This is a crucial chapter to read before your students do any extensive browsing with the Web and even before they begin to read each other's assignments. You can easily combine this chapter with rhetorical analysis, with Internet research from Part Two, or with the peer review section from Chapter Thirteen. You could also supplement this chapter with additional critical reading instruction.
The Exercises node of the Connections Web site provides links to a number of interesting essays that your students can use as critical reading exercises. Have your students find and read an essay, identifying its key components. Pay particular attention to the purpose, audience, context, and assumptions that drive each piece as you discuss the essay's various strengths and weaknesses.
One important skill for beginning writers is summarizing and responding critically to alternate points of view. Though often it's not possible to completely refute an opposing argument (as you know, things usually aren't that black and white), having your students create the best rebuttal they can is a very useful exercise. This type of close analysis hones their critical reading skills so that they can learn strategies both for understanding the weaknesses of an argument and for identifying its major underlying assumptions.
Have your students start by identifying the assumptions they feel are unwarranted in "Ban Boxing." (If you've covered this essay extensively in class you might want to substitute a similar concise essay.) Once they've identified assumptions that not everyone will hold, have them explain what's flawed about the author's reasoning. At this point, they should be able to articulate their rebuttal in a couple of paragraphs. You can have them write this response as a letter to the editor so that they have a general audience besides the author in mind.
Remember to emphasize the importance of summary in your students' responses. Though they don't need to detail every inch of the essay, they need to provide enough of a summary to demonstrate that they've understood the original argument. Also remind your students that in order to be convincing to their audience, they'll have to be fair to the author of "Ban Boxing." They have to acknowledge the strengths of his argument, and respect his authority and concern for the well-being of boxers.