09.30 - Analysis and Quotation

We continued our work today in class with revisions on our analyses of ethos, logos, and rhetorical devices in the speeches that people chose to analyze. At the beginning of class, everyone got the op-ed piece on bear baiting from yesterday's class out and were asked to analyze the use of the ethos in this piece.

Before everyone began writing this analysis we talked about how a good analysis would be set up and how it would use quotations from the original article to support its claims. For this, we used the follow sample statement that makes use of ethos:

As someone who has also been a pro-wrestler for the last eight years, I know a thing or two about effective headlocks.

We then looked at a very basic use of this statement to talk about ethos:

The author shows ethos. “As someone who has also been a pro-wrestler for the last eight years, I know a thing or two about effective headlocks”.

We then revised this statement to make better use of the quote as follows:

The author shows ethos when she says, “As someone who has also been a pro-wrestler for the last eight years, I know a thing or two about effective headlocks”.

People continued to suggest ways to improve the use of this information until we came up with the following analysis:

The author uses ethos to show that she is knowledgeable since she has “eight years” of experience in “effective headlocks”. This shows that she has really become familiar with this skill through repeated practice.

This discussion is strong because it identifies the appeal, how it’s being used, integrates a quote from the author into it’s discussion, and then explains how the quote makes use of the appeal. The quotes used in this discussion are also strong because they focus the specific parts of the author’s argument that the writer here wants to discuss.

To see the full progression of development for this analysis, click here.

Everyone then had ten minutes to analyze the use of ethos in the bear baiting editorial with these strong practices in mind.

At the end of these ten minutes, we looked at several students' responses and what they did that was good in their analysis. Everyone had the rest of the period to apply these practices to their analysis of ethos, logos, and rhetorical devices. If people had not yet finished developing their annotations after our work yesterday this should be done before revising their analysis. Having a good analysis requires that people have strong annotations to direct their analysis.

While people were working on their annotations and analysis for ethos, logos, and rhetorical devices, I met individually with people to check in on their annotations and answer any questions about this process or their analysis. We will continue with this work in class tomorrow.

Homework:

Revisit annotations for ethos, logos, and rhetorical devices so that these annotations are as developed as the ones we did in class.

When your annotations are complete, use them to strengthen your analysis of these appeals and rhetorical devices in the speeches you selected.

09.29 - Annotation Review

At the beginning of class today, everyone read the opinion piece "We all benefit from Maine's bear hunt the way it is". Everyone then had ten minutes to identify instances of ethos within the piece and annotate these using the following steps:

1 - Underling or bracket places where ethos is used.
2 - Identify the form of ethos that is being used here.
3 - Note how this form of ethos is being used to advance the argument.

In looking over analyses from class, the third step of this annotation process is what had been difficult for people and where responses really seemed to be lacking.

After everyone had an opportunity to make these annotations we looked at the piece together as a class. I had a copy of the article at the front of the room and we used a document camera to annotate the piece together. This annotation is a model for what everyone's annotations should look like.

To see the article as we annotated it see this document: Opinion Annotations

I then handed out grade report sheets which reflected everyone's current grade for progress reports. With the remaining time in class, I met with people to update any assignments that were coming in just before progress reports and to answer any questions about grades. Everyone else had this time to return to their annotations for ethos, logos, and rhetorical devices and to continue to develop those annotations so that they look like the annotations we produced together in class.


Homework:

Revisit annotations for ethos, logos, and rhetorical devices so that these annotations are as developed as the ones we did in class. Tomorrow, we will use these annotations to develop a solid analysis of the opinion piece.

09.26 - Ethos, Logos, Rhetorical Devices formal analyses.

Today in class, we continued our formal appeals analyses for ethos, logos, and rhetorical devices. 

Everyone had the period to work on their analysis. I checked in with people individually to determine which speech they were using for which appeal analysis and was on hand for any questions people had.

Two of these three analyses should have been handed in for the end of class today with the third being finished for homework over the weekend.

On Monday, I will return the practice analyses people did looking at pathos and logical fallacies to help everyone prepare for formal analyses of these elements of rhetoric.


Handouts:
Formal Analysis: Ethos
Formal Analysis: Logos
Formal Analysis: Rhetorical Devices

Homework:

Complete your third formal analyses or any other analyses that you have not yet completed.
(We will look at pathos and logical fallacies next week.)

09.25 - Formal Appeal Analysis (Ethos, Logos, Rhetorical Devices)

Today in class, we continued our formal appeals analyses for ethos, logos, and rhetorical devices. These analyses focus on the same sorts of information we looked at in our first set of speeches. This time however, students will be analyzing a new speech independently. Copies of the previous analyses with comments of strengths and areas for improvement, have been returned to help guide individuals in this work.

Everyone received copies of these analysis sheets in class and had the rest of the period to find appropriate speeches. The basic requirements for these speeches are as follows:

Must be 1,500 words or longer (exceptions can be made for appropriate speeches if discussed with me).

Everyone will need a separate speech for ethos, pathos, and logos.
A speech used for the analysis of ethos, pathos, or logos may be used to analyze rhetorical devices or logical fallacies.
(This means each person will be analyzing three different speeches in all)

Everyone had the period to work on their analysis. I checked in with people individually to determine which speech they were using for which appeal analysis and was on hand for any questions people had.


Handouts:
Formal Analysis: Ethos
Formal Analysis: Logos
Formal Analysis: Rhetorical Devices

Homework:

Begin working on your formal speech analysis.
Everyone will have the class tomorrow and on Friday to work on this work.
Analyses are due on Friday.

09.24 - Formal Appeal Analysis

Today in class, we started our formal appeals analyses for ethos, logos, and rhetorical devices. These analyses focus on the same sorts of information we looked at in our first set of speeches. This time however, students will be analyzing a new speech independently. Copies of the previous analyses with comments of strengths and areas for improvement, have been returned to help guide individuals in this work.

Everyone received copies of these analysis sheets in class and had the rest of the period to find appropriate speeches. The basic requirements for these speeches are as follows:

Must be 1,500 words or longer (exceptions can be made for appropriate speeches if discussed with me).

Everyone will need a separate speech for ethos, pathos, and logos.
A speech used for the analysis of ethos, pathos, or logos may be used to analyze rhetorical devices or logical fallacies.
(This means each person will be analyzing three different speeches in all)

Everyone had the rest of the period to begin finding and analyzing speeches.

This is a great site for finding quality rhetorical speeches: American Rhetoric

Handouts:

Formal Analysis sheets

Homework:

Begin working on your formal speech analysis.
Everyone will have the class tomorrow and on Friday to work on this work.
Analyses are due on Friday.

Resource: Great American Speeches

Top 100 great American speeches from AmericanRhetoric.com

09.23 - Logical Fallacies Wrap Up

For the first part of class today, we reviewed rhetorical appeals by reading an editorial and identifying which appeal (ethos, logos, pathos) was being featured in each paragraph. People wrote these responses in their writer's journal explaining how they knew that appeal was being used in that paragraph. Some paragraphs may feature two appeals.

After everyone had a chance to complete this analysis we discussed students' responses. Next, we returned to looking at former president Bush's "Iraqi Threat" speech for potential logical fallacies. As a class we discussed the fallacies people identified in paragraphs eight, twelve, and thirteen. Everyone handed these in at the end of class or took them home to finish them as necessary.

Handouts:

Logical Fallacies

Speech: "President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat"

Homework:

If you had not done so in class, finish analyzing the rhetorical strategies in paragraphs 14 and 15 of former president Bush's "Iraqi Threat" speech.

09.22 - Editorial Appeals

For the first part of class today, we reviewed rhetorical appeals by reading an editorial and identifying which appeal (ethos, logos, pathos) was being featured in each paragraph. People wrote these responses in their writer's journal explaining how they knew that appeal was being used in that paragraph. Some paragraphs may feature two appeals.

After everyone had a chance to complete this analysis we discussed students' responses. In this discussion we looked at the overall progression of using appeals where the speaker usually begins with ethos to explain who they are, moves into logos to present the need for their argument and the specifics of their argument, and then works in pathos to show why their argument matters. Towards the end of an argument the speaker may also revisit elements of logos or ethos amid pathos; the idea being that facts are more meaningful in an emotional context.

Next, we returned to looking at former president Bush's "Iraqi Threat" speech for potential logical fallacies. This turned out to be something with which everyone had struggled so we focused specifically on paragraph seven (see below) where former president Bush makes an argument about Saddam Hussein.

First, some ask why Iraq is different from other countries or regimes that also have terrible weapons. While there are many dangers in the world, the threat from Iraq stands alone -- because it gathers the most serious dangers of our age in one place. Iraq's weapons of mass destruction are controlled by a murderous tyrant who has already used chemical weapons to kill thousands of people. This same tyrant has tried to dominate the Middle East, has invaded and brutally occupied a small neighbor, has struck other nations without warning, and holds an unrelenting hostility toward the United States.

In this argument, Bush is seeking to prove that Hussein is a real threat to the United States and a larger threat than other, similarly positioned countries. People in class felt that this argument could exhibit the logical fallacy "ad hominem" by attacking Hussein as a "murderous tyrant" or the fallacy "appeal to pity" by attempting to get the audience to feel bad for the people that Hussein had killed. Overall though, people felt the fallacy that is most likely occurring here would be a "red herring" in that the paragraph does not address direct threats against the United States, but other threats and actions that Hussein has made.

For homework, people should focus on paragraphs 8, 12, 13, 14, and 15, and attempting to identify potential fallacies in these paragraphs.

Handouts:

Editorial: Stop Romanticizing Mental Illness

Logical Fallacies

Speech: "President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat"

Homework:

Re-read paragraphs 8, 12, 13, 14, and 15 from the "Iraqi Threat" speech and identify potential logical fallacies in these paragraphs.

09.19 - Logical Fallacies Review

We started today's class with a review of logical fallacies. For this, everyone picked a random type of fallacy, wrote an example and then shared it with the class. Everyone else did their best to identify which fallacy was being used.

To see the examples and correct responses we created in class, click here.

Next, we reviewed the fallacies that people were able to identify in the sample speech and former president Bush's Iraqi threat speech. I then returned work that people had done looking at ethos, logos, and rhetorical devices in other speeches. Using the feedback on these sheets, everyone should find a new speech to analyze improving in those areas that were noted on their original analysis.


Homework:

Review comments on previous analysis of ethos, logos, and rhetorical devices.

Begin looking for interesting arguments/speeches (these should be 1,500 words or longer).

09.18 - Logical Fallacies and Iraqi Threat

There was a substitute in for me for today's class. Everyone was continuing to work with logical fallacies. In today's work, people were reviewing former president Bush's speech on the Iraqi threat and looking for logical fallacies in his argument. Everyone had the period to do this.

Handouts:
Logical Fallacies

Speech: "President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat"

Homework:

If you did not finish analyzing former president Bush's speech for logical fallacies, do so for homework.

09.17 - Logical Fallacies

There was a substitute in for me for today's class. Everyone was learning about some common logical fallacies that occur in persuasive arguments and then learning to identify these fallacies in an argument (see handouts below). We will review these in class on Friday.

Handouts:
Logical Fallacies
Logical Fallacies Identification

Homework:
If you did not finish identifying logical fallacies in class, do so for homework.

09.16 - Rhetorical Devices

At the beginning of class each person created an example use of a rhetorical device and then shared that example with the class so we could try to identify it.

Next, we returned to working with the rhetorical device homework sheet. We reviewed answers for the front of the sheet and talked about how to come up with examples (which should be counter examples on homework). Everyone had the rest of the period to work on this.

When the homework sheet for rhetorical devices was complete, everyone returned to looking at former President Bush's speech on the "Iraqi" threat and identified his use of six rhetorical devices throughout that speech (there were two sets of these six). If you don't remember which set you were focused on analyze the speech for use of the following:

parallelism, anaphora / enthymeme, syllogism / procatalepsis, concession

If you need help in determining which device is used, it may help to consider these pairings like this:

If the speaker makes a reference to something:

Allusion - a story, event, person, etc. that the audience may know

Anecdote - a true story that helps them prove a point

If the speaker makes a comparison:

Analogy - point by point comparison for educative purposes

Simile - uses “like” or “as” to compare two things

Metaphor - general comparison for poetic purposes

If the speaker makes an exaggeration:

Hyperbole - they are being over the top

Understatement - they have down-played the significance of something

If the speaker asks a question:

Rhetorical question - the question is not meant to be answered

Hypophora - they outline an answer to the question

If the speaker makes a logical statement where one thing leads to another

Syllogism - there is a clear progression of statements linking ideas

Enthymeme - there is a progression of statements liking ideas, but the speaker makes a leap

If the speaker acknowledges a counter argument

Concession - they agree with the counter argument

Procatalepsis - they disagree with the counter argument and explain why it’s wrong

If the speaker uses a repeated structure

Anaphora - exact words or phrases are repeated

Parallelism - phrases are set up in a similar way

Tomorrow we will be looking at different logical fallacies.

Handouts:
Rhetorical Devices handout
Rhetorical Device Identification and Practice

Homework:
Finish analyzing former President Bush's "Iraqi Threat" speech for his use of rhetorical devices (based on the set of devices you were assigned in class).

09.15 - Rhetorical Devices

Today, we returned to work with rhetorical devices looking at nine new devices. I handed out an informational sheet that defines and gives examples for these devices as well as the other devices we learned previously. Working with a partner, everyone took the rest of the period to come up with their own examples of these rhetorical devices in use.

The devices we were working with today were:

Anecdote
Hyperbole
Understatement
Syllogism
Enthymeme
Hypophora
Rhetorical Questions
Procatalepsis
Concession

Handouts:
Rhetorical Devices handout
Rhetorical Device Identification and Practice

Homework:

Complete the front side of the Rhetorical Device Identification and Practice sheet (numbers 1-7)

09.11 - Pathos w/ President Bush

We started today's class by becoming more familiar with pathos. People used their pathos informational sheets to help them construct an argument in response to the following statement:

The pledge of allegiance should/should not be said each day in our schools.

Everyone had five minutes to create an argument using pathos. We then shared these responses and discussed how different arguments used pathos in different ways.

Next, we listened to and read a speech by former President Bush to identify his use of pathos and rhetorical devices (speech and accompanying documents below).

Handouts:

Pathos - information
Speech: "President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat"
Pathos reading response questions

Homework:

Re-read "President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat" and respond to reading questions 1 and 2.
(This is due Monday as we will not have class tomorrow due to the pep-rally).

Remember that ethos and logos reading response questions and annotated copies of the accompanying speeches are due for this weekend.

09.10 - Freakonomics and Rhetorical Devices

For the first part of class today, we spent some time talking about the difference between deduction and induction with logos. We then practiced working with these elements by using deductive reasoning to prove the following statement: "The Earth is round."

Deductive statements that people used to proved this statement included:

We can use space ships and rockets to travel into space. From space, we can get far away enough from Earth to observe it in its entirety and take pictures. The pictures and observations we have of Earth show that it is round. Therefore, the Earth is round.

We have ships and air planes that can travel great distances. If a ship or airplane leaves in one direction and continues in that direction it will return back to where it started. Since the ship or plane is able to travel in one direction without turning and return back to where it was, the Earth is round.

Next, we practiced with inductive reasoning. Everyone took an activity card that they felt had a larger story. Everyone looked at their picture and tried to figure out as much as they could from it (example below).

This person is wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and running shoes and so must be a runner. This person does not yet look tired or sweaty and so has not yet been running. Since she is stretching and does not yet look tired or sweaty she must be starting her run. The sky looks like it is party bright and partly dark so the sun is either going up or down. It looks like this runner is in a remote, natural sort of area. It would be a bad ideas to start a run in a remote area just as it is getting dark. So, this woman must be preparing for a run early in the morning as it is getting light. If the sun is just coming up that is really early so she must have other things going on in the day and needs to do the run early. Therefore this picture is of a woman getting ready to go for a run in the early morning before she has to do the other things in her day.

This is inductive reasoning because the results are only probable. There remains some possibility that this woman was out for a walk in the evening and stopped to watch the sunset and figured she'd stretch out her leg while watching the sun set. Inductive reasoning looks at what is probable, not what is certain.

Next, we returned to our work with the Freakonomics argument and looked at the text for it's use of rhetorical devices. We shared these in class. For homework, everyone should respond to the final question.

Handouts:
Freakonomics' Argument (Logos)
Freakonomics reading response questions (logos set)
Logos handout

Homework:

Respond to question 4 of the logos reading questions.

09.09 - Logos (Day Two)

At the beginning of class today we reviewed metaphor, allusion, allegory, parallelism, and anaphora. Next, we looked for these in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

Everyone then handed in the ethos reading response questions and annotations of Dr. King's speech identifying ethos and rhetorical devices within the speech.

Next, we began looking at our next argument which we will be analyzing for its use of logos. To prepare for this argument from the book "Freakonomics," we looked at some short videos that will introduce us to the argument being made (see below).

Video 2 Available Here

Next, everyone had time in class to respond to the first reading question and then re-read the Freakonomics argument underlining moments where logos was used and indicating which sort of logos was being used (see logos handout).

We then took time in class to review people's answers. For homework, everyone should finish these annotations and then respond to questions 1, 2, and 3 in the reading questions.

Handouts:
Freakonomics' Argument (Logos)
Freakonomics reading response questions (logos set)
Logos handout

Homework:

Respond to questions 1-3 of the reading questions.

09.08 - Ethos wrap-up > Logos

At the beginning of class today we reviewed metaphor, allusion, allegory, parallelism, and anaphora. Next, we looked for these in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

Everyone then handed in the ethos reading response questions and annotations of Dr. King's speech identifying ethos and rhetorical devices within the speech.

Next, we began looking at our next argument which we will be analyzing for its use of logos. To prepare for this argument from the book "Freakonomics," we looked at some short videos that will introduce us to the argument being made (see below).

Video 2 Available Here

Handouts:
Freakonomics' Argument (Logos)
Freakonomics reading response questions (logos set)

Homework:
Read the Freakonomics argument and identify the points within the speech where the authors make use of logos.

09.05 - Rhetorical Devices

Class today was focused on correctly identifying and using rhetorical devices. I handed out a sheet that defined a variety of rhetorical devices including: metaphor, analogy, allusion, anaphora, and parallelism. We spent the rest of the class discussing these devices, writing examples, and then sharing and identifying examples.

Handout:

Rhetorical devices with definitions

Homework:

Annotate Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech" marking places where he makes use of metaphor, analogy, allusion, anaphora, and parallelism.  

09.04 - Ethos & Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream"

We started today's class by reviewing what ethos, pathos, and logos were. We then narrowed our focus to ethos specifically. We looked at how the anti-bullying speech (given out yesterday) uses ethos and we reviewed the different ways that ethos can be incorporated into an argument. Next, everyone wrote an argument around the following statement and used ethos as their main appeal.

The school day should be changed to go from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Individuals shared their argument with a partner then had time to revise it. We shared and discussed several of these revised arguments.

Next, we listened to and read Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, annotating the text for uses of ethos. After listening to the speech everyone responded to some provided reading questions to focus their analysis of the speech. Questions 1-3 should be completed as homework (everyone had time to start this work in class). We will look at question 4 tomorrow in class.

Handouts:
Transcript of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech
Reading response questions for "I Have a Dream."

Appeals - Ethos

Three Types of Appeals (Ethos, Logos, Pathos)

Anti-Bullying Speech (shows different appeals in action)

09.03 - Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

We continued working today with the specific appeals that I had handed out to students yesterday. Everyone wrote a series of arguments using the appeal that they were given yesterday. Arguments were based around the following statement:

The voting age should be lowered to 16.

Next, everyone moved into a group with the other people who had been working with the same appeal (ethos, logos, or pathos). In their groups, everyone shared the arguments they came up with for today's writing prompt and for last night's homework assignment. I was on hand to answer any questions about how this type of appeal is used. 

Groups then had ten minutes to construct arguments around the following statement using their appeal:

Sports should not be connected to public high schools (club teams are fine though).

After creating their arguments, groups shared their arguments with the other groups in class who tried to discern what approach each appeal valued based on the arguments by that group. The group who presented then explained their type of appeal and I handed out an informational sheet on that type of appeal.

We then took a look at a speech on bullying which makes use of all three types of appeal. A volunteer and I read this aloud to the class.

For homework, everyone should complete a SOAPs analysis of this speech and then identify which appeal they feel was most effective (explaining why in their discussion).

Handouts:

Appeals - Ethos

Appeals - Logos

Appeals - Pathos

SOAPS explanation

Anti-Bullying Speech (shows different appeals in action)

Homework:

Identify SOAPs for the anti-bullying speech provided above. 

Identify which appeal seems to be most effective in the anti-bullying speech and explain why.

09.02 - Argument

We started today's class with everyone responding to the following question in their writer's journal:

What is an argument?

What makes an argument different from other forms of communication?

After everyone had a chance to respond to this question, we discussed the various responses that people had generated. Some of the ideas that were brought up were:

An argument is a discussion where each person is trying to prove something.
An argument is when one person really wants to convince someone else of something.
People care more about the outcome of an argument than they do a regular conversation.

With these ideas in mind, we watched the "argument clinic" sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus (see below) and everyone responded to the following question:

Does the argument clinic actually provide an argument according to your definition of an argument?

Explain why or why not.

After everyone had a chance to respond to this question, we discussed the answers people had come up with. This lead us back to the clip where we re-visited the protagonists definition of an argument as "a connected series of statements to establish a definite proposition" (~2:10) and the clinicians previous assertion that he had come for "an argument" not necessarily a "good" argument. This seemed to fit with the class' reading that they were having an argument, but that it was not a very detailed one.

With this perspective, I introduced a statement and asked everyone to write an argument in relation to this statement (for or against the statement and with or without conditions). The statement to write an argument about was as follows:

Schooling should be optional at all levels.

Once everyone had written their argument, they met with a partner to discuss the arguments that they had constructed. Next, we went around and talked to each group about the arguments that they had used.

I then handed out papers on rhetorical appeals that are used in arguments (ethos, pathos, and logos). Each person received an informational sheet on one sort of appeal. For homework, everyone should read the sheet they received and then come up with three new arguments regarding schooling being optional for tomorrow.

Everyone had the last 15 minutes of class to explore this class site using some guiding class site questions to help them in their exploration. Questions not finished in class should be finished for homework.

Handouts:

Appeals - Ethos

Appeals - Logos

Appeals - Pathos

Exploring the Class Site

Homework:

Write three new arguments regarding optional schooling using the type of appeal you recieved information about today.

If you did not do so in class, finish the "Exploring the Class Site" sheet.