Lesson Plan: Teaching Internship

Carlin Wetzel
September 14th, 2018

Ethos, Logos, Pathos & Memoir

Context:
Course name: AP Language and Composition
Grade level: 11th
Length of lesson: 35 minutes
Description of setting, students, and curriculum—and any other important contextual
characteristics

Monticello High School is located in Albemarle County. At Monticello there are several “levels”
of English for students to take. We have Standard Collaborative, Academic, Academic
Advanced, Honors, Dual Enrollment, and Advanced Placement. Dual Enrollment and Advanced
Placement are specifically for upperclassmen students. The students in this class are majority
white. There is one Asian student, one Egyptian student, one Ethiopian student, and three
Hispanic students. These students are all reading above grade level. Ten students qualify for
gifted education services. Five students are bilingual, but all of these students are proficient in
English.

Objectives (KUD format)

Students will know…

1. Students will know the definition of ethos.
2. Students will know the definition of logos.
3. Students will know the definition of pathos.

Students will understand…

4. That writers make intentional choices in order to influence their audience.

Students will be able to…

5. Students will be able to identify pathos in a text.

SOLs:
VSOL 11.5 The student will read and analyze a variety of nonfiction texts.
a) Use information from texts to clarify understanding of concepts.
d) Draw conclusions and make inferences on explicit and implied information using
textual support.
Methods of Assessment:

Diagnostic Formative Formative Formative

Title of assessment Title of assessment Title of assessment Title of Assessment

tool: tool: tool: Tool: Exit Ticket:
Informal Assessment Nike Advertisement The Glass Castle Define ethos, logos,
of “Rhetorical Practice Partner/Group and pathos in your own
Argument” Practice words.
Students will show
Students will their progress toward Students will show Students will show their
demonstrate what they understanding logos their progress progress toward
already know about the by analyzing why the toward understanding the
Rhetorical Situation by company’s tactics on understanding rhetorical appeals.
a show of hands (Who an ad. pathos by analyzing
has heard of this this excerpt with a Criteria: Students will
before?), and by a Criteria: group, then sharing define the appeals in
quick poll of who had I am looking to see their thoughts with their own words at the
which teacher for that students the whole. . end of class without
English last year if they understand the using their notes.
were a student at factual/data-driven Criteria: Students They’ll have to use their
Monticello (all of these nature of logos. must critically recall skills.
students were). If they reflect on Walls’
had Dr. Stallings or How data will be choices as an author How data will be used: I
Mr. Warren, I know used: and how she is will use this data to
they spent some time I will use this data to appealing to pathos. inform how closely I
on Rhetorical Appeals inform how much Students must look will review next class,
last year. more detail the at the story a second and if I need to more
students need on the time from this new explicitly teach this
Criteria: differences between rhetorical lens. information with
I am gauging the ethos and logos before examples, or if we can
temperature of the class we move on to pathos. How data will be continue to use it in our
before I continue with used: I will use the novels as we go
my direct instruction How students will response to gauge throughout the year.
and practice. receive feedback: how quickly and
Students will receive how well students How students will
How data will be used: immediate verbal are able to apply receive feedback: I will
This will inform my feedback from me. rhetorical analysis to comment on their
instruction in terms of abstract pieces that
 how much detail to go are not directly definition papers with a
into with my examples. linked to any one check or a review.
I will also likely call appeal.
more on the students
who did not indicate How students will
that they are familiar receive feedback:
with the concepts in Students will receive
order to check for their immediate verbal
understanding more feedback from me in
closely. the class discussion
and in my informal
How students will conferences with
receive feedback: their pairs/groups.
Students will receive
feedback verbally from
me right after the initial
poll. I will tell them
this is just good for me
to know where they are
with the concept before
we begin. (K1, K2) (U4, D5) (K1, K2, K3)
(K1, K2, K3)

Differentiated Instruction to accommodate one or more of my students:

Student Name Readiness Interest Learning Environment

Nathan Nader is incredibly

attentive and organized,
and he gets easily
overwhelmed by lack of
structure. He asks lots of
questions. I will
differentiate for his
learning environment by
having clear instruction
on the board, materials at
 the ready, and by
checking in for
understanding and
questions periodically
throughout the lesson (to
give him a voice when he
needs it).

Marcus Marco is incredibly

engaged and articulate
on paper, but he often
does not articulate
himself well when
called upon in class. I
will give students turn
and talk time before
calling on Marco to
help him articulate his
ideas in a lower stake
setting first. I want to
call on him to check for
his understanding in
“real time” during the
lesson, not just in his
retroactive reflections.

Mitch Micah is an
articulate and focused
student, but when he
isn’t interested in the
material, his
headphones
automatically go in. I
included some sports
references in the
PowerPoint (a Nike
ad to analyze) to
hopefully peak his
interest. Micah is a
travel soccer player.
Procedures/Instructional Strategies

Beginning Room Arrangement: The students will be coming in from after lunch when we
begin our portion of the lesson. Lunch cuts the block in half. The students are in assigned
alphabetical seats (by last name). The students sit in “pods”, and often work with the people at
their table or with an elbow partner when we do turn and talks.

1. Introduce Rhetorical Appeals: Quick Poll (2 min.)

Welcome back from lunch! Go ahead and take a look at the screen (Nathan,
Differentiation for Learning Environment). You can put away all of your materials other than
the white textbook on your desk and your journal, we’ll be taking notes on our rhetorical
situation, continued, so you can start on the same page as last class. [Give students a minute to
get settled and turn to the right page.] So let’s think back to last class, who can remind us of what
we introduced? What was that shape we talked about? [Call on a student, hopefully they will say
“The Rhetorical Situation”. I will then prompt them to explain what rhetoric is, and why we’re
talking about it?]

Good, thank you for that reminder. Today we’re going to be diving deeper into this idea that
authors are master manipulators. The speaker, who is the creator of the text we’re looking at,
whether it be traditional text, artwork, or a speech, is attempting to evoke some reaction from
you. They can use these three appeals, ethos, logos, and pathos, to persuade you as the reader.
Are these terms familiar to anyone? [Pause for hands raised, call on a student who says yes. Ask
them where they’ve learned it before. Ask if anyone else has learned this in school. Have
students show me on a hand from 1-5 how comfortable they are with these terms.] Great, today
we’re going to start with some definitions and examples, regardless of how well you know these
terms, because we will keep coming back to Aristotle’s appeals as we continue analyze writing
and think of ourselves as improving writers throughout the year. So star this page, it will be
important!

2. Direct Instruction and Note-Taking (10 min.)

During these 10 minutes I will lead the students through direct instruction of the Greek
meanings, definitions, and purposes of ethos, logos, and then pathos. On each slide (available as
a part of this submission) there is at least one visual example of some relevance to the students.
On 9/11 we watch President Bush’s national address, so we will discuss him for ethos and
credibility. For logos we will look at a Nike ad (Mitch: Differentiation for Interest) because
we have athletes, and because we recently discussed Colin Kaepernick’s infamous new deal with
Nike. Lastly, we will discuss pathos. We will use Nixon as our example, but first the students
will work with their group to analyze an excerpt from The Glass Castle that they read for
homework the night before. As students take notes I will make my way around the room,
working on proximity, as well as come up to the board periodically to point out elements on the
PowerPoint.

3. The Glass Castle: Group Practice (15 min.)

Now that we’ve talked a little bit about these appeals, let’s apply them to a memoir that you’ve
read recently. Although memoirs are recounts of memory from real life, we we’ve discussed, the
authors still make choices about how to represent their memories and morals to us as the reader.
With a partner, or with your table, work together for the next 10 minutes to find two examples of
Jeanette Walls using pathos to appeal to your emotion as the reader. Ask yourself these question:
When did I react strongly while reading this? Where is Walls using vivid imagery to evoke a
response from me? Where might she have made creative choices, because she is writing this in
retrospect? Identify the moments with your partner and be prepared to share out with the class.
Does anyone have any questions about what you are supposed to be doing? [Pause for questions,
then tell them to get started.]

[As students discuss, I will circulate to each table. My goal is to guide them toward a strong
moment of imagery in the memoir, because the vivid imagery is why I chose this piece. They
think of Jeanette as the 3-year-old girl, but I will also prompt them to think of her as an adult
author choosing the perspective from which she writes, and then ask them what this means for us
as the reader? How does this make us feel? What does this make us think? If students are already
on the right track, I will affirm their thoughts and push them a little further with some more
questions.] (Marcus: Differentiation for Readiness)

Alright, let’s talk! Who wants to share first? [Alternatively, if I have just come from talking to
students that have something strong to share, I’ll ask them to share first, since our discussion will
be fresh on their minds. I will go around and call on a few groups to give us examples of what
they found. I will use my same prompting questions as earlier to get the students to critically
think about the choices that Walls made as an author, not just as a character in her own story, to
evoke emotional responses from us.]

4. “The Checkers Speech”: Another Example (5 min.)

Great work investigating this piece from a new perspective, guys. Let’s look at one more
example, our last bit from the textbook today. Would someone be willing to read the explanation
on page 13, right about “Checkers Speech”? [After a student reads their explanation, I will ask
them to summarize, or maybe ask another student who is drifting, what Nixon has been accused
of? I will then ask them to place this on our rhetorical triangle. Answer: The motive for this
speech is his accusation, which is part of our subject/situation.]
Good, that was some quick analysis. Remember, we should always ask ourselves what our
author’s purpose if before we dive into a piece of writing. Can someone now please read this
speech for us? [A student will read, I will then ask the class what Nixon does in this speech to
appeal to pathos? How does he evoke an emotional response from his audience? The answer:
puppies, family, and children!]

5. Exit Ticket & Homework Reminder: Six Word Story Illustrations (2 min.)

Before we move on to the homework, turn to a fresh page in your journal. Cover up your notes,
and for a quick check-in please define ethos, logos, and pathos in your own words. When you’re
done hold it up and I’ll come grab it from you. [Walk around and peak as students write, grab
their papers as they finish.]

Good work recalling those. Now for your homework! Who can remind us of what we are in the
process of writing? [Call on someone. Answer: Six-word stories!] Exactly! You have taken a
story from your writing territories to develop a six-word story about a defining event or a
defining aspect of your life. If you’ll look up at the screen, I’ve re-opened our website from last
class that shows the illustrated examples of six-word student stories from the TED Network’s
new book, “It doesn’t always have to be complicated.” Your task for next class is to take one of
these notecards off the middle table, and illustrate your six-word story in some way. You need to
clearly write your story, but then illustrate the story behind it. Use color, and be thoughtful! But
other than that, you have total freedom. Does anyone have any questions? [Pause for questions,
direct them to the TED website if they want further examples when they’re working later.]

Great work today, everyone. As always, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email
me or stop by the room later today. Bring your illustrated six-word stories with you to class
tomorrow, and we’ll keep moving along with our memoir and personal stories unit. Please place
your textbook back on the shelf behind table 2, and have a great rest of your day!

Materials Needed (list):

 Notecards
 Laptop & projector
Appendix A: PowerPoint (see attached Pdf)
Appendix B: Textbook Readings (Chapter One of The Language of Composition: Second
Edition)
Appendix C: The Glass Castle Excerpt
Positive Notes from Lin:

-pacing went well, maintained a nice steady tone

-response to Marco was strong: “You do know, you picked it for a reason”
-movement among groups went well

Improvements:
-wait time could be longer, but it improved throughout the lesson
-think pair share when wait times are suuuuuuuper long—start to make this the
norm
-consider grouping all of the “talkers” together next time and see if that gets your more
voices
*Read “Introverts” (about introverts at school)
-Direct Instruction could be reaching my introverted students better than group
discussion

**For Standard: make each day isolated on its own so you don’t have to “fight”
chronic absenteeism.
--talk to Ruth & Jennifer about chunking