Before the lesson, which is one of the first ones I give in AP Lang after an overview of the MC and FRQ sections, I've given a practice test using a released Q2 exam prompt, the one that asks about rhetorical analysis.
Typically, students give me thesis statements that look like this:
Although I praise those students for understanding that they do need to focus on Chavez' rhetorical strategies, and do need to include his argument about nonviolent resistance, I remind them that the AP is basically asking only one question: What is the author's point, and how did they get us to see it?
I then ask what's wrong with these sample Chavez thesis statements, and students are almost always able to tell me that what's wrong is that they don't tell me what the rhetorical strategies ARE or what they mean by ethos, pathos, logos, and above all, what Chavez is actually arguing ABOUT nonviolent resistance. (Is it good? Bad? Partly okay? We don't know.) At that point, I'll tell them there are certain words they'll never be using on the essays they write for me (and hopefully not for the AP readers on the exam). Those words include ethos, pathos, logos, rhetoric, rhetorical situation and use/utilize/show/display. |
Using Your Playlist to Understand Rhetorical Situation
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At this point, I'll talk about how authors use TACTICS to get the audience to do or believe or think or buy or agree (or disagree, etc.) with their message, but I'll emphasize how those tactics can't be something invisible and inaudible. "Getting the audience to feel a certain way" is not clear. HOW are they "getting" the audience? HOW do they make the audience feel a certain way (and what way is that?) In short, what do they DO?
Timm Frietas, creator of the Garden of English site has a number of videos on this point. You need to tell us what the speaker is actually, literally doing. I'll usually put at least a few verbs on the board so the students have a working vocabulary Some include the following:
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At this point, I pass out lyrics for the song "Mother Knows Best" from the movie Tangled. I explain the following:
Discussion Questions (First Few Lines)
Don't Go Through the Whole Song. Jump to the End.
Now Turn it Into a Thesis and Body Paragraph
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