Lower Prep FA 1:

Assessment Administration and Explanation:

The unit for which this assessment is part of is for 12-14 classes, lasting 55 minutes each. For this
particular formative assessment, it is intended to be administered early in the unit—lesson two.
It would be administered at this time during the unit sequence because the nature of the
assessment is aligned to several “know” objectives that are important for later learning goals to
be achieved. As such, it is important for the teacher to assess student understanding of these
relatively simpler aspects of the unit, before moving to more complex learning tasks that assume
these learning goals have been met.

Learning goals assessed by this formative assessment task:

U2: Students will understand that rhetoric can be used as a persuasive technique to influence
the outcome of an argument.

U4: Students will understand that analyzing rhetoric allows individuals to evaluate arguments
and to be critical consumers of information.

K1: Students will know the meaning of rhetoric.

K3: Students will know the elements of the rhetorical triangle, or rhetorical appeals (i.e., ethos,
pathos, logos).

K4: Students will know ways in which rhetorical appeals may influence an argument.

S1: Students will be skilled at identifying rhetorical terms and appeals to rhetoric.

PRU4: Students will have an understanding of what it means to be a “critical consumer of

information.”

PRK7: Students will know what it means to evaluate a text.

Name: Date:

Rhetorical Appeals

Directions: Please complete the following Exit Slip by finishing the statements below. This will
not be graded; however, it will show me your progress toward unit learning goals as we move
further into our unit on rhetoric.

3 rhetorical appeals and their definitions are….

2 ways in which rhetorical appeals can influence an argument are….

1 explanation of how an understanding of rhetoric and rhetorical appeals can help you to
evaluate texts and why this is important….
Name: Answers/Sample Responses Date:

Rhetorical Appeals

Directions: Please complete the following Exit Slip by finishing the statements below. This will
not be graded; however, it will show me your progress toward unit learning goals as we move
further into our unit on rhetoric.

3 rhetorical appeals and their definitions are….

Ethos—an ethical appeal; establishing credibility with an audience to persuade

Pathos—an emotional appeal; eliciting an emotional response from an audience to persuade
Logos—a logical appeal; using reasoning or logic to make an argument that will persuade an
audience

3 examples of rhetorical appeals be used to influence an argument are….

(name the appeal and provide the example)

Ethos—a famous athlete is on a billboard for a new brand of running shoes with the slogan
“Nothing makes me faster on the field.”
Pathos—on a commercial a security company shows a scared child during a home invasion
and a voiceover says “What will happen to your family in the event of a home invasion?”
Logos—community members are trying to convince a politician to support their initiative for
creating a bike lane and gather research on the frequency of bikers along the suggested area
as well as data on the safety benefits of having bike lanes

1 explanation of how an understanding of rhetoric and rhetorical appeals can help you to
evaluate texts and why this is important….

Understanding rhetoric is important because it can help to alert a reader of the purpose of a
text and the author’s stance. If an author believes X, they may say certain things using various
appeals to rhetoric to get their readers to agree with them. By understanding rhetorical
appeals, readers can learn to critically examine the texts to determine the author’s stance and
purpose and evaluate the argument for themselves, making them a critical consumer of
information.
Lower Prep FA 2:

Assessment Administration and Explanation:

The unit for which this assessment is part of is for 12-14 classes, lasting 55 minutes each. For this
particular formative assessment, it is intended to be administered early in the unit—at the end
of lesson 4. It would be administered at this time during the lesson sequence because it is
important to determine student progress with the unit understandings. The previous formative
assessment (lower-prep FA 1) was a more simplistic assessment that allowed the teacher to
assess student understanding of basic concepts. While the text in this formative assessment is
simple in nature, the ideas being assessed are more high-level. However, students will have also
been taught two different strategies for analyzing rhetoric which they can apply to this
assessment. As such, this is an appropriate lower-prep formative assessment because (1)
students can read the text in a short amount of time but the teacher can still assess their
learning for many learning tasks (see below) and (2) the simple nature of the text should serve as
a way to reduce assessment error as students are being assessed on their understanding of
rhetoric, rather than on reading comprehension specifically.

Learning goals assessed by this formative assessment:

U1: Students will understand that informational texts can serve as arguments.

U2: Students will understand that rhetoric can be used as a persuasive technique to influence
the outcome of an argument.

U3: Students will understand that analyzing aspects of a text, such as rhetorical elements and
purpose, can aid in evaluating an argument’s effectiveness.

U4: Students will understand that analyzing rhetoric allows individuals to evaluate arguments
and to be critical consumers of information.

K1: Students will know the meaning of rhetoric.

K3: Students will know the elements of the rhetorical triangle, or rhetorical appeals (i.e., ethos,
pathos, logos).

K4: Students will know ways in which rhetorical appeals may influence an argument.

S1: Students will be skilled at identifying rhetorical terms and appeals to rhetoric.

S3: Students will be skilled at identifying the intended purpose of rhetoric, or the argument that
is being made, within a text.

S4. Students will be skilled at using rhetorical strategies to evaluate the effectiveness of an
argument, both in written and spoken form.
S5: Students will be skilled at incorporating appropriate textual evidence to support a rhetorical
claim, both in written and spoken form.

PRU2: Students will have an understanding of the concept of persuasion and the goal/purpose of
a persuasive text.

PRU3: Students will have an understanding that arguments can be effective, ineffective, or have
elements of effectiveness and ineffectiveness.

PRK7: Students will know how to identify the purpose of an informational text.

PRK7: Students will know what it means to evaluate a text.

Name: Date:

Directions: Read the paragraph below and respond to the questions that follow based on
what you have learned in our unit on rhetoric.

The school fair is right around the corner, and tickets have just gone on sale. Even though
you may be busy, you will still want to reserve just one day out of an entire year to relax
and have fun with us. Even if you don’t have much money, you don’t have to worry. The
school fair is a community event, and therefore prices are kept low. Perhaps, you are still
not convinced. Maybe you feel you are too old for fairs, or you just don’t like them. Well,
that’s what my grandfather thought, but he came to last year’s school fair and had this to
say about it: “I had the best time of my life!” While it’s true you may be able to think of a
reason not to come, I’m also sure you can think of several reasons why you must
come. We look forward to seeing you at the school fair!
(Text retrieved from: http://patternbasedwriting.com/elementary_writing_success/paragraph-examples/)

1. What is the argument the author of the text is making in this piece? Highlight the portion
of text (textual evidence) that supports your response.

2. How is the author utilizing rhetorical appeal(s) to make their argument? Support your
response with at least two pieces of textual evidence.

3. Evaluate the effectiveness of the text. What made the text persuasive? What are ways in
which the author could have increased the effectiveness of the text?
Name: Answers/Sample Responses Date:

Directions: Read the paragraph below and respond to the questions that follow based on
what you have learned in our unit on rhetoric.

The school fair is right around the corner, and tickets have just gone on sale. Even though
you may be busy, you will still want to reserve just one day out of an entire year to relax
and have fun with us. Even if you don’t have much money, you don’t have to worry. The
school fair is a community event, and therefore prices are kept low. Perhaps, you are still
not convinced. Maybe you feel you are too old for fairs, or you just don’t like them. Well,
that’s what my grandfather thought, but he came to last year’s school fair and had this to
say about it: “I had the best time of my life!” While it’s true you may be able to think of a
reason not to come, I’m also sure you can think of several reasons why you must
come. We look forward to seeing you at the school fair!
(Text retrieved from: http://patternbasedwriting.com/elementary_writing_success/paragraph-examples/)

1. What is the argument the author of the text is making in this piece? Highlight the portion
of text (textual evidence) that supports your response.
The argument being made by the author is that the reader should purchase a ticket and
attend the school fair.

2. How is the author utilizing rhetorical appeal(s) to make their argument? Support your
response with at least two pieces of textual evidence.
The author is using the rhetorical appeals of logos and ethos to make their argument for
the reader to attend the school fair. To appeal to logos, or logic, the author explains that
the school fair is inexpensive, stating “the school fair is a community event, therefore the
prices are kept low.” The author also employs an appeal to ethos to make their argument
by providing a quote from a source that is intended to be seen as credible. Specifically,
the author addresses the concern of someone being too old to attend the school fair and
uses the credible source of an older adult, their grandfather, to depict that the fair is not
just for young children. The author even says that “my grandfather… came to last year’s
school fair and had this to say about it: ‘I had the best time of my life!’”

3. Evaluate the effectiveness of the text. (e.g., What made the text persuasive? What are
ways in which the author could have increased the effectiveness of the text?)
Answers will vary. A Possible answer might consist of:
While the author appeals to logos and ethos, the text is not as effective as it might have
even. For instance, even though logic is employed, the author does not provide sufficient
evidence to support their appeal to logos. How cheap are the tickets? Providing an actual
cost could have increased the effectiveness of the argument. The text could have been
more effective if the author would have appealed to pathos as well. For instance, by
exciting readers about seeing all of their friends at the fair or winning prizes, they might
have appealed to their readers’
Student reflection FA:

Assessment Administration and Explanation:

The unit for which this assessment is part of is for 12-14 classes, lasting 55 minutes each. For this
particular formative assessment, it is intended to be administered after lesson 7. In lessons 3-5
the students were introduced to the three strategies they will be reflecting on below. In lessons
6 and 7, they are to apply the strategies. Therefore, students will have had opportunities to
practice all of the strategies prior to reflecting on their confidence regarding strategy
implementation.

Learning goals assessed by this formative assessment task:

U2: Students will understand that rhetoric can be used as a persuasive technique to influence
the outcome of an argument.

U3: Students will understand that analyzing aspects of a text, such as rhetorical elements and
purpose, can aid in evaluating an argument’s effectiveness.

K4: Students will know ways in which rhetorical appeals may influence an argument.

K5: Students will know strategies that can be used to conduct a rhetorical analysis.

K6: Students will know how to apply rhetorical strategies to analyze and synthesize rhetoric.

S1: Students will be skilled at identifying rhetorical terms and appeals to rhetoric.

S2: Students will be skilled at analyzing and synthesizing the impact of various rhetorical terms
and appeals to rhetoric within a text, both in written and spoken form.

S3: Students will be skilled at identifying the intended purpose of rhetoric, or the argument that
is being made, within a text.

S4. Students will be skilled at using rhetorical strategies to evaluate the effectiveness of an
argument, both in written and spoken form.

S5: Students will be skilled at incorporating appropriate textual evidence to support a rhetorical
claim, both in written and spoken form.

S7. Students will be skilled at supporting their evaluation of a text, both in written and spoken
form.
Name: Date:

Directions: Thus far in our unit on rhetoric, we have learned three different strategies for
analyzing rhetoric within different text types: Joliffe’s Rhetorical Framework, SOAPSTone, and
OPTIC. Reflect on your confidence using the three different strategies. Then, using the stoplight
below, indicate how confident you are with each strategy (green= very confident; yellow =
getting there; red = not confident at all) and provide 1-2 brief sentences explaining your reason
for this evaluation
 Name: Sample Responses Date:

Directions: Thus far in our unit on rhetoric, we have learned three different strategies for
analyzing rhetoric within different text types: Joliffe’s Rhetorical Framework, SOAPSTone, and
OPTIC. Reflect on your confidence using the three different strategies. Then, using the stoplight
below, indicate how confident you are with each strategy (green= very confident; yellow =
getting there; red = not confident at all) and provide 1-2 brief sentences explaining your reason
for this evaluation.

Joliffe’s Framework: While I

get most of the framework, OPTIC: I feel somewhat confident using
one part that I am confused the OPTIC strategy. The part that is
about is the most difficult for me is the “I”—
organization/structure/form. interrelationships. For visual analysis I
It is hard to put into words can typically “see” the purpose but
how the structure of a text explaining how the pieces connect is
can be persuasive. tough.

SOAPSTone: I feel really good

about this strategy. I am familiar
with all of the different
components that make up the
strategy and it is easy to
remember so I can apply them
when analyzing texts.
Higher-prep FA:

Assessment Administration and Explanation:

The unit for which this assessment is part of is for 12-14 classes, lasting 55 minutes each. For this
particular formative assessment, it is intended to be administered after lesson 9. At this point in
the unit, students will have had multiple opportunities to work in small groups to use different
strategies to analyze the rhetoric of texts. This formative assessment is higher prep because the
students will produce a longer text analyzing and synthesizing the text below.

Learning goals assessed by this formative assessment task:

U1: Students will understand that informational texts can serve as arguments.

U2: Students will understand that rhetoric can be used as a persuasive technique to influence
the outcome of an argument.

U3: Students will understand that analyzing aspects of a text, such as rhetorical elements and
purpose, can aid in evaluating an argument’s effectiveness.

K1: Students will know the meaning of rhetoric.

K2: Students will know the meanings of various rhetorical terms.

K3: Students will know the elements of the rhetorical triangle, or rhetorical appeals (i.e., ethos,
pathos, logos).

K4: Students will know ways in which rhetorical appeals may influence an argument.

K5: Students will know strategies that can be used to conduct a rhetorical analysis.

K6: Students will know how to apply rhetorical strategies to analyze and synthesize rhetoric.

S1: Students will be skilled at identifying rhetorical terms and appeals to rhetoric.

S2: Students will be skilled at analyzing and synthesizing the impact of various rhetorical terms
and appeals to rhetoric within a text, both in written and spoken form.

S3: Students will be skilled at identifying the intended purpose of rhetoric, or the argument that
is being made, within a text.

S5: Students will be skilled at incorporating appropriate textual evidence to support a rhetorical
claim, both in written and spoken form.
Name: Date:
Directions: Read the following essay titled “Humor and Stress.” Then, use the SOAPSTone strategy to
analyze the text. On a separate sheet of loose leaf paper, write your analysis in 1-2 paragraphs. Make sure
to support your analysis with textual evidence.

“Stress coping strategies,” or “how to deal with excessive stress,” and other similar phrases are
among the most popular Google search inquiries in the U.S. Indeed, the common American citizen faces a
huge amount of stressful events, starting from fees and taxes and ending up with career issues, divorce,
or the death of relatives. And although antidepressant medicine is extremely developed and popular in
the U.S., there is an effective, safe, and free way to cope with stress. This is having a strong sense of
humor.
Specialists around the world have noticed that people with a strong sense of humor tend to be
happier, and deal with stress better than those who take negative events close to their hearts or ruminate
about them. Having a strong sense of humor does not mean their jokes are always funny, however; it
means they try to find the positive or funny side in their misfortunes, or at least do not react negatively
(FRI Online). Therefore, a sense of humor can directly influence how a person feels, in terms of both mind
and body.
Scientists claim that a sense of humor has both short-term and long-term positive effects on our
bodies and minds. For example, in a short-term perspective, a sense of humor can stimulate your internal
organs (due to fresh oxygen-rich air which you inhale when you laugh), such as the heart, lungs, and
muscles, and free you from some physical effects of stress; when you laugh, your blood circulates faster,
and different groups of muscles relax, which results in a better mood. Long-term effects include the
strengthening of your immune system, improving your overall mood and satisfaction with life and
yourself, and even pain relieve; laughter is known to be able to break the pain-spasm cycle common to
some muscle disorders (MayoClinic).
To those who think a person either has a sense of humor or does not, you can develop your sense
of humor through working on it. If you work on it, it will become an even more effective anti-stress
weapon for you than just being humorous from birth. This is illustrated with the following experiment
that took place. Two groups of senior citizens allocated in different retirement centers were given special
tasks to accomplish during eight weeks. The first group needed to perform a number of activities
designed to build their humor skills; the second group during all this time gathered to watch comedies
every night. At the end of the experiment, it turned out that the first group that was actively working on
humor skills was not just coping better with the stress, but also used humor as a coping tool more often
and more effectively than ever before.
In the modern world, where stressful events happen every day, it is important to have a tool that
can help us cope with inner friction. A sense of humor is exactly this kind of tool—it is free and effective.
Studies show that a sense of humor helps people treat their misfortunes with more ease; moreover,
humor and laughter causes a row of positive short and long-term effects on people’s minds and bodies. It
is important to know you can develop your humor skills through actively working on them; in this case, it
will become an extremely effective tool in the matter of dealing with stress.

References
“Stress Relief from Laughter? It’s No Joke.” MayoClinic. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
“Humor and Mental Health: Using Humor to Cope With Stress.” Humor and Mental Health: Using
Humor to Cope With Stress (Part of Humor and Health Online CEU Course). N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb.
2015.
 “Does Having a Sense of Humor Make Any Difference?” FRI-Online. N.p., n.d. Web . 23 Feb. 2015.
(Text retrieved from: https://academichelp.net/samples/academics/essays/persuasive/humor-and-stress.html)

Name: Answers/Sample Responses Date:

Directions: Read the following essay titled “Humor and Stress.” Then, use the SOAPSTone strategy to
analyze the text. On a separate sheet of loose leaf paper, write your analysis in 1-2 paragraphs. Make sure
to support your analysis with textual evidence.

Since answers will vary based on organization of analysis, the following is a sample of a
completed SOAPSTone table that could then be used to produce a 1-2 paragraph analysis.

Subject The role humor can play in reducing stress

Occasion While a specific context is not known, the author does reference the large
amount of Google searches related to stress suggesting the context for this
text has been prompted by a rise in stressful experiences and individuals
acknowledging and seeking ways to cope with stress.
Audience People who suffer from the negative impacts of stress
Purpose To inform people that humor can be a powerful tool in coping with or
reducing stress
Speaker The speaker does not make their position clear, leaving readers to question
their credibility regarding the topic. Are they a sufferer of stress? A
scientist? A researcher? If the author had provided this information, they
might have increased their appeal to ethos by establishing their position as
a credible speaker. (That being said, they do cite research which does
provide some credibility.)
Tone Direct and encouraging