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Morrissey & Harmening 1
Bobby Morrissey and Elise Harmening
CI473: Literacy in Content Areas
Mark Dressman
26 February 2012
Second Assignment: Writing-to-Learn
Unit Name : Exploring the Political Rhetoric
Unit Description : In this unit, the class of seniors will analyze the political rhetoric
utilized in United States presidential speeches, past and present. The students are
all at or almost at the age where they can vote and become an integral part of our
political system. This is an important time for the students to gain a more intricate
knowledge of the politics in our country. The goal is to introduce students to
different rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, and logos, as well as develop a
sense of important issues in the political sphere. For example, we will establish that
specific statistics can help add to an argument and that type of persuasion falls
under logos. Additionally, the unit will cover the areas that are important in
presidential speeches. These areas may include social issues, economic problems,
military advances, etc. Students will also read corresponding excerpts from texts to
help learn what rhetorical devices are and how they are used in political speeches.
Writing-to-Learn Activity:
The following activity is a “Whatcha Gonna Do?” activity designed to foster
creativity and introduce the themes addressed in the unit. See worksheet below.
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Name________________________________________ Date_________________ Class ____________
WHAT IF… You were the President of Planet Nunaru… Your advisor just sent you the following message about the stateaffairs:
Take some time to consider 3-4 of the issues Jaxy brought up. What wouldto your fellow Nunarunians? For the next 10 minutes, write your responsesolutions to 3-4 of the problems above.
For example:Planet Yippers has now officially declared war on us. I believe that we need to talk about military strategies and how much money we can spend on it. We also need tofigure out how to keep our people safe and try to end the war as soon as we can.
Use back of this paper to write your response. If you need more paper, younotebook or borrow paper from the front.
Hey Prez,So there are a few things I gotta update you on right now. It’s a little cah -raze-eee right now!-Spaceships are running on goopa (duh). We are still getting goopa from Planet Groona but theGrooneze are totally mad at us right now. Yikessss.-The parents are complaining that they have to pay too much for their kids’ schooling. The kids don’tseem to care though. Woohoo!
-Planet Yippers has declared war on us. Bummer.-We need to talk $$$--we have to figure out how much should go where.-So the Nunarunian intrawebatron allows for all kinds of crazy pictures and posts and stuff to be putup. Maybe we need to do something about that?-Don’t forget—election is coming up in a few weeks! What are you going to say??Peace out Nuna-scout! -Jaxy
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Essay Questions:
1.) Choose one of the following speeches to critically analyze. Research the specificcontext of the speech using your notes and resources available online. Select three
rhetorical devices, and demonstrate how the president used these to persuade hisaudience. Feel free to use Hesford’s article (below) and other sources, but be sure toinclude a works cited.
John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1PbQlVMp98
Ronald Reagan’s Challenger Disaster Speech:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa7icmqgsow
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Nothing to Fear” Inaugural Speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amNpxQANk0M
George Bush’s 9/11 Speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMiqEUBux3o
Barack Obama on the Death of Osama Bin Laden:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNYmK19-d0U
Richard Nixon on Vietnam:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVRjlp_qAcY
2.) Ballots are in! You have been elected class president! Unfortunately, there is nobudget for a speechwriter , so it’s all on you. We are having an assembly next week ,and it is up to you to tell the students how you are going to make a difference in theschool.
Use your knowledge of rhetorical devices and political persuasion to convince yourclassmates that you will get the job done! Make sure to use current school issues inyour speech without exaggeration of solutions. You must be as realistic as possible.Refer to your notes and other speeches we studied this unit to help you.
**EXTRA CREDIT: Next week we will have sign-ups for students to deliver theirspeech in class for extra credit!
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Materials and Resources :
Hesford, Wendy S., and Brenda JoBrueggerann, eds. Rhetorical Visions: Reading andWriting in a Visual Culture. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007.1-23.
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