"Why We Buy"
Developing Critical Reading and Thinking Skills in Students

Prefatory Statement:

...Words are indispensable but also can be fatal- the only
begetters of all civilization, all science, all consistency of
high purpose, all angelic goodness, and the only begetters
at the same time of all superstition, all collective madness
and stupidity...Never before, thanks to the techniques of
mass communication, have so many listeners been so
completely at the mercy of so few speakers. Never have
misused words - those hideously efficient tools of all the
tyrants, warmongers, persecutors, and heresy-hunters -
been so widely and disastrously influential as they are today.
Generals, clergymen, advertisers, and the rulers to totalitarian
states - all have good reasons for disliking the idea of universal
education in the rational use of language. To the military,
clerical, propagandist, and authoritarian mind such training
seems (and rightly seems) profoundly subversive.

Aldous Huxley
"Education on the Nonverbal Level"
Daedalus, Spring 1962

The use of language distinguishes man from other forms of life, but as Huxley's quote suggests, along with this ability comes a certain level of responsibility. Dwight Bollinger states that truth is what "speakers mean to have understood" (545). Truth occurs in communication when a person has a desire to communicate what he knows. Unfortunately, as Huxley points out, truth in language is a matter of degree.
Adolescents, today, are faced with deciphering numerous messages delivered through the media and the written word; messages that tell them to buy a certain brand of jeans, listen to a particular music group, believe in a political message, or agree with a viewpoint or depiction of an event occurring in their community or the world at large. Analyzing how language is used to motivate an audience to a particular viewpoint is an important tool that adolescents can use to help them read and think critically. Information is an essential element of a democratic society, but people need to know how to interpret this information so that they have accurate knowledge of their physical, economic, and political environment. Without this knowledge they can not reasonably judge what is in their best interests, let alone vote for them. In the twenty-first century, vast amounts of information is not only available, it is inescapable. According to Nancy McCracken, national test scores show students have improved in their ability to decode written language, but not in their ability to interpret written language
(554). These critical reading and thinking skills need to be taught so that students can understand and recognize the intended effect of the information they are exposed to. Only with this knowledge can they make informed decisions in their daily lives.

Class Specifications:

This unit is designed for the 11th or 12th grade. It is meant to address a group in composition/communication combined course of work. It could be revised for 9th or 10th grade by substituting more age appropriate works of fiction for the outside reading portion of the unit, and by covering some of the non-fiction reading selections through class lectures and demonstrations. This unit is designed to build on student reading and research skills that they should have
by this level. It is assumed that students will already know how to access information through library, media, and community resources, and that they will have had experience with cooperative group work. This unit would work well following a unit on poetry where metaphor, analogy, and imagery have been investigated, as this unit builds on a basic understanding of these concepts.
This unit is not directed at a specific socio-economic group as media in some form will be available to the students either at home or in the school library and classroom. I think that at the 11th and 12th grade level students have had a great deal of contact with the media both in written and televised form, but they may not have considered how this information plays into the decisions they make now, and those they will need to make in their futures. I think this unit will awaken in them a stronger interest in language and how it is used to communicate.

Significant Assumptions:

1. Students are exposed to the media in some form.
2. Students will have some knowledge of how media influences their lives.
3. Students have limited ability to critically think about language use.
4. Students know how to work in small groups productively.
5. Students know how to contribute to class discussions.
6. Students have access to television, newspapers, and magazines.
7. Students will have some knowledge that media, politicians, government, and community members use language at times to advance their own agendas.
8. Students know how to keep a fact-based and reflective journal.
9. Students know how to conduct research.
10. Students know how to write a research paper.
11. Students have some understanding of metaphor, analogy and imagery as it is used in poetry.
12. Students will be able to relate material presented in class to their
communities and personal lives.
13. Students will be able to present research findings orally in front of the class.
14. Students will be performing at a high school reading level.
15. Critical thinking skills will help students make educated and informed decisions about information and events in the world and their communities.

Desired Outcomes:
1. Completion of Minnesota High Standards: Reading, Listening, and Viewing Complex information. Students will be able to comprehend and evaluate complex information in varied nonfiction by reading, listening, and viewing English language selections containing complex information, and in these selections: they will identify main ideas and supporting information, distinguish fact from opinion, fiction from non-fiction, identify bias, point of view, and author's
intent, identify relevant background information, and analyze and evaluate the credibility of evidence and source, the logic of reasoning, and how the type of communication shapes or limits information.

In the English language, about a variety of topics:
A. Write
· They should determine the intent of their message
· They should determine the audience they are trying to reach
· They should select an appropriate convention of communication
· They should construct supporting arguments from research
· They should maintain a journal where they record their analysis and reflection
about a collection of nonfiction selections.
B. Speak
· They should use effective delivery techniques
· They should present their material so that it is relevant to the topic
researched and understood by their classmates
· They should use visuals
2. Students will be able to read, view, and listen to media messages in an
analytical way.
3. Students will be able to express their critical analysis of what they read and view.
4. Students will be able to understand and explain the different ways language is used to communicate.
5. Students will be able to explain and understand what language pollution is.
6. Students will be able to find examples of language pollution in their
environment.
7. Students will be able to understand and explain how language has been, and is currently, used to motivate people.
8. Students will be able to use social skills during collaborative group work.
9. Students will be able to identify bias, slant, authorial intent and
persuasive techniques in both print and visual media.
10. Students will be able to identify and explain cultural metaphors and how they effect how we interpret information.
11. Students will be able to distinguish between, and explain the different effects of a variety of different language use techniques in fiction and nonfiction.

Possible Whole Class Activities:

· Discuss advertising and why we buy what we do.
· Create bulletin board displaying advertising and examples of propaganda
· Investigate how a single news item is covered by different media
· View the video Cronkite Report
· Investigate a current local debate and determine what the issues and agendas
are. Investigate the different groups use of slant/bias to push their agendas. After analyzing the debate, students will arrive at educated opinions, and may follow this up with letters to council, mayor, etc...
· View television advertising clips and discuss their motivational techniques
· Investigate whether local newspaper takes on a community activist role

Possible Small Group Activities:

· Analyze print advertisements to determine why they are effective
· Analyze sample articles to determine slant/bias
· Examine WWII posters to determine what techniques the government used to motivate people
· Examine a work of fiction to determine how propaganda, doublespeak, and
language pollution exists in the fictional society they are reading about
· Develop a chart to illustrate how these techniques are used to control and motivate people in the fictional society
· Report orally to the class about their work of fiction
· Develop a print ad to sell a product based on the knowledge they now have about persuasion techniques
· Investigate a current debate or issue by examining leaflets, newspapers, etc.

Possible Individual Activities:

· Maintain journals/logs by recording insights made during the unit, through
their investigations of propaganda and language pollution, and through an analysis of assigned readings. Journals will also be used as literature logs to record student reflections about the work of fiction they are reading.
· Interview individuals in the community to examine language use in a particular occupation or semantic environment
· Research semantic environments to determine quantity of language pollution
· Write a paper discussing the semantic environment they investigated, and the amount of language pollution they found in this environment
· Develop a portfolio which includes their journals/logs, advertisements and examples of propaganda they bring into class for the bulletin board, semantic environment papers, and their language in a work of fiction chart

Possible On-Going Activities:

· Creation of a class bulletin board with examples of advertising, propaganda,
doublespeak, and language pollution
· Response journals/logs

Student Resources:
· Access to television, magazines, and newspapers
· Notebook for journal writing
· Access to a work of fiction from instructor list
· Access to library for research
· Access to articles listed in instructor resource list
· Access to video Cronkite Report
· Access to community for investigating semantic environment

Organization of the Unit:

WEEK ONE: Poetry and Propaganda
Begin unit by having students compare the language use in poetry and propaganda.
Students will come to understand that there are not many differences between the poets use of language devices, and those used by propagandists. Often the only
difference is the purpose behind the use of the devices. Introduce journal/log writing and explain how they will be used throughout the unit. Also in this first week, divide the class into groups of approximately 5 students, depending
on the size of the class, explain that they will be working in these groups throughout the unit, and assign each group a work of fiction to be read by the
end of the 4th week of the unit. Note: For the purpose of this unit, propaganda is defined as a systematic promotion of particular ideas, doctrines, practices,
etc. to further one's own cause or to damage an opposing one (Websters New World
Dictionary).

Unit Launch: Week one, day one (50 minute lesson)

Objective: By the end of this lesson students will have learned:
# to distinguish between poetic and propaganda devices in terms of authorial
intent and effect on the audience
# to distinguish between poems and propaganda and explain why they catagorize a
piece of writing in a particular category

Methods: In preparation for this lesson the students will have read the
following poems:

Walt Whitman: "Beat! Beat! Drums!"
"Reconciliation"
"How Solemn As One by One"
William Carlos William: "These"
Wilfred Owen "Arms and the Boy"

# Discuss, as a class, the themes of the poems they have read
# Discuss how the authors create images through their use of word choice,
metaphor, analogies, etc...
# Discuss class reactions to the poems (10 minutes for this discussion)
# Hand out poem, "Everybody Has The Right To Be Free"
# Discuss class reaction to this poem ( 10 minutes)
- What is the theme?
- What images are created?
- How does the author create these images?
- What is the author's purpose?
- Does this poem differ from the other poems?
- In what way?
# Hand out "Rifleman's Creed"
# Discuss class reaction (10 minutes)
- Is this a poem? Why or Why not?
- What is its purpose?
- How does it accomplish its purpose?
- What images does it create/how?
- Why is this different than a poem?
- All of the authors are voicing an opinion - how is this, and the last poem we
read different?
# Discuss how in the first poems the authors are trying to create images of the
horrors of war. - What are the other poems and writing doing? (10 minutes)
# Discuss how the authors create distance between the topic of war and the
realities of war by concentrating on freedom, democracy, and American rights.
# Begin discussion of propaganda. (10 minutes)
- What makes writing propaganda?
- What other forms can propaganda take?

Homework:
Students will respond to this class discussion by writing in their journals
about propaganda in their lives. What other pledges or oaths are students
familiar with? How does propaganda affect their lives? Students will bring in
one example of propaganda they find in their environment. Assign excerpts from
Lakoff's "Metaphors of War", and Lutz's "Governments Doublespeak of War" for
students to read in preparation for tomorrow's class.

Assessment: I will know students have met the objectives/standard if:
# they participate in the class discussion about authorial intent
# they write about other forms of propaganda in their journals
# they bring in a piece of propaganda for the bulletin board

Week One, day two:
Propaganda

Objectives/Standards: By the end of this lesson students will have learned:
# how metaphors can be used to illustrate concepts like war
# how propaganda uses metaphors and doublespeak to influence people to think a
certain way

Methods:
# Instructor will hand out a sheet containing doublespeak phrases and euphemisms
in one column, and what they really mean in another column. Class will take a
few minutes to match phrases to reality (5 minutes)
# Brief discussion of class reaction to worksheet and excerpts from Lutz (5
minutes)
# Instructor will explain what Lakoff means by "metaphor", and how they are
determined by our culture. For further clarification of Lakoff's metaphor theory
see chapter 10 of his book Metaphors We Live By) (5 to 10 minutes)
# Students will discuss excerpt from Lakoff they read in preparation for class
- How are metaphors related to our culture and the underlying assumptions we
hold as a culture?
# Make a list on the board of some of the assumptions that we hold as a culture
that the class can come up with. Some examples include, "freedom", "sanctity of
life", "democracy" "our country as protector", etc... ( 5 minutes)
# In small groups, students will read one of four handouts from the
Congressional Records of 1990 depicting Congressional views about Iraq, Saddam
Hussein, and the Gulf War.
# Each group will determine what war metaphors and doublespeak are used in the reports and how they might influence the American public (10 - 15 minutes)
# Each group will report their findings to the class ( 5 minutes )
# Instructor will write different metaphors and doublespeak examples on the board to be compiled into a list for the bulletin board
# Discuss as a class how Saddam was compared to Hitler. Use this as a transition to move the class back in time in preparation for the next class discussion on
the political climate of the early 1940's and how the government used propaganda to influence the American Public. (5 minutes)

Homework:
In your journal respond to both the excerpts from Lutz, and the handout on Lakoff's "Metaphors of War." How do you feel about the government's use of
doublespeak and metaphors to influence the American public. Will being aware of these metaphors change how you read, hear, or view something in the future?

Assessment:
I will know the students have met the objectives/standard if:
# students participate in the class discussion on metaphor by contributing to the class list of our cultural assumptions.
# students report on war metaphors and doublespeak used in the Congressional
Reports they read.

Week One, day three:
Begin class by reading "When Words Go To War" and discuss further the use of language in politics. Finish giving background about the climate of the early
1940's and how Hitler was being portrayed. In groups, have students examine WWII
posters (copies can be printed from the National Archives Web site - see teacher resources), and determine why they were successful in motivating the American
public. Each group will report their findings to the class, and the class will create a chart listing the propaganda techniques that were used in the posters.
This chart, as well as the poster examples, will be added to the class bulletin board which is an ongoing project. Each student will be expected to contribute 5
items to the bulletin board during this unit of study. Homework: Read excerpts from Lutz's Doublespeak which discuss doublespeak in advertising, and signal
reactions. Students should respond to what they have read, and thoughts on the class activity in their journals.

Week One, day four:
Continue discussing doublespeak, and have the class come up with examples of signal reactions (when a word stands for a thing) as explained in Lutz. Hand out
copies of the "Marine Hymn" Discuss as a class what signal reactions are initiated by this hymn. Discuss in what other environments doublespeak and signal reactions occur. As a class, brainstorm a list of current events or debates in the community. After arriving at a list, vote on the one the students would like to investigate further. Tell the students to bring in as many
references and stories about this event that they can find over the next few weeks, and that each student is responsible for bringing in at least two from two different sources. Explain that these will be used during week five when they will investigate the news. These sources can also consist of political flyers, posters, pamphlets (anything that talks about the event or issue).

Week One, day five:
Compare metaphor in poetry and the effect of a word standing for a thing or a complete thought to the same use in advertising. (Still need to figure out which poems I want to use)
Homework: Have students bring in examples of advertising illustrating examples of counter- language as explained by McCraken in Linguistics for Teachers.
Basically, counter-language is language which treats the subjects found in the poems with opposite effects, ex: distancing the subject from the reader,negative view of elderly, etc...

WEEK TWO: ADVERTISING
Students analyze advertising to determine what influences what they buy.

Week Two, day one:
Students will share the advertisements they brought in with their small groups. In their groups, they will discuss the differences and similarities between the advertisements and the poems we read in class on Friday. Individually, students will write about what the poem says to them about its subject matter, how the
advertisement treats the same subject matter, and what it tries to influence the viewer to believe. Homework: Students will word process their writing so that it
can be put up on the bulletin board along with their advertisement and the poem of the
same subject matter.

Week Two, day two:
WHY WE BUY

Objective/Standard:
By the end of this lesson students will have learned:
# What persuasive techniques advertising uses to influence people to buy their product
# What emotive and directive language is and ow they influence a reader

Methods:
# Discuss what advertising is and why it influences us to buy a product.
- When you go shopping how do you decide what your are going to buy?
- How do your friends decide?
- How do you think advertising works?
# Show the class a couple of advertisements on the overhead.
# Discuss emotive and directive language by showing examples in the
advertisements
# Discuss why they might be effective
# Break class into groups, and pass out a selection of advertisements to each
group
# Have groups write down everything they see in the ads that might influence
them to think in a particular way, or buy a particular product.
- Is one ad more effective than another? Why?
# Have groups take turns coming to the front of the class and talk about the
conclusions they have drawn about their advertisements.

Homework: Students should bring in examples of advertisements that use emotive
or directive language to persuade people to buy their product. Explain that they
should be prepared to show their ads and explain how they use emotive or
directive language, and why they think they are persuasive? Read Lutz's, "With
These Words I Can Sell You Anything" which is about weasel words used in
advertising.

Assessment: I will know students have met the objectives/standard if:
# each group can explain the persuasive techniques used in their advertising
# each student brings in an advertisement using emotive or directive language
and they can explain how this language is used and why it is persuasive.

Week Two, Day Three:

In groups students will identify "weasel words" in advertising samples. Each group will
describe to the class their weasel words and how they work in the advertising they are examining. Each group will be given a product to "sell". They will have
the rest of this period and the next to write their ads using the information they have learned about persuasion so far in
this unit. Poster board, markers, a picture of their product cut from a
magazine, and paper will get them started. Charts will be evaluated on how well they incorporate the persuasion techniques that have been discussed in class,
and groups will also be evaluated on their presentations that should last
approximately 5 minutes, and clearly present their ad and how it works to the class.

Week Two, Day Four:
Students will continue working in groups on their advertisements. If class completes work on these students can begin presenting their ads to the class.

Week Two, Day Five:
Students will present their ads to the rest of the class. Ads will be added to the bulletin board. Homework: Read Chapter 10 from Lakoff and Johnson.

WEEK THREE: LANGUAGE POLLUTION

Week Three, Day One
Discuss Lakoff & Johnson. How are metaphors used in everyday expressions. Class
has already discussed metaphors in terms of war. Now they will expand this into thinking about how metaphors are used daily. Discuss how metaphors influence the way we think and make decisions.
Show how metaphors appear in poetry. "To the Virgins, To Make Most of Time", "Death Be Not Proud", "High Hopes" from the Pink Floyd album, all work well.
Give examples from newspaper and magazine ads. One article I found follows. I will ask the students to read this excerpt, and than ask, How do we understand
what this is telling us?

"Facing intense competition and rapid product turnover, companies are `cutting costs to the bone and using available research money on projects with near-term
payoffs,' said John Gibbons, the White House science advisor. `Their headlights are lowered, they can't look ahead so far,' Gibbons said."

As a class, discuss what the above paragraph means and how we understand it.
Homework: Bring in an example of a metaphor for the bulletin board. Read Neil
Postman's essay, "Demeaning of Meaning."

Week Three - Other Activitites:

* Discuss Postman's essay
1. What is semantics?
2. What is a semantic environment
-Come up with a list of semantic environments that students come in contact with
- in their school or community.
3. What does Postman say makes for a healthy semantic environment?
4. What does Postman mean when he says the semantic environment is polluted?

The following idea is from Nancy McCraken, Linguistics for Teachers.
Assignment: Investigate a semantic environment of your choice and determine the
level of language pollution you find in the environment. Determine the proper function of language in the environment, and then analyze the language used to
determine whether it performs that function. This project will develop into a paper discussing the language environment they investigate, and a 5 to 10 minute oral presentation to the class.

* Students will continue to bring in examples of language use for the bulletin board. These will be discussed as they come in.

* Journal writing will be an ongoing process. (See attached sheet of journal writing ideas)

*Discuss in small groups, metaphors found in local newspapers and magazines

WEEK FOUR: IF IT'S IN PRINT IT'S TRUE - RIGHT?
Bias/Slant/Loaded Words

This week will emphasize critical reading. When we read something critically we ask why? We must learn to look beyond the words on the page and read between the
lines. We must come to an acceptance that just because something is in print this does not necessarily mean that it is true. Critical reading means to not read just with our eyes, but with our minds.

* Using three newspaper accounts of the same murder committed in Queens, NY have
students determine which one they consider to be the most trustworthy and why.

* Journal writing

* Using an overhead show articles from the National Enquirer, Star, Sun, or similar publications and have students analyze articles for fallacies, bias/slant, ad hominem
attacks, loaded words,
and euphemisms. Instructor will supply definitions and examples of these as different articles are examined. It should be stressed that language manipulation is done for many reasons. It isn't only "bad" people, or the national Enquirer that manipulate language - all authors have a purpose in communication and what is important is that you read critically to determine what that purpose is so that you can come to an educated opinion on a given subject.

* Give students a handout on critical reading distributed by Newsweek. Using the
guidelines on the handout, have students critically analyze an article. They will write a one to two page criticism.

* Groups work on charts for their work of fiction.
Homework: Assign excerpts from the book, Exploring Language on language and the media.

WEEK FIVE: EXAMINE THE NEWS

* Show the Cronkite Report video in preparation for analyzing the news articles of an event assigned in the first week of the unit.

* Conference with students about their progress in the unit and their
investigations of semantic environments.

* Using the news stories the students have collected on a single news event, students will break into groups and analyze how different sources covered the same event.

* Students will take on the role of reporter/newscaster to tell the other groups how their source covered the story by giving the story orally, and using the appropriate language of the source.
Presentations will be video taped to give the students the feeling of really being reporters.

* Class will discuss the findings of the individual groups, and the credibility of the different sources.

* Groups will give presentations about their work of fiction using the charts they created to show how language is used in the fictional society they read about.

* Homework: Given a news story - the plain facts - students will rewrite the story based on the "source" that they are assigned to be. Students will use the
information that they have discovered through their investigations. How does their particular source cover the news.

* Possible follow-up activity: Students could write letters, attend debates, council meetings, etc. about the issue/event that they investigated. Does the
class come to a consensus about the issue? Is the class divided? Give students an opportunity to address the issue; give their educated
opinion in the form of a letter.

WEEK SIX: SUMMING IT ALL UP, INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATIONS

* Conference with students about their portfolios, and have them complete a self
evaluation.

* Journal writing activities

* Individual presentations on language pollution in the semantic environment
they investigated. These should be limited to 5 to 10 minutes in order to fit them all in.

FICTION READING LIST:

Bradley, Ray. Fahrenheit 451

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World

Orwell, George. Animal Farm

Orwell, George. 1984

Huxley, Aldous. Island

Critical Reading and Thinking Unit Assessment Package

1. Portfolio
* Journal entries: Reflections on outside reading, reflections on fiction
reading, responses to instructor questions, free writing
*Written Work:
1. Three to four page paper on student investigation of a semantic environment
2. One to two page essay comparing poem and advertisement
3. Critical analysis of an article
4. Group chart on work of fiction
5. Group chart selling product/advertisement
6. Rewritten news story from the point of view of assigned source

* One example of propaganda
* One or more examples of advertising containing counter-language
* One or more examples of advertisement containing emotive or directive language
* One example of metaphor found in a print source
* 5 examples of language use: ads, propaganda, metaphor, slant/bias, etc...
* Photo of group ad/chart
* Photo of bulletin board
* Videotapes of presentations

Grading Contract:

C contract:
· score of 70 or better on unit exam
· completion of self-evaluation task chart and conference with instructor
· active participation in group analysis of print advertisements
· active participation in group work analyzing war metaphors
· active participation in creating and presenting group advertisement
· active participation in creating and presenting chart depicting language use
in a work of fiction
· three to four page paper on semantic environment
· one to two page essay comparing poem and advertisement
· journal entries answering instructor questions

B contract:
· Completion of C contract work
· two journal entries per week beyond instructor questions
· re-written news story from point of view of source
· active participation in class discussions
· critical analysis of an article
· three contributions to bulletin board beyond those assigned in class

A contract:
· Completion of B contract work
· five contributions to the bulletin board beyond those assigned in class
· three journal entries per week beyond instructor questions
· contributing to class discussions about assigned readings
· leadership role in group project, or extra effort in unit work like bringing
in an "interesting find" related to the unit

Teacher Resources:

Bolinger, Dwight. "Truth Is a Linguistic Question". Linguistic for Teachers.
Linda Miller Cleary and Michael D. Linn. New York: McGraw Hill,
1993: 542-554.

Goshgarian, Gary. Exploring Language. New York: Harper Collins, 1995.

Lakoff, George. "Metaphors of War." Linguistics Department University of
California at Berkley. lakoff@cogsci.berkeley.edu

Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University
of Chicago P., 1980: 46-51.

Lutz, William. New Doublespeak. New York: Harper Perennial, 1996.

Masson, Robert. "Everybody Has the Right To Be Free."
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?r102:./temp/~r102WghvI9, November,
1999.

McCracken, Nancy Mellin. "Placing Meaning at the Center of Language
Study." Linguistics for Teachers: 554-564.

Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Penguin, 1996.

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Penguin, 1981.

Owen, Wilfred. "Arms and the Boy." Riverside Anthology of Literature.
Douglas Hunt, ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988: 973.

Postman, Neil, Charles Weingartner and Terence P. Moran, eds. Language
in America. Indiana: Bobbs-Merrill, 1969.

Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. "Beat! Beat! Drums!"

Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. "Reconciliation"
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. "How Solemn They Are"

Williams, William Carlos. "These." Selected Poems. New York: New Directions
Book,---- :131.

Web Sites:
Congressional Records.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r101:10:./temp/~r101qGEiMP, November,
1999.

Discovery School Channel. Cronkite Report. Video and lesson plans. Video
available for $29.95 as of November, 1999.
http://school.discovery.com/schoolstore/products/717314technology.html.

Discovery School Channel. Wartime Posters.
http://schooldiscovery.com/fall98/activities/wartimeposters/index.html
,November, 1999.

National Archives. World War II Posters.
http://www.nara.gov/exhall/powers/powers.html, November, 1999.

Newsweek Education Program Resources Worksheet on Critical Reading.
http://school.newsweek.com/pages/wksht.1htm, November, 1999.

United States Marine Corps "Rifleman's Creed." http://pos.net/Marine/rifle.html,
November, 1999.

United States Marine Hymn. http://www.pos.net/marine/hymn.html, November, 1999.

ASSESSMENT TASK:

Description of student performances:
Students demonstrate their ability to comprehend and evaluate a selection of
non-fiction by keeping a log/journal and conferencing with a peer group and
their instructor.

Evidence of Learning:
Journal/log
Conference

JOURNAL/LOG ASSIGNMENTS - TASK DESCRIPTION

Assignment One: Write in your journal about propaganda in your life. What other
pledges or oaths are you familiar with? How does propaganda affect your life?

Assignment Two: Respond to excerpts from Lutz and Lakoff. How do you feel about
the government's use of doublespeak and metaphors to influence the American
public? Will being aware of these metaphors change how you read, hear, or view
something in the future?

Assignment Three: Respond to excerpts from Lutz's "Doublespeak in Advertising,"
and to the class analysis of WWII posters and propaganda.

Assignment Four: Following Newsweek's guidelines, critically analyze an article
for bias/slant, authorial intent, ad hominem attacks, loaded words, euphemisms,
and author and source credibility.

Assignment Five: Given a news story, the plain facts, rewrite the story based on
the "source" you are assigned to be.

Assignment Six: Keep on-going notes on your investigation of a semantic environment based on the following guidelines:

· Identify nonfiction reading, listening, and viewing selections which will help
you investigate your semantic environment.
· Create a list of your sources in your journal/log.
· Locate your sources and begin reading, viewing, and interviewing.
· In your journal/log record a source analysis for each source - one source to a page. The written guidelines below describe these analyses in detail.

Source Analysis
This analysis should focus on where the information comes from, in what medium and format it is presented, and how the information is shaped by the source and the format.

The analysis should do all of the following:

Include bibliographic information:
· author/or person interviewed
· title/or title of person interviewed
· publisher/producer
· copyright/airing date/date interviewed

Previewing/predicting based on cursory examination:
· Tell what you believe you will find out from this selection or person you are interviewing and indicate what clues are the basis for your prediction. Identify
in what way background information or hints are provided to the reader, viewer, or listener. (This may include things like the selection's appearance, "packaging," cover, first impression, person's title or background, credits,
opening music, clips, etc...).

Identify the Main Idea
Evaluate medium and format:
· Specify the type of material being used: print, non-print, interview, etc...
· How does the particular medium and format used limit and/or aid in the effective presentation of the information? Give specific examples.
· Is the author/person interviewed stating fact or opinion? How do you know?

Identify target audience/readership of this publication, program, or person interviewed.
· Who are the intended readers/viewers of this material, and how can you tell?
· Who is the intended audience of the person you are interviewing?
· What effect does the person you are interviewing want to have on his/her audience? Ex: Sell them something, what?
· How do they go about achieving this outcome?
· What effect does the targeting of certain groups of readers/viewers have on how the information is presented? Give specific examples.

Identify author's, or person's interviewed, position
· What is the author's position or opinion on the issue/topic, and how do you know? Provide specific examples (quotations or excerpts)
· Is the author's position acknowledged explicitly?
· Give examples, where possible, of bias or language pollution in the author's presentation.

Evaluate Credibility
· What are the author's/producers/interviewee's credentials (experience, training, or education relating to the topic/issue?
· Give examples, where possible, of unclear language or ideas, and explain how these affect the information presented
· Give examples, where possible, of the use of loaded words, and explain how these affect the information presented
· Give examples, where possible, of unsubstantiated statements, and explain how these affect the information presented
· What other viewpoints are introduced?

After you have completed your investigation, arrange a conference time with yourinstructor. In order to use this conference to get feedback on your investigation, and prepare you to compile your information into a paper, prepare
a summary of your investigation. Your summary should include the following:

1. What semantic environment did you investigate?
2. What sources did you use in your investigation?
3. Before you began your investigation what did you expect to find?
4. What language pollution, if any, did you find in the semantic environment you
investigated?
5. Which sources led you to a conclusion about the amount of language pollution
in the semantic environment you investigated?
6. How reliable do you think your conclusion is? Why? Be prepared to give
specific examples.

Assignment Seven: Reflect on the work of fiction you are reading. Do you see any
similarities between the language use in these societies and our society today?
What is your gut reaction to what you are reading?

Task Checklist

Y=Yes
N=No Evidence Shown

Journal/Log

StudentTaskTeacher
Identifies examples of current propaganda
Conclusions about author's bias/slant, intent, loaded words, and
euphemisms are logical and supported with specific examples
Conclusions about effects of format and medium are plausible and
well supported
Conclusions about language pollution in a semantic environment are
logical and supported with specific evidence
Identification of target audiences are plausible and supported with
specific evidence
Conclusions about the credibility of the information are supported
by specific evidence
Main ideas and viewpoints are accurately identified
Ideas are clearly summarized
Supports for ideas are accurately identified
Conclusions about fact and opinions are logical and supported by
specific evidence
Conclusions about advertising and motivation are logical and
supported with specific evidence
Selections represent a variety of media formats and viewpoints