***It might be useful to have your Everything's an Argument book today. It's still optional whether or not you bring it, however.***
National Endowment for the Arts: To read or Not to Read
In Class Activity:
In group, reflect on Tom Chatfield's findings:
I) Chatfield found that people receive rewards from the type of engagement presented by video games. He broke these rewards into three categories: Emotional, Individual, Collective rewards
II) Chatfield establishes the equation: Wanting + Liking = Engagement. He says you have to want to be engaged as well as like the process of being engaged which involves experiencing of fun, affection and delight in that process.
III) He provided an example of reward schedule and pie boxes where a 25% success rate of obtaining pie is most compelling. That rate makes the task not too easy, and not too difficult. People where most motivated when they always received some reward for their effort (even if not pie) for opening a box, with some rewards being greater than others. Chatfield also explained it’s more effective to make sure pies don’t appear too often, which keeps them valuable because they are special. How might this translate into writing an argument?
7 Ways to Engage the Brain:
1) Experience bars measuring progress- providing people with a measure of progress they can watch and own that improvement in understanding.
2) Multiple long and short term aims- lots of different tasks, that people can choose to do in their own order, and can do in parallel.
3) Reward effort- audience receives credit for trying without punishing failure
4) Rapid, frequent, and clear feedback- link consequences and action. Give people things they can manipulate and play with and understand.
5) An element of uncertainty- the uncertain reward is more motivating than the known reward
6) Windows of enhanced attention- people are more likely to remember things at certain times, and more likely to be confident and take risks in learning when dopamine levels are enhanced.
7) Other people- the reward of doing things with peers and collaborating is one of the largest rewards for people.
Also, reflect on your Everything's an Argument reading for today.
Principles for establishing ethos with the audience:
1) Authority: An effective author has the authority to speak about an issue.
2) Credibility: an effective author is trustworthy and credible concerning the issue.
3) Motive: an effective author has good motives for addressing an issue (generally considered motives that are not self serving, or motives that are truth seeking).
Tactics for establishing ethos:
1) use humor- especially self deprecating humor
2) portray a appealing image
3) connect with personal beliefs and core principles
4) show respect for the audience
5) cite trustworthy sources
6) present ideas clearly, fairly, and with sufficient detail
7) admit limitations and make concessions to the objections readers might raise
8) establish an appropriate tone for the audience (formal or informal)
9) come clean about motives, admit where your loyalties lie
Your Task:
Apply Tom Chatfield's findings, as well as what you learned about establishing ethos from the reading to the problem of reading in today's young people. You will be creating a rubric which a writer can use to compare their writing to make their work to make it more engaging. Your task is to describe the qualities of a written text that will get a young adult audience to read non-fiction, informational or writing that presents arguments. Brainstorm as a group, or on your own, some possible rewards for an audience of a written text.
Consider:
1) What does your audience want? What engages them?
2) How could you apply some or all of the seven ways to engage the brain into the organization or content of a written communication?
3) How can you apply the principles and tactics for establishing ethos to help the readers engage with written text?
Organize your advice for writers in a document that you will share with me as a Google doc (one per group). Consider how you will design your rubric. Will you use a chart? A checklist? Will it include a scoring system? You will need to establish separate elements that comprise the criteria for effective, engaging writing, and a way for a writer to be able to understand those criteria and compare their work to those elements. Your imagination is your only limit with this assignment. Be ready to share your ideas with the class.
Homework:
By 2/21
Henry David Thoreau: From Walden; or, Life in the Woods, American Earth p. 9-25. Please bring your American Earth Reader to class.
By 2/23
Everything’s an Argument p.69-91 by 2/23
Week of February 27th- March 2nd:
Conferences. You will be meeting with me individually in my office instead of meeting as a whole class this week. You will need to bring either a draft of assignment 3 or an outline to the conference, along with specific questions you have about the assignment. Your conference will count for two days of attendance that week. You will have only one chance to reschedule if you miss an appointment. To sign up for a conference, use the sign up sheet linked here. 
