animal just passes him along until the last animal. The first Rhetoric is repetition. Next the author uses imagery because of the different animals and also the kid has no pants on. I am sure that there is more rhetoric in the commercial, but those are the two most abundant devices.  

The most abundant Rhetoric is repetition. The kid goes through the forest and ask four different animals the same question. “How many licks do you think it takes to get to the center of the tootsie pop.” They all have similar answers and say to “ask the next blank (whatever the next animal may be.) The kid gets nowhere until he gets to the end. The repetition of the question makes the viewers more engaged because they are all wondering the same question as the kid. The line of Repetitious question and answer eventually stops and the reader somewhat gets an answer to the question. Repetition is a really easy rhetorical device to stop and the commercial has lots of instances where repeating occurred.  

The next rhetorical device I thought of for the commercial was imagery. Imagery is easy when you are looking at a commercial because there are many things to look and as a viewer you don’t have visualize much of anything. However, the commercial is set in black and white. This automatically gives off as something that is older. Next you may notice that the kid has no clothes on. After watching the video several time, I noticed that the kid was walking in the forest naked. Many people would not notice, nor give it a second thought. However, I think that was intentional and can also be counted as imagery.  

The “How Many Licks” commercial is a very classic commercial and it has a lot of rhetoric to offer. Some examples I found were Repetition and Imagery. I am sure that there are many others that could be found in the commercial, but those were a couple I found to name a few.  

 

Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page	Finding the Good Argument Or Why Bother With Logic  Rebecca Jones
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words	The article was about the effects of arguments and how they can be different things. The author introduces it in the form of a cartoon to show that arguing is not always negative or has to be negative. The cartoon was there to show the funnyness of arguments rather than what people happen to think about most arguments.
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.	Ardent peace advocates, such as Jane Addams, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr., offer some of the most compelling arguments of our time through concepts like civil disobedience that are hardly inactive.
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?	It does not connect to the others because the subject was a little off from the others
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.	What was the cause of this article. What made the author think of this?