LESSON PLAN

Analyzing the Rhetorical Strategies in a Famous Speech

Teacher Candidate _Jennifer Herscher____________________ Date_02/11/2018____________________

School _______________________________ Grade/Subject _10/English_________________
Lesson Topic _ Rhetorical Strategies _________________________

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES/ STUDENT OUTCOMES

Students will:
 analyze a speech for rhetorical devices and their purpose (tone, diction, repetition, hyperbole, etc.)
 identify an author’s/speaker’s purposeful manipulation of language
 identify elements of argument within a speech (claims, the appeals [logos, pathos, ethos], fallacies, etc.)
 demonstrate their knowledge of rhetorical devices and appeals by revising a speech to fit a new setting and
audience
WV CSOs
ELA.10.32
Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing any fallacious reasoning
or exaggerated or distorted evidence.
ELA.10.34
Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in
presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
ELA.10.38
Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective
choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
ELA.10.23
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task,
purpose, and audience.

NATIONAL STANDARDS
3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They
draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of
word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual
features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems.
They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts,
people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
Overall Time - 50 minute lesson
Time Frame - 20 min. teacher intro and discussion
15 min. student activity in pairs
15 min. student led discussion and closure
STRATEGIES
 Teacher led discussion
 Pair activity
 Student led discussion
 Prepared questions
 Differentiated assessment/assignment
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION/ ADAPTATIONS/ INTERVENTIONS
 Read the speech aloud for auditory learners and visually impaired students
 Graphic organizer of the Rhetorical Triangle for visual learners
 Provide several examples of possible settings/audiences for the revised speech assignment and offer
assistance as needed
 Allow in-class time to work on the revised speech assignment for those don’t have the resources to do it
at home.
 Provide copies of notes for those students whose request it.
 Students can select from three different options for presenting their assignment (differentiated
assessment)
PROCEDURES
1. Begin the lesson by asking students what needs to be present in order for a speech to occur. Though the
question may seem puzzling—too hard, or too simple—at first. Students will eventually identify, as
Aristotle did, the need for a speaker, a message, and an audience.
2. The class should discuss audience and the importance of identifying the audience for speeches as context,
since they occur in particular moments in time and are delivered to specific audiences. Instruct students
to review the OU webpage about the Rhetorical Triangle on their iPads and discuss the balance of the
three elements (ethos, logos, pathos).
3. Next distribute copies of Queen Elizabeth’s speech to the troops at Tilbury and read it aloud to the class
as they follow along. On the smart board, pull up the British Library website and watch the short video to
provide historical context. Use the speech and its historical context as a model for identifying the
audience and how it influences the speaker’s choice of rhetorical strategies.
4. Then, in pairs, have the students go through Queen Elizabeth’s speech and highlight the rhetorical devices
in the speech and note the purpose for each one. Adjust the level of guidance you provide, depending on
your students' experiences with this type of analysis.
5. Regroup and discuss the audience and the author’s manipulation of the audience. Consider posing
questions such as
o This was a successful speech. Why?
o Elizabeth uses all of the appeals – logos, pathos, and ethos – to convince all of her listeners to
fight for her from the loyal follower to the greedy mercenary. How?
o The tone shifts throughout the selection. Where? But more importantly, why?
Assignment: Place Queen Elizabeth in a different time and/or with a different audience and revise her speech
accordingly. The speech should still be a call to join her and fight, but that fight might take a
different form, as should her audience. For example, she may be calling for an audience of
disenfranchised African-Americans to “fight” for their civil rights in 1960s America. Or she could
be calling for high school teens to “fight” for gun regulation laws. Whatever setting and audience
they chose, students must use Queen Elizabeth’s original speech as a starting point and adjust
the appeals and tone to fit the new narrative.
Once students have revised the speech, they must present it in one of the following ways:
1. Create a slideshow of images that are representative of the new setting, audience, and
other contextual elements of the revised speech. This slideshow will play as a backdrop
as you perform your revised speech to the class.
2. Record a video of yourself performing the revised speech with props, costumes,
artwork, music, or other items that tie the speech to the appropriate setting, audience,
and historical issues.
3. Combine options 1 and 2: Create a slideshow of images that are representative of the
new setting audience, and other contextual elements of your revised speech. Take an
 audio recording of yourself performing the revised speech and play it over the image
slideshow.
Students should work on this assignment at home, but they will be given time in class to work on
it as well.

ASSESSMENT
Diagnostic: Checking for prior knowledge with the opening question about what is needed for a speech to occur.

Formative: Collect the students’ copies of the speech on which they highlighted the rhetorical devices. Assess their
work for completion and their ability to identify rhetorical devices.

Summative: The speech revision assignment will demonstrate the students’ level of comprehension regarding the
purpose of rhetoric and language manipulation as well as their ability to apply it to their own work.

MATERIALS
 Smart board
 Historical background information:
http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item102878.html
 Printable copy of Queen Elizabeth’s speech:
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson-docs/QueenElizSpeech.pdf
 Students’ materials: highlighters, pencils, paper, iPads
 Video clip from Elizabeth: The Golden Age:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3Bq1h728X0

EXTENDED ACTIVITIES
If time allows, show the class a clip from the film Elizabeth: The Golden Age in which the Tilbury speech is
recreated. Although the movie version of the speech is drastically cut and altered, seeing one filmmaker’s vision of
the scene may help reinforce the notion of historical context and the importance of audience.