Persuasion in Democratic Politics

Objectives

I will discuss the objectives for each week along with the background information needed to achieve the objectives and the teaching strategies that will drive the pedagogy. Keeping this information together will lead to a better understanding of the connections between content and pedagogy.

Week 1

1. Students will be able to identify events in which rhetoric has helped communities gain political power.
2. Students will be able to identify the steps to writing a speech according to Cicero.
3. Students will understand the importance of audience and context.
4. Students will define the rhetorical terms ethos, pathos, and logos, finding examples of each in various speeches.

Background

The first step to addressing the problem of students feeling as though they have no voice in the larger school community is to engage in a study of how people have created a voice for themselves. In the first week of this unit, students will study how successful politicians, activists, and community organizers have persuaded both people in power and the community that their causes deserve attention. It will be important to include examples of youth organizers to give students a sense of possibility. Students will learn through readings, videos, speakers, and collaboration with community organizations.

Students should be given an overview of Marcus Tullius Cicero's speechwriting strategies to provide some context as they begin to identify the qualities of effective rhetoric. Cicero was a Roman philosopher and politician who lived from 106 B.C.E. to 43 B.C.E. His writing and political philosophy have tremendously influenced Western thought. Cicero recommended five steps to writing a speech, which are invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. The first step, invention, includes establishing credibility, deciding upon the effectiveness of possible arguments, and establishing a way to arouse certain feelings in the audience. Arrangement involves the strategic organization of the speech. The following step, style, is comprised of word choice, tone, anecdotes, and figures of speech. Memory, the fourth step, is simply memorizing or becoming familiar with the speech, and finally delivery is practicing the way in which the speech will be given.

Ethos, pathos, and logos are the three main components of rhetoric as explained by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Ethos is established by gaining the trust of the audience. Logos involves a strategic and logical framing of an argument based on the desired reaction from the audience. Pathos is the feeling you intend to leave with the audience. The first week will provide students a basic framework, so it isn't necessary to go into detail yet. The main goals during this week are to give students a sense of possibility by studying the success of others who have strived for change and to give students the understanding that persuasion is a skill that can be cultivated.

Possible speeches and case studies to analyze during the first week of the unit might include President Obama's campaign announcement speech, Susan B. Anthony's speech on voting rights, and examples of successful campaigns led by youth leaders. On February 10, 2007, in Springfield, Illinois, Barack Obama announced that he was seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for President. Barack Obama's announcement speech will demonstrate how he used rhetoric to gain credibility as a politician capable of assuming the role of President. In his speech, he starts establishing his ethos by portraying himself as someone who can respond to the general public's desire for change. He talks to people about his role as a community organizer, demonstrating his connection to the community and his dedication to service. Susan B. Anthony's speech shows how she used her knowledge of audience and setting to make a strong case for women's voting rights. Publications featuring youth-led activism can be found at www.whatkidscando.org. There are several videos and articles including youth voices speaking out about healthy eating, after school programs, and service learning. It will also be beneficial to invite guest speakers from local organizations working to create change in the community. I plan on inviting guest speakers from Youth Uprising and the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center, both located in Oakland, California.

Strategies

1. Activate prior knowledge

Students will activate prior knowledge by writing in their journals about their own experiences of hopelessness or possibility about creating change in their schools. In future lessons, they will analyze this information and determine if rhetoric could have helped them become more successful.

2. Note taking and summarizing

Students will take Cornell Notes to record information about Cicero's steps, Aristotle's forms of rhetoric, and the importance of audience and setting.

3. Graphic organizers

Students will be given a graphic organizer. As they study each speech, they will record information about the intended audience, the context, and how the speaker demonstrates the use of ethos, pathos, and logos.

Week 2

1. Students will be able to identify the audience and analyze the audience's priorities and explain how doing so will help establish ethos.
2. Students will define democracy.
3. Students will be able to categorize information.
4. Students will be able to create tools to gather information, such as surveys, interview questions, and focus group protocols.
5. Students will communicate effectively through speaking and writing with peers, teachers, parents, and administrators.

Background

Students will need to decide which issues to address first. In order to involve the community and establish credibility, students will gather information on which school-wide issues are of most concern to various members of the community. They will also understand that seeking feedback from the community is a strategic move because they will need the support from the community in order to implement their solutions. Students will also need to persuade community members to take time to participate in focus groups or complete surveys. In addition, they will need to create surveys and write questions for focus groups. While engaging in the process of eliciting feedback, they will need to consider the power of words as they frame each question.

The focus of this week is to explore the importance of understanding the concerns of the audience. The audience refers to all the key stakeholders including other students, parents, teachers, and administrators. Students should go back to some of the case studies discussed during the first week and explore the role the audience had in shaping the words of the speakers. President Obama's campaign would be a good exemplar of how one establishes credibility by engaging the community. Students are not yet directly persuading their audience, but going into the community to gather information is their first step in establishing ethos, or credibility, in the community. In order to establish ethos, students need to present themselves as having similar values, having common sense, and looking out for the interest of the school.

It is also important for students to explore the concept of democracy. Students should be presented with a few definitions and discuss the relationship between leaders and their constituents in the context of a democracy. Students should be aware of the importance of civic participation. This might be a good time to present voting statistics, especially among young people. Data about reported voting and registration can be found on the U.S. Census Bureau's website at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/index.html

Strategies

1. K-W-L chart

Students will use a K-W-L to organize information about their perceptions of school problems and questions they have to gather information about the community's perceptions of problems. A K-W-L chart is a graphic organizer with three columns in which students record what they know, what they want to know, and what they learned about a topic. They will first record the problems they know exist in the school. Next, they will record questions about what they wonder other people in different roles might consider problems. After they complete gathering information, they will record what they learned about perceptions of problems at school.

2. Collaborative learning

Students will work in small groups to create information-gathering tools. They will be given a rubric that will set expectations about how to make their tools appropriate for their given audience(s). Once they design the tool, they will go out into the school community and gather information.

3. Role playing

Students will practice how they will approach community members by role playing in the classroom. Students will write guidelines for how to speak, dress, and approach different audiences.

4. Note taking and summarizing

Students will take notes about democracy. They will use their notes to write a paragraph explaining the concept of democracy to a peer.

5. Class meetings

The first class meeting will begin this week and continue on a weekly basis. There should be a class notebook, which students can access during the week. If there are any issues or concerns that students need to address, they should write about those in the notebook. Class meetings will have a student leader, but the teacher should model the first meeting. Students will begin by sharing appreciations, discussing issues, and making decisions. There should be a clear decision-making process, which could be voting or consensus decision-making.

Weeks 3-4

1. Students will analyze data.
2. Students will use rhetorical strategies to discuss and prioritize information.
3. Students will analyze cause and effect to develop logical solutions.

Background

Students should be aware that they are still in the invention phase of Cicero's five cannons of rhetoric. During the second week, students focused on establishing ethos; over the course of the next two weeks, students will focus on logos, which is proof through reason. Students will review data and prioritize issues brought up by the community. They will work in small committees to develop solutions for these problems. In order to do so, students will need to address the root causes and consequences of the problems that were brought up, carefully considering the logic behind their analysis.

At this stage, students will go through another series of lessons about persuasive techniques. Which rhetorical devices might be appropriate when presenting certain solutions? What are some persuasive techniques that would appeal to the audience? What changes need to be made when presenting the same solution to a different audience? As students think of the problems they are addressing, they should think of whether the issue is one of judging the past, establishing the tone of the present, or taking action in the future. If students are focusing on the past, the argument can be strengthened by discussing issues of justice. Setting the tone for the present will require students to create a message of unity, emphasizing the moment. In the likely case that students are putting out a call for action, they should focus on the viability of change as well as the benefits for the school.

Strategies

1. Categorizing information

2. Cause and effect organizer

Students will use a graphic organizer to help them understand cause and effect patterns. The organizer will help students see patterns and explore why these problems exist and what can be done about them.

3. Cloze reading

I will give my students a speech with omitted words. The omitted words should be strategically selected persuasive words. Students will have to fill in the blanks with words that would be effective.

4. Venn diagram

Students will use a Venn diagram to develop messaging for different audiences. In the center, they will include the common themes that they will include for all audiences, and each separate circle will have specific content that will be strategically brought up to establish ethos and logos as they address the unique concerns of each audience.

Weeks 5-6

1. Students will use rhetorical strategies to write letters and speeches.
2. Students will create posters that appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos.
3. Students will present speeches to members of the school community.

Background

Students will plan how to pitch their solutions and present information to the community in order to gather support and resources. Students will work on arrangement. They will need to consider counterarguments and resistance to their solutions. President Obama's address on health care to Congress is a good model for students to view. It will be important to strategically pause the speech and reflect on the use of ethos, pathos, and logos. Another example that students may benefit from is Frankin D. Roosevelt's first inaugural address. In addition to pointing out rhetoric, it will also be important to emphasize grammar and conventions.

Once students have finished writing their speeches, they will rehearse in class in order to become comfortable with public speaking. After receiving feedback on their speeches, students will present their speeches to the community. Action committees will work on gathering support and resources, and they will begin to implement their plans. Students who are not able to gather approval or resources for solutions will have to consider alternatives and propose new solutions or appeal to the community for support using new persuasive tactics.

Students will synthesize the work they have done developing ethos and logos and focus on also appealing to pathos. Pathos is the feeling that the speaker wishes to leave with the audience. Students should revisit the Venn diagram and add information to establish logos. Students will use the Venn diagrams along with an outline to keep them focused as they work on letters, speeches, and posters.

Strategies

1. Outline

Students will receive an outline to help arrange the ideas they came up with during the invention phase of their work.

2. Peer revising

Students will use rubrics to assess speeches and rubrics. They will offer suggestions on improving word choice and clarity and focus on the style of their speeches.

3. Rehearsal

Before students present their speeches to the community, students will have the opportunity to rehearse in front of their classmates and solicit feedback about how they can be most effective in appealing to pathos.

Week 7 and Beyond

1. Students will create an assessment tool to measure progress.
2. Students will analyze how technology can be a persuasive tool and use technology to communicate the effectiveness of solutions and continue to use rhetorical strategies with the school community.
3. Students will reflect upon their problem-solving and rhetorical strategies and set new goals.

Background

As students work on solutions, they will be required to assess the effectiveness of their solutions and give the community updates on the progress that is made. Students will have to consider how to respond when they face obstacles or when solutions don't have successful outcomes. This will be done through a leadership newsletter, a blog or other social media, meetings with key supporters, and announcements. It is important to connect how these time-proven rhetorical strategies can apply to modern forms of communication. It will also be beneficial to remind students of establishing and maintaining ethos by checking their writing conventions.

Students will need a model to help them understand how to reflect when they face obstacles and challenges. Jane J. Mansbridge's book, Why We Lost the E.R.A., explains why the Equal Rights Amendment never gathered enough support to become law. The constitutional amendment, which would have given women the same legal rights as men, was passed by Congress in 1972 but did not gather enough support needed to be ratified by the majority. Mansbridge explains that the campaign against the E.R.A. succeeded because the rhetoric shifted to the possibility of changing gender roles rather than focusing on equality. The debate pitted women working outside of the home against full-time homemakers.

Another example that can be referenced is the story of Ruby Bridges, who attended an all-white school in the South, despite constant threats. This story will help students understand that leaders sometimes make decisions even if those decisions are not supported by public opinion. Students can write in their journals about when they feel it is appropriate for leaders to make decisions that are not supported by the majority.

This unit is designed to work as a cycle, so once students assess the problem, they will begin the process again to propose another solution and continue working on the issue brought up. Students may also move on to work on a new problem once they have effectively solved a problem or exhausted all viable possibilities trying to come up with a solution. Students will be required to complete written reflections narrating their experiences as leaders of each campaign.

Strategies

1. Using social media

Most of my students and members of the school community use forms of social media. Students will set up an interactive page that will serve the purpose of communicating with and soliciting feedback from the community.

2. Models

Students will need to see how progress is measured by others. I will show them tools used by departments at our school, as well as assessment tools used by other organizations. Students will use these models to develop a measurement tool.

3. Leadership Journals

Students will reflect on their personal growth as leaders. Students will be asked to share from their leadership journals during our class meetings.