Strategies
Rhetoric will be a theme embedded throughout my entire school year. It will be introduced to the students at the beginning of the school year when they build a sense of how to be credible. They will increase fluency by linking reading, listening, and speaking through learning about speakers and their speeches. They will infer traits of good speakers in order to generate a rubric to evaluate them and their speeches. They will learn to "declaim" and practice being an attentive and critical audience. They will re-write a section of a famous speech for themselves, and work through the five stages of creating a speech to deliver to others.
I will introduce the unit at the beginning of the year by describing one of Aristotle's key ideas about rhetoric, ethos, so students understand the type of citizen they have to be as a model in the classroom and school in order for others to see them as valuable sources of authority when they are delivering their speech.
Anthony Everitt describes Julius Caesar's ethos as "clearly to promise future success: courage, rapidity of reaction, a refusal to let emotion control his decisions, absolute loyalty to friends, pride in race and an easy sociability" (Everitt 2001, 92). Students will think about the people who they value as role models and as a class we will list the attributes the different people have in order to compile a list of characteristics we think create a good ethos. From that list students will need to choose five characteristics they are going to prioritize throughout the year to contribute to their own personal ethos. And they will define what they are going to do to model that attribute and maintain that character and make sure they are not persuaded to negative actions that will contribute to them losing their credibility.
As a second grade teacher I am responsible for the foundation of reading and bridging fluency with comprehension of text. In the 19 th century this was developed using oratory: "even very young children were expected to read, memorize, and delivery speeches as part of their education" (National Endowment for the Humanities and Assumption College). American teachers used patriotic speeches in order to instill those ideals in their students (National Endowment for the Humanities and Assumption College). Because so many great speeches are preserved in both visual and auditory context, students will have the experience to use them to connect the visual representation of the word (reading) with the auditory representation of the speech (listening) as well as practice reciting the speech themselves (speaking). A priority for second grade students is to "use the listening, speaking, and reading foundational skills they have developed to extend their understanding of written language and their skills in using written language" (NCDPI 2004). Listening to famous speeches will do that. The website American Rhetoric http://www.americanrhetoric.com/ is an excellent resource for finding these speeches in both the text and auditory form, and can be used if a teacher is interested in finding speeches in addition to or exchange for the ones suggested by my unit.
To introduce this strategy of listening, reading, and speaking I will share with the students numerous clips of speeches delivered by famous people, and students will have the opportunity to read further about the people whose speeches they listen to in order to understand the context of the speech, the value of their words, and get a sense of the speaker's ethos. I will either read aloud developmentally appropriate stories to the students about the person or find student-friendly articles or books about the person that they can read independently or in small groups. Author David A. Adler created a series of biographies appropriate to second grade students. This series includes A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. and A Picture Book of John F. Kennedy. These books, along with other developmentally appropriate biographies will serve as sources where students can get background information about the people who deliver the speeches they listen to in order to better understand the speech. As a teacher I will gather some of these resources and also show my students where to kind them in the school library. Prior to searching for biography books, students must be able to select books appropriate to their reading level. If they are not able to do that yet, then I allow them to browse the books and find out where their interests are and then I will find a book to pair with them. For some of their speakers, internet articles may be more appropriate for the students to look at, and all of the students will have access to researching their person online.
After sharing several speeches and modeling for them how to find background information about the speaker and/or the context of the speech, we will work together to infer what traits good speakers employ when addressing an audience. Together the students and I will create a rubric based on the information they value and they will use it to evaluate a speech they listen to as well as establish the criteria for their own speech. An example of a rubric for a persuasive speech can be found at http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/printouts/Persuasion%20Rubric.pdf.
Before jumping in to writing their own speeches, students will have the opportunity to recite a part of a speech. Empowering them to choose a topic or person of interest to them, they will practice and deliver a part of a speech of their choice. Suzanne McIntire, in the American Heritage Book of Great American Speeches for Young People, introduces the vocabulary word "declaiming as giving a speech" (McIntire 2001, 285). She outlines the process of declaiming as follows. Choose a speech and practice it several times attending to the words. Look up things in the speech you are unfamiliar with and also gather background information about the speech and speaker. Practice reciting the speech in a small group setting. When you are ready to deliver your speech, smile at the audience before you begin. Introduce the speech by sharing some context about the author or setting from its original delivery. Speak slowly and include pauses, make eye contact and speak louder sometimes "for emphasis" and make sure to thank the audience at the end (McIntire 2001, 285). Following this format, students will choose a part of a speech they want to deliver to their peers. Attending to the rubric they created as a class and the steps suggested by Suzanne McIntire, they will start practicing their speech and make sure they comprehend the message and words used in the speech. They will research information about the original speaker or context of the speech to share with their audience. They will be given the opportunity to practice their speech several times with their peers in a small group and then they will deliver, or declaim, the speech to a whole class audience. Students will be evaluated based on the contents of the created rubric and they will also receive feedback about their presentation from their peers and me, the teacher.
Prior to delivering their speech, I think it's important for students to understand their role as an audience member. Since we've already discussed ethos and how to establish character, they need to understand that having a good character evolves to being a good thing when they are delivering a speech because they will be able to capture their audience better than a person who does not have good character. Putting it in kids terms, if you're always interrupting when others are trying to speak, they are going to remember that when you're delivering your speech and may interrupt you or not fully attend to what you have to say, but if you develop a good ethos and are respectful when others are speaking then they in turn should show respect to you. "Cicero said you want you audience to be receptive – sitting still and not throwing anything at you. Beyond that, they should be attentive – willing to listen closely to what you have to say. And most important of all, they should like and trust you" (Heinrichs 2007, 56). It's important for audience expectation to be established up front so students understand their role as an audience member. Additional to understanding their own ethos, while listening to a speech they can attend to the ethos of the speaker as well as comprehend the words being spoken.
Next, as a class and then either individually or in small groups, students will take a famous speech and change it to make the context fit the classroom setting. For example, Martin Luther King, Jr. "I Have a Dream" speech (American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr. - I Have a Dream) has the repeating stanza "I have a dream that one day..." which the students can take ownership in finishing off to create their own dream statements for the classroom community or for themselves. This is just one example of a speech that students can take and change to make it applicable to the classroom and their role of being a student. Students will then practice their newly composed speech and deliver it to the class. This will start the process of making them think of themselves as rhetoricians and speech writers.
After students practice listening to speeches, identifying characteristics of good speakers, learning about the speakers, delivering a part of a speech, and changing a speech to making it applicable to students today, they will then have the opportunity to try their hand at creating their own speech. Since an overarching social studies goal for second grade students is, "The learner will identify and exhibit qualities of responsible citizenship in the classroom, school, and other social environments" (NCDPI 2006) students will invest time in creating a speech persuading others to be responsible citizens in the classroom and school environment. Relaying back to Cicero's theory of persuasion, students will work through the suggested five steps from creating to delivering their own speech.
Invention- First as a class we will work together to brainstorm topics students would speak about if delivering a speech about being a responsible citizen in the classroom and school environment. Then students will individually choose a topic to concentrate on, but work in pairs or small groups to brainstorm with other students, subtopics or supporting ideas to their topic. Also in the invention stage they will consider all audiences who will be hearing their speech: the peers and teacher in the classroom, who they will speak to directly, and all the other students, teachers, and administrators in the school who their message will be shared with through the use of recorded and broadcasted media. They need to consider the prospective of all of their listeners as well as what some counter arguments their speech may be met with. In his article "Teach a Kid to Argue," Heinrichs says "Rhetoric doesn't turn kids into back-sassers; it makes them think about other points of view" (Heinrichs 2005). Bryan Garsten in his book Saving Persuasion: A Defense of Rhetoric and Judgment states, "persuasion is worthwhile because it requires us to pay attention to our fellow citizens and to display a certain respect for their points of view and their judgments" (Garsten 2006, 3). Students will be doing this with the intention to write a speech to persuade an audience, but inadvertently this skill will project in different areas of their life.
Arrangement - Next they will arrange the topic and subtopics of the speech. They will have the use of a graphic organizer to put their ideas together using an organized visual representation and they will follow the format suggested by Safire: introduce the topic, tell them what you want them to know, and remind them what they've heard (Safire 1997, 21). Students will take their ideas organized on the graphic organizer and turn them into sentences to use in their speech. They will also start by introducing themselves. McIntire suggests giving background information about the speaker or the context of the speech (McIntire 2005, 285) and since they are the speaker for their speech they can give information about themselves. I'm picturing them introducing their name age and grade, as well as any other information they want to relay to their audience that would support, and not take away from the attention to their speech. How they defined their ethos towards the beginning of the year and unit will help them to create their introduction to their speech.
Style - Students will recite their speech to themselves and even to a small group of their peers in order to listen to the flow and rhythm of their words. This is where they will revise their speech and include figures of speech, synonyms, similes, and metaphors and try to have some catchy sound bites that their audience can pick up on and walk away from the speech with. Second grade students are expected to "Compose first drafts using an appropriate writing process: planning and drafting, rereading for meaning, revising to clarify and refine writing with guided discussion" (NCDPI 2004) and they are responsible to "Write structured, informative presentations and narratives when given help with organization" (NCDPI 2004). In the style phase, not only will they practice the style of their delivery, but they will look carefully at the words they wrote and change words as needed to craft a more articulate and intellectual speech that is appropriate to their intended audience.
Memory - Students have the responsibility to practice their speeches. I want them to know their speech so well that they can recite it from memory or with little help from cue cards. If students practice their speeches they become more fluent. Since they are drafting and composing their own speeches, they already have ownership over the words, but they need the opportunity to practice it in order to decide where to put the emphasis and to make sure the words flow together when they are spoken. Students will be able to do this independently and in front of a small audience of their peers before delivering their speech to the entire class and a recording device which will preserve their speech and enable it to be broadcasted to the entire school community.
Delivery - Students will deliver their speech to the class and a recording device (video camera) in order to persuade the listeners (other students in the school) to be responsible citizens in the school environment. Their delivery will be evaluated based on the rubric they established and used to evaluate speeches of other speakers. Because I want to build up students' confidence, they will have the opportunity to deliver their speech more than once if they feel the need. I want to give them the opportunity to have great success and feel good about the experience of composing and delivering their own speech and to know that their words and their message has meaning and great importance and value to the school community.
By introducing students to ethos at the beginning of the school year, I will hopefully help them to consider establishing a good character which will have many returns in both the classroom setting, and also for the rest of their lives. As students study speakers and their words, they will learn how to put words together to provide meaning for the context of an event, an action, or a defense. Aristotle describes these ideas as "supporting or opposing a political measure, in pronouncing eulogies or censures, and for prosecution and defense in the law courts" (Honeycutt 2004) and it relates to rhetoric of the future, rhetoric of the present, and rhetoric of the past respectively. Understanding the context of an argument, including one they have to make, will enable them to better articulate their ideas and needs as well as communicate with others in a more comprehensible manner. In order to place priority and emphasis on encouraging students to stay in school and achieve high school graduation North Carolina's new teacher evaluation tool requires each teacher, from a students' Kindergarten year to Senior year, to support students so they may achieve this goal. By students understanding the value of being responsible citizens in the school environment, I hope they will synthesize that their greatest responsibility is to themselves – to stay in school and earn an education. Learning to argue well is a part of that responsibility because "the ancients considered rhetoric the essential skill of leadership – knowledge so important that they placed it at the center of higher education" (Heinrichs 2007, 4).
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