Strategies
The present unit will serve as a pedagogical tool that will enable me to reach a multilayered set of goals that will help my students understand the political development of what used to be a colony and how a democracy, with the necessary ingredients, can turn into a military state closer to the practices of a dictatorship. The second main goal I want my students to achieve has to do with the necessity of identifying main ideas of a text and being able to identify the purpose of the author. A third goal is having students read, interpret and analyze speeches and some of the Venezuelan "propagandistic literature" to identify rhetorical/persuasive elements and strategies. This goal, I believe, goes along with the first two. Finally, I want my students to look back at ideas from Aristotle's Rhetoric and Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria to learn the basics of persuasive speech.
Interpreting History
All through the duration of the unit, I will furnish students with the necessary tools to become familiar with the history and the government of Venezuela, to make connections to some other countries in Latin America in terms of Democratic standards. I will provide them with appropriate activities by which they will practice reading and writing both in English and Spanish, as well as trigger their critical thinking skills.
Persuading an audience
Learning from the Classics
Students will learn the basics of Aristotle's Rhetoric and basic ideas of Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria in order to grasp a general knowledge of the Art of Rhetoric, as well as to practice the RFI (Reading For Information) skills the Connecticut standardized test requires sophomores to pass.
As for the strategies, students will be asked to fill in general graphic organizers as well as questionnaires in order to become more familiar with authors such as Aristotle, Cicero and Quintilian.
Playing Jeopardy
As part of the Rhetoric section of the unit, students will have to write questions about the above mentioned author –following directions and with assistance of the teacher– in order to get a bank of questions in order to play Jeopardy. For this activity, Latin 1 and 2 as well as Greek students will join to have a mini–competition in the Library–Media Center.
Debate
Students will be divided in two groups: one of them will defend the Chavismo (the name given to the left–wing political ideology based on the ideas, programs and government style associated with the present president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez) 1 0 and the other will defend the idea that Venezuela is not a democracy as we understand it nowadays. Students will have to provide valid points/ideas, as well as use all the rhetoric strategies learned throughout the unit.
Advertising
As a final project, students will have to produce a piece of advertisement reflecting any of the topics learned during the duration of the unit. They will receive a detailed rubric in which three options will be exposed: one of them will consist of a poster reflecting a historical moment in Venezuela (e.g. one of the Hugo Chavez's political campaign), a brief video giving a mini–political speech…
Not only will this project will help students learn about the importance of advertisement as a vehicle of persuasion, but they also will be able to practice all the rhetoric and history they have learned, as well as practice writing. Those who are visual learners, will be able bring out their artistic skills in a school that does not offer art in its curriculum.
Interpreting Texts and Speeches
Reading for Information
Students will read texts about Hugo Chavez and Venezuela as well as excerpts of some of the President's speeches in order to practice the so important Reading for Information.
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