Read the excerpt from Heart of a Samurai. Goemon jumped up. “Agreed,” he said, jamming his “knife” into his sash and slashing at Manjiro’s “sword.” Their imaginary swords clashed and clattered as they lunged or leaped aside to avoid being hit. How does the author make the excerpt exciting? She changes the pace from slow to fast. She creates a conflict between two characters. She uses strong and precise action words. She changes the pace from fast to slow.

Find a newspaper or magazine (either print or digital form), and select one piece of media to evaluate. after reading/viewing the media, describe it, and explain what you believe the purpose and intended audience of the piece may have been. then, label the techniques (images, layout, video, sound, etc.) that were used, and how those techniques interacted to create either an effective or ineffective piece of media. your response should be at least 200 words.