Critical Thinking of Persuasive Writing

Title of Selection: Teens Who Log on Dont Lag Behind. Reference: Healy, Melissa. "Teens Who Log On Don't Lag Behind." Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA). 18 May
2010: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 20 Jan 2012.

Lesson Created by: Heather Gould & Becky Williams, AEA 267 literacy consultants / January 2012
Contact Information: hgould@aea267.k12.ia.us and bwilliams@aea267.k12.ia.us

What is the issue?

Teenagers that spend significant amounts of time on computers and other technological devices are not disconnected from society, but are working to build and sustain relationships with peers in a new and socially appropriate way.

What is the authors position?

With technological and electronic explosions as of late, connecting with others electronically seems to be the path by which todays teenagers most frequently make and develop emotional bonds, find their own identities, work and communicate with others. And theyre doing it well. Parents need to remain vigilant but perhaps no more so than before the days of this technological proliferation. Staying informed of your teens friends and their whereabouts is always a good idea.

How was the position supported?

The author uses a graphic representation and research to support her opinion. [p. 4 ] The author quotes expert opinion of key researchers: Adolescents are largely using social networking sites to keep in touch with friends they already know, not to converse with strangers, said the author of that research, University of Virginia psychologist Amori Yee Mikami. [p. 4/5]; In studies of teenagers and young adults, Cal State L.A. psychology professor Kaveri Subrahmanyam has also found that children's online worlds and friendships strongly resemble their relationships offline, with overlapping casts of characters and similar hierarchies of closeness. [p. 5]. ******This piece is heavily supported by research. The above two examples are only two of many. The author uses statistics to support her stance: A first example would include: And of the 86% of children who used social media sites (a number that reflects the national average), participants who were better adjusted in their early teens were more likely to use social media in their early 20s; The author uses testimonials of teenagers and their parents in several instances.

Cognitive Task Following Completion of the lesson:

Because this piece is rich with every type of support evident in a true editorial [expert opinion, statistics, & testimonials as well as graphic visualization], I might recommend processing this with the round table strategy so students can take notes periodically. Then, following the conclusion of the reading, have pairs of students capture their ideas in a graphic organizer so that the findings are evident to all other groups. Engage in a gallery walk. Appoint one docent per group to provide an explanation for peers. 1

Second Chance for Struggling Readers [February, 2012 / year 2+]

Critical Thinking of Persuasive Writing

Teens Who Log on Dont Lag Behind

<Numbered Heads Vocabulary>
Healy, Melissa. "Teens Who Log On Don't Lag Behind." Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA). 18 May 2010: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 20 Jan 2012.

Words at a Glance: begrudge coerce engagement facilitate gauge immersion incessant proliferation scrutiny surpass terminally tethered

1. begrudge to allow unwillingly or with reluctance A three-year Digital Youth Project, undertaken by researchers from schools including USC and UC Berkeley, urged adults to "facilitate young people's engagement with digital media" rather than block it, begrudge it or fear it.

2. engagement the act of being involved or engrossed in something A three-year Digital Youth Project, undertaken by researchers from schools including USC and UC Berkeley, urged adults to "facilitate young people's engagement with digital media" rather than block it, begrudge it or fear it. 3. facilitate to make an action or process easy or easier A three-year Digital Youth Project, undertaken by researchers from schools including USC and UC Berkeley, urged adults to "facilitate young people's engagement with digital media" rather than block it, begrudge it or fear it. 4. coerce to make someone do something he/she doesnt want to do Mikami's research found that they were more likely to harass, bully and take online risks such as "sexting" or "MIRLing" (text-speak for "meeting in real life" a stranger one has chatted with online), or to be vulnerable to others who harass, bully and coerce. 5. gauge to measure or judge The second task force, commissioned by state attorneys general to gauge the dangers that children face in socializing online, found last year that children are far more likely to be bullied or sexually propositioned by peers they know than they are to be preyed upon by a stranger on the Internet. 6. immersion complete involvement in Add to that tally time spent texting by cell phone--an activity the Kaiser study did not include-and for most children, the daily log of media immersion would surpass time spent sleeping. 7. surpass to go beyond or have more of Add to that tally time spent texting by cell phone--an activity the Kaiser study did not include-and for most children, the daily log of media immersion would surpass time spent sleeping.
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8. incessant a process or activity that never stops But look beyond the dizzying array of beeping, buzzing devices and the incessant multitasking, say psychologists, and today's digital kids may not be such a disaster after all. 9. proliferation a quick, substantial increase in number It follows from these findings that the proliferation of digital media hasn't changed the definition of good parenting much either. 10. scrutiny careful observation and study In the end, says Mikami, these risk-takers were more likely than healthier children to abandon public social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace for online scenes such as chat rooms, where their behavior is less subject to scrutiny. 11. terminally lasting, or seeming to last, forever With his gaze fixed on a tiny screen, hearing plugged by earbuds and fingers flying, the average teenager may look like a disaster in the making: socially stunted, terminally distracted and looking for trouble. 12. tethered attached to, either literally or figuratively In January, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that for more than 7 1/2 hours a day, American children ages 8 to 18 are tethered to computers, plugged into MP3 players, watching TV or playing video, computer or handheld games--and for much of that time, doing several at once.

Second Chance for Struggling Readers [February, 2012 / year 2+]

Critical Thinking of Persuasive Writing

Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) May 18, 2010,n.p. Copyright 2010 Los Angeles Times. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

stunted: Growth or developmental issue that keeps one from growing

Teens Who Log On Don't Lag Behind

By Melissa Healy Studies say Facebook and texting are tools of well-adjusted kids who aren't in as much danger as parents fear. array: a large amount; several;
often different sorts with similar attributes

hampering: Making it difficult for you to do what you hope to do

With his gaze fixed on a tiny screen, hearing plugged by earbuds and fingers flying, the average teenager may look like a disaster in the making: socially stunted, terminally distracted and looking for trouble. But look beyond the dizzying array of beeping, buzzing devices and the incessant multitasking, say psychologists, and today's digital kids may not be such a disaster after all. Far from hampering adolescents' social skills or putting them in harm's way, as many parents have feared, electronics appear to be the path by which children today develop emotional bonds, their own identities, and an ability to communicate and work with others. In fact, children most likely to spend lots of time on social media sites are not the least well-adjusted but the healthiest psychologically, suggests an early, but accumulating, body of research. In one new study, 13- and 14-year-olds were found to interact on social network sites such as Facebook and MySpace simply in ways that were consistent with their offline relationships and patterns of behavior. And of the 86% of children who used social media sites (a number that reflects the national average), participants who were better adjusted in their early teens were more likely to use social media in their early 20s, regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity or their parents' income. Adolescents are largely using social networking sites to keep in touch with friends they already know, not to converse with strangers, said the author of that research, University of Virginia psychologist Amori Yee Mikami.
4

converse: talk

Second Chance for Struggling Readers [February, 2012 / year 2+]

Critical Thinking of Persuasive Writing

"So parents of well-adjusted teens may have little to worry about regarding the way their children behave when using social media," Mikami added. "It's likely to be similarly positive behavior." Megan Mills, a Los Angeles eighth-grader, and her mother would agree. Megan cut her digital teeth on the 'tween social networking site Club Penguin. Now 14, she has graduated to a Facebook account. She counts her mom among her many "friends"--a status that gives Donna Schwartz Mills access to her daughter's ongoing electronic chatter and a condition that Mills laid down before allowing her daughter's foray into teen social networking. Mills, 54 and herself a blogger, says she's seen little to fret about--and much to cheer--on her periodic visits to her daughter's Facebook page. The teen, who has scaled back a once allconsuming commitment to gymnastics, keeps in touch with friends and coaches from that phase of her life, as well as with current friends that Mills knows well.
hierarchies: A system where people have different ranks or positions depending on their level of importance

"People are always worried about the Internet making it easier for strangers to hurt your children," Mills says. But she points out, "the dangers are the old dangers of who they hang out with." In studies of teenagers and young adults, Cal State L.A. psychology professor Kaveri Subrahmanyam has also found that children's online worlds and friendships strongly resemble their relationships offline, with overlapping casts of characters and similar hierarchies of closeness. "I think the majority of kids use it in ways that don't jeopardize their well-being," she said. Ultimately, it seems, the digital world is simply a new and perhaps more multidimensional place to conduct the age-old work of adolescence--forming identities separate from those of parents. Every Waking Hour

Just how outsized is digital media's presence in a child's life? In January, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that for more than 7 1/2 hours a day, American children ages 8 to 18 are tethered to computers, plugged into MP3 players, watching TV or playing video, computer or handheld games--and for much of that time, doing several at once. Add to that tally time spent texting by cellphone--an activity the Kaiser study did not include-and for most children, the daily log of media immersion would surpass time spent sleeping. A report by the Pew Research Center released in April found that 72% of U.S. teens textmessage regularly, a third of them more than 100 times a day. As a means of keeping up with friends daily, teens are more likely to text than to talk by phone, by e-mail or face to face.
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multidi mensio nal: having many differe nt aspects or feature s; often comple x

But a recent study in the journal Developmental Psychology underscores the point that it is largely the child, not the technology or even the time a kid spends using it, that seems to influence how safely he or she will navigate the digital world. Certainly there are dangers online, says Subrahmanyam, also the associate director of the Children's Digital Media Center in Los Angeles. But the new media "is ultimately a tool" for children, she says. Most will use it constructively. Those teens who struggle with depression or with aggressive or delinquent behavior are more likely to find the online world to be full of digital landmines. Mikami's research found that they were more likely to harass, bully and take online risks such as "sexting" or "MIRLing" (text-speak for "meeting in real life" a stranger one has chatted with online), or to be vulnerable to others who harass, bully and coerce. In the end, says Mikami, these risk-takers were more likely than healthier children to abandon public social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace for online scenes such as chat rooms, where their behavior is less subject to scrutiny. Parental Worries All of this research comes on the heels of two task force reports that combed the evidence on children and their online world and found that, on balance, that world is far less frightening than many parents believe. A three-year Digital Youth Project, undertaken by researchers from schools including USC and UC Berkeley, urged adults to "facilitate young people's engagement with digital media" rather than block it, begrudge it or fear it. "The digital world is creating new opportunities for youth to grapple with social norms, to explore interests, develop technical skills and experiment with new forms of self-expression," the group's 2008 white paper concluded.
rebuffed: to respond in an unfriendly way and refuse to accept combed: to search thoroughly

That report, drafted by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, concluded that on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook and Friendster, strangers--let alone strangers seeking sex--are routinely locked out and readily rebuffed. Where children do stray into dangerous territory with strangers, it is generally knowingly, in chat rooms and online forums intended for adults.

Second Chance for Struggling Readers [February, 2012 / year 2+]

Critical Thinking of Persuasive Writing

preyed: a person or thing that is the victim of an enemy, a swindler, or a disease

The second task force, commissioned by state attorneys general to gauge the dangers that children face in socializing online, found last year that children are far more likely to be bullied or sexually propositioned by peers they know than they are to be preyed upon by a stranger on the Internet.

grapple: to struggle with

It follows from these findings that the proliferation of digital media hasn't changed the definition of good parenting much either: "The whole thing is knowing your own child," says Cornell University researcher Sahara Byrne, who studies the factors that make children more or less amenable to parental limits on their media use. Her research has found that children who think they can go to a parent with a problem--any problem--are more willing to accept parental limits on their media use and appear to be less likely to seek out trouble online. That belief, added Byrne, was a more powerful predictor of a child's healthy Internet use than a family's income, education, church attendance or political leaning. And although she often has to "calm parents down" when she speaks to groups of adults about their children's digital lives, ultimately, she's found, they come around. Whether their adolescent selves talked to friends on the phone for hours, hung out and flirted at a neighborhood meeting spot or made mix-tapes to play at parties, Byrne says, most parents can see that "many of the things their kids are doing are kind of like what we did."
melissa.healy@latimes.com

Second Chance for Struggling Readers [February, 2012 / year 2+]

Critical Thinking of Persuasive Writing

Critical Thinking of Persuasive Writing / Vocabulary Test

Title of Selection: Teens Who Log on Dont Lag Behind. Reference: Healy, Melissa. "Teens Who Log On Don't Lag Behind." Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA). 18 May 2010: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 20 Jan 2012.

Put a check mark in the box next to one sentence in each pair that is using the underlined vocabulary word properly. These definitions should coordinate with the definitions from the article for this week.
Name ____________________________________________Date:____________________Score:___________

Amanda felt as if she was being terminally scolded when her driving privileges were taken

away for one full year as punishment for the accident she caused when texting while driving. Billy struggled to terminally protect the frozen snow creature, but ended up holding just a wet scarf and wilted carrot while standing in a pile of soppy snow.

The ship was moored and attached to the incessant anchor which kept it from drifting away

during the storm. Water rumbling and tumbling incessantly over Niagara Falls created such incredible volume that visitors needed to nearly shout at each other in order to be heard.

The young pup, tethered with black spots and puppy enthusiasm, anxiously chased butterflies and young birds until collapsing in a heap. The humpback camel, tethered helplessly to the post, anxiously awaited its rider and the long journey into the Sahara that would begin at dusk.

When preparing to write the research paper for biology, the college student immersion in the pool to clear her mind. The media circus of political immersion prior to the Iowa Caucuses provided interesting dinner conversation for many families. Some students always work hard to surpass personal goals; others are content with just getting by. Sam surpassed Mya in the hallway and asked her if she wanted to attend the winter dance with him. She politely declined.

Second Chance for Struggling Readers [February, 2012 / year 2+]

Critical Thinking of Persuasive Writing

 The Olympic judges gauge the athletic prowess of the gymnasts and score them appropriately. The experienced chef used a glass gauge to partially boil the young spring turnips. At the grocery store I was happily coerced into buying fresh fruit. The senior citizen was coerced into buying a magazine she did not want, all because of the high-pressure sales pitch.

With intense scrutiny, the old woman looked long and hard for one particular puzzle piece shaped, interestingly enough, like a flying saucer. I would like some Chinese scrutiny with fried rice, the homeless man whispered to the chef.

Having an agenda and sticking to it aided in a smooth facilitate with the new manager. I will be glad to facilitate and manage the multimillion dollar project in order to make the transition easiest for our newest employees, the CEO told her veteran staff.

Franks engagement and intrigue with the movie was so amazing that he watched it three times daily for two full months and was able to quote every line perfectly. The engagement party was held at a swanky restaurant and attended by the couples fifty closest friends.

I will begrudge you the last cookie, he said, but only because I ate an entire cake for my after school snack. William was begrudged by his classmates and suffered from depression because of it.

Prior to the primary and while the candidates were busy in town, there was a proliferation of phone calls to Margarets home championing the traits and benefits of certain candidates. The temperature in Death Valley proliferation to over 140 degrees Fahrenheit. INDEPENDENT WORDS: choose three words and write them in sentences so that the meaning is evident: 1.____________________________________________________________________________ 2. ____________________________________________________________________________
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Critical Thinking of Persuasive Writing

3. ____________________________________________________________________________

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