Activities
Activity 1:
In this activity the students will be introduced to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. I have a short video that they will watch telling of the lives of these men during the times of ancient Greece. The resource that I used to find this video is http://www.discoveryeducation.com/. While watching this short film they will take notes on a graphic organizer telling of the different contributions of each person. This graphic organizer will have contributions that these famous men made to Greek culture.
Activity 2:
After we have introduced the class to the contributions of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, we will begin to focus on Aristotle and his contribution to rhetoric. I will give them a working definition of rhetoric and show them a small Power Point presentation with Aristotle's components of rhetoric (ethos, pathos, logos) along with examples of speeches made. (E:\Rhetoric presentation power point_files\frame.htm) We will conclude this activity by completing a graphic organizer telling the different components of rhetoric and how they are used. I will ask the students to keep all of their work in a binder specifically for this project so that they can use it as a resource for their final project.
Activity 3:
Now that we are familiar with the parts of rhetoric we will do an activity that helps to identify what part of speech is using what technique. I will play excerpts from different speeches and ask them to identify what was being used; whether it was ethos, pathos, or logos. I will use the internet as a source for finding audio and video clips to show the students examples of speeches. For example, I will use excerpts from President Lyndon B. Johnson's speech on civil rights given on March 15, 1965. You can find both a transcript and audio recording of this speech at http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html. Another speech we will look at is Senator Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" speech. It can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe751kMBwms. We will do Cloze activities in class and for homework to reinforce what they have learned. We will listen to and look at speeches and I will have them fill in the blanks with their own words or words from the speeches to see what they can do with it and how well that they have understood the material.
Activity 4:
In this activity I will introduce how to put an effective speech together. We will use Cicero's five canons (steps) to start to put together a successful speech. We will watch a Power Point presentation showing how build a speech. They will take notes in their binders that they have specifically for this unit I will give them excerpts from speeches and have them present them before the class. They will also do R.A.F. T. activities to start to be able to put together their speeches. The students will then have opportunities to practice giving speeches.
Activity 5:
I will then assign them their final project. They will have to give their own speech. In delivering this speech they have to first establish ethos, convince us with logos, and then persuade us with their pathos. The speech has to be at least two minutes in length and has to be on a topic that they believe in or one from the past such as not going to war or civil rights. I will provide them with the guidelines (rubric) for the speech so that they will know what is to be expected from them.
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