2/13/09 - Classwork

Aim: What do you think are the essential elements of the art of persuasion?
Do Now: Complete the following sentence:
File Sharing is a controversial topic and I am in favor of it because it encourages the sharing of information. The only way we can grow is if we share knowledge and information. We come to school where teachers share their information with us, and yet that is not a crime? In fact it is illegal to not come to school. Why then is it illegal to share information through the internet?

Task for Group 1 - Group 1: This activity can be used to teach the beginning stages of argument to high school or college level English composition classes. Students use their writing skills to describe how their group's Product is a better buy than another group's Product, while the other group describes how its Product A is a better buy than Product B. Students use examples of price, advertising appeal, ease of consumption, appearance, dangers, nutrition facts, feel, smell, and taste to support their topic. Students will also identify the objective and the subjective of their Products.
Tell the students that they need to imagine that there are only two different brands of these Products in the world -- the ones being discussed. Tell them that their Product is the best value, and it is their job to come up with as many "logical" reasons why their Product is the best value. Tell them not to consider that the other group is working on doing the same project for another brand. Rather, have them just focus on the question, "Why is my Product the best value?" Encourage them to work together to make a list of the top 10 points for why their Product is the best. The Two groups will highlight three best reasons for why their Product is the best by crossing out the other seven reasons. Then each group will compare and contrast their list.
Write one to two paragraphs reflecting on how you could have made a better argument, and why you think you did a better job than the other team using the vocabulary terms subjective and objective.

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Our Debate: Macs Vs. PCs
Who we are defending: Macs
Top Ten Reasons why a Mac is better than a PC

1. Based off of Unix, an open-source system that had been tested over many years to absolute perfection.
2. The movie industry utilizes Apple machines, as they are the most efficient when it comes to editing media.
3. They have the best and most efficient design. (In other words, they have a sleek design)
4. Apple hardware incorporates hardware and software precautions in order to prevent data loss and hardware failure.
5. The Mac OS X operating system is not prone to any and all windows viruses.
6. The hardware was designed to work with the Mac OS X operating system. This increases efficiency and overall operation of the machine.
7. When you purchase a PC, most of the time there are a lot of software installed that you do not need/will not use as they are trials. When you purchase a Mac, you get iLife, which is the full version of software that you will actually use.
8. Apple was the first company to include webcams in their laptops.*****
9. With the newer intel based Macs, you can run both Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X. With PCs, you can only run Windows and other Open Source operating systems.
10. At the Apple Store, the technicians behind the Genius bar are certified by Apple to fix your machine. They know what they are doing with the machine and can properly fix it. With a PC, there are so many computer repair shops and so many different types of PCs, you never know if the technician is certified and whether he knows what he is doing.

Our Final Three Reasons why Macs are better than PCs

• Based off of Unix, an open-source system that had been tested over many years to absolute perfection.
• The Mac OS X operating system is not prone to any and all windows viruses.
• With the newer intel based Macs, you can run both Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X. With PCs, you can only run Windows and other Open Source operating systems legally and at full potential.

Opposing Debate Team:
Argument one was subjective
Argument two was subjective and false
Argument three was subjective

In the end, I feel as though our group’s argument could have been much stronger if we had official documents to fall back on. Although it is true that the Mac OS X operating system is based off of Unix, if we could have had some documentation that stated this, we would have a clear objective statement that has no counter argument. In addition to this, if we had documents stating how well Unix is as an operating system, we would have had the upper hand. Other than this, however, I feel as though our group’s argument was quite strong. Our three reasons as to why Apple computers were a better than PCs were all objective statements. Sure we added some subjective words in there, but that is to be expected.

As for why we did a better job than Kowsar’s team, I felt that all of his reasons as to why PCs were better were subjective. If you want to make a strong argument for or against something, you need to start your argument with straight facts. In addition to this, his team’s second reason as to why PCs were better was false. If you want to have a strong argument, you cannot have any false statements.