Persuasion in Democratic Politics

Classroom Activities

In this section, I will provide samples of 1-2 detailed lesson plans for each week. Graphic organizers for some of the lessons may be found in the appendix.

Week 1

Lesson 1

1. Journal: Give students the following prompt and let them write for 5-10 minutes. Think about something you would like to change about our school. Do you feel hopeful or hopeless about being able to make a difference at school? Why? As students finish writing, circulate and highlight a few key points in a few students' journals that you want them to share with the class. Ask the preselected students to share information with the class.
2. Case studies: Tell students that they will read and watch videos about young people who have made a difference. Give them a graphic organizer to take notes on who was trying to create change, what they wanted, and what strategies they used to persuade others.
3. Discussion: Based on the case studies we studied, what skills do you think you need in order to be successful in your quest to make a difference at school? Have students refer to their notes so they can make connections.
4. Exit slip: What did you learn about the possibility of creating change today? Students should write a paragraph and submit it by the end of the period.

Lesson 2

1. Activate prior knowledge: Create three unlabeled columns on the board. Ask students to take out their graphic organizers from the previous day's lesson. Tell them to share what strategies were used to persuade others. As students share, record their answers in the three columns, sorting the responses under Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Keep the categories unlabeled so students can make inferences later.
2. Partner talk: Ask students to complete this sentence starter. I would title the headings, _______________, _______________, and _______________. Give students a couple minutes of think time, and then ask them to share and justify their responses with a partner. Give students three minutes to talk to their partners, and then solicit answers from various students to see if there is a pattern.
3. Note-taking: Write Ethos, Pathos, and Logos above each corresponding column, and tell students that these forms of rhetoric have come down from several thousand years (!) ago. If you have access to an LCD projector, project an image of Aristotle. Ask students to set up their Cornell notes page and have them take notes on these forms of rhetoric. The notes do not have to be extremely detailed, but they should give students a basic understanding of the purpose and function of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.
4. Summarizing: Ask students to write a one-paragraph summary about what they learned about the art of persuasion.

Week 2

Lesson 1

1. Do Now: Students will complete the K section of a KWL chart. Students will record what they know the school community is concerned about with regards to the school.
2. Analyzing voting records: Project data on the LCD projector or give students copies of data on voting records found on the U.S. Census Bureau's website. Ask students to respond to the following questions on a sheet of paper:
1. Which age group had the highest voter turnout?
2. Which age group had the lowest voter turnout?
3. If policy is created knowing this information, whose opinions do you think might matter more? Why?
3. Break the word democracy into its word parts to give students a simple definition (demos = the people; -cracy = rule of). Ask students why civic participation is important to a democracy.
4. Group brainstorm: Who are the various groups that make up "the people" at our school? Have students share, compiling the list on the board. Make sure that students have included all stakeholders in the school community, including students, parents, teachers, administrators, support staff, custodial staff, administrators, board members, etc.
5. Assign students to outreach committees. Each committee will be responsible for communicating with one group that was identified in the step above.
6. KWL Chart: Revisit the KWL chart, adding to the W section. In this section, students should record what they wonder about the concerns of their assigned group.

Lesson 2

1. Do Now: Ask students to brainstorm different ways to gather information from members of the school community.
2. Give students a handout explaining information-gathering tools, such as interviews, surveys, and focus groups. Ask students to sit with their outreach committees and select which tool(s) would work best with their group.
3. Give students time to develop these tools in their small outreach groups. Once students have completed creating their tools, they should be collected. Students will need teacher feedback before they are ready to go out into the school community and begin the information gathering process.

Weeks 3-4

Lesson 1

1. Journals: Why should leaders listen to the concerns of the people they are leading?
2. Organizing data: Ask students to take out the results of their surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, etc. Give each group a pack of sticky notes. Tell them to write one concern per note, as well as the name of their outreach committee. Ask students to look through their notes and see if they can generate some broad categories such as academics, extracurricular activities, and school culture. Write these categories on the board, and have students come up and put each sticky note under the category they think it best fits. Students may need to create new categories as they go through the process.
3. After looking at the data, students will vote on which concern(s) to address first. Students should be given time to discuss solutions before voting. There are different ways that students can make decisions. The teacher or class can decide whether the class will make decisions based on majority or a consensus based decision-making process.

Lesson 2

Students should spend at least a couple days analyzing the causes and effects of the selected concern(s). Students should be given a graphic organizer to help them think about why the problem exists, and use their understanding of the root causes to propose a solution. The teacher will need to ask strategic questions to push students' thinking. This lesson takes place after that has been done, and a solution has been proposed.

1. Journal: You have a project due in your English class. You think the deadline should be extended, and you need to convince your classmates and your teacher. What would you say to persuade your classmates? What would you say to persuade your teacher? Why wouldn't you use the same approach with both? Give students 5-7 minutes to write, and then have a discussion about why it's important to understand your audience in order to persuade them.
2. Give students a chart with the names of all the community members at the top. Students should complete the chart with a partner, writing what kind of messaging would be appropriate while communicating the solution with each type of audience.

Weeks 5-6

Lesson 1

1. Watch President Obama's campaign speech: Students should watch the speech and take notes about how he establishes ethos, pathos, and logos. Allow students to share their observations after viewing the speech.
2. Students should brainstorm ideas for their own speeches. The audience the speeches will depend on each student's outreach committee.
3. Provide students with an outline based on Cicero's steps. Allow students to complete the outline in class.

For homework, students should write the speech. The following day, students should work with a peer to revise their speeches. Students should be given a rubric focusing on persuasive techniques to evaluate their work. Students should rehearse their speeches over the next few days.

Lesson 2

If you have access to an auditorium, it will be helpful to reserve that space so that students can practice speaking formally. If not, the classroom will suffice.

1. Give students feedback forms for each student speaking. The form should include speaking clearly, posture, eye contact, speed, and tone. As each student delivers his or her speech, the other students should write feedback on the form.
2. Once the forms are returned to students, they should practice improving their speeches in small groups.

Week 7 and Beyond

Lesson 1

1. Journal: What forms of communication do you use most often? Do you use different forms of communication based on your audience?
2. List the names of the different outreach committees on the board, and ask students what they feel would be the most effective way to communicate progress with each group. Ask them if there are any methods of communication that might work for multiple groups.
3. Allow students to discuss and vote on a few forms of communication (newsletter, social media, blogs, board meetings, morning announcements, etc.) Then assign students to working groups to make sure these forms of communication take place on an ongoing basis. Students should set deadlines that are submitted to the teacher so that there is accountability for each group.

Lesson 2

1. Journal: How will you know if you are successful with your campaign? How can you measure success before you reach your final goal?
2. Evaluation is the final piece of the unit. Give students examples of evaluation. Teachers can use examples from their own classrooms, such as having an objective and using an assessment to see if they were successful in helping students meet the objective. The following website has some useful information that can help students design evaluation tools.

http://www.managementhelp.org/evaluatn/fnl_eval.htm#anchor1585345

1. After reviewing different forms of evaluation, assign appropriate forms of
2. valuation to each outreach team.