analyzing political rhetoric

7/29/2019 Analyzing Political Rhetoric

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Morrissey & Harmening 1

Bobby Morrissey and Elise Harmening

CI473: Literacy in Content Areas

Mark Dressman

26 February 2012

Second Assignment: Writing-to-Learn

Unit Name : Exploring the Political Rhetoric

Unit Description : In this unit, the class of seniors will analyze the political rhetoric

utilized in United States presidential speeches, past and present. The students are

all at or almost at the age where they can vote and become an integral part of our

political system. This is an important time for the students to gain a more intricate

knowledge of the politics in our country. The goal is to introduce students to

different rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, and logos, as well as develop a

sense of important issues in the political sphere. For example, we will establish that

specific statistics can help add to an argument and that type of persuasion falls

under logos. Additionally, the unit will cover the areas that are important in

presidential speeches. These areas may include social issues, economic problems,

military advances, etc. Students will also read corresponding excerpts from texts to

help learn what rhetorical devices are and how they are used in political speeches.

Writing-to-Learn Activity:

The following activity is a “Whatcha Gonna Do?” activity designed to foster

creativity and introduce the themes addressed in the unit. See worksheet below.




Name________________________________________ Date_________________ Class ____________

WHAT IF… You were the President of Planet Nunaru… Your advisor just sent you the following message about the stateaffairs:

Take some time to consider 3-4 of the issues Jaxy brought up. What wouldto your fellow Nunarunians? For the next 10 minutes, write your responsesolutions to 3-4 of the problems above.

For example:Planet Yippers has now officially declared war on us. I believe that we need to talk about military strategies and how much money we can spend on it. We also need tofigure out how to keep our people safe and try to end the war as soon as we can.

Use back of this paper to write your response. If you need more paper, younotebook or borrow paper from the front.

Hey Prez,So there are a few things I gotta update you on right now. It’s a little cah -raze-eee right now!-Spaceships are running on goopa (duh). We are still getting goopa from Planet Groona but theGrooneze are totally mad at us right now. Yikessss.-The parents are complaining that they have to pay too much for their kids’ schooling. The kids don’tseem to care though. Woohoo!

-Planet Yippers has declared war on us. Bummer.-We need to talk $$$--we have to figure out how much should go where.-So the Nunarunian intrawebatron allows for all kinds of crazy pictures and posts and stuff to be putup. Maybe we need to do something about that?-Don’t forget—election is coming up in a few weeks! What are you going to say??Peace out Nuna-scout! -Jaxy




Essay Questions:

1.) Choose one of the following speeches to critically analyze. Research the specificcontext of the speech using your notes and resources available online. Select three

rhetorical devices, and demonstrate how the president used these to persuade hisaudience. Feel free to use Hesford’s article (below) and other sources, but be sure toinclude a works cited.

John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1PbQlVMp98

Ronald Reagan’s Challenger Disaster Speech:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa7icmqgsow

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Nothing to Fear” Inaugural Speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amNpxQANk0M

George Bush’s 9/11 Speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMiqEUBux3o

Barack Obama on the Death of Osama Bin Laden:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNYmK19-d0U

Richard Nixon on Vietnam:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVRjlp_qAcY

2.) Ballots are in! You have been elected class president! Unfortunately, there is nobudget for a speechwriter , so it’s all on you. We are having an assembly next week ,and it is up to you to tell the students how you are going to make a difference in theschool.

Use your knowledge of rhetorical devices and political persuasion to convince yourclassmates that you will get the job done! Make sure to use current school issues inyour speech without exaggeration of solutions. You must be as realistic as possible.Refer to your notes and other speeches we studied this unit to help you.

**EXTRA CREDIT: Next week we will have sign-ups for students to deliver theirspeech in class for extra credit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1PbQlVMp98


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa7icmqgsow




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMiqEUBux3o


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNYmK19-d0U


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVRjlp_qAcY











Materials and Resources :

Hesford, Wendy S., and Brenda JoBrueggerann, eds. Rhetorical Visions: Reading andWriting in a Visual Culture. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007.1-23.

analyzing political rhetoric

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