Primary
American Rhetoric

American Rhetoric: Cesar E. Chavez: "The Mexican American and the Church"

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a paper that was prepared and presented by Cesar E. Chavez and presented in March 1968 at the Second Annual Mexican Conference in Sacramento, California. In it, he discusses the lack of support from the Catholic parish for the...
Primary
American Rhetoric

American Rhetoric: Ashton Carter: Sasc Statement on Counter Isil Campaign

For Students 9th - 10th
This is the text, audio, and video [12:35] of Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter's address to Senate Armed Services Committee on the Counter-ISIL Campaign on October 28, 2015.
Primary
American Rhetoric

American Rhetoric: Anita Hill: Senate Judiciary Testimony on Clarence Thomas

For Students 9th - 10th
This is the text, audio, and video [1:44] of Anita Hill's testimony on Clarence Thomas in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 11, 1991.
Primary
American Rhetoric

American Rhetoric: Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation

For Students 9th - 10th
This is the text, audio, and video [3:08] of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's declaration of war against the Japanese the day after their attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Primary
American Rhetoric

American Rhetoric: Lyndon Baines Johnson: "We Shall Overcome" Congress Address

For Students 9th - 10th
This is the text and audio of President Lyndon Baines Johnson addressing a Joint Session of Congress on voting legislation on March 15, 1965 in Washington D.C.
Primary
American Rhetoric

American Rhetoric: Ashton Carter: Drell Lecture on Innovation and Cybersecurity

For Students 9th - 10th
This is the text, audio, and video [40:52] of Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter's Drell Lecture on innovation and cybersecurity delivered on April 23, 2015, at Stanford University, in Palo Alto, California.
Article
Other

Six Minutes: Speech Analysis #1: How to Study and Critique a Speech

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Dlugen presents a detailed collection of tips to observe when critiquing others' speeches. This skill is critical in improving individual presentation abilities. SL.9-10.3 Eval Presentation. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3, SL.9-10.3 Eval...
Website
Other

Six Minutes: Speech Analysis #3: Modified Sandwich Technique for Evaluations

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A resource featuring a systematic approach to presenting a speech evaluation including various modifications. SL.9-10.3 Eval Presentation. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3, SL.9-10.3 Eval Presentation
Handout
Other

How to Analyze a Speech

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
An interesting approach to how to analyze a speech. Presents a rhetorical pentangle as well as a rhetorical triangle, where each of the vertices represents an item to analyze. There is also an outline of the different areas to examine in...
Lesson Plan
Lumen Learning

Lumen: Rhetorical Appeals: Appeals to Ethos

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This lesson focuses on appeals to Ethos, When you evaluate an appeal to ethos, how successfully a speaker or writer establishes authority or credibility with his or her intended audience. You ask yourself what elements of the essay or...
Primary
Other

Presidential Rhetoric: George W. Bush: Energy Policy

For Students 9th - 10th
President George W. Bush discusses his energy policy, American's dependence on oil and alternative fuel in this April, 2006, speech.
Website
Able Media

Figures of Speech: Rhetoric Exercises

For Students 9th - 10th
This site is a great exercise that helps students practice identifying and translating rhetorical devices in Latin poetry. Uses examples from Book II of Vergil's Aeneid.
Activity
Other

Latin Handouts

For Students 9th - 10th
Copious amounts of handouts can be found here at the Latin Library. Includes vocabulary handouts, Latin readings, grammar handouts, exercises, and other miscellaneous handouts.
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Literature: Personification

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Explains what personification is and gives examples. Includes links to related articles on symbolism, elements of rhetoric, fables, figure of speech, and allegory.
Primary
American Rhetoric

American Rhetoric: Andre Agassi Farewell to Tennis Address at the u.s. Open

For Students 9th - 10th
This is the text, audio, and video [2:28] of Andre Agassi's farewell address to tennis at the U. S. Open on September 3, 2006.
Website
Other

Ten Rhetoric of War Writing Projects

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Created by a teacher responding to the events in Kosovo, this list is a great start for a media literacy class project. Good discussion-starting questions are included with each item on the list. Requires some independent research to...
Article
Love To Know Media

Your Dictionary: 10th Grade Grammar

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This article focuses on what grammar 10th graders need to know to be successful in the upper grades and college. These include the following: parts of speech, sentence structure/syntax, types of sentences, types of clauses, parallelism,...
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Syntax (English I Reading)

For Students 9th - 10th
This lesson focuses on syntax; All writers and speakers choose their words and the way they arrange them to make their work more powerful. You will see this in a segment of President Kennedy's speech and then in poetry; poets in...
Website
American Rhetoric

American Rhetoric: Movie Speech: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

For Students 9th - 10th
A photograph, an audio mp3, and a transcript of Atticus Finch's monologue as he delivers the closing arguments in Tom Robinson's trial in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird.
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Understatement

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This is an encyclopedia entry for the word "Understatement." It defines the term, provides background information about it, and offers references.
Primary
Nobel Media AB

The Nobel Prize: Al Gore: Nobel Peace Prize Lecture

For Students 9th - 10th
Video and text of Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech delivered on December 10, 2017, in Oslo, Norway.
Primary
CommonLit

Common Lit: "Ronald Reagan on the Challenger Disaster" by President Ronald Reagan

For Students 5th - 7th
President Ronald Reagan delivered this speech to the grieving nation on January 28, 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, leading to the death of its seven crew members. A specific purpose for reading...
Whiteboard
ClassFlow

Class Flow: Gettysburg Address

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students analyze historical speeches by Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King to find rhetorical devices and features that make these speeches memorable.
Handout
Other

Bob's Byway: Glossary of Poetic Terms

For Students 9th - 10th
Calling itself "unique," Bob's is easy to use, with cross-links throughout, phonetic pronunciation guides when necessary, and many examples and quotations. Click on the letter and scroll for the word.