Some of my favorite days in the classroom happen when I facilitate a breakout room activity. Breakout room days are always fast-paced, invigorating, and a
The easiest way to explain what rhetoric means is with one simple sentence: it is persuasion. A more complicated definition, is that rhetoric is one person trying to change another person's opinion, whether orally or in a written work, and by using effective language. Nowadays, it may have negative connotations for seeming like it lacks facts or substance, but rhetoric is actually achieved by specifically analyzing how one phrases things, and by appealing to the audience, and as well as different aspects of humanity, such as emotion or logic. Rhetoric is made up of three main parts, Ethos, or the speaker, Pathos, or the audience, and Logos, or the Message. Combined, all three aspects make up one argument, that should be very convincing. In the next few paragraphs, I will explain in greatly detail each of the 3 points on the Rhetorical Triangle with examples from the book "Freakonomics," by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. First, on the top of the triangle is Ethos, as Aristotle originally called it when he originally named and explained what rhetoric was, or the speaker, as it is now called. This area deals with credibility. For one' argument to be able to convince others, the speaker themselves must appear like they know what they are talking about. If the speaker doesn't seem believable or knowledgeable in the subject, than their argument loses all of its credibility, and the rhetoric will be weak. In "Freakonomics," the authors obtain their credibility or logos by discussing their experience with economics. Most of the book however, is composed of accounts and studies of others, and their credibility is obtained by discussing their education and credentials, such as being students of Economics, or even professors, as well as at one point a Criminologist. Next is Pathos, or the Audience. This aspect deals with emotion. To convince others of an argument, one must appeal to their emotions, and convince them of the issues or values that are at sake. These emotional appeals must also be tuned specifically towards the audience the speaker is trying to reach. If the author appeals to values for a different demographic than the target audience, than the argument isn't going to succeed. In "Freakonomics," pathos is rarely used. The author depend only on logic, facts, and data to explain their points. In fact, throughout the book, they even show how pathos and emotions made false arguments seem believable, despite the overwhelming facts, such as when pointing out how crime rates went down. While many of the arguements listed relied on people's emotions, such as better and more police, as well as the economy, the facts provided showed that there was a correlation between the legalization of abortion and the sinking of crime rates. The book then points out how no one wants to achknowlage this, because of their emotions clouding their judgement. What "Freakonomics" relied on was the last aspect of the rhetorical triangle, Logos, or the message. For this part of an argument, one's points must make sense. There must also be facts, data, or other forms of information that support it. If the rhetoric is not logical, it will not be believable. Just like in the book, how facts prove their arguments right, and the others wrong, such as with the abortion and crime rates, or with baby names linked to income and future success. Further Reading: http://www.mrgunnar.net/ap.cfm?subpage=347030 http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Encompassing%20Terms/Content%20and%20Form.htm https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/resource_rhet.html
Inspiration, tips, and sources for creating a nature themed classroom for your middle school or high school students!
Have you heard of the word grid challenge? This activity can be used in any subject area. It would make a great lesson starter, review task, or even as a homework activity. The best thing about this activity: it is super easy to create. In fact, I now have a bunch of word grids made up […]
Having a 2 week winter break is refreshing for students and me. This break gives me time to reflect and think about changes for the second half of the year. I have always viewed the first few days …
Dante described 4 levels of interpretation for biblical works, but how do modern works like Star Wars (or the ideas of Coleridge and Tolkien) hold up?
Are you looking for your students to love poetry? This can be a tall task but take heart because Instagram poetry – aka instapoetry – might just be the answer! With short, concise poems featuring
Interactive hyperdocs are one way to provide relevant and engaging poetry instruction for your students whether you are in the classroom or at home! All hyperdocs are appropriate for both middle sc…
This article will give you a summary of when to use commas and the different kinds of commas. Check out our handy comma summary here.
Poems and poets come from all over the world and deliver POWERFUL and NEEDED perspectives to our students in a short, compact manner. Poetry studies don’t take the time that novel studies do. Pairing our texts alongside poems that provide additional voice and contrast is a critical practice that all
Want your students to have rich, complex conversations about the texts they read? This method leads to the kinds of classroom discussions you thought only happened in college.
CCRA.L.2 states: "Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing." How will you address this with your fourth grade class? The first step I take is direct instruction and daily practice of parts of speech, capitalization, and punctuation. I present three connected rules per week (for example, identifying adjectives, capitalizing proper adjectives, and commas in series of adjectives). Students practice with three sentences each day, spiraling their knowledge and understanding of mechanics. This has worked wonders in my own classroom. Mechanics: Your Daily Tune-Up is focused, gives plenty of practice, and takes only a few minutes a day. Let's take a closer look at the parts of this standard. L.4.2a simply says, "Use correct capitalization." No standards after fourth grade discuss capitalization. When I first saw this, I thought, "Wow, that means my students need to know all capitalization rules." As I came to realize that there are many rules for capitalization, the rules are quite detailed, and the resources available to teach them are few, I really said, "Wow!" In addition to the mechanics program, I created interactive PowerPoint presentations, related worksheets, and extension activities for each rule. Then I wrote review sheets and tests. It was a big undertaking, but the end result was worth it! Each presentation got my kids involved with thumbs-up/thumbs-down and/or display of fingers for practice and effortless formative assessment. This short video will give you a little taste of how the unit works. All nine PowerPoint/Lesson Plan sets are now available individually or as a bundle in my Teachers pay Teachers store: Capitalizing Dates and Names Capitalizing Holidays and Products Capitalizing Geographic Names Capitalizing Titles Capitalizing Celestial Objects Capitalizing Groups, Languages, and Religions Capitalizing Rooms, Course Titles, and Awards What Not to Capitalize Comprehensive Capitalization Unit (includes all PowerPoints, lesson plans, and extension activities; a quick reference guide and review; pretest and cumulative test) Once students have learned all of the comma rules, I like to sprinkle in some review with free worksheets offered at Worksheetplace.com. L.4.2b states: "Use commas and quotation marks to mark direct speech and quotations from a text." This extends the third grade standard by asking students to quote from a text. Although the CCSS does not officially ask fourth graders to quote from text when answering questions, it's a great way to practice (and gear up for Grade 5). After reviewing placement of commas and quotation marks in text, I work with students to generate a list of tags to use when integrating quotes into writing, like this: Opportunities for practice are easy to find. For example, after reading this brief excerpt from Aesop, I'd simply ask students to quote the author five different ways. They can experiment by using different parts of the text and a variety of tags to answer. L.4.2c is simple and straightforward: "Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence." Once your students can identify complete sentences (AKA independent clauses) and coordinating conjunctions, you're set. This lesson and video on the Scholastic website may help. The author, Mary Blow, uses the acronym FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) to help students identify coordinating conjunctions then shows how to insert a comma when these are used to combine two sentences, or independent clauses. To reinforce this concept, try this Compound Sentence Practice from Joshua Durham (free on TpT). You can liven up your lesson with this Comma Before Conjunction Lesson, which was created by two students and posted on YouTube. Even better, your students could create their own skits, jingles, or videos to teach the skill. L.4.2d asks students to "spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as necessary." I hate to say it, but dictionaries in book form seem to be going the way of the dodo bird. I think it's time to teach kids how to use digital spell check options. Kids (and adults) can use tools found in word processing software or online spell check sites, such as SpellCheck.net. That's it for fourth grade mechanics! If you need assessment for these (or all 20) language skills covered in the Common Core, Teaching and Tapas has published a complete 4th Grade Common Core Language Assessment. Check it out!
Looking for ways to increase awareness about literary censorship? Here are some banned books lessons for the high school classroom.
English teachers, help your high school students write brilliant rhetorical analysis essays with these rhetorical analysis sentence starters.
In the mid- to late 1800s, insane asylums served as catch-all facilities for violent and difficult women. But were they really criminals? Or even crazy? Or just rebelling against the social constraints of their time?
Here’s what I’ve got, the reasons why our marriage / might work:
Maybe you learned growing up that you should avoid writing in the passive voice. But no one told you that doing so can be a matter of life and death.
