Scholars analyze the use of active and passive voice in The Montgomery Bus Boycott speech and refer to an Active and Passive Sentences handout while viewing the text. Pairs of learners then work together to identify passive and active...

President Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" speech, delivered on June 12, 1987 before the Berlin Wall, provides class members with an opportunity to examine three key aspects of informational text: author bias, the use of facts and...

Discuss classical appeals of rhetoric through the speeches of Winston Churchill and FDR. Learners read, annotate, and analyze the speeches by the men before using a graphic organizer to track the use of ethos, pathos, and logos. 

Scholars continue reading César Chávez's 1984 speech, "Address to the Commonwealth Club of California." Working with partners, they complete graphic organizers to determine a claim that Chávez makes about the UFW. 

Scholars continue reading and analyzing César Chávez's 1984 speech, "Address to the Commonwealth Club of California." Working with partners, they answer text-dependent questions about how governments and consumers affect working...

What's the difference between a position speech and a position paper? Scholars use a rubric to analyze a model essay about Michael Pollan's food chains to understand what makes them unique. Additionally, pupils create anchor charts...

How do you assess whether pupils have mastered certain concepts and skills? Designing a performance task that asks learners to demonstrate their skills and providing writers with a rubric that identifies these skills and provides...

How can a persuasive speech help inspire social change? Scholars read along as they listen to the first half of César Chávez's 1984 speech, "Commonwealth Club Address." Next, pupils use graphic organizers to analyze one of Chávez's...

Analyze advertising techniques in order to pinpoint persuasive strategies that writers use. These same techniques are then examined in persuasive speeches. You will have to find your own advertisements, but speeches are included. Finish...

"Friend, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears..." Those words begin one of the most persuasive speeches in literature. Explore the elements of persuasion in a series of lessons related to William Shakespeare's Julius...

Here's a lesson that adds some zip to a study of parts of speech. Class members read two versions of the same article, one loaded with evocative nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, while the other is missing this sensory language....

Rhetorical appeals (pathos, logos, and ethos) are the focus of a series of exercises that asks class members to brainstorm topics for persuasive speeches, groups to craft a persuasive speech about one of the topics, and individuals to...

It's no secret that children can be very opinionated, but rather than fight against this natural tendency, embrace it with this primary grade writing project. After a shared reading of a children's book about...

A thorough lesson on persuasive writing takes middle schoolers through several activities, including group discussion, collaborative posters, and independent writing. They compare historical speeches and analyze the persuasive techniques...

How can word choice affect a political speech? Middle and high schoolers examine the text of the 1999 State of the Union Address, and then determine how newspaper articles and television reports describe and analyze the event. Use this...

Language learners use the debate format to practice formulating, expressing, and defending their ideas. Working in teams, class members develop resolutions, use opinion indicators to express their opinions and reasons, and prepare...

Here's a resource that provides debaters with the background information and worksheets they will need when planning a policy debate. Templates and sentence frames, as well as a rationale for using debates in the classroom, are...

Scholars explore the question of whether labor unions are the agents of change as they continue reading César Chávez's 1984 speech, "Address to the Commonwealth Club of California." They discuss rhetoric in Chávez's speech and discover...

What are the effects of one's life experiences? Class members view a slam poetry reading, a speech by President Obama, and read a short story by John Steinbeck about responding to tragedies. They summarize these events and then craft a...

Introduce your classes to the Art of Rhetoric with a lesson that focuses on Aristotle's persuasive appeals and how they have been used, both ethically and unethically, to influence opinion.

“. . .different men often see the same subject in different lights. . .” but the great orator Patrick Henry used all the skills at his command to craft a speech to convince listeners to see things as he did--that liberty was worth dying...

Those new to teaching an AP level language and composition prep course and seasoned veterans will find much to treasure in a unit that is designed to help young language scholars develop the skills they need to analyze the language...

High schoolers investigate the dilemma of a proportional response with a lesson about the history of terrorism and militant extremists in the United States. As they examine memos from the FBI and speeches from President Bush and Obama,...

An inaugural address represents the first moments of a new beginning. Using John F. Kennedy's speech as a model for guided practice, groups examine the ingredients of an inaugural address. Individuals then repeat the analysis...