Activities
Activities are a way to engage students in social learning. They allow for instructional conversations to occur in the classroom. They allow for movement, which brain research tells us is important in the learning process. The activities in this unit spring from the above mentioned strategies. My students will activate their prior knowledge or build background, assimilate new information about rhetoric, the UN, the MDGs, and articulate a way these three concepts integrate into global politics. Additionally, my students will have already been assigned a country in the southern hemisphere to research and discern current issues and concerns that currently face the people in that country. You may want to consider assigning your students a way to learn all about a country and its people so that they will be better able to build the ethos, logos, and pathos of a particular country and determine a potential audience into their final persuasive speeches for this unit.
Lesson 1- "Rhetoric"
The purpose of this lesson is to build background on rhetoric and how it is used in modern politics.
Activity One - Mind Streaming
Activity one is mind streaming. Students will work with a partner for the mind streaming activity. You can decide how the partners will be selected. Once in partners, the two students will decide who is an "A" and who is a "B." The "A"s will talk first, for one-half minute about a topic assigned by the teacher while the "B"s are actively listening to and encouraging their partner, but they must remain silent. After the "A"s talk then students switch roles and the "B"s talk while the "A"s listen and encourage.
Ask the "A"s to talk about everything they know about 'ancient rhetoric, Greek and/or Roman philosophers, and/or civilizations for one-half minute. Check to determine if all students know who will talk first, tell them to go and time them. Then repeat the process with the "B"s.
Debrief students' prior knowledge by asking for volunteers to tell you and the class what they know about this topic. Record their ideas on chart paper, the board, or an overhead projector. Record everything but remember to mark any inaccurate information with a question mark and come back to this later to either confirm or revise the idea. As you talk about this background, tell students that in this unit they will study the role of rhetoric in today's global politics and international communications. After recording and discussing all the students' ideas, you will want to give more information from the rhetoric content section above. You can decide what and how to provide the rhetoric information needed for the remainder of the unit.
Activity Two - Analyzing Primary Sources - (Two Speeches)
I will model with my students how to analyze a speech with regard to identifying ethos, logos, and pathos as well as audience. The first speech we will analyze was given on August 20, 1948 by Juan Peron entitled "What is Peronism?" My students will have already studied Latin America from 1945 to the present so they will have the background to understand Argentina during this time. You can use the same speeches that I refer to or you can find your own depending on your classroom context. While we will focus our discussion on the above criteria, we will pay close attention to logos in the speech as it is easy to determine the ethos and pathos but not so easy to determine the logos in Juan Person's speech. You can see the teacher resources for a persuasive rubric that may guide your modeling and discussion.
Next, my students will work in pairs to read and analyze Eva Peron's speech given in 1949 entitled "My Labor in the Field of Social Aid." Students will be analyzing how she was able to build the ethos, logos, and pathos for her audience in her speech, and they will be able to determine if they think Eva Person's speech is effective. Students will be reminded that the transfer task for them will be to write an effective persuasive speech using the tools of rhetoric. Thus this information should be stored in notebooks for later use.
Activity Three - Discussion Web
After students analyzed both Juan and Eva Peron's speeches, my students will use discussion webs to come to a consensus regarding the use of ethos, pathos, and logos. I will model, do a guided practice, and then allow the students to complete the discussion web, following the directions explained in the strategies section mentioned above. This discussion web will give students practice for a future discussion web about the responsibility that rich, developed countries have to poor, undeveloped countries. A discussion web will be used later in this unit.
The statements that students will discuss are: Juan Peron's speech illustrated a better use of ethos than Eva Person's speech; Juan Peron's speech illustrated a better use of pathos than Eva Person's speech; Juan Peron's speech illustrated a better use of logos than Eva Person's speech. Students will brainstorm opposing arguments, both pro and con, and develop conclusions on both sides. In pairs, students will decide which conclusion seems more valid. As closure for this activity students will discuss the following questions: "How did this strategy help you to analyze both sides of an issue? Were you able to take a more active role in the discussion? Did the discussion web help you organize your discussion?"
Lesson 2 - "The United Nations and the Millennium Development Goals"
The purpose of this lesson is build background on the United Nations and to introduce the Millennium Development Goals to my students. Activity one and two will build a knowledge base of the UN and other vocabulary words that they have thus far been exposed to during this unit. It is necessary to provide information, which is found in the content section of this unit, on the Millennium Declaration Goals to my students. In activity three, the students will analyze a speech that the current Secretary of the UN gave regarding the MDGs.
Activity One - Mind Streaming
Activity one for lesson two is mind streaming. Using this strategy again is a good technique because when students are familiar with a strategy, they get even more from it. Students will work with a partner for the mind streaming activity. You can decide how the partners will be selected. Once in partners, the two students will decide who is an "A" and who is a "B." The "A"s will talk first, for one minute about everything they know about the United Nations. Check to determine if all students know who will talk first, tell them to go and time them. Then repeat the process with the "B"s.
Debrief students' prior knowledge by asking for volunteers to tell you and the class what they know about this topic. Record their ideas on chart paper, the board, or an overhead projector. Record everything but remember to mark any inaccurate information with a question mark and come back to this later to either confirm or revise the idea. As you talk about this background, tell students that in this unit they will study the role of the United Nations in today's global politics and international communications. After recording and discussing all the students' ideas, you will want to give more information from the United Nations section above. You can decide what and how to provide the United Nations information needed for the remainder of the unit. You can decide when to include the information about the MDGs and make the connection to the MDGs and the research that the students have been recording in their interactive journals on their selected developing country.
Activity Two - The Frayer Model
So far in this unit, there has been a lot of vocabulary that is conceptual in nature. The Frayer Model is a way that my students will be able to develop a deeper understanding of the conceptual terms in this unit. I will model the concept of "rhetoric" with my students using the Frayer Model. We will then engage in guided practice with the concepts such as "decorum and kairos." Finally, students will work in pairs to complete a Frayer Model with variety of terms such as: social sphere, economic sphere, and Declaration, just to name a few. Students might even generate their own list of conceptual terms they wish to explore through the Frayer Model. Use the Frayer Model as needed.
Activity Three - Analyzing Primary Sources - (One Speech)
My students will analyze the speech given by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with an eye on the ethos, logos, pathos, and audience of his speech. In addition, together with this speech and their notes on the MDGs, my students will begin to make the connections between the millennium goals and the needs in the country they have researched and for which they are representative. We will discuss some ways to build ethos, logos, and pathos into an effective persuasive argument in order to elicit aid for their country. We will discuss the direction that they may want their research to continue given the new knowledge they now possess about rhetoric and the MDGs. I will provide library time for them to do further research. If students need further help identifying examples of ethos, logos, pathos, and audience, I have a statement that came from the Civil Strategy Sharing Meeting on the MDG 2010 review that was held in February 2010, in Johannesburg. Once my students have a sound understand of the elements of persuasive rhetoric, they will practice writing mini speeches using Cicero's 5 step plan, refer to the content section above.
Activity Four - RAFTS
My students will read an article, found in our world history textbook, by journalist James Brooke, entitled "Helping the Street Children of Brazil;" you can find out more through google or you may have to find another article with which to do the modeling. After reading and discussing this article, I will introduce the RAFTS strategy to my students. In this way I can model how to do the five steps of Cicero's plan with the students before they try their own mini persuasive speeches and eventually complete the transfer task. The RAFTS for this article will be the following: Role is recent college graduate looking for a job with Project Axe; Audience is Cesare de Florio La Rocca, Founder and Director of Project Axe; Format is a letter; Topic is procuring a job; Strong verbs are convince, justify, sell.
Now that my students know their role, they will work with partners using a role definition matrix to help them plan their letter; this is what Cicero calls invention, step one in the rhetoric process. The role definition matrix will consist of three columns: 1) personality, 2) attitude, and 3) information. Students will jot ideas, details or examples under the personality column that may address questions, specific to the role assigned, such as, "Who am I? What are some aspects of my personality?" The questions my students will consider under attitude, specific to the role assigned, are "What are my feelings, beliefs, ideas, and concerns, especially as they relate to Project Axe? What are my audience's attitudes in this context? What does my audience value?" Under the information column, specific to the role assigned, my students will write ideas, details, or examples that answer the questions "What do I know that I need to share in my writing? What do I really want? What is my goal? What is my audience's point of view about Project Axe? What might be some questions Mr. La Rocca might ask me?"
The second step in Cicero's plan is arrangement. My students will arrange the ideas, details and examples from the role definition matrix into a letter to convince Mr. La Rocca to hire them and justify why they are the best person for the job, basically they are to sell themselves. First my students will introduce themselves during which time they establish their ethos. The brief and believable narration they compose should state any necessary history or facts needed to get the job. Next, my students will add proof of that history or those facts, which comprises the logos of the letter. My students will elaborate upon the argument by supporting it with details and examples from their own experiences. Finally, the ending of the letter is the time to insert the pathos; it is the time to rouse emotions, restate the best points, and show passion for the topic, in this case landing the job with Project Axe.
The task is not over once the letter is written because attention to rhetorical style is essential at this stage. My students must proofread their letters to make sure they contain the proper language for Mr. La Rocca; the letter is clear, direct, and to the point; the letter is vivid, in other words does it come alive for Mr. La Rocca, is it easy for him to visualize the examples; is the decorum of the letter appropriate, does the letter fit into Mr. La Rocca's world in a smooth and seamless way; and finally, is the language pleasing to the ear, does it flow.
The fourth step in preparing a persuasive argument is memory. While is not necessary to do this step with a letter that one might mail, my students will do this as practice for their oral presentation, which is part of the transfer task. My students will practice and create a mental association with parts of what they are saying to aid in the delivery, which is Cicero's fifth and final step in crafting a persuasive speech.
When my students read their letters aloud, they will be asked to transform into a serious and sincere actor. They will determine any gestures, facial expressions, volume changes, and appropriate tone of voice needed to attain their goal. My students will receive a rubric for oral presentations so they will know exactly how they should be reading their letters. This provides guided practice for my students as they move toward the independent transfer task.
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