Differentiated Instruction Three-Part Lesson Plan
SUBJECT: Grade 11 English
Suggested Time:
75 minutes
COURSE: EPS30 – Presentation and Speaking Skills, Open
LESSON TITLE: How do speeches use rhetorical devices to persuade?
CULMINATING ACTIVITY: This lesson takes place toward the end of the unit Speaking to Persuade. The
culminating activity for the unit will be a 3-5 minute persuasive speech, rap, story or song on something
students would like to change at school or in society. They can perform their work live in class or they can
film it first. While more work, the filming option would allow for editing, which some students – particularly
English language learners and those who are shy – may prefer.
Furthermore, the culminating activity for the course is a multimedia CV, featuring a persuasive and
memorable opening speech. This unit will give students the skills to persuade when speaking and
presenting.
CONNECTION to Culminating Activity:
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to analyse the overall rhetorical effects of a political speech
or song. They will have progressed from knowledge to analysis. Students will have:
 Experienced how rhetoric makes an argument more persuasive;
 Demonstrated their understanding of common rhetorical devices;
 Identified rhetorical devices in a speech;
 Summarized how these rhetorical devices make speeches and songs memorable and powerful;
and
 Applied their knowledge of rhetorical devices to modern music.
As a result, students will have the knowledge and skills they need to infuse their speech/rap/story/song with
effective and appropriate rhetorical devices, which will make it more captivating, memorable and – therefore
– more persuasive.
Planning Information:
Curriculum Connections
Overall Expectations:
1. Identifying Elements of Effective Presentations: identify and analyse the characteristics of effective
presentations;
2. Assessing Presentations: produce critical assessments of a variety of presentations.
Specific Expectations:
1.2: Identify elements of style, stylistic devices, and organization in selected speeches or debates by famous
orators (e.g., identify examples of repetition, rhetorical questions, and climactic order in excerpts from
selected speeches; identify how a speaker uses tone to engage an audience; identify the use of repetition for
emphasis in an anecdote).
2.2: Assess the appropriateness of the chosen form and the effectiveness of a presenter's ideas, in view of
the topic, audience, and purpose of the presentation (e.g., assess the extent to which the needs of the
audience have been met by the content and form of a presentation; use an evaluation checklist to assess
clarity of arguments, persuasiveness, and quality of refutations in a speech).
2.3: Assess the style and organization of a presentation (e.g., assess the structure of a presentation; assess
the use of stylistic elements, such as humour and tone, to engage an audience).
Learning Goals:
 Understand how rhetorical devices make speeches more persuasive (know)
 Spot rhetorical devices and explain what they do (do)
 Explain why rhetoric matters now – in nearly all forms of persuasion (know)
 Explore when and where ancient rhetorical devices pop up in modern music (do)
 Recognize rhetorical devices in a speech or song and examine the effect they have on how much we
remember and what we think or do (do)
Essential Questions:

What are common rhetorical devices used in speeches? (knowledge)

How do rhetorical devices make speeches captivating and memorable? (comprehension)

How do ancient rhetorical devices relate to modern music? (application)

What is the overall effect of rhetorical devices in a speech or song? (analysis)
Assessment and Evaluation
Assessment/Success Criteria
Knowledge and understanding
 Understanding of content (e.g., concepts, opinions, uses of literary
devices)
 Students will understand the persuasive power of rhetoric and
common rhetorical devices.
Assessment Tools

Informal assessment
as learning: think-pairshare; question and
answer; summarizing.
Thinking
 Use of critical thinking processes (e.g., critical analysis)
 Students will critique the persuasiveness of a speech vs. a plain,
spoken argument.
 Use of processing skills (e.g., analysing)
 Students will be able to identify and analyse rhetorical devices in
speeches and songs.

Application
 Transfer of knowledge and skills (e.g., concepts, processes) to new
contexts
 Students will be able to transfer their knowledge of rhetorical
devices used in speeches to songs.
Differentiated Instruction Details


Informal assessment
as learning: graphic
organizer; think-pairshare; question and
answer; summarizing,
Informal assessment
of learning with the
homework exercise
that will be submitted
the next day.
Informal assessment
as learning with the
consolidating “six
corners” exercise.
 How will you differentiate your lesson? Provide details
Knowledge of Students
Differentiation based on student:
 Interests  Learner Profile:  Styles (kinesthetic, visual/spatial, musical, linguistic, interpersonal)
Differentiated Instruction Response
 Learning materials (content)  Ways of learning (process)  Ways of demonstrating learning (product)
Necessary Prior Knowledge & Skills
This lesson focuses on rhetorical devices that make persuasive arguments captivating and memorable.
Therefore, students will already understand the elements of persuasion and have the skills to both analyse
and construct a persuasive argument.
Specifically they should have:

Knowledge of the concepts of persuasion, purpose, audience, reason, ethics and pathos.

Familiarity with the concept of a speech.

Skills required to analyse the audience, speaker, purpose, reason, ethics and pathos in a
persuasive argument. (In this lesson, we’ll extend this to a speech.)
Materials & Resources
Materials:

Handouts (listed under appendices)

Computer, speakers, projector

Chalk for blackboard

Signs for four corners exercise (see appendix)
Appendices:

A: “Yes We Can”

B: “Why You Should Vote for Obama in 2008”

C: Graphic Organizer

D: Common Rhetorical Devices

E: Ancient Rhetoric, Modern Music

F: Homework Options
Internet Resources:

Six Minutes by Andrew Dlugan:
http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/speechpreparation-6-rhetorical-devices/

A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices by Robert A
Harris: http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm
Agenda (to be listed on blackboard, in student language)
How do speeches use rhetorical devices to persuade?
1. Find the purpose, audience, speaker, reason,
ethics, and pathos in a speech
2. Which piece of persuasion gets your
vote and why?
3. Common rhetorical devices and how to identify
them
4. Why use rhetoric today?
5. Ancient rhetoric in modern music
6. Homework
Minds On (Hook)
Connections
 Establishing a positive learning environment
 Connecting to prior learning and/or experiences
 Setting the context for learning/ Sharing learning goals/essential questions
L: Literacy
AfL, AoL: Assessment
for/of Learning
Strategy/Assessment Tool
Welcome and Essential Question (2 minutes)
Welcome the class. Remind them that until now we’ve been considering the
importance of audience, speaker, purpose and evidence (reason/ethics/emotion) when
persuading. We’ve also considered how body language, tone of voice and pacing can
make us more persuasive when speaking. And we’ve applied our persuasion skills to
different forms like debates, panel discussions, storytelling, recitations, and interviews.
“In the next couple of classes, we’ll finally consider one of the most famous forms of
speaking to persuade: the speech. Today, our essential question is: How do speeches
use different rhetorical devices to persuade?”
Getting our “minds on” persuasive speeches: Video and graphic organizer (15 minutes)
 This will activate the students’ prior knowledge of the importance of audience,
speaker, purpose and evidence to persuasion.
 It will also ask them to use their identification and analysis skills to evaluate a
new form of persuasive speaking.
 This exercise will function as assessment as learning because they’ll be assessing
how persuasive a speech is.
 This exercise will engage linguistic, visual and musical learners.
1. Tell them we’re going to watch a video of a speech, and hand out a
graphic organizer and the text of the speech.
2. Ask them to note the speaker, audience, purpose, reason, ethics and
emotion on a graphic organizer after the speech.
Assessment as Learning
3. Play Will.i.am’s “Yes We Can.” After the video, let students know that
this was a speech given by Obama that was set to music. Tell them that
many of the same tricks – or rhetorical devices – speechwriters use are
also used by songwriters.
4. Read aloud “Why You Should Vote for Obama in 2008,” and provide
students with the text. Ask them to fill in the second part of the graphic
organizer identifying the audience, speaker, purpose, reason, ethics and
emotion.
Action
 Introducing new learning or extending/reinforcing prior learning
 Providing opportunities for practice and application of learning (guided > independent)
Strategy/Assessment Tool
Why is one more persuasive than the other? Think-pair-share (15 minutes)
 Now ask students to compare the speech to the spoken argument and
determine which is more persuasive.
 This activity will function as assessment as learning because students will assess
the merits of the speech against the argument.
 This exercise will engage linguistic, visual, and interpersonal learning styles.
Assessment as Learning
1. Ask students to determine which speech is more persuasive, filling in the
“other” section of their charts. Here they will note anything that set each apart
as better or worse.
2. Next ask students to share this with the person they sit beside, and ask them to
come to an agreement about which is more persuasive.
3. Finally, ask the pairs to consult their tables of six to come to a consensus about
which was more persuasive.
4. Each table will then share and defend their decision.
5. As tables share why they selected one or the other, I will write on the board
some of the effects they noticed that made one more persuasive than the other.
6. I expect most students will select “Yes We Can.” I’ll identify some of the “other”
persuasive elements students listed as rhetorical devices (e.g., how it reminds
them of a song with a chorus = refrain, etc.).
What are rhetorical devices? Modelling, Question and Answer (20 minutes)
 Next, I’ll broaden our sharing into a discussion of rhetorical devices. I’ll explain
that rhetoric is the ancient art of argumentation, going back to the Greeks and
Romans. Famous speeches and quotes by Roman and Greek orators use
rhetorical devices. Some similar devices have been used in other ancient
cultures around the world (e.g., African oral storytelling, Eastern storytelling,
Aboriginal storytelling).
 I’ll then define and model how to identify a rhetorical device by prompting
students to return to the speech.
 This exercise will define rhetorical devices for students, and it will model how to
rhetorically analyze a speech. It should engage linguistic, auditory and possibly
visual learners (by organizing the answers on the board).
 This will function loosely as assessment as learning because students will be
prompted to assess the speech for a rhetorical device and learn the definition of
it in the process.
Assessment as Learning
1. Ask students a series of questions, starting with:
 Do any sentences from the speech start with the same words? That’s
called anaphora. What effect does this device have on the listener?
Consider how repetition emphasizes and adds rhythm and movement.
 Write the students’ answers on the board.
2. Follow the same format for the rest of the devices. See the appendix for the
rhetorical devices, including examples from the speech. These will prompt the
rest of the questions.
3. At the end of the exercise, provide students with a handout on rhetorical
devices, including some of the examples we just identified.
What do these ancient rhetorical devices have to do with my life? Summarizing (10
minutes)
 This brief exercise will reinforce the students’ understanding and give them a
reason to want to remember.
 This exercise will engage linguistic, auditory and visual learning styles.
1. Explain that these devices help to make one’s argument more memorable and
captivating. Therefore, they’re often used in song and other forms of persuasive
speaking where motivating people long after you have spoken is very important.
And in this day and age when everyone’s so busy, you need to stand out from
the noise if you want to persuade.
2. Project the following quote on the value of rhetoric, asking different students to
read each paragraph:
“Good writing [or persuasive speaking] depends upon more than making a collection
of statements worthy of belief, because writing is intended to be read by others,
with minds different from your own.
If your writing is to get through to them, it must be interesting, clear,
persuasive, and memorable, so that they will pay attention to, understand, believe,
and remember the ideas it communicates.
To fulfill these requirements successfully, your work must have an appropriate and
clear thesis, sufficient arguments and reasons supporting the thesis, a logical and
progressive arrangement, and, importantly, an effective style.
Play with them: keeping the reader focused with anaphora, emphasizing a point
with an expletive, explaining with a metaphor or simile, organizing your work in
his mind with metabasis, balancing possibilities with antithesis.
You will have gone a long way toward fulfilling the four requirements mentioned at
the beginning: the devices of decoration and variety will help make your reader
pay attention, the devices of organization and clarification will help her
understand your points, the devices of association will help her believe you, and
the devices of emphasis, association, beauty, and organization will help him
remember.” (Robert A. Harris, A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices)
3. Ask another five students to briefly explain each paragraph in their own
words.
Assessment as Learning
4. Next, tell them there is a pop quiz, and that they can choose quiz a) or quiz
b), but that I can’t reveal the contents of the quiz till they’ve chosen.
5. Project quiz a: “Write down two elements of African oral storytelling, or
Orature.”
6. Project quiz b: “Write down four lines from a song by K’naan, who is
considered an African-Canadian troubadour.”
7. Inform the class that the quiz was just a joke. But note how many of them
knew four – if not more – lines from a song by K’naan, while very few could
think of two elements of Orature, which we studied last week.
8. Explain that one of the reasons – beyond the melody and the fact that they’ve
likely listened to the song more often than they studied their notes – is the
use of rhetorical devices, which make a song memorable long after it has
been played.
Consolidation and Connection
 Helping students demonstrate what they have learned
 Providing opportunities for consolidation and reflection
How do songwriters use rhetorical devices to captivate an audience and make their
songs memorable? “Six Corners” (12 minutes)
 To consolidate the students’ understanding of rhetoric, we’ll look at how these
same rhetorical devices often appear in songs.
 This activity is designed to diagnose how familiar students are with some of the
rhetorical devices I introduced. And it asks them to apply ancient rhetorical
devices to modern song.
 This exercise will engage kinesthetic, musical, visual and linguistic learners.
Strategy/Assessment Tool
Assessment as Learning
1. Six pieces of paper will be labeled with the words: Anaphora, Allusion,
Asyndeton, Metaphor, Simile, and Alliteration. The pieces of paper will be
posted in six spots around the classroom.
2. Students will listen to a 20 second clip from a popular song. The lyrics will also
be projected. After each clip, students will be asked to go to one of the corners,
which represent the rhetorical device used in the song.
3. Explain that it’s possible for a clip to include more than one device, but ask
students to choose one for the exercise.
4. Quickly debrief after each selection, indicating what the device was, whether
more than one device was used. Also draw out the effect of the device on the
students’ past experience of the song.
What is the overall effect of the rhetorical devices in a song or speech? (2 minutes)
 For homework, ask students to select a song or speech posted on the class web
page – or to choose their own – and analyse its use of rhetoric. (See appendix
for options.)
 They must identify at least five rhetorical devices it uses, and write a paragraph
that discusses the overall effects of these devices on how they experienced the
song or speech.
 Students will have 2 days to complete the assignment, with part of the next
day’s class to write the paragraph.
Assessment of Learning
– students will submit
this exercise for
evaluation two days
later
Accommodations/Special Needs: (this may have been identified above in DI section) How will you accommodate for
students with IEPs, ELLs etc.?



Throughout, the lesson I will try to use the simplest language possible to explain rhetorical devices to
ELLs. The lesson will incorporate music and visuals (video) to help convey meaning. Examples will be
as accessible as possible to a teen’s experience, including popular music. And all songs and speeches
will also be available in text format.
ELLs will be able to pick a speech or song with words and lyrics that are accessible to them. They will
also be required to analyse four rather than five rhetorical devices.
ELLs also have the option – like the rest of the class – of submitting their culminating assignment via
video rather than perform it live.
Teacher Reflection on Lesson: (to be completed after teaching, you do not need to fill this out for this assignment,
just an FYI for reflective practice)
Aspects that worked:
Changes for next time:
Appendix A
Yes We Can by Barack Obama; arranged by Will.i.am
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can. Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores
and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can. Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized;
women who reached for the ballots;
a President who chose the moon as our new frontier;
and a King who took us to the mountain-top and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
(yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can...)
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can. Si Se Puede
(yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can...)
We know the battle ahead will be long,
but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way,
nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We want change!
(We want change! We want change! We want change...)
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant.
We've been asked to pause for a reality check.
We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. We want change!
(We want change! I want change! We want change! I want change...)
The hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy
who learns on the streets of LA;
we will remember that there is something happening in America;
that we are not as divided as our politics suggests;
that we are one people;
we are one nation;
and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America's story with three words that will ring from
coast to coast;
from sea to shining sea - Yes. We. Can.
(yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can...)
Appendix B
Why You Should Vote for Obama in 2008 (www.obamapedia.org)
Obama's campaign for President is built on the premise that the Democrats must "disagree without being
disagreeable" and unite America to solve issues of historic importance. He focuses on his ability to overcome
partisan bickering, to work across the aisle, and to produce real results.
The idea that someone would be able to unite America and get the government to productively work on
important issues sounds idealistic. Understanding that cynicism, Obama stresses that Americans must
embrace the 'audacity of hope.' Hope is an irrational belief, a faith in optimism, but hope is also a unifying
emotion, one that resonates with people across the globe.
By emphasizing that we should all believe in the possibility of a new type of politics, Obama has converted
many people, including Republicans, to believe in the possibility of the anti-Bush, a non-ideological leader
that respects those who disagree with him and works to find not the Democratic solution, not the Republican
solution, but the best solution.
Campaigning to replace Bush with a unifying leader, he has struck a chord across the country—as shown by
polls, book sales, enormous crowds, and website groups. In this crucial juncture in history, he has the
potential to improve how Americans perceive politics, leading to more trust in government and solving some
very difficult problems.
Appendix C
Persuasive Elements
Speaker
Audience
Purpose
Appeal to Reason
Appeal to Ethics
Appeal to Emotions
Other
“Yes We Can”
“Why You Should Vote for Obama in
2008”
Appendix D
Common Rhetorical Devices (from Andrew Dlugan and Robert A. Harris)
*Note that examples from Will.i.am’s arrangement of Obama’s speech are listed as YWC
Alliteration – repetition of the same sounds at the beginning of nearby words; look for the same letter
appearing a few times in a sentence. Examples:
 Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
 YWC: “declared the destiny”
Assonance — repetition of the same vowel sounds in nearby words. Example:
 “How now brown cow”
Anaphora — repetition of a word or phrase at the start of successive clauses or sentences. Examples:
 Winston Churchill: “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France ….”
 YWC: “It was a creed…/It was whispered by slaves…/It was sung by immigrants….”
Epistrophe — repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses or sentences. Examples:
 Emerson: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us.”
 YWC: “We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
Refrain – a phrase or verse that recurs at intervals. Examples:
 Martin Luther King Jr.: “I have a dream.”
 YWC: “Yes we can.”
Personification — giving human qualities to abstract ideas, inanimate objects, plants, or animals. Example:
 “The trees called out to me.”
Metaphor — compares two different things by speaking of one in terms of the other. Unlike a simile or
analogy, metaphor says that one thing is another thing, not just that one is like another. Examples:
 “Life is a highway.”
 YWC: “We know the battle ahead will be long” – Battle is a metaphor for the election race.
Simile — compares two different things using “like” or “as.” Example:
 “Life is like a box of chocolates.”
Antithesis – when a word, phrase, or sentence opposes the original proposition. Examples:
 Martin Luther King Jr: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
 YWC: “We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.”
Asyndeton – excluding conjunctions (like “and”), which helps to increase the tempo and highlight a specific
idea. Examples:


Abraham Lincoln: “…And that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not
perish from the earth.”
YWC: “We will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as
our politics suggests; that we are one people.”
Paronomasia – or a pun – using a word that sounds alike but has a different meaning. Examples:
 “Kings worry about a receding heir line.”
 YWC: “and a King who took us to the mountain-top and pointed the way to the Promised Land” –
here the king is not the leader of a nation, but Martin Luther King Jr.
Allusion – a short, informal reference to a famous person or event. Examples:
 Martin Luther King Jr.: “five score years ago” – reference to Abraham Lincoln
 YWC: “from sea to shining sea” – allusion to God Bless America
Parallelism – when parts of a sentence or sentences are expressed similarly to show that the ideas are
equally important. Parallelism adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence.
Examples:
 “To think accurately and to write precisely are related goals.”
 YWC: “It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores.”
Appendix E
Ancient Rhetoric in Modern Music
Aretha Franklin (anaphora):
What you want
(oo) Baby, I got
(oo) What you need
(oo) Do you know I got it?
(oo) All I'm askin'
(oo) Is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)
Hey baby (just a little bit) when you get home
(just a little bit) mister (just a little bit)
Justin Bieber (asyndeton):
Baby, baby, baby oooh
Like baby, baby, baby nooo
Like baby, baby, baby oooh
I thought you'd always be mine (mine).
Jordin Sparks (simile):
“Why does love always feel like a battlefield?
A battlefield? A battlefield?
B.O.B (alliteration, simile):
“Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?
I could really use a wish right now
Wish right now, wish right now.”
Drake (allusion, alliteration):
“I really can’t complain everything is kosher
Two thumbs up, Ebert and Roper.” Drake
Arcade Fire (metaphor, anaphora):
“I used to write letters; I used to sign my name
I used to sleep at night
Before the flashing lights settled deep in my brain” ~ flashing lights are a metaphor for anxiety
Appendix F
Extension: Analysing rhetorical devices in famous speeches and songs
Please select one speech or song to analyse for homework. You may also select your own.
Speeches:
Ain’t I a Woman? by Sojourner Truth
I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inaugural Address by JFK
Tryst with Destiny by Jawaharlal Nehru
Women's Rights to the Suffrage, 1873 by Susan B. Anthony
Speech at Tilbury by Queen Elizabeth I
Songs:
Escarpment Blues by Sarah Harmer
Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World by Neil Young
Wavin’ Flag by K’naan
Sunday, Bloody Sunday by U2
Pearls by India.Aire
What’s Goin’ On? By Marvin Gaye