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A M E R I C A N C A C O P H O N Y: L A N G U A G E S , L I T E R AT U R E S , A N D C E N S O R S H I P

Scott Snair

Are Your Students Critically Reading an Opinion Piece? Have Them RATTKISS It!

Scott Snair proposes a mnemonic for students to use when critically examining written opinion. The acronym, RATTKISS, represents a step-by-step method for understanding and evaluating written opinion.

I have pressed the rst lever, said OBrien. You understand the construction of this cage. . . . Have you ever seen a rat leap through the air? George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four nding an easy-to-remember, easy-to-implement, step-by-step method for understanding and evaluating written opinion. Finding a catchy acronym, for me, seemed like the right place to start. Acronyms are the ultimate mnemonic, providing meaning or structure [to] material that is otherwise not very meaningful or organized (Higbee 94). I doubt that RATTKISS will ever rise to the great heights of ROY G. BIV (colors in a spectrum) or SOH-CAH-TOA (sinecosine-tangent ratios). However, I condently suggest that, twenty years from now, my more enthusiastic students will remember RATTKISS and most or all of its components. The steps within this process draw on parts of the critical reading methods described by Deanne Spears, H. Ramsey Fowler and Jane E. Aaron, and Amy Wall and Regina Wall. The signicant difference in RATTKISS is that it is geared specically to short opinion pieces, which often pack the biggest argumentative punch, and that, again, its unusual mnemonic provides for long-term memory and application by young adult students. And so, I present RATTKISS (see g. 1), a step-by-step, acronym approach for critically reading a short opinion piece. I look at what step each letter stands for and consider the brief process behind each step.

ats can be intriguing and sometimes scary. And, for some young people, kissing can be intriguing and sometimes scary, too. So, predictably, the second I use the words rat and kiss together, in a classroom full of older teens, I garner some attention and hold onto it longer than the usual ve seconds. Heres a copy of an editorial from this weeks Newsweek. Lets RATTKISS it! Huh? And the process of teaching one method for critical reading begins. There are few things more rewarding than teaching the art of nonction critical reading, where students learn to delve beneath the surface of what they are reading and judge it for truthfulness, logic, evenhandedness, and importance. There are, indeed, some wonderful books written on the art of nonction critical reading. This is appropriately so: critical reading is now its own category on the SAT Reasoning Test, accounting for one-third of the maximum 2,400 points awarded on the standardized college admissions test. More importantly, judging the merit and quality of what one reads is what academic growth is all about. However, when teaching students how to take their time and critique a typical, one- or twopage written commentary, I have had difculty

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English Journal

Vol. 97, No. 3

January 2008

Copyright 2008 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved.

Scott Snair

The R Is for Riters Background

The rst step in the RATTKISS critical reading process is establishing the authors background. It is difcult to fully consider persuasive discourse without rst considering the credentials and life experiences of the person offering it. The same argument put forth in one article by a civil rights leader and in another article by the national director of a Ku Klux Klan organization probably suggests two different things by two different writers. Granted, the lofty thinker says, Let us consider the argument solely on its merits and not on its source. And, admittedly, cutting down an opinion strictly because of its source means exploiting one of the most common logical fallacies there isthe ad hominem argument. However, going to the other extreme and ignoring a writers background means discounting his or her strengths and familiarities as well as his or her predispositions. The reality is that even if policy-driven researchers and writers do not hold extreme predispositions, they still rest on a foundation of experiences and surroundings that have shaped their writing, and it is folly to assume otherwise. As my good friend Marty Finkelstein at Seton Hall University says, Prominent researchers dont have biasesbut they do have agendas! Should the reader of David Brookss commentary in the New York Times know that he was once a conservative columnist who, by his admission, has moved to more moderate positions in recent years? Should the Web site reader or radio listener of Matt Drudge know that he broke the story that led to the Monica Lewinsky scandal? Should the television viewer know that ABC News commentator George Stephanopoulos used to work for Bill Clinton or that Fox News president Roger Ailes used to work for George H. W. Bush? You bet. Borrowing from the best-known academic mnemonic there isthe three Rsthe rst letter
FIGURE 1. RATTKISS Method

of RATTKISS stands for riters background, where students briey research and consider the personal history of the author of the opinion piece.

The A Is for Analyze

The A in RATTKISS stands for analyze. To analyze something simply means to break it down into its basic components, usually The signicant difference with the intent of studying it. During this step, students in RATTKISS is that it is read the article and circle geared specically to those sentences that best state short opinion pieces, the main points the writer is which often pack the trying to make. In written biggest argumentative commentary relying too heavpunch, and that, again, its ily on tapping into the readers emotions or using weak or unusual mnemonic erroneous logic, the students provides for long-term might discover that they have memory and application circled few sentences. Won- by young adult students. derful! The point of this step in critical reading is to set aside the garnish and determine what is really being served for dinner. After circling the authors big, important points, students determine what circled items serve as the main arguments and what items serve as supports for those arguments. If students are able to group these important points into arguments and supports, they should do so. From the circled items, students should be able to establish the writers intention when creating this article and what the writer is hoping to convince the reader of. Students might also be able to look at these circled items and establish what attitude the writer holds toward the subject matter or toward the object of opinion.

The First T Is for Tone

In the acronym RATTKISS, RATT has two Ts. The rst T is for tone. Having analyzed the article by circling the important items, grouping them, and looking for intent and attitude, students move on to determining the authors tone. Tone is the emotion (or lack of emotion) in any written work. Tone can be, among many possibilities, formal, casual, nostalgic, satirical, or whimsical. It can be optimistic or pessimistic, triumphant or defeatist.

R A T T K I S S

Riters Background Analyze Tone Topic Kontrolling Idea Synthesize Scrutinize

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Are Your Students Critically Reading an Opinion Piece? Have Them RATTKISS It!

Students should consider, from the standpoint of critical reading, a few noteworthy things when deciding what tone the author is taking. For example, in argumentative writing, the author can take a particular attitude not only toward the subject of the debate but also toward the readers. This attitude might be bitter toward the topic but gratifying toward the readers. Or it might be upbeat toward the subject but condescending toward the readers. As students read the article, they should ask themselves, What are this commentators feelings toward the topic? and What is this commentators outlook toward me, the reader? Is it unfair to allege that opinion writers choose appealing to their core readership over persuading the rarely persuaded or, for that matter, over offering the occasionally contrarian opinion? Maybe. However, it is difcult, even for the author of peerreviewed, research-based essays, to completely forget who the audience is. And for the extreme commentator, with a core audience of passionate opinion-holders, it is undoubtedly tough to feed the bears vegetables when they are looking for raw meat. As part of the critical reading process, establishing tone helps determine if the author is deant, inexible, overly harsh or generous, or at-out disregarding of facts when spelling out his or her argument.

ling idea. The controlling idea funnels the topic, making it more specic and more manageable. In an opinion piece, the controlling idea often reveals the commentators predominant view on the subject or the chief argument he or she is attempting to make. By using poetic license and changing the C to a K in controlling, I use the K and I to form the rst two letters in the KISS of RATTKISS.

The First S Is for Synthesize

The rst S in the KISS of RATTKISS stands for synthesize. Depending on the age of the students, this rst S could also stand for secret meanings without taking away from the importance of reading between the lines and synthesizing the commentary. If analyzing something means breaking it down into its basic components, synthesizing is blending them together again. However, the word synthesize means something more: It means to blend elements in a way that something entirely new is created. By determining the articles main idea, tone, important points, and authors background, students are able to see that perhaps theres something there that wasnt there before. This is the part of the process where hidden or underlying meanings make themselves most apparent. It is also the step where students are most likely to determine if the author is singing to the choir, that is, writing for his or her core readership, which, incidentally, could include young people, sometimes impressionable and sometimes hasty to judge.

The Second T Is for Topic

The second T in RATTKISS stands for topic. If the article is well-structured, it contains a main-idea sentence. A main idea, notes Spears, has two componentsthe topic and the controlling idea (31). In a main-idea sentence, the topic is often the subject of both the sentence and the article, and the controlling idea is the remainder of the sentence. Naturally, it is easier to critique an opinion piece if the student identies its general subject. I have been surprised when asking students, What is the topic of this article? to hear several widely varying answers. Not that consensus is necessary, but if something as basic as the topic of an opinion piece is open for debate, it speaks volumes about the wonderful, dynamic nature of critical reading.

The Second S Is for Scrutinize

The nal letter in RATTKISS stands for the nal step in this critical reading processscrutinize. Depending on the age of the students, this second S could also stand for support or deny. Scrutinizing entails answering a few questions. Is the author qualied to write on the topic on which he or she has chosen to offer an opinion? What are the important points, and through what type of lens does the writer view these points and the readership? Is the main idea easy enough to decipher? What lies between the lines? Are there any logical fallacies or an overuse of emotional literary weaponry? Is the argument well thought out and well structured? Should readers agree or disagree? Why or why not?

The K and the I Are for Kontrolling Idea

The second component of an articles main idea, and the main-idea sentence, if there is one, is its control54

January 2008

Scott Snair

This last step brings the critical reading process to a point where the nonacademic reader, unfortunately, often beginsthe point of judgment and reaction. If student readers can carry themselves past the point of instant, emotional reaction, they can delve into the mind and intent of the opinion writer. One of the lessons they might occasionally take with them is that effective commentary is not always truthful commentary and that adept, written contentions are not always logically sound ones. It is common for any of us to read something, be captivated and swayed by it, only to ask ourselves later, What exactly did I read, and what was it that so mesmerized me? The underlying question is, Was I duped? Scrutinizing an opinion piece means deciding if the argument transcends the quick, emotional prize and endures the inspection of higher-order thinking. Such scrutiny also means scrubbing the article for the buzzwords and spin phrases of the day. Ultimately, students must decide if they agree or disagree with the argument presented and if their reasoning for doing so passes the same, thoughtful scrutiny.

collective, often meaningless pursuits, he or she is said to have joined the rat race. And so, how tting the acronym RATTKISS is for dening a way to examine the clever words (Newspeak?) fed to young people and for scrutinizing these words, in academic fashion, for hidden meanings, logical failures, and an overreliance on emotion. I feel a mix of emotion myself whenever I hear a student use a catch phrase that was uttered the day prior by a pundit on a television news-talk show. On one hand, it is wonderful that the student is immersed in the current events of the day. On the other hand, it is saddening to hear the student use the phrase (e.g., ip-opping politicians) so casually as to not consider the spin or political calculating behind it. By kissing the occasional rat, perhaps students might be more inclined to keep the knee from jerking and to analyze and ponder. Perhaps they might judge what they read for accuracy, fairness, and signicance. And perhaps they might, as all ardent critical thinkers do, screen out falsehoods, faulty premises, raw anger, smugness, and narrow-mindedness. Perhaps they might seek the truth over what is convenient to believe.
Works Cited

RATTKISS Celebrates the Critical Thinker

It should come as no surprise that Winston Smiths indoctrination in George Orwells Nineteen EightyFour comes to a climax with rats placed at his face, or that Willards social angst as a young man, in the 1971 and 2003 movies of the same name, is reected in his fondness for rats. After all, when one becomes a cog in society and obediently joins in its

Fowler, H. Ramsey, and Jane E. Aaron. The Little, Brown Handbook. 9th ed. New York: Pearson, 2004. Higbee, Kenneth L. Your Memory: How It Works and How to Improve It. 2nd ed. New York: Marlowe, 1996. Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. 1946. New York: Signet, 1961. Spears, Deanne. Developing Critical Reading Skills. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Wall, Amy, and Regina Wall. The Complete Idiots Guide to Critical Reading. New York: Alpha, 2005.

Scott Snair is an English instructor at the United States Military Academy Preparatory School, preparing US Army soldiers who
have been earmarked for West Point cadet appointments. He is also the author of several leadership books, including Stop the Meeting: I Want to Get Off! (McGraw, 2003) and The Complete Idiots Guide to Motivational Leadership (Penguin, 2007). email: scott.snair@usma.edu.

READWRITETHINK CONNECTION

Lisa Storm Fink, RWT

Snair invents a strategy to help students critically analyze a short opinion piece. If students read about current local or national issues, Persuading an Audience: Writing Effective Letters to the Editor can take their analysis a step further. Students write a persuasive letter to the editor of a newspaper, focusing on the issue and requesting a specic action or response from readers. The lesson includes an exploration of the genre, a review of persuasive writing structure and letter format, and an emphasis on multidraft writing. http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/ lesson_view.asp?id=929

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