Thinking and Acting Rhetorically

Thinking and acting rhetorically, to me, means you understand how to communicate effectively. To be specific, acting rhetorically is understanding the context of your audience and using an effective way to communicate with them. To give an example I saw in the text, Martin Luther King Jr. was thinking rhetorically when he spoke to his target audience: other African Americans who felt hopeless. Since his topic wasn't something you could prove with numbers or facts back then, he took a different way of acting rhetorically when arguing with his opponents. He continued to oppose them even as they started to lose control of their emotions, and he continued to analyze their motivations and ways of communication to shift his message. When they started to get violent, he would set up a march, or address people who agreed instead of trying to fight. He understood they couldn't be simply persuaded by words and that they wouldn't listen to him, so he communicated more efficiently by giving his people hope. It communicated that he wouldn't give up. 
Thinking rhetorically is a different matter because it is best used not just when you have an English paper, but when you're speaking to someone day-to-day, or any form of communication period. Thinking rhetorically is considering your audience and how you would possible communicate with them. In chapters two and three the textbook covered rhetorical situations and the writing process, and the preparation and thinking period they describe would be thinking rhetorically; it isn't something anyone but you knows you're doing, but it is just as important as acting rhetorically.