The Rhetorical Spectrum: A Back-Pocket Strategy for Rhetorical Analysis

My students always struggle with rhetorical analysis writing. It takes a lot of practice and hard work to transition them away from wanting to cherry pick rhetorical devices as if they are playing Where's Waldo. In the beginning, my students always want to write a few sentences explaining the function of said devices, and call it a day. After chatting with other AP Lang folks at #APLangchat on Twitter last school year, I realized my students were among the majority. My students were skimming the passages instead of deeply interpreting the writer’s moves. Instead of grimacing and gritting my teeth each time I read practice timed writes, I decided to change up my instruction to combat these rookie mistakes. I developed this simple activity last spring right before the exam, but decided to be much more intentional with my delivery of it this school year.

The biggest hurdle for successful, thorough rhetorical analysis writing was teaching students to consider the scope of the entire essay; they merely wanted to provide commentary on whatever stood out to them. I needed a quick, put-it-in-your-back-pocket, easy trick to keep them focused and engaged with the entire text. That is how I developed the Rhetorical Spectrum.

Each time my students read an essay, a passage, or even just a paragraph, I have them keep beside them. In the middle of the scratch paper I have them draw a downward facing arrow from the top of the page to the bottom. This is their rhetorical spectrum. The line of the arrow represents the entire essay (beginning to end). 

This is how we use it:

Step 1: Read the essay in its entirety.

Step 2: Divide the spectrum so it correlates with the various sections of the text.

Note: This might be indicated by a tone shift, a topic change, or by the use of a specific rhetorical mode. Regardless, whenever the writer shifts, students should draw a horizontal line through their spectrum to indicate the change. Some readings will have multiple shifts and some readings may have none!

Step 3: At the top of the left side of the spectrum, have students write “What the Writer is Saying.”  In this column students should document a summary of each section (as completed in step 2). They should also indicate where the writer’s thesis and key evidence is located within the reading as it correlates on the spectrum.

Step 4: On the right side of the spectrum, have students write “What the Writer is Doing.” In this column students should document the most significant rhetorical moves the writer is making within each section. Perhaps the writer uses an engaging anecdote? Or an entire paragraph is structured with the use of anaphora? We don’t want a list of every rhetorical strategy in use, just the ones that are most effective or important to the writer’s purpose.

Step 5: At the bottom of the spectrum (under END) students should write a 20-word or less statement that identifies the writer’s purpose. I like to have students wordsmith this as much as possible, because it forces them to key into the text.

Step 6: As a class or small group, I ask students to discuss and answer the following questions:

1. Go section by section on your spectrum. Why does the writer make those specific moves in that specific section?

2. Are there any moves the writer repeats? What is the purpose and effect of repeating those moves?

3. How do the writer's moves help him or her accomplish their purpose?

While this during/after reading strategy is simple, it forces the student to slow down and focus on a writer's moves. You may find that it is helpful for students to review SOAPStone or Jolliffe's Rhetorical Framework before you ask them to complete the Spectrum to help them build their confidence. I have found that the more my students practice using it, the quicker and better they can analyze a text. The best thing about the Spectrum is that it asks the students to look at how the reading is organized and structured in addition to purposeful diction and syntax.

In the beginning, I have students read and complete the spectrum the day before they time write. I allow them to use the spectrum on the timed writes because I want them to understand that for most prompts, students are expected to comment on the development of the entire argument, not just a specific passage. In addition to preparing for timed writes, I also suggest using the spectrum as students prepare for Socratic seminar discussions or any other activities that ask them to take notes and analyze a text.


Here is a sample Rhetorical Spectrum chart for Brian Doyle's essay, "Joyas Volardores."

We Are Students of the World

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One of the most interesting things about AP Lang is its relevance to real world thinking and writing about a multitude of topics.

But one of the most challenging things about the exam is that it's not on any specific topic. Unlike many other AP classes, I can't teach my students the exact content of the exam they're going to take; it's all meant to be cold-read, cold-thinking, cold-writing. I have no way of knowing what issues they'll be asked to consider or what subjects their reading passages will be on. My goal is to teach them how to do the thinking so that when they take the exam, they'll be able to apply it to whatever subject they're given.

One of the keys to success on the exam is, as I tell them, "know a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff." The more background information you have to pull from, and the more practice you have wrestling with ideas, the more likely you're going to be able to do it quickly and efficiently in a high-stakes environment. I have a poster on my wall that says, "Be a Student of the World!"

This is how I live my life, getting excited to learn anything new, any time, any place. And I think it's valuable, and I want to pass that thirst on to my students. But I've always struggled with how to do so effectively.

What does it look like in practice? Do I make them read current events articles and write certain responses? Do I create a REHUGO project that they do with a final product? How do I make sure they're doing this important work without assessing minutiae along the way and overwhelming myself with the load? Is it even meaningful trying to put a point value onto something so organic?

I've tried different things over the years, iterations of all of the above. But the most powerful I've found is to encourage it always, but not put any stakes on it. I use our LMS, Schoology, to create a big group for all of my sections of AP combined; I call it "Think-Pieces." I describe it to them like this:

This should be a collaborative space where we can all share things we read or see that make us want to say "Hey, check this out. This is interesting." My goal is that this year we are all seeing connections outside of the classroom, viewing the world through the lens of rhetoric, and being able to share that excitement with each other.

In our group, everyone has posting and commenting privileges (it is very similar to Facebook interface), so students can easily share an article, write a little blurb, and the class can comment on it.

A screenshot of our group, with all identifying info and student content blurred

If your school doesn't subscribe to an LMS, you can sign up for Schoology on your own, or use other sites like Edmodo or Wikispaces. You could even use Facebook or Twitter to create something similar; the particular platform doesn't matter as long as students are able to share things and interact with each other.

So you're probably asking, are there requirements? Are the points for posting? How do you make students do it? The short of it is, there aren't, and I don't.

I try to remind my classes that what they get out of a class is largely dependent on the thinking and practice effort they put in. I can guide them and provide the opportunities, but in reality their learning is going to come down to their own efforts, whether that ends up being leaps or baby steps.

Sure, some kids won't do it if there aren't points involved; this is a reality that English teachers face each time we assign out of class reading or preparation work. But the ones who truly want to learn for the sake of learning will respond to my frequent reminders of, "Hey, read anything interesting? If so, share it with our group!" And inevitably, those are the students who will be growing by leaps and find themselves most successful on the exam and in college.

Honoring Culture

Last school year, I had ethnically diverse students from the Caribbean, South America, Mexico, New Zealand, Africa, Hawaii, Europe, and Native American tribes. Some students took rigorous classes before AP, while others started as Juniors in AP Lang.  In addition, several students were the first in their family to consider post-secondary education.  Others had parents who did not finish elementary school.

Building on diverse backgrounds engages students in discussion and values their culture.  Our discussions are rich because of the variety of perspectives students express. By using texts from their cultures and contrasting them with other texts, we develop rhetorical analysis and argumentation skills. Students weigh different perspectives to craft arguments and address synthesis questions.  I find the single best preparation for college and success on the AP Language Exam is to focus on writing skill development through intensive process writing using mentor texts.

 

First semester is an essay writing boot camp centered on modes of arrangement—narration & description, cause & effect, classification & division, comparison-contrast, definition, exemplification, and process analysis. Within each mode we write, we study mentor texts.  I seek texts showcasing the mode and also find authors from students' cultures. We examine the rhetorical moves the author makes to accomplish his or her purpose in mentor texts.  We make lists of moves.  Students write using specified moves for each essay, yet choose their own topic. Revision workshops center on rhetorical analysis—does the author's choice of writing strategies accomplish the purpose set for the essay? Students build rhetorical analysis skills while honing writing craft through a combination of mentor text analysis and integrating moves in essay writing.  Students learn which modes of arrangement suit different purposes and how one can combine modes within argument, rhetorical analysis and synthesis essays.  The annual College Board/Atlantic Magazine student essay contest combines modes of arrangement. I also seek additional authentic writing experiences for students to develop writing skills.

While I honor a student's ethnicity, by integrating authors from his or her culture, I also honor a student's intellectual culture.  Students are more engaged in the process because they choose topics for writing. My AP Lang class comprises artists, musicians, scientists, mathematicians, philosophers, and economists.  If mathematicians can better understand a subject as an equation, they create the equation during textual analysis. If I can bring in mentor texts to address intellectual interests, students are more engaged and other class members learn concepts for argumentation evidence.

How do you include culture in your classes?  What essays would you add to the files? Add your comments to the post below.

The link to the files is goo.gl/Ci7hxk

Robin Bucaria

Using Songs with 'The Great Gatsby'

A few years ago I was at a two-day workshop for AP Language, and my presenter walked us through a few things she did with The Great Gatsby. This excited me because I love teaching that novel, and I am always looking for ways to improve what I am already doing with my students. In her session, she talked to us about how she uses Coldplay’s “Yellow” at the novel’s conclusion.

I loved this idea, and it encouraged me to think about how to incorporate songs into more of my lessons. I took her idea, I used it, and added a couple of my own songs to the teaching of the novel. And today I’m going to share those songs and how I use them in my classroom.

First, let me share how I use Gatsby in my class - I use this novel to meet students where they are comfortable (with fiction) and I use it to evaluate where they are in their annotation skills as well as analysis.

With the recent movie version and with Jay-Z as executive producer of the soundtrack, I turned to it for inspiration. (Side note: this is one of my favorite soundtracks, hands down, so narrowing it to just a couple of songs to use proved daunting.)

I use a song for the first time with chapter three. It is the first time readers meet Gatsby, and it is the party scene. How fun can pairing a song here be? “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)” with that chapter seemed like an obvious choice for me.

How I set it up (one class meeting, on block schedule)

1.      The class meeting after they are assigned to read Chapter three, they are given a copy of the lyrics.

2.      I have students draw a line from left to right between each stanza of the song.

3.      On the left side of the page, I have students read each stanza and write a small phrases that summarizes what the song is literally saying.

4.      On the right side of the page, I have students connect the lyrics to the novel, working with anything they have learned between chapters one to three. They cannot use anything past chapter three in their connections.

5.      Once they have completed this part of the assignment, students move on to the graphic organizer. The organizer asks students to think about their five best connections to the novel, write them, and then build on their use of commentary.

This allows me to see if students have been reading while allowing me to offer feedback on their annotations, their connections to the novel, and their commentary. It gives me a place to start building future lessons for them.

Students always ask to listen to the song as they’re working through lyrics, but I tell them I want them to embrace just the words on the page. If time allows, we will listen to it, but by the time they have worked through the song and graphic organizer, there is not time.

Note: Last year I included a sheet to help students think about their annotations. My students sit in groups of 4 to 6, depending on class size. Last school year they sat in groups of 6 to accommodate my class of 36. I created the annotation help sheet so I could move around the room, answer basic questions for students, offer encouragement, but still have something to guide those who were either too shy to ask for help.

My next use of songs happens the class meeting after the assigned final reading. Since my presenter used “Yellow” at novel’s end, and that’s where I started with using songs with Gatsby, that’s also where I started; however, with the soundtrack release, I added a second song as well, and I have loved the results, “Young & Beautiful.”

How I set it up (one class meeting for songs, on block schedule)(video start of next class)

1.      Each song has a graphic organizer that accompanies it. I photocopy the song on the left side of the page with the graphic organizer on the right; I photocopy this assignment front and back.

2.      I ask students to work with “Young & Beautiful” first; however, we view this song as a farewell letter from Daisy to Gatsby. I ask students to draw lines from left to right between each stanza. On the left side of the page, I ask students to write small phrases to tell me what Daisy is literally saying to Gatsby. On the right side, I ask them to connect the stanza to the novel as a whole.

3.      This is fun for me because it results in a lot of interesting conversations among the students. They have great ideas, and it is a way for me to tell almost instantly who has done their readings and who has not.

4.      For the graphic organizer, I want students to work with text evidence and commentary. This time I ask them to pull lyrics from the song to place in the left column; the right column is for their commentary.

5.      Students repeat the entire process above with “Yellow,” except this time they read it as a farewell letter from Gatsby to Daisy.

6.      At the conclusion of this assignment, we watch Coldplay’s video. I ask students to imagine Chris Martin as Gatsby singing to Daisy. We watch the video with no comment, and at video’s end, I ask students what they noticed about the colors, about his body language, about the rain, about looking over his shoulder, etc. It becomes a very interesting conversation.

Ladies and gents, this is how I use songs with The Great Gatsby. If you are interested in having a copy of either of these two lessons, please email me and I will be happy to send them to you as PDFs. 

UPDATE: You should be able to click on the link and it should take you to the assignment now. If you use it, I would love for you to revisit this post and share how it went.

There are so many ways to incorporate songs into our lessons in AP Language. I love using songs because songs define who we are as humans, and it is a common language that goes across generations.

I assign a song project with The Things They Carried as well. This project can be found in our #APLangChat Google folder. I included the assignment, the song list, and pictures of sample projects.

Last school year I used “Man in the Mirror” to teach my students how to notice shift, and this year I have written two lessons from the musical Hamilton, and each lesson ends with an argument prompt.

I would love to hear from you - do you use songs? If so, what do you use and how?

Happy Teaching!

          - The Hodgenator