Alan Barnicle
Unit
If you’re not furious,
you’re not paying attention.
Prefatory statement:
My unit will be on critical analysis of messages. I believe that it is increasingly important
to study the messages that the public receives from their politicians, their corporations,
and their media. As the true meanings in messages are increasingly muddled and
muddied, it sometimes takes a keen eye and ear to catch the truth behind a statement.
Sometimes finding the truth requires research. Being a citizen of a democratic nation
comes with the responsibility of being an informed and active citizen. My students,
regardless of ethnicity, gender, or class will have to be informed and active citizens. It is
my mission to make the methods of persuasion and doublespeak so lucid that the students
will recognize them. It was not until I was introduced to such topics that I began to find
abundant examples of those trying to clog the channels of communication1. Therefore
this unit is to prepare the generations to inform themselves; it will give them the mental
illumination to walk through foggy statements and elusive meanings to arrive at the truth,
or at least something closer to it.
To accomplish these tasks we will look at three main topics in a three week progression.
Topics include: Evaluating Sources, Kinds of Lying, and Elements of Persuasion.
Throughout all of these topics the students will be asked to discuss in small and large
groups not only the topics, but how they arise in their daily lives. Discussion can range
from pop machines in the schools to politics in their cities, states, nations and world.
Students will be doing research, reading in their daily lives, and participating in media
coercion. Students, therefore, should know the importance and technique of evaluating
sources. Without these skills the students may be easily misled. Hopefully the unit starter
will help point this out. With the increased usage of the internet comes a need to be
increasingly careful about what you believe. Not everything on the internet is true as the
webquest will point out.
There are many tools that people will use to mislead the public. I will ask the class to
consider truth to be what the speaker intends to be understood2. This shift from thinking
of truth as something the speaker does to something that the receiver experiences is an
important distinction and has ethical ramifications. Everyone must be acutely aware of
the messages they are receiving and ought to have the skills to know what is really being
stated. With knowledge of the techniques of exploitation, comes the ability to exploit
“Clearing the channels of communication” is a term used by Dwight Bolinger. It is used in his essay
“Truth is a linguistic question” which sparked my interest in how people lie and speak the truth in the same
breath.
2
Bolinger
1
others. Therefore, students should be asked to explore how they may avoid misleading
others. The ethics of coercion and exploitation is paramount to this unit.
The media asks us to do things every day. Buy this and do that and what is more is that
we are often not even aware of, what we are being asked to do, who is asking us, or even
that we are being asked! People can fall into believing a message that is baseless.
However, after exploring the elements of persuasion, students will be much more apt to
know when something just doesn’t feel right.
Students will have the opportunity to explore these topics in discussion. They will be
given the task to find examples in their daily lives and share some of the examples with
the class.
In short, I believe that with a heightened awareness of language comes an ability to
navigate truth.
Class Specification:
I believe that parts of this unit would be appropriate for any age level. However, I will
target high school Juniors and Seniors. The Unit is not only appropriate for all ethnicities,
it is a necessity. A teacher with younger students may have to adjust the language and
depth of some of the lessons as they can be challenging.
Significant Assumptions:
I think that my students will learn through discussion and practice. I believe that students
will learn best if I help them teach themselves. I will ask my students to struggle through
language. They will experiment with words and study how others have manipulated
language. My students will learn by doing.
Desired Outcomes / Standards / Objectives to be Met:
The Minnesota standards seem to be written for my unit. In addition to the following
standards I will also me meeting standards in both reading comprehension and types of
writing.
Minnesota Academic Standards - L.A. - 9-12 – III - A – (selected points)
The student will demonstrate understanding and communicate effectively through
listening and speaking.


Distinguish between speaker’s opinion and verifiable facts and analyze the
credibility of the presentation.
Understand the effects of media on society and culture.

Identify and understand essential elements, skills and implications of
persuasion, argumentation, and debate as essential oral skills.
Minnesota Academic Standards - L.A. - 9-12 – III - C –
The student will critically analyze information found in electronic and print
media, and will use a variety of these sources to learn about a topic and represent
ideas.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Evaluate the accuracy and credibility of information found on Internet sites.
Evaluate the logic of reasoning in both print and non-print selections.
Evaluate the source’s point of view, intended audience and authority.
Determine whether the evidence in a selection is appropriate, adequate and
accurate.
5. Evaluate the content and effect of persuasive techniques used in print and
broadcast media.
6. Make informed evaluations about television, radio, film productions,
newspapers and magazines with regard to quality of production, accuracy of
information, bias, purpose, message and audience.
7. Critically analyze the messages and points of view employed in different
media, including advertising, news programs, web sites, and documentaries.
8. Formulate critical, evaluative questions relevant to a print or non-print
selection.
9. Critically analyze and evaluate the strategies employed in news broadcasts,
documentaries, and web sites related to clarity, accuracy, effectiveness, bias
and relevance of facts.
10. Demonstrate an understanding of ethics in mass communication and describe
the characteristics of ethical and unethical behavior.
Possible Whole Class Activities:
Participation in discussion and group work consists of 30% of unit grade.
 Discussions
 Sharing found examples
 Evaluation of examples supplied by teacher
Possible Small Group Activities:
 Webquest
 Peer review and editing of the I search paper
 In discussion, ask the students to form small groups to discuss the topics first, and
then bring the topic to the whole group
 Collection and presentation of selected personal examples
Possible Individual Activities:




I search paper (30% of unit grade)
Journal (30% of unit grade)
Journal evaluation (10% of unit grade)
Collection and presentation of personal examples
Ongoing Activities:
Paper
Students will be working on an I search paper throughout this unit. The paper
will, of course, be on a topic of their choice. Students must follow procedures to
evaluate their sources on several criteria to be set by the instructor that may
include such items as: Bias, Authority, Timeliness, and use of Loaded Language.
These items will be identified and used by the student in the Webquest. Paper
assignment attached.
Journal
Students will be keeping a journal in which they will document instances where
they feel that they are being misled. It will be hard for them at first but by the end
of week two they will be fine. Students should have at least 5 examples a week.
Examples can range from illegitimate sources, to advertisements, to half truths, to
a peer’s actual lie, to a lie of their own. At the beginning of the third week, the
students will be asked to reflect on their journals both in writing and discussion.
Student Resources:
Students should have or be provided with
 Access to the internet
 Television for examples
 Magazines for examples
 Movies for examples
 Bollinger’s article
 Writing utensils
 Paper
Unit Launch:
Have students read an article that is blatantly untrue. This article may be written by the
teacher and should cover a topic important to the students. Perhaps the article could be
about a pop band breaking up. For great examples of false articles, teachers could go to
The Onion, available at www.theonion.com. Make sure the article has good examples of
perhaps the following: logical fallacies, loaded language, and poor documentation of
sources. Have students read the article and get their responses. Hopefully they bought it,
but it doesn’t really matter for the outcome will be the same. In a class discussion, tell the
students that the article is completely false and tease out from the students some things
that were wrong with the article, and why they were misled by it (if they were).
Organization of the Unit:
(D)= Class should be based, at least partly, on discussion of how the topic at hand affects
their daily lives
Week One:
Evaluating Sources
 Monday
 Tuesday
 Wednesday
 Thursday
 Friday
- (D) Starter / Importance of Evaluating Sources
- Importance of Evaluating Sources / Journal Start
- Evaluating Print and Internet Sources (Barnicle)
- Lab Day / Webquest (Barnicle) / Paper Start
- Lab Day (Finding and evaluating sources for paper/conferencing)
Week Two:
Kinds of Lying
 Monday
 Tuesday
 Wednesday
 Thursday
 Friday
- (D) Grammatical / and ethics (Bolinger)
- (D) Linguistic / naming / and ethics (Bolinger)
- (D) Logical Fallacies (i.e. Circular logic) / and ethics (Downes)
- Finding examples
- Working on presentation / Conferencing
Week Three:
Elements of Persuasion
 Monday
- Presentations of examples found to group, selections to class
 Tuesday
- Introduction to Elements of Persuasion (Barnicle)
 Wednesday
- Ethos / Pathos / Logos (Crewell)
 Thursday
- (D) Ethos / Pathos / Logos / and ethics
 Friday
- Finding and working with examples / Conferencing
Week Four:
Review
 Monday
 Tuesday
 Wednesday
 Thursday
 Friday
- Journal Evaluation Due / Presentations
- (D) Wrap Up Previous Discussions / Discuss Journal Experience
- (D) Journal Experience Continued / Peer Evaluations of Paper
- Peer Evaluations of Paper / Conferencing
- Peer Evaluations of Paper / Conferencing wrap up and Lab Day
Week Five:
Wrap Up
 Monday
- Paper Due
Supporting Details for Teachers Who Teach the Unit:
Barnicle, Alan. “Al Barnicle : Language Arts and Literature.” Webpage. 13 December
2004. < http://www.d.umn.edu/~barn0290/portfolio/unit.html>.
This website contains the unit itself with links to lessons and the webquest.
Bolinger, Dwight. "Truth Is a Linguistic Question". Linguistic for Teachers.
Linda Miller Cleary and Michael D. Linn. New York: McGraw Hill,
1993: 542-554.
This article contains information important for week two’s exploration of truth.
Many of the topics covered in the article can be gleamed from the handout with
lying examples.
Cooper, Pamela and Sherwyn Morreale ed. Creating Competent Communicators.
Activites for Teaching Speaking, Listening, and Media Literacy in Grades 7-12.
Scottsdale: Holcomb Hathaway, 2003: 75-78.
This book contains three sections: listening, speaking, and medial literacy. Each
section comes with an introduction and collection of lessons for use in the 7-12
classrooms. I drew my Journal assignment and evaluation from the activity
entitled “My Daily Media” which appears on page 75.
Crewell, Dustin, Melissa Draper, and Colin Mitchell. “The Art of Rhetoric: Ethos, Logos,
and Pathos.” Webpage. 13 December 2004.
<http://www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/webclass/web/project1/group4/>.
This webpage is an excellent resource for definitions and examples of pathos,
ethos, and logos. It has links to websites that are use pathos, ethos, and logos.
Downes, Stephen. “Stephen’s Guide to the Logical Fallacies.” Webpage. 13 December
2004. <http://www.datanation.com/fallacies/>.
This website is an excellent resource for definitions of logical fallacies.
Overhead for Milk lesson:
http://www.d.umn.edu/~barn0290/lessons/milkoverhead.doc
Overhead for Lying Examples:
http://www.d.umn.edu/~barn0290/lessons/lyingexample.doc
Assessment Package:
Participation in group work and class discussion
I search paper
Journal
30% of unit grade
30% of unit grade
30% of unit grade
Journal evaluation
10% of unit grade
100%