Week of 9.7

1. Week of 9.7 Aplang notes Campolmi

2. Objectives • Write an expository essay utilizing new rhetorical terms. • Identify classmates’ use of rhetorical terms. • HW Due: Parent approval (via signature) on grad project topic. • NOTE on vocab: Quiz next Tues./Wed. First 20 words only. Word list on wiki.

3. 9.10/9.11 warm-up • Journal Response: Imagine that you break one of your parents’ rules, thinking that you wouldn’t get caught. This time you do. What do you say? How do you decide what to say?

4. Introduction to Rhetoric • Definitions of rhetoric: • The study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of the “available means of persuasion” (Shea 1). • What does it mean to be skilled at rhetoric? • One has the tools to resolve conflicts without confrontation, to persuade readers or listeners to support their position, or move others to take action. • Examples?

5. The Rhetorical Triangle Also called the Aristotelian triangle, because he first described the interaction among subject, speaker/writer, and audience. This triangle will help you to consider the different components of any written or spoken work and how they influence the final product.

6. The Rhetorical Triangle Content Exigency Intention Expectations Exigency Exigency Audience Speaker Tone Context Exigency

7. Audience Activity I will give each of you a slip of paper. Do not share your slip with a neighbor or anyone else. Consider the situation on your assigned slip. Write a paragraph on your topic to the group or individual indicated as the audience. You should be as convincing as posible.

8. Audience Activity • Discuss with the other members of your group. • How did different people address the issue? • How did the treatment differ when applied to different audiences? • What convincing rhetoric did you hear?

9. Watch this clip • I’ll give you a paper copy of the speech in a sec. • Try to identify the triangle and the rhetorical devices Atticus uses in the speech.

10. Homework Read the provided context and the letter written by Albert Einstein on pgs. 9-10 of your Shea’s book. Write a paragraph in which you answer the first question using the first two components of the second question (through the rhetorical triangle, context, and purpose).

11. Closing THINK: Go back to the warm-up from the beginning of class. How did you use the rhetorical triangle. PAIR: Identify its usage with a friend/enemy/neighbor. SHARE: Talk to the class about it.

12. 9.12/9.13 warmup • Objectives: • Establish the canons of rhetoric and its characteristics. • Introduce ethos, logos, and pathos. • Use SOAPSTone to analyze literature. • Warm Up: • Think of a convincing speech you once read or heard (even if you later changed your mind). Write down the speaker and the occasion as best you remember it. • Make a bulleted list of things that made the speech convincing – what kinds of arguments did the speaker make? What kinds of rhetorical devices did the speaker use?

13. SOAPSTone SOAPSTone is an acronym representing a series of questions you must ask yourself, then answer as you plan a composition. Some of these elements will be familiar from the rhetorical triangle. S – Speaker O – Occasion A – Audience P – Purpose S – Subject Tone

14. SOAPSTone Practice Turn on pg. 12 of your Shea’s book. There you will find an excerpt from Homer’s The Iliad. Read the provided context, then perform a SOAPSTone analysis on the excerpt with someone sitting near you. Each person should write out the elements of the analysis.

15. Finish Audience Activity • Go back over the paragraph you wrote for your topic and audience. Do you think you will be effective? Make changes if not. • Meet with your group members. Each group member should read their paragraph to the group. • Discuss the following together: • How did different people address the issue? • How did the treatment differ when applied to different audiences? • What convincing rhetoric did you hear? Why was it convincing?

16. Einstein Letter • Vote, raise your hand if: • You found Einstein’s letter effective • You did not find Einstein’s letter effective • Why or why not? • What elements of rhetoric are represented here?

17. Ethos • From the Greek for “character” • Authors appeal to ethos to show that they are credible and trustworthy. They often use • Appeals to shared values, • A pre-existing reputation, • A tone of reason and goodwill, • Types of information that create a good impression. • Examples?

18. Logos • From the Greek for “embodied thought,” or “reason” • Requires a clear main idea or thesis, which must be logical and supported with evidence. • Often, these appeals rely on an assumption and they acknowledge counterarguments. • In acknowledging counterarguments, authors concede that opposing arguments may be true, but then refute the validity of all or part of the argument. • This process strengthens the author’s argument. • Examples?

19. Pathos From the Greek for “emotion” Should be used in conjunction with another type of appeal, in which case pathos adds an important dimension because it engages the emotions of the audience. Arguments that only use pathos are weak by definition and are generally propagandistic in purpose and more polemical than persuasive. Examples?

20. Ethos, Logos, Pathos • Turn to pg. 6 of your textbook and read Jody Heyman’s 2006 editorial with me. • As we read, note any paragraph numbers in which you hear an appeal and what kind of appeal it is. • Example: 7 (logos) • Try to find at least one example of each. • You’ll have a few minutes after we finish to look back over it for examples before we discuss.

21. So let’s look at a speech . . . • You should have read this at some point. • But, hey, if you haven’t, no worries.

22. Atticus Finch • From To Kill a Mockingbird. • Atticus is a small town lawyer who is defending a black man accusing of raping a white woman. • The black man is innocent, but because the trial takes place in the segregated (and racist) Depression-era South, Atticus knows that his client will not be believed. • Nevertheless, he defends the man because it’s the right thing to do and to set an example for his children and town.

23. Finch’s speech • Look for some of the terms while we read the speech together.

24. Homework Use the SOAPSTone technique to analyze an editorial in a newspaper. Print and fill out the template that you can find with the HW on the website.

25. Canons • Invention • Finding ways to persuade. • Arrangement • Putting together the structure of a coherent argument. • Style • Presenting the argument to stir the emotions. • Memory • Speaking without having to prepare or memorize a speech. • Delivery • Making effective use of voice, gesture, etc.

26. Obama’s speech from 9.10 • The country of Syria is involved in a civil war. • The Syrian people, unhappy with their president’s dictatorship, is fighting to overthrow him. • Evidence suggests that Syria’s President Assad has used the chemical weapon sarin on his own people. • This was his regime’s response to a supposed assassination attempt. • The use of any chemical weapon is prohibited by international war. • Obama has called for the U.S. to strike Assad but is asking Congress for approval of the strike. • He is not finding the support, and most Americans do not want to engage in the Syrian conflict.

27. The Rhetorical Triangle for Obama’s speech Content Exigency Intention Expectations Exigency Exigency Audience Speaker Tone Context Exigency

28. Ethos, pathos, logos in Obama’s speech

29. Questions for Obama’s speech • What facts does Obama cite to prove Assad’s brutality? • What specific emotional language does Obama use to prove the brutality of the gas attacks? • Why does Obama allude to WW1 and WW2? • How does Obama “know the Assad regime was responsible” (19)?

30. According to Obama, was is striking against Assad critical for American security even if no immediate threat is presented? • Obama addresses several “hard questions” (43) to his position. Name two of them. • Why does he present (and answer) these questions? • “For sometimes resolutions and statements of condemnation are simply not enough” (70-71). What does Obama mean here and how does it fit into his rhetoric?