Lesson 3

1. Lesson 3 Persuasion and Advocacy

2. Objective: Students will analyze the organization and structure of a speech in order to understand the author’s purpose. • Warm-up: Write a persuasive sentence about donating blood. One example using logos and another using pathos.

3. Discuss Author’s Arguments and Methods Homework Review: • Is this letter persuasive? • Do you think it would be persuasive to the Board of Education? Why?

4. Reflect on Discussion • What did you learn by engaging in this discussion? • What more did you learn about this text, persuasion or yourself?

5. Rhetorical Methods (Methods of Persuasion) • Loaded words • Repetition of key phrases • Logos • Pathos • Metaphors • Quotations • Rebutting Counterarguments • Anecdotes • Expert opinion • Rhetorical questions

6. Loaded words and phrases have strong emotional implications and involve strongly positive or negative reactions beyond their literal meaning

7. Methods (part 2) Using the phrases we chose from HW • What is Chiadis doing in this sentence or phrase? What method is she using to persuade the reader? • How are the methods appropriate to her argument, audience and purpose?

8. Example I choose the sentence, “In New York on 09/11, victims were able to communicate with families for the last time via their cell phones.” In my explanation I started to think about what the author was doing, and I noticed she was referring to an event that everybody was familiar with. Well, that appealed to me emotionally because I remember how upset I was on 9/11. It also makes her argument about students having a cell phone appear to be very logical and a sensible thing to allow. It’s appealing to the audience (The Board of Education) because they should be worried about something awful happening at school and then they would get blamed for not allowing cell phones. Also, it’s appealing because everybody remembers that day and how horrified he or she felt.

11. Some methods Chiadis uses that students might offer are: Appeal to Emotions: “I was in biology dissecting frogs while my father was dying.” Rebutting counterarguments and addressing readers’ biases: “Kids will always find a way to communicate about these things…” Reference to well-known events: “Columbine or Beslan.” Appealing to logic through reasoning: “[cell phones are] the major way that parents communicate with their children.” Support using personal anecdotes: her father’s

12. heart attack Appealing to National trend and use of quotations: "School officials around the U.S. began to say that an outright ban was not realistic." Support using expert opinion: Vincent Mustaro, senior staff associate for policy for the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education Loaded words: “miscreant” Rhetorical questions: “…otherwise how can we keep ourselves safe?”

13. Add to the characteristics of an effective persuasive text What did you learn from discussing, reading, and rereading “Dear Board of Education” about the characteristics of effective persuasive letters?

14. Reflect on Analysis Methods • How did looking at methods deepen your understanding of this text and/or other persuasive texts?

15. Homework Reread again differently. Evaluate Chiadis’ reasons and evidence. • Where could Chiadis have used better/more reasons and evidence to strengthen the argument? • What other counterarguments should she have addressed? How might she have rebutted them? • Bring in a stories from the newspaper/magazine that you might be interested.