Art of Using Language Persuasively and Effectively: Ethos, Pathos, Logos (FLEX)

In this course, students will be introduced to Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos and logos. Students will become familiar with each of these facets of persuasion, and learn the basics of what makes a persuasive argument. We will look at what it means to write and communicate effectively, as well as practice ways in which to do so both educationally and in our day-to-day lives. 

This is an introductory communication course designed for middle and high school students. While no formal prerequisites are required, the course will rely heavily on writing and identifying/creating persuasive arguments. It would be helpful for students to be familiar with writing a claim, but we will quickly review this before we dive deep into the content.

This course is designed to be four segments long. Each week, students will receive teacher-recorded instruction videos, as well as worksheets, examples, a rubric, and handouts to help guide them through the writing process. Each week, this course will include class discussion and analysis questions (via the Outschool classroom) to both spark academic conversation between their peers and teacher on the subject, as well as assess students' learning and understanding throughout our course. Additionally, each week will include one-on-one collaboration between each student and the teacher in regards to class assignments, writing development, and editing. The instructional path of this course will be as follows:

Week 1: We will begin the course with class discussion questions designed to get students thinking about persuasion, as well as brainstorm with their peers and teacher different places we see persuasion and how we can be more aware of persuasion around us on an every day basis. Through teacher-recorded instruction, students will learn the basics of persuasion through a detailed look into the history of the art of rhetoric, as well as the theory behind persuasion. Students will be expected to complete ethos, pathos and logos worksheets and will get detailed feedback from the teacher on their work.

Week 2: During the second week, we will dig a little deeper into the identification of the three rhetorical devices, specifically looking at examples of persuasion in consumerism. This week will include a brief quiz in identifying ethos, pathos and logos in examples, further teacher-recorded instruction on specific persuasive techniques, and a class analysis of persuasion in consumerism (via posts and chat in the Outschool classroom). There will also be teacher-recorded instruction to briefly introduce logical fallacies. Students will be asked to implement what they have learned so far by creating their own ad for a company, which will be shared with their classmates via the Outschool classroom during week 3.

Week 3: This week will begin with students sharing their persuasive ads with their classmates via the Outschool classroom. Students will identify the use(s) of the rhetorical triangle and specific persuasive techniques in their peers' ads. There will then be a more in depth teacher-instruction video on logical fallacies, followed by class discussion and analysis questions on logical fallacies (via the Outschool classroom).

Week 4: Finally, the fourth week will include teacher-recorded instruction on implementing persuasive techniques in academic writing. Students will collaborate with one another via the Outschool classroom to come up with their own persuasive topic and how they will integrate elements of persuasion in their academic writing. Then, students will implement the teacher-taught strategy of argumentative writing to write their own persuasive arguments. Individualized guidance and feedback will be given to each student by the teacher, with the opportunity for one-on-one teacher/student collaboration and editing.

Please note that in this course, students will not be writing a full-blown argumentative essay. Rather, they will be writing a series of different persuasive arguments using ethos, pathos and logos, which will inevitably strengthen their ability to write an excellent argumentative or persuasive essay in the future.

Throughout the course of this class, students will be provided with weekly instruction videos to watch, as well step by step scaffolding assignments to write their own persuasive arguments. Students will be expected to spend about an hour to two hours a week in addition to watching the teacher-recorded videos. They will share their written arguments with me via Google Docs, where I will give individualized feedback and guidance for each student to improve his/her writing.

The idea behind this class is that students will gain an in depth understanding of argumentative writing and how to write persuasively so that they have the foundation to support and prove their main arguments. Even though this is a FLEX class in which there will not be any live video sessions, this class will be highly interactive, with a lot of guidance and feedback along the way.