Exercise 6: Establishing Credibility Many teachers take steps to establish credibility (ethos) on the first day of class. For each of the following examples, list which aspect of ethos the teacher is emphasizing for students:
a. A young-looking teacher mentions her graduate degree and teaching experience
twice during the first half-hour of class.
b. An older-looking teacher makes several jokes and talks about playing Angry Birds
and Temple Run over the summer.
c. A teacher who taught at a rival school last year mentions that he’s glad to be at this
school now because it was where his father taught for 20 years.

Have you ever thought you understood a person based on a story that you have heard about them? have you ever guessed about a person's personal life because of the clothes they wore? or, have you judged a person because of their friends? although classifying people in this way is typically discouraged, authors deliberately use your preconceived ideas to you form an opinion about the character or to at least have a better understanding. can you think of a time that you made a character call about someone based on external aspects? were you correct, or incorrect? has anyone ever made an incorrect assessment of you based on external aspects? write two paragraphs about it in your journal.