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Listening: Persuasive Techniques (Ethos, Pathos, Logos)

Context: 9th grade, Honors, Suburban

1.

2.
Broad, Lifelong Goal/s & Rationale: Students will learn to
recognize the persuasive techniques, that public speakers use (pathos, logos,
ethos) and why they are effective. They will learn how to use these
techniques in their own rhetoric. This will make them better listeners
because they will understand how the techniques the speaker theyre
listening to uses are affecting them.
3.
Specific Daily Objective: Students will learn to recognize persuasive
techniques (ethos, pathos, logos) used by public speakers and their
effectiveness.
4.
Common Core or NCTE Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.3
Evaluate a speaker'suse of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any
fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.
5.
Assessment and/or Outcomes: Students will demonstrate their
understanding of persuasive techniques used in speeches by their
participation and homework that they will turn in tomorrow:
10 homework points total
o 5 for correctly choosing a speech
o 5 for giving sufficient reasons as proof
plus (+) for actively participating, minus (-) for not actively
participating
6.

7.

Materials:
John Q video clip: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jey7pZxwWl8)
PowerPoint of techniques (see attached)
Print outs from PowerPoint
Bose Speaker/iPhone
Transcript of Obamas Address to the Nation on Syria
Obamas speech (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc1TrKIzAJM)
Highlighter
Laptop cart
Extra headphones
List of speeches
Methods:

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Students will pass the rock around the circle (Adapted from Sally
Lamping) and briefly answer a question, What book are you reading right
now? Give a 1-2 sentence summary about the book.
o I will asked students to get out their Reading Workshop binders and
to write any books that sound interesting on their Booklist handout
(see attached).
(10 minutes)

I will start the Minilesson:

Anticipation:
I will show a video clip from the movie John Q
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jey7pZxwWl8) where he is
negotiating with police; he says he will surrender if they help his
son. He uses emotion, logic, and his credibility as the boys father
to appeal to his audience.
I will ask students what stuck out to them from this video clip (like
John repeating, Sick, help! Sick, help!).
(3 minutes).
Overview:
I will explain that John Q is using emotion, logic, and credibility to
convince the crowd to rally behind him and the police to listen to
him.
I will show a PowerPoint with a friendly definition and example for
each technique (see attached).
I will then pass out the slides from the PowerPoint for students to
keep.
Academic definitions:
o Pathos: from the Greek word meaning feeling, pathos
signifies an argument based on emotions and sympathy.
o Ethos: from the Greek word meaning character, ethos
signifies arguments based on the character of the author.
o Logos: from the Greek word meaning word or reason,
logos signifies arugments based on logic and reason.
o From Handbook of Literary Terms.
(3 minutes)
Modeling:
I will set out my Bose Speaker and have Obamas Address to the
Nation on Syria ready to play from my phone
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc1TrKIzAJM). I will also have the
transcript from 3 parts of Obamas speech ready to put on the ELMO.

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I will explain to the students that I am going to play 3 parts of this
speech where Obama effectively uses the techniques (pathos, logos,
ethos) while highlighting words that I think exemplify that specific
technique.
First, I will play the first 37 seconds of the video, which primarily shows
pathos. I will highlight all words that appeal to the emotions (see
attached).
o I will discuss why I highlighted these specific words: they
cause the audience to sympathize with the men, women, and
children and to picture how horrible their situation is.
Then, I will play 0:44-1:36 of the video, which primarily shows logos. I
will highlight all words that appeal to logic (see attached).
o I will discuss why I highlighted these specific words: Obama
lists logical facts about what will continue to happen if we
dont do something about it.
Finally, I will play 1:43 to the end, which primarily shows ethos. I will
highlight the words that appeal to Obamas credibility (see attached).
o I will discuss why I highlighted these specific words: Obama
establishes his credibility as the Commander-in-Chief and the
President.
(4 minutes)
Guided Practice:
I will ask students to get with a partner, get a laptop and get out their
headphones (they were told the day before to bring some, but I have
extra if some didnt bring them) as I switch to the computer and bring
up the List of Speeches on the screen (see attached).
I will tell students that they need to pick one speech from the list on
the screen. They will listen to the first 5 minutes or so of the speech.
They will listen to it once, while deciding which techniques are being
used and how. Then, they will listen to it again while writing down
words and phrases that they think are good examples to back up each
technique they see.
I will walk around and make sure everyone is on task, make sure they
are finding the right speech, and answer any questions.
After everyone is done, each group will give an overview of their
speech, and tell us which techniques their speaker used and how.
o Example: If a group picks Angelina Jolies speech, they might
say that she uses a lot of pathos to show the audience how
horrible the conditions are of the refugees.
(10 minutes)
Application:

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I will assign homework (due tomorrow) for the students to apply

what theyve learned.
They will have to find a speech (it can be from the list, as long as
they didnt use it during the guided practice) and be able to explain
how that speaker uses each technique in their speech tomorrow.
They will also need reasons/examples to back it up.
(1 minute).

I will ask the students to get out their journals. They will answer the
prompt on the board: Brainstorm some topics you would like to give your
persuasive speech about. Even though you will be using all 3 persuasive
techniques in your speech, which one could you primarily focus on to
make your specific speech topic the most effective? Students will write
for 5 straight minutes.
o Example: one student might write about how schools should start
later because students dont get enough sleep. They could use
ethos because they are actual students and pathos to get the
audience to sympathize with how tired and overwhelmed they are.
(4 minutes)

I will ask each student to come to my desk and talk with them for 1-2
minutes about the topic and technique they are thinking about focusing
on for their speech.
o I will ask students to either read their independent book quietly or
start on their homework while it is not their turn.
o I will talk to the students tomorrow that I dont get to today.
(15 minutes)
8.
Adaptations:
I will have transcripts of all speeches available if students need them to
follow along.
I will make sure each speech has the option of captions, so, if the students
need to, they can turn on the English captions.

9.
Possible Problems & Solutions:
I will let students know that not participating will result in a minus (-) for
the day.
If my phone or Bose are not participating, I will play the video on the
computer and use the overhead to highlight words/phrases.
o If the computer is not working, I will read the transcript of the
speech out loud and highlight after.

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Book List for Future Reading

Title

Author

Genre

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Obamas Address to the Nation on Syria

0:00-0:37

The situation profoundly changed, though, on August

21st, when Assads government gassed to death over a
thousand people, including hundreds of children. The
images from this massacre are sickening: Men, women,
children lying in rows, killed by poison gas. Others
foaming at the mouth, gasping for breath. A father
clutching his dead children, imploring them to get up and
walk.
0:44-1:36

If we fail to act, the Assad regime will see no reason to

stop using chemical weapons. As the ban against these
weapons erodes, other tyrants will have no reason to
think twice about acquiring poison gas, and using them.
Over time, our troops would again face the prospect of
chemical warfare on the battlefield. And it could be
easier for terrorist organizations to obtain these
weapons, and to use them to attack civilians.
If fighting spills beyond Syrias borders, these weapons
could threaten allies like Turkey, Jordan, and Israel. And
a failure to stand against the use of chemical weapons
would weaken prohibitions against other weapons of
mass destruction, and embolden Assads ally, Iran --

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which must decide whether to ignore international law by

building a nuclear weapon, or to take a more peaceful
path.

1:43-end

That's my judgment as Commander-in-Chief. But Im

also the President of the worlds oldest constitutional
democracy.

List of Speeches:

Speaker

Speech

Martin Luther King Jr.

I Have a Dream

Angelina Jolie

Speech at World Refugee

Day

Winston Churchill

Finest Hour

Susan B Anthony

On Womens Right to Vote

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Tillett Wright

Fifty Shades of Gay

Malala Yousafzai

Nobel Peace Prize