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BUNDLEHigh School Writing

Google Slides and PDF

Angie Burgin Kratzer, NBCTAngie Burgin Kratzer, NBCTAngie Burgin Kratzer, NBCT

DesignedFor

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Analysisforfor

Student

A Letter to the Teacher About This ResourceHow to Use the Scaffolding Templates (A Through U)Templates A Through IThe 13 Steps of Literary AnalysisHow to Make Details Concrete (Handout)The Text Use Test (Anchor Chart)Concrete Detail Sort (Exercise/Game—Copy, Cut, and Bag)Ways to Incorporate Text (Handout)How to Write Better Analysis (Anchor Chart)Is it Analysis or Something Else? (Exercise)How to Identify Theme: An IllustrationWriting About Character

Methods of Characterization (Handout)Characterization Chart Exercise and ModelWriting Template and Model for “The Scarlet Ibis”

Writing About SettingElements of Setting (Scavenger Hunt)Writing Template and Model for “The Scarlet Ibis”

Writing About Figurative LanguageFigurative Language (Handout/Exercise—Lecture or Independent Research)Writing Template and Model for “The Scarlet Ibis”

Writing About SymbolismWriting Template and Model for “The Scarlet Ibis”

Writing About IronyWriting About ImageryWriting About ConflictWriting About MoodWriting About Flashback Writing About ForeshadowingWriting About AllusionWriting About Point of ViewLiterary Analysis IntroductionLiterary Analysis Conclusion Revision Exercise 1: Editing for Flow of ThoughtRevision Exercise 2: Sentence VarietyRevision Exercise 3: TransitionsLiterary Analysis Essay Rubric (Two Versions)

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This handbook is designed to help teachers make their way through teaching literary analysis to secondary students. It can also be a helpful tool for independent, upper-level home schooled students who need a framework for this process. The skills addressed can be applied to any work of fiction. This resource opens with an explanation of the templates used to teach literary analysis. I’m a big proponent of baby steps that lead to mastery; in fact, my students live on the sentence level for a long time before we ever move on to topic sentence/concrete detail/analysis sets. Once they are good at those little sets—what Jane Schaffer calls chunks—then we move on to the paragraph level, and they hang out in paragraphs for a long time before they ever attempt a full literary analysis essay. I urge teachers to go an inch wide and a mile deep with this skill set. Following the template breakdown is an overview of thirteen steps a student might go through in writing a full literary analysis essay after being trained on the discrete skills of writing topic sentences, concrete details, and analysis. Rounding out the resource is a collection of exercises, templates, models, and ideas for teaching literary devices and applying them to any work of fiction.Unlike Rhetorical Analysis for Every Student, this unit is not set up with lesson plans. I wrestled with this decision, but I couldn’t make sense out of creating detailed lesson plans around a hypothetical piece of literature. These activities, exercises, templates, and writing assignments might fit anywhere in a lesson plan—bell ringers, summarizers, guided practice, you name it. The teacher needs to peruse the entire resource to get a sense of its contents. Print it out, punch some holes, and order the materials in a way that works the way your brain works. Each one offers guidance on writing about specific devices; for example, students are given instructions on writing a concrete detail for imagery versus characterization.Literary analysis, of course, cannot be taught in isolation; it must be connected to a text. For this resource, I chose “The Scarlet Ibis” for the models. Completed templates are provided for character, setting, figurative language, and symbolism. The short story , often taught in grades 8 and 9, is accessible for most secondary students. The teacher may or may not “teach” this piece; rather, the exercises can serve as an example for the instructor if not the students. Throughout the unit, the teacher will get ideas for using her chosen piece of literature within these exercises.As always, I NEED FEEDBACK!. Please email me at [email protected] with suggestions for improvement; since this document will be regularly revised, I need input on ways to make it more user friendly for both the classroom teacher and the home school parent.Warmly,

mailto:[email protected]


Template ATo begin scaffolding literary analysis, the teacher gives the student a topic sentence for a paragraph. It should include OPINION ONLY and be written in red. The teacher could write it on the board and have students copy it or provide this template with the topic sentence already on the page IN RED. For all exercises in this unit, RED is for OPINION. BLUE is for CONCRETE DETAIL. Students then provide a concrete detail that defends the teacher’s topicsentence. For the time being, students are not concerned with defending a central thesis statement.

Ideas for Use:• These short exercises make great bell-ringers. Have one ready to go on students’ desks

when they walk in. Use their responses to review the previous day’s lesson.• On the day students work with characterization, summarize the lesson with a quick

Template A writing exercise.• Once students are good at writing concrete details, give template A for homework.• In a skill-based lesson plan (Modeled, Shared, Guided, Independent), use Template A as the

shared exercise that the class does together.

Topic Sentence Examples:Brother’s motives are selfish.Doodle’s family has low expectations of him.

EXAMPLE


Directions: Your teacher will provide you with a topic sentence, a debatable sentence of opinion about the piece of literature you are studying. Write that sentence on the red lines or write it in red on a separate sheet of paper. Create a concrete detail that supports the topic sentence you have. In other words, in your own original sentence, embed text that defends the truth of the topic sentence.

Teacher Topic Sentence: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Concrete Detail: Describe an event in one or two sentences and include a shortexcerpt of text that will support the topic sentence.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Feeling Stuck? Write down the text excerpt you think you would like to use. Make sure it’s specific, detailed, and factual. Skip a line and then experiment with ways to make an important piece of that text run smoothly into your own sentence. Aim for having more of YOU than you have EXCERPT.

©Angie Burgin Kratzer All rights reserved. www.angiekratzer.com A


Here’s your new mantra: The better I make the concrete detail, the easier it will be to write analysis of it. A concrete detail

1. Choose an excerpt from the text.2. Quote a section of it that defends the topic sentence. As little as

one word may be needed, but you may need as much as a coupleof sentences. You can also paraphrase it if the exact wording isnot needed. On rare occasions when you need a longer passage,you can summarize it.

3. Fit it smoothly into your own sentence.


very specific broad

discrete information used to describe or explain something

generally true

an event, description, or words spoken by a character

the reader’s inference

quoted, paraphrased, or summarized

the author’s or reader’s opinion

a combination of the writer’s language and the text

a dropped quotation


Concrete Detail General Detail Author’s Analysis/Opinion

When Brother finds Doodle, the young boy is “bleeding from the mouth,” and “his neck and the front of his

shirt [are] stained a brilliant red.”

Brother and Doodle spend their summer days at Old

Woman Swamp.

It was too late to turn back, for we had both wandered

too far into a net of expectations and left no

crumbs behind.

Doodle buries the dead Ibis in the flower garden and

even offers up a mournful hymn for the fallen bird.

No one expected much out of Doodle because he was

born so weak.

There is within me (and with sadness I have watched it in

others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love,

much as our blood sometimes bears the

seed of our destruction, and at times I was mean to

Doodle.

On Doodle’s sixth birthday, the brothers surprise the

family, and no one makes a sound as the boy walks

“slowly across the room and [sits] down at his

place at the table.”

Doodle is unable to walk. I did not know then that

pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two

vines, life and death.

In order to keep Doodle motivated, Brother imagines

the two of them as “old men, white-haired, him with a long white beard and me still pulling him around in

the go-cart.”

Caul babies are rare. Brother teaches Doodle to walk out of pride, not love

for his brother.



The job of a literary analysis introduction is to set up the reader with the idea being proved in the essay. A good intro includes the author’s name, the title of the piece of literature, and the organizational points being used as the tripod to support a debatable thesis. There are many ways to go about creating a strong introduction, and this graphic organizer offers just one method:

The first sentence in the introduction is a broad but relevant statement

about literature and its connection to those who read it.

The second sentence serves to connect the broad truth to

the thesis or simply to the workof literature and its

author.

The third sentence providesa blueprint for the essay. This last sentence couldbe a thesis that includes

the blueprint.

Model: A tragic hero often serves as a warning to look within for the true villain. In Anna Cope’s Crystal Bells, the main character causes her own downfall, revealing the dangers of pride. The author communicates her theme through figurative language, irony, and symbolism.

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PDF includes link to Google Slides with editable student text boxes

About the Author

Angie Burgin Kratzer is a high school English teacher in central North Carolina, and she holds Secondary ELA and K-12 Academically Gifted certificates. In 2001 and 2011, she earned her Adolescent/Young Adult Literacy certificate from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Her experience includes 18 years in the classroom teaching English 9, English 10, English 11, English 12, AP English Language & Composition, Creative Writing, and Newspaper Journalism; and three years as a curriculum specialist for 6th through 12th grade English Language Arts. She also serves school districts as a consultant and trainer in writing instruction. If you have questions about any of her products, contact her at [email protected].

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Argumentation

PersuasionA Complete Unit

Angie Burgin Kratzer, NBCT

About This ResourceThe purpose of this unit, which is aligned with both Common Core State Standards and AP English Language & Composition standards, is to teach students to understand, analyze, and create both argumentative and persuasive pieces. I have taken the stance that argument is pure logic, and the first lesson plans stay within that idea of purity. Once the unit pulls in emotion and ethics, students will learn to break down such issues as English as the national language and physician-assisted suicide. See the Table of Contents on the next page for a complete listing of lesson plans, each of which has relevant handouts, and (where appropriate formative assessments. There are 21 lessons, 35 handouts, two formative assessments, one summative assessment, and bonus material.

This resource in its entirety is available on Google Slides. You will find instructions for access on the page after the Table of Contents.

I have included this resource in the following bundles:

If you have any questions about any of the exercises or strategies in this unit, feel free to contact me at [email protected].

[email protected]

Table of ContentsTerms of UseDirections for Google DriveLesson 1: Argumentation vs. Persuasion

Student Handouts A and B

Lesson 2: The Laws of Logic-Deductive Reasoning Student Handouts C and D

Lesson 3: The Laws of Logic-Inductive Reasoning Student Handouts E and F

Lesson 4: Logical Fallacies (Part I) Student Handouts G and H

Lesson 5: Logical Fallacies (Part II) Student Handout I

Lesson 6: Logical Fallacies (Part III) Student Handouts J and K

Lesson 7: Classical Argumentation (Part I) Student Handouts L, M, and N

Lesson 8: Classical Argumentation (Part II) Student Handout O

Lesson 9: In-Class Persuasive Essay Student Handout P

Lesson 10: Revisiting Persuasive Appeals Student Handout Q

Lesson 11: Model Essay: Patrick Henry's Speech to the Virginia Convention Student Handouts R and S

Lesson 12: Rogerian Argument Lesson 13: The Toulmin Model

Student Handout TLesson 14: Polishing Your Persuasion: Strengthening the Thesis

Student Handouts U and VLesson 15: Polishing Your Persuasion: Concession and Refutation

Student Handout WLesson 16: Polishing Your Persuasion: Choosing Evidence

Student Handouts X, Y, Z, AA, and BB

©©Angie Burgin Kratzer All rights reserved. www.angiekratzer.com

Page 1 of 2

Table of Contents

Lesson 17: Polishing Your Persuasion: Writing the Introduction and ConclusionStudent Handouts CC, DD, and EE

Lesson 18: Unit Review Student Handout FF

Lesson 19: Argumentation & Persuasion AssessmentLesson 20: AP Timed Writing

Lined PaperLesson 21: Scoring

Student Handout GGBonus Material: Researched Persuasive Speech Assignment Sheet and Rubric

Links and Organizer for Capital Punishment

Page 2 of 2

Lesson 1: Argumentation vs. PersuasionMaterials Needed: Copies of Student Handout A and Student Handout B, slips of paper for the summary

Standards:CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics ortexts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.APELC Skills: RHS 1.B Explain how an argument demonstrates understanding of an audience's beliefs, values, or needs.“I can” Statement: I can explain the difference between the strategies used in argumentation and those used in persuasion.

Essential Question: What strategies would a writer employ in an argument versus those used in persuasion?

Activating Prior Knowledge: In pairs or trios, have students briefly tell one another about the last argument they had. Have a few students share aloud. On the board, list the characteristics of an argument as they understand the term. Use the list as a segue into an explanation that a fight and an argument are not the same thing, that in rhetoric, pure argument involves no emotion, simply facts that lead to logical conclusions.

Teacher Input: Distribute Student Handout A and explain the purpose of a terminology sort (to prepare students for the terms to be learned in the unit). Instruct students to read the list and place each term in the appropriate column. Model the placement of one or two terms. Pronounce the terms on the list if necessary.

Student Active Participation: Students complete the terminology sort individually within ten minutes. (The teacher should monitor closely to get a sense of the students' background knowledge.) Invite students to stand and mingle, searching out three students who have terms on the opposite side of the spectrum. For example, a student who has Pathos in the far left column may try to find a student who has Pathos in one of the two right-hand columns.

Teacher Input: Distribute Student Handout B and deliver a mini lecture on the three ways to influence an audience. Summary: It is through the mind, heart, and soul that a writer or speaker can influence the way another person thinks or behaves. Appealing to the mind of a person is the use of logic, and this strategy requires the use of FACTS. Appealing to the heart of a person is the use of emotion. When an advertiser appeals to a teenager’s desire to fit in and be popular (AXE Body Spray, for example), that strategy is called pathos. Appealing to the soul is the attempt to influence through the audience’s own set of ethics, morals, or religious beliefs. Charities that raise money to feed starving children in developing countries run commercials appealing to viewers’ ethos, the ethical law that requires the more fortunate to help the less fortunate. Ethos also involves the credibility of the speaker; if the audience does not trust the speaker, the words have little weight.

****Argument is the appeal solely to logic. Its foundation is fact and does not rely on emotion, ethics, trickery, or deception of any kind. Persuasion usually includes the combination of all three appeals.****

Discuss as a whole class how the definition of argument differs from the preconceived idea they expressed at thestart of class.

Summary: On a slip of paper distributed ahead of time, students 1) define in their own words three terms they learned in the lesson 2) explain a misconception that was cleared up or a concept that needs to be cleared up 3 3) describe one idea with which they disagree or one idea about which they would like to know more.

Extension: Assign the terms logos, pathos, and ethos to three students or groups of students. Ask them to research the origin of each word and be prepared to share their findings with the class.


SAMPLE LESSON

PLAN

Mind, Heart, and Soul

Logos=LogicPure argument appeals only to the mind of the audience. Argument is logic and relies on truth, not tricks.

Pathos=EmotionsPersuasion takes advantage of the feelings of the audience. When a writer can appeal to fear, pity, anger, jealousy, or the desire to belong, the audience can be won over.

Ethos=EthicsPersuasion takes advantage of the morals of the audience. When a writer can appeal to religion, ethics, morals, or an honor code, the audience can be convinced.

B©©Angie Burgin Kratzer All rights reserved. www.angiekratzer.com

SAMPLE

HANDOUT

Syllogism Workout Name: ________________

All girls are prissy. Karla is a girl. Karla is prissy.

All marsupials carry their young

in a pouch. An opossum is a marsupial. An

opossum carries its young in a pouch.

A.Valid butnot sound

C. Validand sound

B. Neithervalid norsound

People who are not patriotic should not

be elected. The candidate does not wear a flag on his lapel. You should not vote for him.


C. Validand sound


To be considered a sport, an activity

must involve competition. Racing

involves competition.Therefore, racing is a

sport.

D


C. Validand sound

B. Neithervalidnor sound

#1 #2

#33 #44


C. Validand sound



SAMPLE

EXERCISE

Toulmin Model Back Mapping Organizer

Claim (What conclusion is the writer or speaker drawing from the facts? What is the author’s thesis?)

Warrant (What is the underlying assumption that connects the evidence to the claim? Why does the evidence mean the claim is true?)

Evidence (What facts are being used to support the claim?)

Rebuttal (What opponent counterclaims are included? These can be anywhere in the text. How are they refuted? Don’t get lost in the weeds here; a rebuttal can be a claim in itself with evidence..)

Backing (What additional support is given for the warrant?) Qualifier (If any, what indications are given of the strength of the leap from the evidence to the claim? Look for words like usually, often, or sometimes.)

T©Angie Burgin Kratzer All rights reserved. www.angiekratzer.com

SAMPLEGRAPHIC

ORGANIZER


SAMPLE

RUBRIC


Skinny Borders by RamonaM GraphicsFonts

Honey Script

Casual Hardcore

About the Author

Angie Burgin Kratzer is a high school English teacher in central North Carolina, and she holds Secondary ELA and K-12 Academically Gifted certificates. In 2001 and 2011, she earned her Adolescent/Young Adult Literacy certificate from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Her experience includes 18 years in the classroom teaching English 9, English 10, English 11, English 12, AP English Language & Composition, Creative Writing, and Newspaper Journalism; and three years as a curriculum specialist for 6th through 12th grade English Language Arts. She also serves school districts as a consultant and trainer in writing instruction. If you have questions about any of her products, contact her at [email protected]. Learn more at www.angiekratzer.com!

www.angiekratzer.com

[email protected]

Introduction

Directions for Google Drive

Common Core Alignment MatrixLesson 1: The Rhetorical Triangle

Student Handout A: The Rhetorical TriangleLesson 2: SOAPS

Student Handout B: SOAPS Lesson 3: Introduction to Style and Tone

Student Handout C: SOAPS Activator Student Handout D: Rhetorical Analysis Overview Student Handout E: Rhetorical ModesStudent Handout F: Alphabetized Tone Words Student Handout G: Tone Word Connotation Sort

Lesson 4: ToneStudent Handout H: Tone Words in Categories

Lesson 5: Detail and ToneLesson 6: Paragraph Construction Lesson 7: Introduction to Diction

Student Handout I: Diction Rhetoric Tool BoxLesson 8: Diction Analysis

Bonus Handout: Diction Scavenger HuntStudent Handout J: Diction Scavenger HuntStudent Handout K: Cartoon Analysis

Lesson 9: Thesis Statement ConstructionStudent Handout L: Thesis Statement TemplateStudent Handout M: The Power of Diction: Ethnic Slurs


Page 1 of 3

Lesson 10: Writing About DictionStudent Handout N: Rhetorical Analysis Plan A: Device by DeviceStudent Handout O: Body Paragraph Template

Lesson 11: Introduction to ScoringRhetorical Analysis Matrix Rubric (two versions)

Lesson 12: Figurative Language AnalysisStudent Handout P: Terminology Knowledge Spectrum Student Handout Q: Figurative Language Rhetoric ToolBox

Lesson 13: Figurative Language Analysis Student Handout R and Student Handout S: John Smith’s 1616 Letter to Queen Anne of Great Britain

Lesson 14: Imagery AnalysisAdvanced Figurative Language Quiz (two versions)Student Handout T: Excerpt from “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

Lesson 15: Syntax OverviewStudent Handout U: Syntax Overview NotesStudent Handout V: Basic Syntax

Lesson 16: Writing About SyntaxLesson 17: Advanced Syntax Techniques

Student Handout W: Discovery Organizer: Advanced Syntax Techniques Lesson 18: Syntax Analysis PracticeLesson 19: Syntax Review

Student Handout X: Syntax Scavenger Hunt Student Handout Y: Syntax Rhetoric Tool Box


Page 2 of 3

Lesson 20 : Syntax Assessment (Test with key) Lesson 21 : Point of View

Student Handout Z: Point of View Rhetoric Tool BoxStudent Handout AA: Point of View Analysis Exercise (Slave Narrative)

Lesson 22: OrganizationStudent Handout BB: Point of View Analysis

Exercise (The Stone Angel)Student Handout CC: Organization Rhetoric Tool Box Student Handout DD: Chief Joseph’s Letter to

President HayesLesson 23 : Planning Options

Lesson 23: Planning OptionsStudent Handout EE: Rhetorical Analysis Plan B: Author’s Organization

Lesson 24: IronyLesson 25: The Introduction and ConclusionLesson 26: Practice

Lined Paper (identical to that used for the AP Lang Exam)Lesson 27: Scoring


Page 3 of 3

Teachers,

I hope you find this unit helpful as you navigate your way through rhetorical analysis. These lessons might be used in several different ways, so make them work for you. I have made no attempt to balance the lessons; there are many more for syntax than for any other device because that tool is so challenging for our students.

Each lesson lists materials needed, suggests an essential question and “I can” statement,indicates the AP English Language & Composition skill, and provides instructions for activation of prior knowledge, teacher input, student active participation, and summarizing. Following the instructions for Google Drive, you will find an alignment document for Common Core State Standards. You will note as well my inclusion of modeled, shared, guided, and independent work in the skill-based lessons. I have made an effort to include many instructional styles, learning styles, and ability levels. Some lessons may seem too rudimentary for your students if your school administration has an “only the cream of the crop” philosophy in scheduling classes. If, like mine, your administration believes that any student willing to accept a challenge should be afforded the opportunity to meet it, you will find many of the exercises, strategies, and graphic organizers helpful as these students learn to read closely. Although this unit was originally designed for Advanced Placement students, all secondary students will benefit.

In the course of the unit, you will find references to copyrighted material that you will need to obtain for your students. I have provided authors and titles, and when they are in the public domain, the texts themselves.

Warning: Avoid getting hung up on terminology. While a broad device vocabulary is always helpful, students will never see esoteric terms like anaphora or synecdoche on the multiple-choice portion of the AP Lang exam. Exam free response readers will not reward a student who can show off an understanding of metonymy if that student cannot connect the device to the author’s purpose. Contrast can get the job done even if the student does not know the term juxtaposition. Teach the terms and help students learn to recognize them, but most importantly, guide students toward the broader skill set of making connections between author’s choices and author’s purpose.

Terms of Use: Feel free to photocopy what you need for your own classroom or share the Google Slides with your own students. Please do not distribute this material in any way to another educator unless you have purchased an additional license for that person. Do not post this unit or any part of this unit on a classroom, school, district, or file-sharing site.

Warmly,

AngieAngie Burgin Kratzer, NBCT

[email protected]©Angie Burgin Kratzer All rights reserved. www.angiekratzer.com


This unit includes access to all 92 pages on Google Slides.

What you need to get started:

1. Download this link for the Google Slides.

• LINK PROVIDED IN PURCHASED VERSION

2. Have access to the Internet and a Google Account. (FREE)

3. Open the file on your own Google Drive and engage while in the edit mode.

4. Have printer access to print out the finished product. (OPTIONAL)

If you haven’t created a free Google account, you will need to do that before beginning the unit. Each student will need his or her own account in order to work in Google Slides.

Before you add any text to the handouts, it is VERY important to save a copy of the file on your own Google Drive and then edit the copy. You do not want to edit the original file.


Common Core

Standard

W.9-10.2Write informative/ explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

W.9-10.4Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

W.9-10.5Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.

W.9-10.9Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.



Lesson 1: The Rhetorical Triangle

Materials Needed:

• Emily Prager’s “Our Barbies, Ourselves” (copies or electronic access)

• Copies of Student Handout A (color and black & white provided)

• Recommended reading (for the instructor) prior to lesson:

http://mjreiff.com/uploads/3/4/2/1/34215272/grant-davie.pdf

APELC Skill: RHS 1.A Identify and describe components of the rhetorical situation: the exigence, audience, writer, purpose, context, and message.

Essential Question: What is the rhetorical triangle, and how do I apply it to non-fictiontext?

“I can” statement: I can identify the elements of the rhetorical triangle and apply the graphic tonon-fictiontext.

Activator: In pairs, have students describe to one another a time they had to inform a parent of badnews (such as a bad grade or getting in trouble at school) or ask permission for something they doubted they would get (such as permission to go to a party or money for a school trip). Each student takes one minute to tell his or her story. As a whole group, ask a few students to share their stories with the group, and try to get a variety of stories. The goal is to create a smooth segue to a discussion of the importance of context, knowing the audience, and presenting information in a way that will get the intended result, e.g., forgiveness for a grade of F in Algebra II.

Teacher Input:• Using Student Handout A, explain the rhetorical triangle. If you have not already done so prior

to this unit, define rhetoric as theart of writing and speaking effectively.

• In a class discussion, guide students in applying the rhetorical triangle to the stories theyshared during the activator.

Student Active Participation:

• Students read silently (or in pairs or small groups) an article of the teacher’s choice (Emily Prager’s “Our Barbies, Ourselves” works well). Consider using the reading as a pre-instruction homework assignment (See Marzano’s Classroom Instruction thatWorks.).

• Individually, students identify the most important sentence in the essay, the most important phrase, and the most important word. The instructor may choose to give them moreinstruction (such as trying to point them toward the thesis), or you may leave the directionsbroad. This “Most Important Word” strategy is a great way to get students to identify author’spurpose with any text.

• Assemble students in groups of three to four (no more). Have them share their sentences first, then phrases, then words within each small group. Each group comes to consensus on ONE sentence, phrase, or word from among all discussed and writes it on the board (or newsprint,etc.).

• Use the group choices on the board to introduce purpose and map the rhetorical triangle

together as a whole group. Have the class come to consensus on the author’spurpose.

Summary: In the original activator pairs or small groups, students teach each other the elements ofthe rhetorical triangle. For example, one student might explain speaker, another audience, a third purposeand a fourth context. Monitor closely to check for misconceptions.

https://thibodauxlangcomp.wikispaces.com/file/view/Our-Barbie-Our-Selves-pdf.pdf

http://mjreiff.com/uploads/3/4/2/1/34215272/grant-davie.pdf

https://thibodauxlangcomp.wikispaces.com/file/view/Our-Barbie-Our-Selves-pdf.pdf


A


Rhetoric is the art of writing and speaking effectively. Rhetorical analysis is the process of breaking down how a writer or speaker gets a message across to a reader or listener. How an author communicates is also knows as an author’s style, but style is just is one element of rhetoric.

Think of this analysis process as the unpacking of a tool box. An author has at his or her disposal numerous tools to help communicate with an audience.

D

L©Angie Burgin Kratzer All rights reserved. www.angiekratzer.com

Tone 1: ______________________________ (Think of Tone 1 as the first tone encountered in the piece or the primary tone of the piece. Think of the dominant indicators of the author’s opinion about the topic. Since a writer mayshow an evolution of thought, this dominant tone may not appear first.)Tone 2: ______________________________ (Think of Tone 2 as oneencountered at an organizational shift or the secondary tone of the piece. Expect this one to be more difficult to discern, particularly if it is a subtle, underlying perspective. Keep a close eye out for sarcasm and watch for shift words like but, however, and except.)




John Smith's 1616 Letter to Queen Anne of Great Britain:

Most admired Queen,

Model Paragraph: (Teacher demonstrates)

The ①love I bear my God, my King and country, hath so oft emboldened me in the worst of extreme dangers, that now ②honesty doth constrain me to presume thus far beyond myself, to present your Majesty this short discourse: ③if ingratitude be a deadly poison to all ④honest virtues, I must be guilty of ⑤that crime if I should omit any means to be thankful.

①personification ②personification ③metaphor ④personification ⑤metaphor

Shared Paragraph: (Students and teacher identify the found examples together)

So it is, that some ten years ago being in Virginia, and taken prisoner by the power of Powhatan their chief King, I received from this great Savage exceeding great courtesy, especially from his son Nantaquaus, the most manliest, comeliest, boldest spirit, I ever saw in a Savage, and his sister Pocahontas, the King’s most dear and well-beloved daughter, being but a child of twelve or thirteen years of age, whose ⑥compassionate pitiful heart, of my ⑦desperate estate, ⑧gave me much cause to respect her: I being the first Christian this proud King and his grim attendants ever saw: and thus enthralled in their barbarous power, I cannot say I felt the least occasion ofwant that was in the power of those my mortal foes to prevent, notwithstanding all their threats. After some six weeks ⑨fatting amongst those ⑩Savage courtiers, at the minute of my execution, she hazarded the beating out of her own brains to save mine; and not only that, but so prevailed with her father, that I was safely conducted to Jamestown: where I found about eight and thirty miserable poor and sick creatures, to keep possession of all those large territories of Virginia; such was the weakness of this ⑪poor commonwealth, as had the savages not fed us, we directly had starved. And this relief, most gracious Queen, was commonly brought us by this Lady Pocahontas. ⑥ ⑦ ⑧ ⑨ ⑩ ⑪

Guided Paragraph: (Students work in pairs or trios to identify and label)

Notwithstanding all these passages, when inconstant fortune turned our peace to war, this tender virgin would still not spare to dare to visit us, and by her our jars have been oft appeased, and our wants still supplied; were it the policy of her father thus to employ her, or the ordinance of God thus to make her his instrument, or her extraordinary affection to our nation, I know not: but of this I am sure; when her father with the utmost of his policy and power, sought to surprise me, having but eighteen with me, the dark night could not affright her from coming through the irksome woods, and with watered eyes gave me intelligence, with her best advice to escape his fury; which had he known, he had surely slainher.

Independent—remainder of essay: (Each student works alone to identify and label)

Jamestown with her wild train she as freely frequented, as her father’s habitation; and during the time of two or three years, she next under God, was still the instrument to preserve this colony from death, famine and utter confusion; which if in those times, had once been dissolved, Virginia might have lain as it was at our first arrival to this day.

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Match each term with itsexample.A. synecdoche E. meiosis I. metaphorB. paradox F. hyperbole J. simileC. metonymy G. apostrophe K. antithesisD. oxymoron H. personification L. litotes

______1. Let's go to bed now.

______2. It was an open secret that the company had used a paid volunteer to test the plastic glasses.

______3. "If you wish to preserve your secret, wrap it up in frankness."

______4. "Language is a road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come fromand where they are going."

______5. "Human speech is like a cracked cauldron on which we bang out tunes thatmake bears dance, when we want to move the stars to pity."

______6. "The sputtering economy could make the difference if you're trying to get adeal on a new set of wheels."

______7. “My shrink just killed himself and blamed me in the note.”

______8. "[W]ith a vigorous and sudden snatch, I brought my assailant harmlessly, hisfull length, on the not over clean ground--for we were now in the cow yard."

______9. “[. . .] Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amazed [. . .]”

______10. "O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, / That I am meek and gentlewith these butchers! / Thou art the ruins of the noblest man / That ever lived in the tide of times." ______11. Man proposes and God disposes.

______12. “ Here once the embattled farmers stood/And fired the shot heard roundthe world.”

Syntax is the way an author designs sentences to have an effect on the reader or listener. In other words, a writer or speaker can manipulate through grammar. The author can slow you down, speed you up, or even force you to pay attention to a particular word (diction!) by placing it strategically in a sentence.

Look at the difference between these passages:

“I closed my eyes so I couldn’t see the darkness, scrunching them together in terror, clamping my mouth shut so I wouldn’t scream. Edward let me fall. It was silent and short. The air whipped past me for just half a second, and then, with a huff as I exhaled, Alice’s waiting arms caught me.”

Meyer, Stephanie. New Moon. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2006.

“Beyond the fire were two mattresses made of deerskin and stuffed, presumably, with reeds; and neatly rolled on top of each was a wolf fur. Ellen and Jack would sleep there, with the fire between them and the mouth of the cave. At the back of the cave was a formidable collection of weapons and wicked daggers, a carefully made wooden lance with its tip sharpened and fire-hardened; and, among all those primitive implements, threebooks.”

Follett, Ken. Pillars of the Earth. New York: Penguin Books, 1989.

Pace

You may have noticed that the first passage contains shorter sentences than the second and that the second passage has more description than the first. That’s because short sentences speed up a reader and are often used to describe action. Longer sentences slow a reader down and provide a medium for physical description, often of settings that are vital to the purpose of the passage. Remember that all devices you discuss must point back to author’s purpose.

Emphasis

Short sentences put the brakes on a reader and make him or her pay attention. The sentence “Edward let me fall” would have much less effect if it were long and involved rather than short and loose. The placement of “three books” at the end of the sentence in the second passage is meant for emphasis: Three books? Isn’t this a cave, after all? Why are there books in a cave?

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Angie Burgin Kratzer, NBCT

RhetoricalModes

Analysis tips

About this Resource

• A rhetorical mode is simply a non-fiction writing genre. Some sources will group all informational texts into just four categories, narration, description, exposition, and persuasion. This grouping is misleading. Persuasion can be an umbrella term since, ultimately, all writing should have a thesis and therefore be persuasive. Narration and description can stand alone, but exposition can be broken down into numerous “sub modes.” What is left entirely out of a four-category grouping is argumentation. This mode must be taught to mastery in any high school or college English class, so argumentation and persuasion are taught discreetly in the unit Argumentation & Persuasion: A Complete Unit. Excluded as well is literary analysis, which is also treated separately in Literary Analysis for Every Student.

The following modes are addressed in this resource:Narration Cause-EffectDescription Process AnalysisExtended Definition Comparison-ContrastClassification and Division

Materials for each mode include the following:• a student handout • a graphic organizer • a list of prompts• a rubric with points assigned• a rubric with no points assigned• an annotated, diverse list of suggested models• a tips sheet for analysis of pieces written in the specified mode

Suggestions for Use:

• Design an AP English Language & Composition class around these modes. At the start of each unit, distribute the handout. Analyze examples of pieces in each mode, write in each mode, and write about pieces in which these modes are used within others as devices and strategies.

• In a creative writing class, have students construct pieces in each mode.

• In any high school English class, address Common Core State Standards™ by studying one essay in each of these modes.

Have questions? Email the author at [email protected]

Want more? Join Angie’s email list and get a free pacing guide for AP English Language & Composition.


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What you need to get started:

1. Download this link for the Google Slides.

Link will be provided in purchased version.

2. Have access to the Internet and a Google Account. (FREE)

3. Open the file on your own Google Drive and engage while in the edit mode.

4. Have printer access to print out the finished product. (OPTIONAL)

If you haven’t created a free Google account, you will need to do that before beginning the unit. Each student will need his or her own account in order to work in Google Slides.

Before you add any text to the handouts, it is VERY important to save a copy of the file on your own Google Drive and then edit the copy. You do not want to edit the original file.

©Angie Burgin Kratzer All rights reserved. http://www.angiekratzer.com/


description

Because we use description every day in our spoken language, writers can underestimate its power. An elaborate description can kill a narrative, deepen it, or make it come alive. Note the difference in these authors’ approaches:

“As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.” Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

“It is among these hills that the Delaware takes its rise; and flowing from the limpid lakes and thousand springs of this region the numerous sources of the Susquehanna meander through the valleys until, uniting their streams, they form one of the proudest rivers of the United States. The mountains are generally arable to the tops, although instances are not wanting where the sides are jutted with rocks that aid greatly in giving to the country that romantic and picturesque character which it so eminently possesses. The vales are narrow, rich, and cultivated, with a stream uniformly winding through each. Beautiful and thriving villages are found interspersed along the margins of the small lakes, or situated at those points of the streams which are favorable for manufacturing; and neat and comfortable farms, with every indication of wealth about them, are scattered profusely through the vales, and even to the mountain tops.” James Fenimore Cooper, The Pioneers

Novelists Ernest Hemingway and James Fenimore Cooper are known for their description, Hemingway for the clean, direct nature of his and Cooper for the way in which he hovers over an object or person. Both approaches have their place in non-fiction texts as well. Here memoirist Gary Soto, within a longer narrative, describes what it was like to steal a pie:

“In my front yard, I leaned against a car fender and panicked about stealing the apple pie. I knew an apple got Eve in deep trouble with snakes because Sister Marie had shown us a film about Adam and Eve being cast into the desert, and what scared me more than falling from grace was being thirsty for the rest of my life. But even that didn’t stop me from clawing a chunk from the pie tin and pushing it into the cavern of my mouth. The slop was sweet and gold colored in the afternoon sun. I laid more pieces on my tongue, wet finger-dripping pieces, until I was finished and felt like crying because it was about the best thing I had ever tasted. I realized right there and then, in my sixth year, in my tiny body of two hundred bones and three or four sins, that the best things in life came stolen. I wiped my sticky fingers on the grass and rolled my tongue over the corners of my mouth. A burp perfumed the air.”Gary Soto, A Summer Life

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description


What can a writer describe?The author of a non-fiction text needs to communicate with an audience, the reader or listener. He or she needs to put the audience into a position of understanding, and one of the best ways of doing that is to describe the person, scene, event, or object in such a way that the senses are stimulated.

A PlaceThe description of a place can be organized in a variety of ways. The writer might think in terms of physical space and paint a big picture the way James Fenimore Cooper does or give details the way a video camera might capture them if shooting from an airplane. A room can be described from to bottom, around the walls, or from furniture to floor.

A PersonA person’s face, gait, character, clothing, and behavior can be described, sometimes in the same passage. Writers often use an effective zoom-in strategy and allow one feature to speak for the rest. For example, a young child’s disheveled clothing could tell a story itself.

An EventInterwoven with narration, an event or episode can be depicted in a variety of ways. The image of a flame thrower scorching brush could open a description of a memoir of trench warfare, and the smell of burning flesh can both repulse and draw a reader in.

Thinking Through the Thesis

As is the case with narrative writing, the thesis in a descriptive essay might be a bit harder both to plan and pin down. Begin with the general impression you want to create and go from there. For example, you might want to create an impression of nostalgia about a summer vacation home, or you might want to take it a step further and sharpen the impression into a more defined thesis, like the human need for fond childhood memories. The length of the description will often determine the specificity of the thesis.

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Description prompts

Describe your bedroom. Think beyond the physical and associate your room with what it does for you (e.g., provide comfort and safety) or to you (e.g., remind you of something painful).

Create a character sketch of a teacher, sibling, friend, neighbor, or co-worker.

Go to a shopping center and people watch for 30 minutes. Find a person who looks interesting and create a back story for him or her. Use description to help paint the picture of the person’s home life and relationships.

Close your eyes and picture a large meal with your family (such as a milestone birthday or holiday dinner). What do you smell? What do you hear? What do you see? Incorporate all the senses in your description of a one-hour meal.

Imagine the place in which you feel most uncomfortable (e.g., math class, church, the doctor’s office, the mall, a party) and describe the emotions you feel. Analyze their origins in order to develop and defend a thesis.

Narrate a very brief event (e.g., falling, being caught cheating, being told bad news) and use description to do the telling rather than linear storytelling.

Recall a bizarre dream. Rather than recounting the dream as a narration, describe it in snapshots.

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Description organizer


Begin with a focus on the senses. After deciding what overall impression you want to create about this person, place, or object, or event, make quick notes about the senses’ association with this topic. For example, a carnival might elicit more ideas about sound and smell, but your grandmother’s kitchen might be better served through smell and touch.

Brainstorm analogies with which you might compare your topic. Here’s the trick: MAKE IT FRESH. If you’ve heard it before, it’s cliché.

Make a decision about the method of organization. Top to bottom? Left to right? Head to toe? Before to after? Which method will best serve your overall impression or thesis?

Consider other rhetorical choices you might make. Writers often use imagery, figurative language, and other modes such as narration and comparison-contrast in descriptive writing.

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Overall Impression or ThesisSight

SoundSmell

Taste

Touch


Descriptive essay rubric

____ The piece has a clear overall impression or thesis. 15 points

____ The organizational strategy contributes to the overall impression or thesis. 15 points

____ Chosen details contribute to the overall impression or thesis. 15 points

____ The author effectively employs the following devices or strategies in the communication of the overall impression or thesis. 15 points

___ imagery ___ figurative language ___ diction

___ syntax ___ irony ___ point of view

____ The style of the essay overall demonstrates maturity of voice through sentence formation and word choice. 10 points

____ The essay contains no errors in sentence formation. 10 points

____ The essay contains no errors in usage. 10 points

____ The essay contains no distracting errors in mechanics. 10 points

____ Total Points



Descriptive essay rubric

____ The piece has a clear overall impression or thesis. ___ points

____ The organizational strategy contributes to the overall impression or thesis. ___ points

____ Chosen details contribute to the overall impression or thesis. ___ points

____ The author effectively employs the following devices or strategies in the communication of the overall impression or thesis. ___ points

___ imagery ___ figurative language ___ diction

___ syntax ___ irony ___ point of view

____ The style of the essay overall demonstrates maturity of voice through sentence formation and word choice. ____ points

____ The essay contains no errors in sentence formation. ____ points

____ The essay contains no errors in usage. ____ points

____ The essay contains no distracting errors in mechanics. ____ points

____ Total Points



Recommended texts: description

This list of pieces was gathered from several anthologies, including The Language of Composition (2008 Edition), The Norton Reader (Tenth Edition), The McGraw-Hill Reader (Eleventh Edition), and 50 Essays (Fifth Edition). Some of these titles are in the public domain and can be found online. Most anthologies include student questions at the end of each piece.

Keep in mind that authors do not generally set out to write an essay or speech in a particular mode, so these choices are a bit subjective. What to one reader might be a broadly descriptive text might to another be one of cause and effect.

Barbara Tuchman, “’This is the End of the World’: The Black Death”Tuchman uses graphic, detailed description within a narrative of the plague.

Judith Ortiz Cofer, “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria”This essay blends several descriptions (of dress, vignettes, societal rules) to complete a picture of the origins and consequences of stereotypes.

Annie Dillard, “An American Childhood”This excerpt is a character sketch made up of physical descriptions, dialogue, vivid imagery, and brief narratives.

Natalie Angier, “Drugs, Sports, Body Image, and G.I. Joe”This New York Times article begins with embedded descriptions that introduce a broader argument.

Jamaica Kincaid, “The Ugly Tourist”This short essay plays with point of view with the use of second person to reveal the truth about tourists to tourists.

Joseph Mitchell, “The Rivermen”This short excerpt of Up in the Old Hotel offers a straightforward physical description.



analysis tips: Description

Like that of a narrative, the thesis of a descriptive piece can be elusive. It’s important to step back and look at the big picture of the essay when making decisions about rhetorical elements to discuss.

Big Picture Questions

What is the overall impression the author is creating?

What is the fundamental truth about this person, object, place, or event?

What organizational strategy does the author employ?

Is description the frame or a device within another mode?

If the big picture is the forest, you have to account for the trees as well! There are rhetorical devices that are particularly important in description.

Detail questions

What sensory language (imagery) contributes to the overall impression or thesis?

How does the author use figurative language to communicate the overall impression or thesis?

How important is pace? Is the piece slowed down or sped up by sentence length?

To what extent is analogy employed? Look for fresh comparisons that help the audience make connections.



Angie Burgin Kratzer is a high school English teacher in central North Carolina, and she holds Secondary ELA and K-12 Academically Gifted certificates. In 2001 and 2011, she earned her Adolescent/Young Adult Literacy certificate from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Her experience includes 18 years in the classroom teaching English 9, English 10, English 11, English 12, AP English Language & Composition, Creative Writing, and Newspaper Journalism; and three years as a curriculum specialist for 6th through 12th grade English Language Arts. She also serves school districts as a consultant and trainer in writing instruction. If you have questions about any of her products, contact her at [email protected].

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