RWS280/ Section 1, 5, & 9
Spring 2019
Final Paper - Engaging With Written Arguments - (10%)
This assignment will have you engage in a dialogue with another text. You
will, thus, explore your voice as a writer. Read "Generation Wired" by Emily
Listfield and select one claim that the author is making = an opinion that she
is expressing about an issue that you are familiar with and have your own
understanding of. If you do not have some opinions and prior knowledge
about the point you choose for discussion, you cannot engage in such a
dialogue; all you can do is ponder over the points that the author is making
and accept them or not - that's NOT what this exercise is about.
Write a four-step response to the claim that you will have chosen.
Here are the steps you need to follow, and notice that the example provided
below does not have numbers or bullets, but explanations (somewhat short,
though).
Step 1. Indicate, in two ways, the initial-claim that you are responding to;
your reader wants to understand what you are talking about, what point you
are referring to and engaging with.
a) First, use your own words to explain the initial point. (Use at least
one "that" sentence.)
b) Second, provide a quotation to prove that the author made that
point, expressed that opinion, indeed. The quotations should not say
more or less than you are indicating.
You may explain this initial-claim in more detail even show how it is
supported if you feel that it is needed. It will be your choice based on the
circumstances.
Step 2. Express your a) total agreement, b) total disagreement, or c) partial
agreement/disagreement to signal the direction of your response. Express
this in one independent sentence.
Step 3. Reveal your opinion on the very same point = formulate your
response-claim.
[Remember that step 1 and 2 are meant to pave the way for you to express
your own opinion about the same issue. Your response is not a statement that
says, “I agree, “ or “I disagree.” Rather, it is a full independent claim of your
own, written in your own words, and expressing your own ideas. You are
reclaiming the issue as your own with it; therefore, the response-claim
constitutes your thesis statement for your own short argument.
Step 4. Defend your response-claim: provide your reasons and elaborate
using evidence necessary to justify your response-claim. You can use the
word “because” to hook your reason(s) to your claim statement (step 3).
This defense (step 4) of your assertion expressing your position (step 3) on
the same issue is supposed to be the bulk of this writing assignment. Ponder
over what facts, explanations, examples, comparisons, statistics, etc. would
help prove your point, and write, at least one well-developed paragraph.
Typically a response-claim is designed to a) contradict the initial-claim, b)
further defend the initial-claim, or c) complete the initial-claim. The implicit
conclusion should be that your response-claims, with their supports, have
effectively refuted, reinforced, or supplemented the initial claims in
meaningful ways.
Here's an example of such a response written by a student. (B+) (Notice
that there is little evidence in step 4. However, all the steps are there, and
the student ends very well with a conclusion!
In her article, “The Function of Vampires,” Mary Y. Hallab claims that our
fascination with vampires is due to the fact that we are fearful of death and
subconsciously we admire and want to emulate vampires because they have
“escaped” death. She says, " we are in love with vampires and hope that this
love for their victory over death will make us victorious in such a fight too." I
agree with her to some extent. I believe that our strong interest in vampires
stems not only from their immortality, but also from the fact that the
contemporary media/literature portrays vampires as sexy superheroes.
Today, such publications as the "Twilight" series and the TV series “True
Blood” portray vampires are very attractive creatures with amazing abilities.
In “Twilight,” for example, vampires seek to protect humans; one even falls
in love with a human. Therefore, to some extent, our fascination comes only
in part from the fact that vampires are immortal; we, in fact, buy the whole
package not only immortality, but also sex-appeal and Superman abilities.
(For an A, develop the paragraph a little more.)
Generation Wired
They text (and text and text). They have hundreds of “friends” they’ve
never actually met. They game for hours. How to keep your kids safe and
healthy in a hyper-connected world.
The other night as I was getting ready for bed, I turned off my phone and
put it on the dresser. My 17-year-old daughter stared at me in disbelief.
“But, Mom,” she exclaimed, “it’s so far away!”
For today’s youth, technology isn’t just a handy way to keep in touch or
organize your calendar; it’s as integral as eating and breathing—and
seems to come just as naturally. Between smartphones, iPods, video
games, and the Internet, being wired is a way of life. The average teen
sends more than 50 texts a day; younger children spend over 10 hours a
week playing video games; and the amount of time all kids spend online
daily has tripled in the past 10 years.
Aged-Based Guidelines for Kids' Internet Use
We are just beginning to assess how this nonstop connectivity is affecting
our kids’ social and intellectual development. It is increasingly clear that it’s
changing the nature of children’s relationships to each other, to their
families, and to the world around them. The latest research suggests it
may even be rewiring their brains.
Technology: Friend or Frenemy?
In a world where sexting is on the nightly news, plagiarism is just a
Wikipedia click away, and people have hundreds of online friends they’ve
never met, helping your kids make smart choices has never been more
crucial. But there are few rules of the road, as any parent who has watched
his or her child fall down the Facebook hole for hours can tell you. In part
this is because technology is changing so rapidly that it can be hard to
keep up. Just a few years ago, a 10-year-old with a cell phone could do
little with it beyond placing a call. Now, handing her one is giving her the
ability to text, go online, and send and receive photos. Are kids ready for
that? Are you?
Quiz: What Kind of Internet Parent Are You?
The notion that parents need to get involved in their children’s digital lives
as actively as they do in academic or sports activities is still new. “The
digital landscape is a positive place for kids,” says Dr. Gwenn O’Keeffe,
lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics 2011 report on the
impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families. “It promotes
a lot of healthy habits like socialization and a sense of connectedness to
the greater world and to causes.” But, she says, children need guidance.
Here are some of the thorniest issues and how parents can navigate them.
NEXT: Do You Know How Many Facebook Friends Your Kids Have?
Do You Know How Many Facebook Friends Your Kids Have?
Fifty-one percent of American teens log on to a social network site more
than once a day, and 22 percent log on more than 10 times a day,
according to a recent poll by Common Sense Media. You have to be 13 to
join Facebook, but children should learn before then not to share personal
information. “Pre-teenagers are very rule focused, so you can tell them,
‘Don’t do this,’ and they’re going to follow it,” Dr. O’Keeffe says.
Unfortunately, even the smartest kids can forget what they’ve been taught
when they enter their teen years and the desire to be popular overcomes
common sense. Facebook can be like a high school cafeteria on steroids.
For some kids, it’s a positive experience, strengthening friendships and
communication. Others, though, may feel left out, obsessively comparing
themselves to peers and seeing the fun others are having—or at least
posting about. Social media sites like Facebook, as well as texting, can
also lead to cyber-bullying; it’s easier to target someone for abuse when
you don’t have to face them. If your child is avoiding his phone or seems
depressed after going online, these could be warning signs. In the not-sodistant past, if your kid seemed lethargic, you might have asked if she had
a stomachache. Now it also pays to inquire if anything upsetting happened
recently online.
NEXT: When Was the Last Time Your Kid Used the Phone to Actually
Talk?
When Was the Last Time Your Kid Used the Phone to Actually Talk?
One of the biggest behavioral changes Generation Wired is experiencing is
a preference for texting over talking. Kids 11 to 14 spend, on average, 73
minutes a day texting; for older teens, it’s closer to two hours. If that
sounds like an addiction, in some instances it may be. “When you get an
unexpected text, the dopamine cells in the brain fire up,” says Dr. Nora
Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dopamine, which
plays a role in many addictive behaviors, is a neurotransmitter associated
with feelings of pleasure.
Sherry Turkle, director of MIT’s Initiative on Technology and Self and
author of Alone Together, has spent years studying the psychological
effects of this rampant texting on teens. “Kids have told me that they
almost don’t know what they are feeling until they put it in a text.” One
danger is that children may never learn how to be content spending time
on their own, which is crucial for healthy psychological development.
“Technology encourages this fantasy that adolescents grow up with that
they will never have to be alone, that they will never have to separate from
parents and peers. But if you don’t learn to be alone, you will only know
how to be lonely.” Parents who constantly text their children compound the
problem.
Though kids treat their cell phones like appendages, getting them to talk
on the phone can be nearly impossible. Experts worry that this
fundamental change in how kids communicate is endangering the
development of an important set of skills they’ll need later on: how to
converse, read cues from vocal intonations, and even negotiate. “There’s a
big difference between an apology that involves looking in somebody’s
eyes and seeing that they’re hurt, and typing ‘I’m sorry’ and hitting send,”
Turkle points out. Parents need to insist that their children actually talk to
them rather than just text. Turkle also favors setting up non-texting zones,
including the kitchen and dining room. And, she advises: “No texting in the
car on the way to school. That was always one of the most important times
for parents to talk to children. Don’t give it up.”
The minute you hand a child a cell phone, you’re also opening up the
entire online world to them, including sexting. Dr. O’Keeffe recommends
that you talk about the dangers from day one. “If you don’t feel ready to
have that conversation, hold off giving them a phone. Ten years old is the
minimum age a kid should have a cell phone unless there’s a medical
issue, in which case you should get them a watered-down model that can
basically just make calls.”
NEXT: How Many Hours Does Your Child Spend Gaming?
How Many Hours Does Your Child Spend Gaming?
When kids play video games, that little pleasure chemical dopamine also
kicks in. The intermittent reinforcement that games provide—you win a
little, you want to play more—is similar to gambling, and for some kids, just
as addictive. Ninety-two percent of kids ages 8 to 18 play video games,
and 8.5 percent can be classified as addicted, meaning their play interferes
with the rest of their lives. According to Douglas Gentile of Iowa State
University, lead author of a 2011 study on video game addiction, 12
percent of boys and 3 percent of girls who play will get addicted.
Parents are right to worry about the violent content of some games, but
they should be just as concerned about the amount of time kids spend
playing even benign offerings. “Increased game play is related to poorer
school performance as well as higher rates of obesity,” Gentile says. “For
every hour children are spending on games, they are not doing homework,
exercising, or exploring.”
There is no clear-cut way to predict which kids will become hooked, but
those who have poor impulse control or are socially awkward and have
difficulty fitting in at school are at higher risk. Watch for these telltale signs
of addiction: a drop in grades, a change in sleep patterns, and increased
anxiety. Gentile recommends that parents limit video game play to one
hour per day and monitor the content. And you should pick out games with
your kids rather than letting them choose their own. Though the ratings on
video games may not tell you everything you need to know, they can help
you make decisions about whether content is age-appropriate.
NEXT: Should Teachers Use Twitter in the Classroom?
Should Teachers Use Twitter in the Classroom?
There is near-universal agreement that schools must play a role in getting
kids to be cyber-smart, but teachers have struggled as much as parents to
catch up. A 2011 survey by the National Cyber Security Alliance found that
only 51 percent of K–12 teachers felt that their districts were doing an
adequate job of preparing students for online safety, security, and ethics.
Only 15 percent had taught lessons involving online hate speech, and just
26 percent had addressed cyber-bullying. Most teachers have little or no
training in these areas. Still, a growing number are adapting their methods
to better reach kids used to constant digital stimulation. “We find that you
have to switch activity or delivery method every 10 minutes to keep kids
focused,” says Philadelphia elementary school teacher Sharon Mora, who
recently won a Teacher of the Year award for her innovative approach to
computer science. She is at the forefront of educators who believe that
embracing technology rather than merely policing it will enhance learning.
She has been active, for example, in using programs like PhotoBooth to
help kids create interactive school reports. Other teachers have
experimented with allowing students to use social media to participate in
class discussions. “If you can use Twitter to maximize the likelihood that
these kids will be proficient in a subject matter, why not?” Dr. Volkow says.
“These changes have been so dramatic that we should be thinking of how
to take advantage of them to improve education.”
NEXT: How Exactly Is All This Affecting Young Brains?
How Exactly Is All This Affecting Young Brains?
A 2010 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that students 8 to 18
spend more than 7.5 hours a day engaged with computers, cell phones,
TV, music, or video games. Forty percent of kids in middle school and high
school say that when they’re on the computer, most of the time they’re also
plugged into other media. The effects this multitasking has on still-forming
brains can be positive and negative. “The prefrontal cortex, which is
essential for social behavior, planning, reasoning, and impulse control, is
not fully developed until the early 20s,” says Jordan Grafman of the
Kessler Foundation Research Center. “Its development is largely
dependent on what activities you do.”
Studies have shown that multitasking can lead to faster response time,
improved peripheral vision, and a greater ability to sift through information
quickly. But it also results in a diminished ability to focus on one thing for
long. “You get better at the physical and visual motor parameters of what
you’re doing, but not the deeper, thoughtful aspects,” Grafman says.
How will the generation coming of age now—less accustomed to sustained
concentration—be affected? No one’s sure. Dr. O’Keeffe recently spoke to
a group of college students. “They said they feel really bombarded, they’re
not sure they’re learning effectively, and they’re not sure how to turn it all
off. We need to learn from what they’re saying and help our current
teenagers as well as younger kids learn to disconnect.” For parents, that
might entail modeling a bit of self-discipline, like refraining from making
calls while you drive or sneaking off during family gatherings to check your
email. But the payoff—real conversations in real time—just may surprise
you, and your kids. Who knows? They may even like it. Of course, you
may need to check their Facebook page to find out.
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