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Thursday
Friday
Elements of
Creating
Effective
Collaborative
Rhetorical
Persuasive
Rubric
Appeals
Peer review day
Editorials
Unit 6
Unit 6
(Late start= 75
Unit 5 Begins
Advertisement
Tea Party
Analysis
Grammar mini-
minute classes)
Logical Fallacies
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Conferences
lesson
Book Talk
Modified
Grammar Mini-Lesson
Lesson Plans
Unit 5, Day 1 (Madeline Hunter)
Introduction to Unit: Tea Party and Rhetorical Appeals
Class: English 9
Unit: Rhetorical Identities (Unit 5)
Teacher: Emily Pipkin
Goals:
Students will:
begin thinking about effective persuasive techniques
understand and be able to identify the three rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos)
Standards:
Colorado 9th Grade Common Core State Standard
3.2 Informational and persuasive texts develop a topic and establish a controlling idea or thesis
with relevant support
Materials:
Tea Party prose/poetry papers for a 30 person class (Note: There will be 15 different pieces, so
two students will end up with the same piece. If these students end up talking to each other,
they can choose to switch partners if they figure it out right away, or try different tactics to sell
the same piece)
PowerPoint on rhetorical appeals (see additional materials)
Duration: 90 minutes
Anticipatory Set:
Tea Party (15-20 minutes)
1. Students are given a piece of paper on their way into class and are asked to silently
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read through the short piece of prose or poetry on the page at least twice to get a feel
for it.
2. Specific directions will be given to students to wander around the classroom and talk
with at least two of their classmates to try and convince them to read the rest of the
piece as if the student had written it themselves and was trying to sell or publish the
piece. Students would not be allowed to simply read the piece out loud in its entirety to
their classmates, but would have to select specific words or phrases and sell the piece
through these short snippets and their knowledge of the classmate they are talking to.
Interactive Notebook (10 minutes)
1. Students will take time to write in their interactive notebooks and reflect on the tea
party activity by answering guided questions such as:
Were you convinced to keep reading by any of your peers?
If so, what techniques, words, or phrases helped convince you? If not, what
could that person have done better to convince you?
Teaching:
Input
Rhetorical Identities Mini-Lecture (20 minutes)
See PowerPoint
Modeling
Think Aloud (15 minutes)
We will look at some Super Bowl commercials as a class and I will walk through my
thought process on identifying rhetorical appeals in one of the commercials. For the
second commercial we watch, I will ask for student participation in identifying appeals.
Note: Link is to a website with lists of top Super Bowl commercials. I will screen any and all
commercials I plan to show in class.
Guided Practice:
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Some of the Think Aloud portion will be guided practice with students being asked to
participate in a class discussion on appeals they see being used and how they are being used in
Super Bowl commercials.
Closure
Preparation for tomorrows activity (5 minutes)
Wrap up the lesson by asking students to bring in several advertisements from around
their home (newspapers, magazines, etc.) if they can for the next days activity.
Magazines will also be provided for those students who forget or may not be able to
bring anything in.
Students will be given time to silently read or catch up on other work for the remainder
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Unit 5, Day 2
Advertisement Analysis
Note: The idea for this lesson came from observing a very similar activity in an English 9 class
at Rocky Mountain High School taught by Gina Difelice.
Duration: 90 minutes
Goals:
Students will:
demonstrate their knowledge of rhetorical appeals through a hands-on activity
Standards:
Colorado 9th Grade Common Core State Standards
2.1.e Identify the characteristics that distinguish literary forms and genres
ii. Use literary terms to describe and analyze selections
3.2.a.vii vii. Explain and imitate emotional, logical, and ethical appeals used by writers who are
trying to persuade an audience.
Procedures:
Interactive Notebook (10 minutes)
o Students will write in their interactive notebooks responding to the questions:
Write about a time you were strongly influenced by an advertisement, book,
movie, etc. How did you react? Why did it influence you so strongly?
Explanation of Activity and Assignment (10 minutes)
o Students will be given construction paper and will have access to advertisements,
either ones they brought from home or from the magazines provided. The
assignment will be to create a collage of advertisements in three columns: one for
ethos, one for pathos, and one for logos. The advertisements in each column will
be the ones students find to be best showing each rhetorical appeal. On the back
of each column, students will be asked to write a paragraph detailing one ad in
particular which is using that appeal, how it is appealing to that rhetoric, and why
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that company might have chosen that appeal for their product. Students will be
given a rubric (see additional materials) for this assignment.
In-class work time (70 minutes or remainder of class)
o As students will be cutting and pasting, they will be given time and resources in
class to work on this assignment with the expectation that it be turned in by the
end of class or the beginning of class the next day. While students may chat with
friends or listen to music, I reserve the right to move students if I feel they may
not finish and will be more productive in another seat. If a student finishes early,
they may read or work on other assignments.
Unit 5, Day 3 (Late Start)
Logical Fallacies
Duration: 75 minutes
Goals:
Students will:
learn about logical fallacies and find examples from the news
Standards:
Colorado 9th Grade Common Core State Standards
2.2 g. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the
reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and
fallacious reasoning.
Procedures:
Interactive Notebook (10 minutes)
o Students will write in their interactive notebooks responding to the short excerpt
(see additional materials) which is an example of a logical fallacy. When writing,
students should simply write their initial thoughts about the excerpt and any
questions they may have about the excerpt.
Debrief on interactive notebook (10 minutes)
o Invite students to share their reactions to the excerpt in a brief full class discussion
Mini-Lecture on Logical Fallacies (10 minutes)
o Use list of top 10 logical fallacies from ReadWriteThink (see additional materials)
to briefly explain what a logical fallacy is and a few of the different kinds which
can be found in news/media/etc.
Claim-Support-Question (from Making Thinking Visible) (45 minutes)
o Explain the activity (10 minutes)
Students will be finding claims made in the news, mostly through
headlines listed on news websites such as ABC or Fox. When they have
found at least three claims (one must contain a logical fallacy, the other
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two can be anything the students find fun/interesting/etc. but they must be
school-appropriate), students will begin to list the support/evidence they
find for each claim within the article. Finally, they will write down
anything which makes them question the validity of the claim or any
questions they are left with which are not addressed in the article. Note:
Students do not have to read the entirety of the articles they pick, but they
may have to read a fair bit to really understand the claim being made and
how it is supported and to form questions.
o Work time (rest of class)
The rest of class will be work time designated to working on the claimsupport-question activity. While this will not be a formal assignment to be
turned in, students will receive completion points if it is clear they put in
some thought and effort. These points will be given through a simple
check (check plus or minus) on the students work as they walk out the
door.
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This means: I can draw on examples used in class to write my own persuasive editorial using
effective strategies and rhetorical appeals.
List of Assessments:
Pre- and post- mini-assessment on what elements make up an effective persuasive
editorial using this editorial from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/opinion/sunday/poisoned-water-in-newarkschools.html
Planned Lesson Activities
Name and Purpose of Lesson
Elements of Effective Persuasive Editorials
Approx. Time and Materials
Anticipatory Set
Procedures
Time: 90 minutes
Materials: New York Times persuasive editorial, paper, writi
questions for mini-assessment and exit ticket
Interactive Notebook (10 minutes)
Students will write in their interactive notebooks responding
What do I value and how does this show in the things I buy
advertisements?) or in the positions I take on issues (politics
10 minutes: Interactive Notebook
15-20 minutes: Read NYT editorial and answer questions on
persuasive editorial mini-assessments handout)
5-10 minutes: Discuss what was observed as whole class
- Paraphrase the article
- Using knowledge we have about writing essays, how
the structure of the editorial?
- How does this editorial employ rhetorical appeals? A
appeals used effectively?
15-20 minutes: Instructional time on what is specifically exp
persuasive editorial assignment
- Justify that your topic of choice is arguable by listing
and opposing your topic
- What research questions are you using to guide your
- What makes an effectively persuasive editorial? (Exp
support/problem, support/solution, concessions, and
- Why should an effective editorial address counterarg
- How is a call to action similar to or different from a
essay?
15-20 minutes: Individual work time on outlining own persu
Last 5-10 minutes of class: Exit ticket on what elements stud
the most effective persuasive editorial and one way they wil
their own piece
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Closure
Differentiation
Assessment
Emily Pipkin
English 9
Unit 5: Rhetorical Identities
9th Grade
In this lesson, students will be helping to create a rubric for their
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final persuasive piece for this unit drawing on elements they have
learned about in the unit up to this point.
(90 minutes)
Standards
Colorado 9th Grade
Common Core State
Standards
Stage 1: Desired Results
Established Goals
Knowledge
Skills
the unit.
How will you hook to students at the beginning Interactive Notebook (10 minutes)
of the lesson?
lesson?
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independent novel.
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typed).
By creating the rubric, students will be
rethink?
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Standards:
Colorado 9th Grade Common Core State Standards
4.2.b Assess strengths and weaknesses of their thinking and thinking of others by using criteria
including relevance, clarity, accuracy, fairness, significance, depth, breadth, logic and precision
Procedures:
Interactive Notebook (10 minutes)
o Students will write down their questions which they brought in for conferences
and any specific things they would like peer editors to look at.
Peer Workshop and Conferences (80 minutes)
o Students should form groups of three for their peer workshop and should have
their revision checklist handy (see additional materials) as well as their interactive
notebook entry for today and the rubric created in the last class. In their workshop
groups, students will exchange papers with one person and this person will be
responsible for commenting on the meat of the writing Does it meet the
requirements of the rubric? Is it coherent? Is it engaging? Too long? Too short? Is
it persuasive? Students should spend at least 20 minutes on this first commenting
period. Papers will be exchanged again to the second peer. This peer will be
responsible for close reading for any grammatical or mechanical errors, especially
those listed on the revision checklist. This commenting period should last at least
10 minutes and students may find it helpful to read the paper aloud at this point to
find any weirdly worded sentences.
o I will be pulling student groups aside one at a time to hold short, individual
conferences as students need them. Each student should come to class with at
least one question they have about their draft, though it is up to them whether or
not they want to utilize the conference time as I will not have enough time to hold
conferences with everyone unless each conference is less than 3 minutes long. If
students do not express much interest in conferences, I will be wandering and
checking in on workshops, potentially walking some groups through the process
as needed based on student personalities and quality of workmanship.
o Any extra time students have may be used to begin revising.
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Materials
Gather materials, mentor
texts...
Connection
Tell them what you taught
the previous lesson. The last
writers workshop, we
learned how to...
Explicit Instruction
Tell them what you will
teach today. Today Im
going to teach you...
Show them exactly how to
do it. Watch me do it.,. or
Lets take a look at how
(author) does this when s/he
writes...
Guided Practice
Ask them to try it out with a
partner, or with you for a
few minutes. Now try it out
with a partner...
Independent Practice
Remind students how the
teaching point can be used
in independent writing.
(There should be a link
between the mini lesson and
the students independent
writing lives.)
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Group Wrap-Up
Restate the teaching point.
Ask: Did you try what was
taught? Did it work for you?
How will it affect your
future writing?
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How the book talk will run: Students will get into pre-determined groups
of 5. Each student will take turns sharing their book in book talk style
including persuasive elements from their paper to try and convince their
peers to want to read their book. When the student shares, they will bring
in their book to show to their peers, share the title and author, read a short
passage, and then make a few quick points about why others should read
the book (from their persuasive piece). This should last about 5 minutes
per person. I will set a timer for 5 minutes for each student to keep
everyone on track and so we do not run out of time.
When I am done explaining, we will move the desks into small pods to fit
5 people each, move into groups and get going
o Book Talk (55 minutes broken into 5 minute chunks)
Note to self: If students are missing from class this day and therefore make groups uneven,
smaller groups will disperse to join other groups when all members have presented and will
listen in on other book talks.
Reflective Commentary
While creating this unit plan, I drew many of my ideas from my time in an English 9 classroom
for EDUC 450 at Rocky Mountain High School. I was present and taught during this unit, so I
was able to observe what the students were learning and how as well as trying out a lesson
myself. Several of the lesson plans are entirely my own in order to align with the culminating
project for my year-long plan, but many of the base ideas did come from my observations.
As I was outlining what I wanted to do day by day and what I wanted to teach, I ultimately
decided to focus more on the application of a few lessons worth of knowledge rather than
overwhelming students with information. This works well with a unit on persuasive writing and
rhetorical appeals as students have most likely seen this in their day to day lives without realizing
it, so simply giving them the language to talk about these and the skills to apply the knowledge
are more what I am looking for. Also, I would rather give students chances to demonstrate their
knowledge and contribute to the learning process than be trying to teach them something new
every day. This is how I decided to spend so much of this unit on in class work time and
collaboration, as I value seeing students learning in action.
Hand in hand with what I was just talking about is my still-lingering question about how much
time is too much work time on the block schedule. This is a short unit and I did wonder whether I
was allowing for too much in class work time and by doing so, missing out on instructional time.
However, in the class at RMHS I observed, there was almost always work time allotted into the
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day and some days were devoted entirely to workshop/work time, so though I still have some
doubts about this much work time, I have seen it in action and believe that it is possible to see
student learning and meet all the standards by allowing students to have that time to demonstrate
their learning for you and to let you know when they do need more direct instruction.
As I have said, I more or less saw this unit played out in the classroom, although with a slightly
different cumulative text. I was even able to assist in the grading of some of the final products, so
I was able to see exactly where students needed more help and for the most part, it was simply in
revising to make sentences more coherent. To aide in this, I plan to teach very specific workshop
guidelines early in the year and also to require a peer editor to read a paper aloud to catch those
silly mistakes students often make on final drafts.
I am quite glad I chose a unit which I was able to observe and adapt into my own plans. At first, I
was really struggling with which unit to choose as I knew I would learn a bunch from any unit
that I picked, but ultimately, I think it helped me to plan this unit after seeing a version of it in
action, especially with knowing how much time most things actually take versus how much time
you think they will take. I know I will not have this luxury in planning every unit, but there are
definitely skills I have learned from this overlap which will certainly aid me in planning other
units.
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