Article: Exploring Rhetoric in Politics through Project Based Learning and Technology
This section serves as a supplement to an 8th grade unit of the same name. It houses the appendices, daily curriculum, standards, and links associated with my journal article awaiting publication. The article, in its entirety, is not available online.
This section serves as a supplement to an 8th grade unit of the same name. It houses the appendices, daily curriculum, standards, and links associated with my journal article awaiting publication. The article, in its entirety, is not available online.
Abstract
The media has a long history of using persuasive messages to influence our daily decisions, but persuasion is also prevalent in the world of politics. The purpose of this article is to provide teachers a way to introduce the use of rhetoric in politics and engage students in relevant and powerful civics education through Project Based Learning. An inquiry-based instructional approach will increase student engagement in critical thinking, enhance cooperative learning skills, and utilize real world alternative assessments. This classroom-tested project is a cross-curricular social studies and language arts unit that employs 21st century skills in technology to interest students in learning social studies. Free technologies like Google Docs and Slides, Sqworl, Movie Maker, and Edmodo enhance students’ ability to access information and support competencies for college, career, and life. This article describes the process by which students analyze and interpret political campaign rhetoric. Students are assessed through video campaign presentations utilizing rhetorical devices utilized by politicians.
The media has a long history of using persuasive messages to influence our daily decisions, but persuasion is also prevalent in the world of politics. The purpose of this article is to provide teachers a way to introduce the use of rhetoric in politics and engage students in relevant and powerful civics education through Project Based Learning. An inquiry-based instructional approach will increase student engagement in critical thinking, enhance cooperative learning skills, and utilize real world alternative assessments. This classroom-tested project is a cross-curricular social studies and language arts unit that employs 21st century skills in technology to interest students in learning social studies. Free technologies like Google Docs and Slides, Sqworl, Movie Maker, and Edmodo enhance students’ ability to access information and support competencies for college, career, and life. This article describes the process by which students analyze and interpret political campaign rhetoric. Students are assessed through video campaign presentations utilizing rhetorical devices utilized by politicians.