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Lesson 3

We will focus on an author’s use of rhetoric, specifically identifying the use of ethos, pathos, and logos in writing. We will read the article “The Case against High-School Sports” by Amanda Ripley and identify the author’s claims about the values in high school sports. We will then analyze the author’s use of rhetoric in the text to support her claim. We will use the Organizing Evidence Tool to identify the claims made by the author, identify the evidence she uses to support her claims, and identify how she uses this evidence.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of Ripley’s claims about values in “The Case against High-School Sports?”

  • Can I identify the claims, reasoning, and evidence used to develop arguments and explanations in “The Case against High-School Sports?”

  • Can I identify and evaluate the effects of literary devices and rhetoric in “The Case against High-School Sports?”

Texts

Core

  • Unit Reader
    • “The Case against High-School Sports,” Amanda Ripley, The Atlantic Media Co., 2013
  • Tradebook
    • Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger, Da Capo Press, 1990

Materials

Tools

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss

We will discuss and identify examples of ethos, logos, and pathos. We will learn and document definitions of each of these terms and identify common examples of each we find in modern culture.

As a whole class, discuss rhetoric and ethos, logos, and pathos. Write down the definition for each in your Vocabulary Journal.

As a whole class, identify examples of each tool found in popular culture. These will be written down on chart paper for reference throughout this lesson and moving forward in this section.

Keep the definitions accessible during this lesson as they will be referenced throughout the reading of the text.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write

We will create Word Maps for key terms from “The Case Against High School Sports” that are important to comprehending the text. Knowledge of these terms will allow us to read the chapter with more fluency.

The following terms are key to comprehending "The Case against High-School Sports."

Work with your group to complete a Word Map for your assigned word:

  • mediocrity

  • rampant

  • rigorous

  • insidious

  • entrenched

  • inexorably

Continue to practice defining vocabulary using context or by referencing sources such as a dictionary.

Activity 3: Read

We will review the Organizing Evidence Tool. We will identify what type of evidence we will be looking for as we read “The Case Against High School Sports.”

Review the Organizing Evidence Tool. Once the class begins reading the text, we will identify the central claim, or thesis, of the text.

As you read the text, you will need to determine additional supporting claims on the Organizing Evidence Tool. The supporting claims will need evidence from the text for support.

The last part of the Organizing Evidence Tool is analysis of the evidence. You will analyze this text for the author’s use of ethos, logos, and pathos; identify the author’s claims in which she uses ethos, logos, or pathos and explain why each claim is an example of ethos, logos, or pathos.

Activity 4: Read – Discuss – Write

We will begin reading “The Case Against High School Sports” as a whole class. As we read, we will identify the author’s central claim.

Read and annotate the first five paragraphs of "The Case against High-School Sports" aloud.

As you read, consider what Ripley’s central claim is. What is she trying to say in her text?

Discuss with the class what her central claim is and what evidence you see in the first five paragraphs that supports this claim. Write down this in the appropriate place on the Organizing Evidence Tool.

Activity 5: Read – Discuss – Write

We will finish reading “The Case Against High School Sports,” and we will identify the supporting claims Ripley makes in the text. In small groups, we will also identify supporting details for the supporting claims and identify Ripley’s use of ethos, logos, and pathos.

Finish reading and annotating "The Case against High-School Sports" aloud, identifying claims that Ripley makes to support her central claim.

Discuss these supporting claims with your group and write them down on the Organizing Evidence Tool. For each supporting claim, be sure to identify and write down supporting evidence for those claims.

Identify if the supporting claims and evidence are examples of ethos, logos, or pathos. Discuss each example with your group, then write down and explain your analysis in the Analyze the Evidence section on the Organizing Evidence Tool.

Activity 6: Read – Write

For homework, we will read chapter 13 in Friday Night Lights.

Read and annotate Chapter 13 in Friday Night Lights for homework.

Be sure to write down new or interesting words in your Vocabulary Journal.

Write down sentences that stand out to you as interesting or that represent a strong example of a particular concept you have learned in your Mentor Sentence Journal.