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NCDPI -- AIG Instructional Resource: Background Information
Complete:
Date Submitted: February 28, 2012; first revision July 23, 2012
Resource Title: Readings of the Cold War and The Crucible
Subject Area/Grade Level (s): 11th grade Honors or AP Language and Composition
Time Frame: one block period or two class
periods
Common Core/Essential Standard Addressed:
11.RIT.1 RI.11.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including
determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
11.RIT.3 RI.11.3
Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course
of the text.
11.RIT.4 RI.11.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how
an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
11.RIT. 5 RI.11.5
Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure
makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.
11.RIT.6 RI.11.6
Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content
contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text.
11.L.5 L.11.5
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
11.L.6 L.11.6
Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at
the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase
important to comprehension or expression.
Additional Standards Addressed:
(integration across topics, within or across disciplines)
Brief Description of Lesson/Task/Activity:
(include how this lesson/task/activity fits with a larger context)
Two important speeches to be given during the Cold War were McCarthy’s Fifty-seven Names speech and Truman’s 1947 address to Congress,
commonly known as the Truman Doctrine. These documents provide the advanced student the opportunity to analyze persuasive structure in
two primary source documents(Reading Informational Texts 5, 6 and 9) as well as provide the opportunity to practice the specific vocabulary
that is required for analyzing rhetoric at the advanced and college level (Language 5 and 6). Initially, these documents serve as practice for
analyzing rhetoric for advanced students. Beyond the initial analysis of these documents, they pair well with Miller’s popular drama, The
Crucible, to support Miller’s interpretation of the zeitgeist of the 1950s.
Type of Differentiation for AIGs (include all that apply)
 Enrichment
X Extension
 Acceleration
Adaptations for AIGs
X Content
 Process
 Product
Explanation of How Resource is Appropriate for AIGs
These texts provide the AIG student the opportunity to explore documents of historical value that balance the concerns of the audience
(Americans) and persuasive ideas of the speakers. These documents reveal more opportunities as students become more comfortable with
analyzing rhetoric and only a student gifted in language would be able to grasp what these documents have to offer.
Needed Resources/Materials
Senator Joseph McCarthy’s “Enemies from Within” Speech at Wheeling, West Virginia June 2, 1950
“President Truman’s Address Before a Joint Session of Congress, March 12, 1947”
Note-these documents may be found easily online or in the ancillary materials that accompany the American history textbook.
Sources (all sources must be cited)
TEACHER NOTES
NCDPI AIG Curriculum Resource Outline
Describe processes, steps, and materials needed at each stage of the lesson/activity.
STAGE ONE: Engage
 Hook
 Prior knowledge
 Instructional input
 Modeling
Description:
Hook:
What are you afraid of? Of those fears, which are visible and invisible? Which are scarier? If you were threatened with one of those fears what
might you do to avoid it?
To American citizens in 1947, an invisible fear was the spread of communism and the threat to democracy.
Appropriate prior knowledge would be Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle, a basic understanding of Stephen Toulmin’s model of argument and
S.O.A.P.S-Tone (reading for subject, occasion, audience, purpose, subject and tone ). A basic understanding of fallacies would be also be
beneficial.
STAGE TWO: ELABORATE
 Guided and independent practice
 Guiding questions
Description:
These readings give the teacher the opportunity to assess knowledge formatively or summarily. Formative assessment could include discussion,
individual or group annotation and review of SOAPSTone. Formative or summative evaluations might also include questions such as:
The Truman Doctrine (Questions are based on the text found at teachingamericanhistory.org)
1. What is the purpose of paragraphs 1-4? What words help establish the purpose of these paragraphs?
2. After the introduction Truman describes present and past Greece? What is the purpose of these paragraphs? Why doesn’t he ask Congress
for money at this point?
3. What rhetorical role do the paragraphs citing Britain and the U.N. and their inability to assist serve?
4. What structural similarities/ differences do you see when Truman transitions to Turkey?
5. In paragraphs 32, 33 and 34 what role does diction play in assisting Truman with his purpose?
6. What is the significance of the paragraphs prior to Truman’s request for $400,000,000?
7. There are 8 paragraphs that follow the monetary request. What do you think Truman is trying to achieve with these paragraphs?
8. What elements of SOAPSTone or Aristotle’s triangle are the most important to Truman’s speech? Why do you feel that way?
Senator Joseph McCarthy’s “Enemies from Within” Speech at Wheeling, West Virginia June 2, 1950
1. Considering Aristotle’s triangle, why might McCarthy chosen to give this speech in Wheeling on Lincoln’s birthday?
2. Does McCarthy’s choice to divide the problem into “two diametrically opposed ideologies” work well rhetorically? Why do you feel this way?
3. How do diction and antithesis help McCarthy establish his claim?
4. Paragraph 11 uses rhetorical questions completely. How do these questions help McCarthy’s purpose?
5. In paragraph 13 McCarthy uses statistics. They are important in defending his claim, but how does this paragraph work with the paragraphs
before and after it?
6. During the time of the Cold War America found itself under the grip of hysteria on Communist infiltration. How do the remaining paragraphs
further this fear?
STAGE THREE: EVALUATE

Assessment
Description:
Below is a prompt that asks students to weigh what they have learned about rhetoric through the two speeches and apply it to Miller’s play.
When Arthur Miller composed The Crucible, he was living through the fear created through speeches like the two you have just read. Using
evidence from the play (dialogue, stage directions and the playwright’s own commentary in Act I) analyze how Miller himself uses language to
craft his own claim about the 1950s.
This assignment gives the student plenty of room to develop a strong response that doesn’t force them to converge on the same ideas.
Outstanding responses will consider how Miller uses all of the characters, to an extent, to shape the overall message of the play. The writing will
be concise and clear with few errors. The response will also choose strong examples to support the claims made in the essay. An outstanding
response would also explore how Miller borrows from McCarthy to show how characters like Putnam use the fear of the unknown to
manipulate those who are afraid.
A satisfactory response will consider the plight of a character or two but might fail to connect the character(s) to the overall message of the play.
The satisfactory response might also have lapses in clarity and/or not fully support the claims of the writer with strong examples.
An unsatisfactory response will not reveal the overall message of The Crucible and will not, as an essay, show that Miller has used the play to
make his own statement about the sociopolitical climate of the time.
TEACHER NOTES: