Spoken Word is a mixture of poetry, performance, and activism. This three-week, 90-minute block unit on Spoken Word has been designed for middle-level gifted students. Students will be able to describe the concept and importance of logic (logos), self-character (ethos), and audience emotions (pathos). They will be able to identify and analyze the significance of rhetorical tropes within professionally performed and peer performed Spoken Word pieces, and employ such techniques in self-written pieces, focusing on the elements that improve oral performance. They will be able to explain the connections between inventions (inventio), arrangement (dispositio), style (elocutio), memory (memoria), and delivery (pronunciatio).

(Developed for Language Arts, grades 7-8; recommended for Language Arts, grades 7-12)