Lessons
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Introducing Yourself to Different Audiences
Encourage rhetorical awareness by asking students to introduce themselves twice, adjusting their introductions for different audiences. For the first introduction, they’ll follow standard protocol, introducing themselves to their actual peers. They’ll give their pronouns, say where they’re from, what their interests are, what they’re interested in studying, etc. For the second introduction, they’ll pretend they’re…
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Revisioning Exercise
This exercise is meant to be combined with the “Finding & Writing from a New Lead” exercise and, ideally, with Sondra Perl’s “Felt Sense” Exercise. Introduce your students to the concept of wholescale revision using Anne Lamott’s “Shitty 1st Drafts” and the accompanying slideshow. I recommend doing “revisioning” work as a class before asking the students to…
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Rhetorical Context: National Values
Materials: Slideshow of contemporary U.S. advertisements for analysis. YouTube video of Japanese advertisements. You may also want to provide students with the handout “Questions to Ask When Conducting a Rhetorical Analysis.” Objective: Students make connections between what an audience values and the rhetorical strategies rhetors use to appeal to them. Whole class discussion: Think of the national…