Lesson 1

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • Antigone, Sophocles (translated by Robert Fagles), Penguin Books, 1984

• • “Is it a Crime for a U.S. Citizen to Vote?,” Susan B. Anthony, Public Domain, 1873

• • Excerpts from “The Story of Antigone: A Play, a Text, a Myth for All Times,” Dr. Evelyne Ender and Dr. David Steiner, Odell Education, 2020

Materials

Tools

• Antigone: Section 3 Diagnostic Checklist

• Excerpts from “The Story of Antigone: A Play, a Text, a Myth for All Times”

• Delineating Arguments Guide

• Delineating Arguments Tool

• Antigone: Rhetorical Appeals Handout

• Vocabulary Journal

• “Is It a Crime for a U.S. Citizen to Vote?”

Question Sets

• Antigone: Section 3 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Antigone: Section 3 Diagnostic Checklist

• Delineating Arguments Tool

• Antigone: Section 3 Question Set

• Vocabulary Journal

Activity 1: Read – Discuss

We will discuss the section 3 diagnostic.

Access the Section 3 Diagnostic Checklist and read the question and task you will be responding to:

Write a response in which you compare how Susan B. Anthony and a character from Antigone would respond to the following quotation from Aristotle:

"It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen."

• Form a clear and appropriate claim.

• Use evidence from both texts to support your claim.

• Integrate specific references and quotations and explain how they relate to your claim.

• Use appropriate syntax, grammar, and mechanics.

In order to prepare, write down a few notes in your Learning Log answering the following questions:

1. What does it mean to be a good person?

2. What does it mean to be a good citizen?

Then, with a partner, brainstorm two or three examples of contemporary issues in which being a good person and a good citizen do not align.

Activity 2: Discuss – Write

We will engage in pre-reading activities that will prepare us to read and analyze excerpts from an argumentative speech by Susan B. Anthony that aligns with ideas found in Antigone.

Step 1

Listen and engage in a conversation with your teacher and peers to co-create an anchor chart for academic vocabulary before we begin reading an argumentative speech. The academic vocabulary words center around terms that are used to construct an argumentative text.

Inside your Vocabulary Journal, write down what the words below mean as well as examples from Antigone, other texts in this unit, and personal experiences:

• argumentative texts

• arguable claims

• appeals

• convincing conclusion

• counterarguments, counterclaims

• concessions

• rebuttals

• identifiable audience or reader

• credibility

• purpose

• perspective

• deductive reasoning

• inductive reasoning

• civil disobedience (unit term)

Work with a partner to share examples from Antigone and personal connections so that you have a clear understanding of what these terms mean as you read a speech.

Step 2

We worked with the concepts of rhetorical devices, including logos, ethos, and pathosin Section 2. As a reminder, here are the three primary ways Aristotle identified of how an author or speaker appeals to their audience:

• pathos: convinces audience using emotion

• logos: convinces audience using logic

• ethos: convinces audience using the author’s or speaker’s authority

With a partner, review on your Rhetorical Appeals Handout the three rhetorical appeals and how characters from Antigone or other texts within the unit utilize these appeals.

Step 3

Think about the following questions and choose one on which to conduct a quick-write. After time is called, share your quick-write with a partner:

1. Is it always wrong to break the law? Why or why not?

2. When is breaking the law acceptable?

3. What would happen if everybody decided that it is acceptable to break the law when it relates to their own beliefs or needs?

Step 4

Read the four statements below to engage in a four-corners activity with your classmates:

• It is never acceptable to break the law.

• It is sometimes acceptable to break the law, depending on the situation.

• It is acceptable to break the law when it goes against my personal beliefs.

• Laws are made by humans, not a higher authority, thus it is acceptable to break laws.

Go to the corner of the room that most aligns with your belief system and share your ideas in small groups with peers in your corner. Then, engage in a whole-group discussion:

1. How has listening to your peers’ ideas changed, challenged, or strengthened your own ideas?

Activity 3: Read – Write – Discuss

We will examine three ways an argument can be organized.

Step 1

The way an argument is structured can add to its clarity in message and the effect the message has on the reader. We will learn about three ways to organize an argument so you can analyze arguments that you read as well as begin thinking about the most effective way to structure your argumentative essay at the end of this unit.

Access the Delineating Arguments Guide. Read the explanations of deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, and counterarguments. For each explanation, create three short bullet points that summarize the key aspects of each type of reasoning.

Step 2

Compare your bullet points with a partner. Did you create similar bullet points? Discuss any differences and adjust your bullet points as needed to help you focus on the most important aspects of each type of reasoning.

Think about what you have learned about counterclaims or counterarguments, the third type of reasoning listed in the Delineating Arguments Guide. What characteristics does this reasoning approach share with deductive or inductive reasoning?

Create a list with your partner of samples of these types of arguments from texts you have read in class or from personal experience.

Activity 4: Listen – Read – Write – Discuss

We will read paragraphs 1–6 of Susan B. Anthony’s speech to analyze the components and structure of her argument using a tool.

Step 1

You will listen to the speech being read and follow along with the Delineating Arguments Tool in order to analyze Susan B. Anthony’s speech.

Your teacher will provide background on Anthony and her speech, "Is it a Crime for a Citizen of the United States to Vote?”

One key fact is that Anthony voted in the 1872 presidential election; this was considered a crime, as women and people of color did not have the right to vote at that time. Anthony was arrested, tried, found guilty, and fined $100.

Step 2

As you listen to the first six paragraphs read aloud by your teacher, follow along and consider Anthony’s claim about her "crime" and why it should not be illegal.

Make sure to follow your teacher’s modeling on the Delineating Arguments Tool as you will fill in the tool with a partner and independently.

Consider the questions below as you watch your teacher’s modeling:

1. Susan B. Anthony said she committed no crime. What is her claim and supporting evidence?

2. What is Anthony’s purpose in her speech thus far?

3. What is Anthony’s perspective regarding the role of the government? Mark those lines in Paragraphs 4-6.

4. From what you learned about her from background information, how is Anthony’s perspective crucial to the content of her speech from the beginning through Paragraph 6?

Step 3

Discuss the following questions with a partner:

1. How does Susan B. Anthony’s "crime" compare to that of Antigone’s?

2. What ideas might Antigone and Anthony agree on? Highlight lines from Paragraphs 1-6 to support your thinking.

3. Based on your notes, which lines in Paragraphs 1-6 would be considered an example of logos?

4. Why, according to Anthony, do people follow laws and what do we, as individuals, get out of following laws?

Using your Delineating Arguments Tool, the background information on Susan B. Anthony, Paragraphs 1-4, and your teacher modeling, begin to add textual evidence to your graphic organizer and add ideas to your Learning Log.

Discuss your observations with a partner.

Activity 5: Listen – Read – Write – Discuss

We will continue to read Susan B. Anthony’s speech, using a tool to analyze the components and structure of her argument.

Step 1

Listen as your teacher rereads Paragraphs 3 to 6 aloud. Work with your partner to add textual evidence on your Delineating Arguments Tool; share your ideas with another pair.

The questions below may help you as you think about the elements on the tool:

1. In Paragraph 3, what is the impact of Anthony referencing the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the proposal to "protect the people in the exercise of their God-given rights"?

2. Her speech was given almost 100 years after the words, "All men are created equal," were written. Why does Anthony cite lines from the Declaration of Independence in her speech?

3. What types of appeals is Anthony using?

4. What claims and evidence is Anthony using in Paragraphs 3 through 6? How are they effective? Why do you think she cites historical US documents?

5. She states her claim early in her speech; does this follow the pattern of inductive or deductive reasoning?

Step 2

Discuss with a partner the audience Anthony might have had in mind when writing this speech. During this time period, who would she need to convince and why? How does the content of Paragraphs 1-6 demonstrate how she is trying to convince specific members of her audience?

Step 3

Compose a quick-write on the following question:

1. What do Anthony and Antigone say about citizenship and governmental law?

Keep your quick-write in yourLearning Log for later reference.

Activity 6: Read – Write

For homework, we will read an excerpt of a scholarly essay in order to make thematic connections across texts of various genres.

For homework, read and annotate the Connections section from the Excerpted Handout of "The Story of Antigone: A Play, a Text, a Myth for All Times."

In your Learning Log, note any information that adds to your understanding of the background of the play, characters, or connections to Susan B. Anthony’s speech.

When you finish reading, respond to the following question in your Learning Log:

1. Which of the themes referenced in the Connections section of the Ender essay most relate to both Antigone and Anthony’s speech? Provide evidence from each text to support your thinking and writing.