Objectives: Students will be able to infer the author’s purpose by examining the rhetorical appeals and other devices in the essay in fishbowl activity.
CCS
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.
Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text.
Resources:
- Rhetorical Devices
- Test your knowledge of rhetorical devices in quiz lit
- Rhetorical devices with examples
- the complete list of rhetorical devices with examples
- College Board resources
- Strunk’s The Elements of Style (1918 edition)
- Guide to Grammar and Style
- Paradigm Online Writing AssistantFor students who don’t know where to start, this resource leads them through the process with accompanying exercises and graphic organizers. Special consideration is given to argumentative and exploratory essay writing.
- UW-Madison Writing Center Writer’s Handbook
A well-organized handbook-style site that can be of help to students writing in many different modes, from lab reports to literary analysis. - Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers over 200 free resources for all types of writing. A whole section of the site is devoted to internet resources for teachers.
Texts:
- This American Life, Act I-NRA vs. NEA Sarah Vowell performs “Shooting Dad”
- http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/81/guns
- “From Dan Rather’s Facebook (March 6, 2017)”
- The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me, Sherman Alexie
- My Zombie Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead,” Chuck Klosterman
- “Should Batman Kill the Joker?” Mark D White and Robert Arp
- “Happy Meals and the Old Spice Guy,” Joanna Weiss
- “In Sports, There is No Such Thing as a Bad Hustle,” Frank Deford
Mini Lesson with Guided Practice
Understanding the author’s purpose or project through the structure ( how an idea is developed) and multi-faceted claims.
- What’s the argument the author is proposing? ( the repeated idea)
- identify two-three claims the author has made to make his argument complex and multi-faceted.
- what evidence does the author use to advance his argument?
- what type of evidence is it ( identify the rhetorical device)? How does it help enhance the author’s idea?
- putting altogether, what are the most important pieces of evidence that the author uses to appeal to the audience ( logo, ethos or pathos)?
- What seems to be the purpose? After analysis, what is the deeper purpose? Why does the author not directly mention the hidden purpose?
Independent Practice
Write an informal group analysis based on the article assigned using the guided questions provided. Use the template provided to write the analysis.
End of the Lesson assessment: Share your group essay with me through google drive.
_______________________________
Lesson 2
Objectives: Students will be able to write an essay individually analyzing the op-ed article they have read and commented within their group.
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.
Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text.
Resources:
- Rhetorical Devices
- Test your knowledge of rhetorical devices in quiz lit
- Rhetorical devices with examples
- the complete list of rhetorical devices with examples
- College Board resources
- Strunk’s The Elements of Style (1918 edition)
- Guide to Grammar and Style
- Paradigm Online Writing AssistantFor students who don’t know where to start, this resource leads them through the process with accompanying exercises and graphic organizers. Special consideration is given to argumentative and exploratory essay writing.
- UW-Madison Writing Center Writer’s Handbook
A well-organized handbook-style site that can be of help to students writing in many different modes, from lab reports to literary analysis. - Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers over 200 free resources for all types of writing. A whole section of the site is devoted to internet resources for teachers.
Texts:
- This American Life, Act I-NRA vs. NEA Sarah Vowell performs “Shooting Dad”
- http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/81/guns
- “From Dan Rather’s Facebook (March 6, 2017)”
- The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me, Sherman Alexie
- My Zombie Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead,” Chuck Klosterman
- “Should Batman Kill the Joker?” Mark D White and Robert Arp
- “Happy Meals and the Old Spice Guy,” Joanna Weiss
- “In Sports, There is No Such Thing as a Bad Hustle,” Frank Deford
Mini Lesson : Teacher Modeling:
Understanding the author’s purpose or project through the structure ( how an idea is developed) and multi-faceted claims.
- What’s the argument the author is proposing? ( the repeated idea)
- identify two-three claims the author has made to make his argument complex and multi-faceted.
- what evidence does the author use to advance his argument?
- what type of evidence is it ( identify the rhetorical device)? How does it help enhance the author’s idea?
- putting altogether, what are the most important pieces of evidence that the author uses to appeal to the audience ( logo, ethos or pathos)?
- What seems to be the purpose? After analysis, what is the deeper purpose? Why does the author not directly mention the hidden purpose?
Model text: Happy Meals and Old Spice Guy
THE laudable quest to fight childhood obesity, it’s hard to get kids to exercise, control their portions, and hold the salt. It’s easy to blame the Happy Meal toy. This spring, officials in Santa Clara, California banned toy giveaways with kids’ fast food meals. Last month, the Center for Science in the Public Interest threatened to sue McDonald’s, saying the toys are a deceptive marketing practice. ( describing the issue)
Of course, there has been backlash, and not just from kids who fear they might miss out on “Last Airbender’’ figurines. A group of competing Save-The-Happy-Meal-Toys Facebook pages has sprung up, each with a fan base of nostalgic hipsters. The Happy Meal, it turns out, isn’t just a bundle of adorably-packaged calories. It’s a bundle of adorably-packaged calories that represents childhood.( seemingly agree but definitely disagree)
There’s something to be said for the power of marketing, the ways it can influence us even when we think we’re too smart and too cool. Notre Dame University marketing professor Carol Phillips says that when her students brag that they aren’t susceptible to advertising, she points to their shoes, their hats, and their computers.
And she tells them that marketing isn’t limited to ads; it’s packaging, store placement, associations. And entertainment, too, as in last weekend’s brilliant Old Spice social media campaign, in which the suave and shirtless “Old Spice Guy’’ posted YouTube responses to questions asked through Twitter. He offered image advice to President Obama. He helped a guy propose to his girlfriend. He might be the most beloved man in America, even though we know he’s trying to sell us body wash.
It’s too early to know if we’re buying or not, though some old-school marketing gurus have noted that sales of Old Spice are down. For all of its power, advertising has its limits — and ads are a reflection of the marketplace as much as they’re an influence. Ad agencies do assiduous research into what people already want; “Old Spice Guy’’ came about because Procter & Gamble understood that women buy most of their husbands’ body wash, and presumably want it to smell manly.
McDonald’s is buffeted by market forces, too, which is why the fast food giant has taken some baby steps into the wholesome-food game. One way the chain turned sluggish sales around in the early 2000s, Phillips notes, is by putting a few salads on the menu.
Campaigns against obesity have affected the Happy Meal, too: In 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that Disney executives were balking over Happy Meal tie-ins, in part because they feared an association with fatty food. Today, the main Happy Meals web page mentions fries and soft drinks, but only shows pictures of low fat milk and apples.
Is it bait-and-switch advertising? Sure. And McDonald’s could be far more aggressive in pushing apples over fries in actual stores. But at this point, are parents really unaware that french fries aren’t a health food?
The anti-Happy Meal types prefer to paint parents as wimps, powerless against a corporate marketing campaign. One anti-Ronald McDonald polemic, issued by a group called Corporate Accountability International, says McDonald’s “undermines parental values’’ and creates “a fundamental restructuring of the family dynamic.’’ The evidence: “Every time a parent has to say no to a child, it’s another let down, another way that a parent has to feel bad about not making that child happy.’’
Well, my kids don’t like it when I tell them they can’t play with knives, but I don’t let it get to me. I also understand that the secret to survival in an ad-heavy world isn’t avoiding marketing, but understanding it. Kids can be taught that what’s on an ad isn’t necessarily what they need. And the power of ads can be harnessed for good. If a YouTube video can make us talk about Old Spice, the right viral campaign could boost the market power of the nectarine.
A healthy lifestyle, after all, has clear appeal, which a clever marketer could surely harness. Today, kids are lured by the Happy Meal in all of its weight-adding splendor. But after a few years, isn’t it likely they’ll want to look like Old Spice Guy, instead?
Joanna Weiss can be reached at weiss@globe.com.
Student Independent PRACTICE:
Write an essay analyzing the author’s purpose of the op-ed you read. Be sure to discuss how the author uses rhetorical devices to advance his argument.