Week 4 Reading Notes (1)
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University of Texas, Dallas *
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1302
Subject
English
Date
Feb 20, 2024
Type
Pages
6
Uploaded by CaptainGoldfinchPerson1002
Professor Katherine Yu
RHET 1302.043
10 February
Week 4 Reading Notes
The Rise of Smarter Cities
By Thomas Kiessling - Ch. 23
1. Summarize the main points of the chapter or article in your own words.
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The world’s population is growing tremendously and metropolis cities are expected to
grow even further
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Smart technology is on the rise to make infrastructure cheaper and better
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Smart objects in our cities has made many aspects such as parking and transportation
more efficient and easier
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Smart technology in cities can minimize waste of energy
2. Choose 3-5 quotes that summarize the main points
-
“There are more than 7.5 billion people living on Earth, and according to the United
Nations, that figure is expected to grow to more than 9.0 billion by 2050” (337).
-
“Efficient solutions to pressing woes demand relatively sparse manpower and rely on
smart technology to handle the challenges we experience today” (337).
-
“Sensor-aided parking systems can guide drivers to available spaces, avoiding detours
and searches” (338).
-
“Streetlights are another example of these potentially unnecessary costs. Why should
they leap into full action at dusk and continue to shine for half an hour beyond dawn….
Greedily, street lighting accounts for more than 40 percent of municipal energy costs”
(338).
3. What questions, thoughts, or ideas do you have about the reading?
What other ways can smart technology benefit us in big cities? How about in regular
suburban towns? What are the possible downsides of implementing smart
technologies? Since this article was written in 2014, what new innovation have we seen
in smart technology within the past 10 years?
4. What types of rhetorical appeals do you notice being used?
I see ethos being used throughout the text. The author is Chief Product and Innovation
Officer in German telecommunication corporation, and although he doesnt state this in
the text, he makes many references and examples throughout his writing to build his
credibility. He writes, “Streetlights are another example of these potentially
unnecessary costs. Why should they leap into full action at dusk and continue to shine
for half an hour beyond dawn? Why don’t they start dim and grow brighter as darkness
deepens? Why do they blast away all night in areas rarely visited after sunset? Couldn’t
sensors simply switch them on when a passer-by is noticed? Surely, a smart lamppost
would report such glitches automatically” (338). He also uses Logos in the text by
referencing statistics. “One prime example is traffic. Approximately 30 percent of the
drivers you see in our inner cities are not actually going anywhere, instead they are
looking for a place to park, clogging up the roads until they find one” (338).
Are College Lectures Unfair?
By Annie Murphy Paul - Ch. 24
1. Summarize the main points of the chapter or article in your own words.
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The standard college lecture is inherently racist and discriminatory
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Wealthier, white classmates typically arrive with more background knowledge which
allow them to be able to do well in a lecture format
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Active-learning course formats benefit all, especially women, minorities, low-income,
and first generation students.
2. Choose 3-5 quotes that summarize the main points
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“... it's the lecture format itself—when used on its own without other instructional
support—that offers unfair advantages to an already privileged population” (405).
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“One is that poor and minority students are disproportionately likely to have attended
low-performing schools and to have missed out on the rich academic and
extracurricular offerings familiar to their wealthier white classmates, thus arriving on
campus with less background knowledge” (406).
-
“Active-learning courses deliberately structure in-class and out-of-class assignments to
ensure that students repeatedly engage with the material” (406).
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“all groups also achieved higher final grades than did students in the lecture course. At
the same time, the active-learning approach worked disproportionately well for black
students—halving the black-white achievement gap evident in the lecture course—and
for first-generation college students, closing the gap between them and students from
families with a history of college attendance” (406).
3. What questions, thoughts, or ideas do you have about the reading?
Why don’t more universities teach in an active-learning format? Why do more
advanced courses, such as the college level, teach in a lecture format while typically in
grade school and lower level courses teach in an active format when it is beneficial for
both? Is there a demographic of students that would actually prefer lectures over active
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learning? Does active learning truly benefit everyone or do others do better in a lecture
format? Does the average white male prefer lectures or an active-learning format?
4. What types of rhetorical appeals do you notice being used?
Logos are used throughout the text as the author references studies to make their point.
For example, she mentioned a case where an introductory biology course was taught at
the University of Carolina at Chapel Hill in a study conducted by researchers from the
University of Washington. The researchers compared the moderate structure course
with the low structure lecture format, “In the structured course, all demographic groups
reported completing the readings more frequently and spending more time studying; all
groups also achieved higher final grades than did students in the lecture course. At the
same time, the active-learning approach worked disproportionately well for black
students—halving the black-white achievement gap evident in the lecture course—and
for first-generation college students, closing the gap between them and students from
families with a history of college attendance” (406). The author also mentions how in
the University of Austin, “the psychology professors James W. Pennebaker and Samuel
D. Gosling instituted a low-stakes quiz at the start of each meeting of their introductory
psychology course. Compared with students who took the same course in a more
traditional format, the quizzed students attended class more often and achieved higher
test scores; the intervention also reduced by 50 percent the achievement gap between
more affluent and less affluent students” (406).
We Are All Bound Up Together
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
1. Summarize the main points of the chapter or article in your own words.
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Harper shares personal experiences of injustice as a widow and woman of color in the
19th century.
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The article draws parallels between the oppression of women and African Americans,
advocating for equality.
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Harper criticizes Andrew Johnson for perpetuating the plight of poor whites, emphasizing
the need for societal change.
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The author calls for a color-blind nation, highlighting the intersectionality of race and
gender in the fight for equality.
2. Choose 3-5 quotes that summarize the main points
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"We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot
trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving the curse in its
own soul” (3).
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"My objection to Andrew Johnson is not that he has been a poor white man; my
objection is that he keeps 'poor whites' all the way through. That is the trouble with
him” (3).
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“"This grand and glorious revolution which has commenced will fail to reach its
climax of success until throughout the length and breadth of the American Republic,
the nation shall be so color-blind, as to know no man by the color of his skin or the curl
of his hair” (4).
3. What questions, thoughts, or ideas do you have about the reading?
How do Harper's personal experiences contribute to her advocacy for women's rights and racial
equality? In what ways does Harper critique the intersectionality of race and gender in society?
How does her call for a "color-blind" nation resonate with or challenge contemporary discussions
on racial equality?
4. What types of rhetorical appeals do you notice being used?
Harper uses ethos to establish her credibility by sharing her personal narratives like being a
widow with 4 children and in debt. By doing this she establishes her authority on the issues of
injustice and inequality. “Born of a race whose inheritance has been outrage and wrong, most of
my life had been spent in battling against those wrongs” (2). She also uses pathos to appeal to the
reader’s emotions by recounting vivid and relatable examples of discrimination, such as being
forced into the smoking car or having her hands swollen in conflict with a brutal conductor.
"Today I am puzzled where to make my home...if I want to ride in the streets of Philadelphia,
they send me to ride on the platform with the driver” (4).
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