Endepistle – a long, elegant letter wheedle – to influence by flattery; persuade grousing – complaining;grumbling explicitly – without any question about meaning or intent recoil – to shrink back physically or emotionally peninsular – [peninsula] portion of land surrounded by water on three sides and attached to a larger land mass redoubt – a secure retreat or stronghold; fortress cynical – untrusting; pessimistic; skeptical inferior – of lower quality or importance orthodox – strictly conforming to established religious doctrine repose – peacefulness; tranquility absurd – ridiculously unreasonable or irrational tarried – delayed;waited predominates – prevails; appears more noticeable than others supercilious – proud;arrogant; showing false superiority
Anne Frank: Pre-Reading Assessment 2/15 click the link below, answer the questions, and submit assignment before the end of class. goo.gl/forms/mLKkYgle2VbU5z3i2
1. Informational Focus: History of Jewish Persecution While it is estimated that over five million Jews—approximately 67%of Europe’s Jewish population—were murdered during the Holocaust, the persecution of Jews began long before Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime. In ancient Greece and Rome, the Jews were viewed differently due to their different language and clothing, as well as their refusal to worship the pantheon of Greek and Roman gods. As Christianity gained prominence in the ancient world, Jews continued to be viewed suspiciously since they did not believe in Jesus’s resurrection—a key tenet of Christianity and many Christians’ belief that the Jews crucified Jesus in Jerusalem. In retaliation, Jewish synagogues were burned and Christians and the Christian church antagonized Jews for centuries and treated them as outside the bounds of society. European Jews were also persecuted. The 13th century saw the expulsion of Jews from England and France. To avoid being exiled and/or murdered during the 15th century Spanish Inquisition, many Spanish Jews tried to appear as Christians and forsook their beliefs in hopes of preserving their lives. The Crusades of the 14th and 15th centuries also saw the widespread massacre of the Jewish people. In the 1600's, Poland’s Jewish population was reduced by 200,000 through massacres, while the Russian pogroms of the early 20th century caused numerous Jewish families to flee Russia for what they thought would be the safety of Germany. When Adolf Hitler rose to power, Germany then had the highest Jewish population of any European country, making the Jews frequent targets of the Nazi regime,which strove to eliminate anyone who was not of an Aryan background. While Jews were the most widely persecuted group during the Holocaust, the Nazi regime also targeted and put to death any group they considered inferior, including Slavs, Poles, Gypsies,the mentally ill, the physically disabled, homosexuals, political opponents, and religious dissidents.
The term genocide sprang into being during World War II to describe the Holocaust. The 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide describes genocide as “any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and/or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
(handout: educational resource for literature 6th-8th for The Diary of a Young Girl)
What’s My Bias? Unit Study Guide
QUIZ ON THIS INFORMATION ON THURSDAY 2/8: Please know the notes below for the quiz. ALSO, an informational text will be provide, and you will need to be able to identify the author's statements as facts, opinions, or informed opinions.
1. Bias is a preference toward one point of you over another
2. Bias is neither bad nor good Everyone has biases It helps us understand other points of view
3. MAPit Strategy M: message look critically at some information presented in a source
A: Author consider the writer’s background and credibility (reliability; trustworthiness)
P: Purpose: Why is the author writing the text? To provide information or to strongly support something or someone.
5 Factors to consider when analyzing informational text Type: Fact or Opinion Sources: Cited or Not Cited Language: (Connotation) positive, neutral, or negative Point of view: balanced or one-sided Coverage: fair or selective - if other points of view are included, is the description accurate and neutral or is it selective or negative?
Fact: A statement or claim about something that happened or can be “objectively proven”. meaning it is expressing or dealing with facts or conditions as perceived without personal feelings, prejudices, or interpretations.
Opinion: and attitude toward something a judgment, view, or conclusion that cannot be proven
Be careful when authors mix facts and opinions to make their argument seem more believable
Sources should be cited when: Facts are not common knowledge and subjective assessments are presented.
Also consider the quality of sources cited. Are they scholarly journals, news articles, editorials? Is the research industry sponsored?
Point of View: does the author consider other point of use or does here she just consider his/her own?
Consider the author. What makes an author credible?
How do you know what to believe and what to doubt?
Information is Everywhere Our society today is saturated with information. At one time not long ago, information could only come to you through some sort of reference book or, more often, a person with experience. Now any type of information can be accessed through the touch of a few buttons on a computer.
Because of this influx (large number of people), it is even more important that you can analyze and evaluate the information out there. You need to be able to determine what information is actually accurate and believable. To do this, you need to be able to differentiate between facts, persuasion, and informed opinions.
Fact Let's begin by looking at facts. A fact is a statement that can be proven. An opinion, then, is something that cannot be proven; in other words, a person's belief.
For example, look at this statement: 'My school is located in Cleveland, Ohio.' Is this statement a fact or opinion? Can it be proven that the school is in Cleveland? Of course it can. The building is either there or not. This is a fact. Now, look at this statement: 'My school is the best school ever.' Fact or opinion? Ask yourself, 'Can this be proven? Or is this simply a person's belief?' This statement cannot be proven and only shows one person's thoughts.
Many times writers of nonfiction present their opinions as if they were facts. This is why you need to be able to recognize the difference.
Types of Persuasion Now that you know what persuasion is, let's look at some common forms of persuasion. One form is called big names. In this type of persuasion, you use experts or famous people to support your argument. If you have ever seen a celebrity endorse a product on a commercial, then you have seen big names.
Another type of persuasion is logos. This form actually uses facts to support their claim. Either logic, numbers, or data can all be used as supporting facts. An example for logos would be a commercial stating that a toothpaste reduces cavities by 99%. This company is using this percentage to try to persuade you to buy their product.
Next, pathos is another very common type of persuasion. Pathos involves appealing to the audience's emotions to try to persuade them. Have you ever seen a commercial for a dog rescue shelter? Usually a sad song plays while images of hurt and abused animals pan across the screen. This is an obvious example of pathos. They want you to feel so bad for the animals that you donate to the shelter or even adopt one of the dogs. Pathos is a very common form of persuasion because so many things can tug at your heartstrings.
The last type of persuasion is kairos. In this form of persuasion the person is building a sense of urgency. This involves creating a short time frame in order to get the person to panic about missing a certain opportunity. You see this all the time on commercials or ads. Limited time only, Black Friday Sale, Fourth of July Savings - these are all popular examples of kairos, or stressing a short time frame to create a sense of urgency.
There are actually many more forms of persuasion, but big names, logos, pathos, and kairos are some of the most common forms seen in advertising.
Informed Opinion The last concept we must consider while identifying facts and persuasion is the informed opinion. Remember, an opinion is a personal belief or judgment about something. An informed opinion is also a judgment, but it is supported with information or knowledge on the subject. This is also known as an educated belief. Informed opinions rely on evidence and not personal experience.
There is one way to notice the difference between an opinion and an informed opinion. An opinion piece will often present only one side of an issue, which is always the personal belief of the writer. An informed opinion should explain the other side of the issue, since it can only be shaped from complete and accurate information. Thus, the need to hide anything is irrelevant. All facts should be disclosed, and then the opinion is stated based on all the evidence provided.
A great example of writing that involves informed opinions occurs in academic journals. Academic journals are periodicals in which experts in a specific field publish their work and research. The opinions found in these writings are definitely informed. For example, articles in The New England Journal of Medicine are written by experienced doctors. Each has done extensive research and has been highly educated in the field of medicine. These informed opinions are much more trustworthy.
Lesson Summary Overall in today's society, it is imperative that you are able to distinguish between facts, persuasion, and informed opinions. Remember, facts are ideas that can be proven. Persuasion occurs when a person is attempting to convince the audience to think a certain way. Some common forms of persuasion include big names, which uses experts or celebrities to support your claim; logos, which uses numbers and data; pathos, which appeals to emotions; and kairos, which creates a sense of urgency.
Last, informed opinions are judgments based on all information from both sides of the argument. This information allows the person to come to an educated decision or belief. If you remember these basic differences, then you will be able to accurately evaluate any type of information.
Learning Outcomes Once you have completed this lesson, you should be able to: Determine if a statement is fact or opinion List and discuss four common types of persuasion Explain what an informed opinion is