To teach is to know; to know is to learn; to learn is to discover. This is not a

quote stolen from someone else; this is the path my life took that helped me realize I

was put on this earth to teach. I discovered who I was and what I was meant to do

when I was studying at Saint Louis University. As a college athlete I was around

athletic trainers (AT’s) a lot growing up, and really looked up to them. Teacher and

AT’s share similar characteristic in that they both want their kids to be successful.

They’re role models, helpers, nurturers, motivators, and cheerleaders. When I got to

college I majored in AT, however, my love for English never left. I found myself

taking extra credit hours in English courses my entire four years alongside my

intense exercise sports science courses. I would go to an American Literature class

straight from Gross Anatomy and find it calming, fun, and exciting. It helped exercise

a different part of my brain, and in all honestly it was keeping me sane. It wasn’t

until my junior year when I was asked to coach high school soccer at Cor Jesu

Academy that I realized I was meant to teach. Through this experience I discovered

working with high school aged girls brought so much joy into my life. It was time to

switch my major into Secondary Education-English, and practice what I loved to do. I

remember thinking to myself, “If I could make a profession out of working with high

school aged kids, teaching my passion of English, and coaching soccer at the same

time, what could be better?” I’m thankful for my personal discovery period in college

because now I can say with confidence that I’m 100% meant to make a difference in

the lives of young people as their teacher, educator, supporter, role model, and

motivator.

Caitlin Werkmeister

"If you do what excites you, you will be rewarded generously, whatever form

reward takes, which is not necessarily money."-Brandon Boyd

“High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.”

-Unknown

Unit 2: Persuasive Writing and Speaking

Sophomore American Literature

Caitlin Werkmeister

The Overview

The Rationale: Almost everything we read and hear is a type of argument. Arguments are based

on the basic principle of persuading the audience to take the side of the author or speaker. Like

many types of writing, persuasive writing is very complex. There is a lot that goes into forming

a strong, and well-constructed persuasive speech or text. It is critical for my students to be able

to analyze a speech and or text through identification of the main literary devices and strategies

being used. It is through this unit that students are allowed to see how politicians and everyday

speakers can influence an audience and begin to have power over them through their use of

rhetorical devises. Speeches given that date far back in our countries history are still studied

today because of their timeless rhetorical devices; something my students will master after this

unit. This unit allows me the opportunity to teach my students the skills they will need for real

life. There will come a time when my students are going to be faced with a situation where they

must either speak their minds, or write in response to something. They will have to take a side,

and realize their purpose and audience before conducting an argument. They will have to vote,

whether that means the school’s student president, or the President of the United States. They

will have to listen to these candidates speeches and be able to see the underlining message based

on knowledge of a persuasive argument. This unit will train them to be able to do all of this in a

very professional and powerful manner. It will also challenge my students and force them to

leave their comfort zones, much like real life situations.

The Summary: To begin my unit on Persuasive Writing and Speaking, I’m going to perform for

my students my own delivered speech on the first day of the unit. I’m essentially doing what

they will be doing for their final projects. My speech will be based off of a controversial topic in

the news that is relatable to my class. From there, I’m going to take my class on a writing

marathon. It is a great way to get my students open to free writing, trying new things, and for

once, not worrying about grammar. The prompts I give them at each stop will make them have

to pick a side and write persuasively without them even realizing it. Each student will have to

read one of their writings out loud to the class. This is also a great way for community to be

made in my classroom. That is very important especially since the final project and much of our

unit will be on topics where many students will have different opinions. It needs to be

understood on day one, that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and we need to respect that.

From here, my students will get to listen to “I had a dream” speech, read it, go over it as a class,

and then answer homework questions about it. They will also be watching both republican and

democrat candidate speeches from this election. They will have to write up a compare and

contrast on the two, but they get to choose what they which to compare and contrast based off

what we have already learned so far. I will be giving them a lesson on persuasive rhetorical

devices used, how they’re use, and give them examples. I will also give them lessons on

persuasive grammar and mannerisms. They will be conducting a one page single spaced analysis

paper on s speech that comes from a list I and their history teacher made up together. This paper

will count for a portion of their grade in my class and in their history class. They will also be

working on mock trials in their history class, which will help them learn how to argue and prove

points, and will work on presentation and speech delivery. The last thing asked of my students

will be their final project. This will be a 5 minute speech on any topic they choose to do. After I

okay it, they have to design a speech, and a set up for their speech that is relevant to their time

period and topic. Since audience is everything in a persuasive speech and text, the class will have

a part in the scoring (10% of their final grade on the project will come from their classmate’s

grade). Their speech will be handed into me in paper form too, and will be grades as well.

Objectives: Bloom’s Taxonomy –students will follow the exact path of Blooms Taxonomy in

this unit.

1. Knowledge- My students will be asked to recall all of the literary devices learned in the

previous unit in order to find them in the text and actual footage of speeches that we will

be closely examining. They must remember these, in order to understand how they’re

working in the text, and how they’re manipulating the audience.

2. Comprehension- My students will show their comprehension through their homework

answers and compare and contrast write ups on topics we went over in class.

3. Application-My students will be able to use what we have been learning in my class and

apply it to their mock trials in their History class. Even though the topic and situations

may be different, they still know the important things needs to win over an audience and

can adapt those to fit a new situation.

4. Analysis- My students compare and contrast writes ups will help them look at what is

working verses what is not to understand the important things that need to be in a speech

or text to persuade someone in an educated and powerful manner. They will also be

doing this through a close examination of a speech in order to write their analysis paper.

5. Synthesis- My students will take the information they’ve learned from this unit and from

their history class and put together their own speech on their own topic.

6. Evaluation- My students will be evaluating each other’s speeches based on the important

criteria that they learned a speaker must include and deliver. The speaker also knows that

he or she must do to manipulate the audience through pervious lessons.

Length of Curriculum. I will need 5 weeks 1hr 20 minutes. 2 times a week

Materials and Resources:

(a) the school- school grounds for writing marathon, History teacher, TV, white board

(b) me- hand outs, rubrics, PowerPoint, speech, syllabus of the unit

(c) the students- paper to hand in, HW, Final Project, participation, computer

Means of Assessment:

(a) Summative-Rubric for the paper, HW, and Final Speech Project

(b) Formative- participation in class discussions, partner feedback sheets during workshop, exit

slips

Ms. Werkmeister

Teacher Calendar for Unit 2: Persuasive Writing and Speaking- Spring 2013

Week 1

Tuesday: April 9th

Be standing in the middle of the room with the scene set-once everyone has sat down begin

memorized speech on (a topic of current issues that teens relate too)

Have them do a 15 min quick write on what they just experienced(free to write about

anything that comes to mind)

Introduction to Persuasive Speaking and Writing Unit- give out syllabus for the Unit and go

over it

Writing marathon around the school-have prompts ready

Exit slip- one thing that excites them about this unit and one thing they’re unsure about and

why

Thursday: April 11th

Begin with each student sharing one write up from the writing marathon last class

Lesson on rhetorical devices/ lit strategies and devices in argu. and persuasive writing and

speaking.

Watch “I had a dream” speech by MLK/hand out note taking guide

Assign HW: Read text handed out of “I Had A Dream” /answer questions on handout about it

Week 2

Tuesday: April 16th

Turn in H/W questions

Share ideas on movie vs. text

Go over text in class/teachable moments-go with the flow of the class and follow that as a

lead

Assign and go over Final Project- take a stance on something and present a 5 minute speech

on it/ set the scene with posters and stage set up depending on your topic/ write the speech

up as well/ graded by rubric (includes classmates grade 1-5 scale- 10%, text speech, and my

grade).

Thursday: April 18th

Watch both Rep. and Dem. Presidential speeches from this yrs. Campaign/hand out note

taking sheet on compare and contrast

Groups of 5-talk about what they saw, heard, thought about

Assign HW: compare and contrast on the speakers write up/ handout questions to answer

Exit slip

Week 3

Tuesday: April 23th

Turn in H/W questions and write up

Lesson on persuasive language and grammar

Exit slip- 2 words and how they can help or hurt a speech …use a contextually rich sentence to

show both for both words picked

Assign HW: rough draft due next class

Thursday: April 25th

Assign and go over Paper1-Hand out list of speeches for them to pick from as well as

rubric(created by the history teacher and myself)-explain to them that the paper will be a

grade in my class and their history class

Lesson on mannerisms in speech- show clips for examples

Exit slip- 2 mannerisms and how the effect pos or neg message of a speaker

Assign HW: rough draft due next class

Week 4

Tuesday: April 30th

1 Page Paper Due: rough draft

Groups of 4- workshop papers- take turns looking at one persons and give oral feedback-work

clockwise

Assign HW: Work on Final Projects/conference with me outside of class all presenters must be

ready to go-I will pick at random who will present

Thursday: May 2nd

1 Page Paper Due Today(2 copies) one turned into me one turned into your history teacher

Group C presents –hand out scoring guides to non-presenters

Collect presenters speech in text form

Week 5

Tuesday: May 7th

Group B presents –hand out scoring guides to non-presenters

Collect presenters speech in text form

Thursday: May 9th

Group B presents –hand out scoring guides to non-presenters

Collect presenters speech in text form

Exit slip- on the first day I asked you to write one thing you were excited about and one thing

you were unsure about… how do your answers compare now?

Lesson Plan #1

Teacher: Caitlin Werkmeister Subject Grade Level: 10th grade Topic: Introduction to the Persuasive Writing and Speaking Unit/Writing Marathon

Objective(s):

Introduce the unit in a fun way that invited them into what they will be doing for the next 5

weeks

Get the students excited about the opportunity to show their voice and opinion in their

writing and public speaking

Create a community among my students and present them with the main idea that all

opinions in my class will be respected by everyone.

Materials needed: prepared speech by me/execution, student handout, unit syllabus, writing prompts,

school grounds

Phase 1:

Hook:I will begin class by presenting an oral five minuet persuasive speech on a controversial topic in the news that is relatable to all students in my class.

I will set the scene with posters and have them sit or stand depending on what would be appropriate for my topic.

Have them do a 15 minuet quick write on what they just witnessed… they can write about anything.

As a class talk about what just occurred… good lead into next phase Phase 2:

Hand out the unit syllabus and go over what they will be doing for the next five weeks

Answer any questions

Ask them to keep out their writing journals

Hand out-“ what a writing marathon is”

Go over it-answer any questions Phase 3:

Begin writing marathon( 6 stops for 6 mins each)

Give a new prompt at each location- making them indirectly use persuasive writing skills to complete their prompt

Come back to the classroom and have them write for 5 minutes on their experience(ask them to hold those thoughts for opening discussion next class

Have them write up an exit slip on one thing that excites them about this unit and one thing they’re unsure about

Dear Students, My name is Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is of my understanding that your

teacher has assigned a very “cool” as you kids say, unit. I was asked to write you a letter and share a few things that may help you when putting together your final project within this unit. If you don’t know by now, you will have to conduct a five minute persuasive speech on an original topic of your choice. You will be presenting it to your class orally. You are going to be asked to also type your speech up and turn it in. Remember audience is everything when giving a speech. I was informed your classmates will grade each speaker for 10% of your final project grade. Keep in mind that you will have to set the scene of your speech. By that I mean, you need to design posters that set the mood, you need to arrange the room according to how it would best fit your time period and audience, and you need to make it come to life. I decided to contact a few old friends of mine, and we put together a running list of things to consider when planning for your final project. I hope this helps! Best of luck, Ralph P.S. “Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel. It is to bring another out of his bad sense into your good sense.”

1. “It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.”-Mark Twain

-Don’t put this off until the last minute, or I’ll be able to tell and so will your audience!

2. “Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall.” –Oliver Wendell Holmes

-Talk slow and emphasis on certain words when you need to make a stronger point. Each word is important in a speech, especially in a speeches delivery.

3. “A witty saying proves nothing.”- Voltaire -Stick to the facts, and only state the most important issues that will help your argument. Remember you only have 5 minutes. Cut out what is filler. The best writers and speakers write and talk for their audience not for themselves. Your job as a writer and speaker is to make each word clear to your audience.

4. “If you don't want to read it, see it or hear it, don't say it.”- Unknown -Make your paper as interesting as your speech! Pick a topic that interests YOU. If you’re passionate about your topic the audience will be able to tell.

5. “Never try to impress people with the profundity of your thought by the obscurity of your language. Whatever has been thoroughly thought through can be stated simply.”-Unknown

-People will see right through this. Don’t try to sound smarter than you are. Speak so your audience can understand you. Also, using unfamiliar words runs a big risk of using them out of context. The same goes for your written text.

6. “Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud.”-Hermann Hesse

- Bring your speech to life with voice inflections, mannerisms, voice volume and eye contact! Start thinking about how you will stand… will you be walking around, standing in the middle of the class, standing on a chair, etc… get creative! Costumes?

7. “A talk is like a woman's dress. Long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to be interesting.”-Unknown

-This one is left Unknown for the dignity of Ralph’s friend! Keep it under 5 minutes making sure you’ve touched on the most important things!

Persuasive Writing and Speaking Unit (Spring 2013- Rubric

Teacher Name: Ms. Werkmeister

Student Name: ____________________________________

CATEGORY Paper 1

(80pts)

(80-72) Student is able to accurately analysis the text. Very strong thesis. Clear. Good flow. Interesting and shows me something new. One page single spaced. No spelling errors

(71-63) Student is able to accurately analysis the text. Strong thesis. Good flow. Interesting but surface level topics. Unclear at times. One page single spaced. 3-5 spelling errors.

(62-54) Student is able to partially analysis the texts. Thesis is good, but the paper doesn’t follow it. Topics are not interesting and very surface level. Doesn’t stick to the page limit. 5-6 spelling errors.

(53-0) Student is not able to analysis the text. No thesis is stated. No flow. Topics are uninteresting and do not show me anything new. Doesn’t stick to page limit. 7+ spelling errors.

Homework/Write ups (65pts)

(65-55) Mastery Level- answers all the questions in contextual rich sentences and has a lot of great insight. Shows great knowledge of subject matter. Turned in all assignments,

(54-34) Need to review notes a bit more, and develop more complex ideas and thoughts in answers and write ups. Missed 2-3 questions. Shows good knowledge of subject matter.

(33-23) Failed to turn in 1 assignment, Didn’t answer 4-5 questions asked. Shows some but not a lot of knowledge on subject matter through answers to questions and short write ups. Failed to turn in one assigmnet.

(22-0) Failed to turn in 2 or more assignments. Didn’t answer the questions asked. Shows lack of knowledge of subject matter through answers and write ups.

Participations (45pts)

(45-30) Talks frequently and shares great insight into the text that adds to discussions and shows that they’ve read. Participate well with others in group work.

(29-24) Talks frequently, but doesn’t necessarily add to the discussion. Shows that they’ve read the texts, and participates a lot in group work.

(23-18) Rarely talks, but something shares great insight with the class that shows they’ve read the text. Sometimes participates in group work.

(18-0) Never talks or shares insight on the readings or class discussions. Doesn’t participate in group work. Doesn’t do the reading. Distracts others around them during class.

Final Project Props/Costume (50pts)

(50-42) Student uses several props (could include costume) that accurately fit the period, show considerable work/creativity and make the presentation better. Set the stage and mood for the speech perfectly.

(41-33) Student uses 1-2 props that accurately fit the period, and make the presentation better.

(32-24) Student uses 1-2 props which make the presentation better, but they don’t necessarily fit the time period and mood for the speech delivery.

(23-0) The student uses no props OR the props chosen detract from the speech, adding no stage or mood presence.

Final Project Speech Delivery (100pts)

(100-90) 8 of more rhetorical devices were used to help persuade the audience and were consistent through the speech

(89-69) 7-5 rhetorical devices were used to help persuade the audience and were often used in the speech in an effective manner.

(68-58) 5-4 rhetorical devices were used to help persuade the audience but were only used sometimes, which hurt the speaker’s ability to fully manipulate the audience.

(57-0) 4-0 rhetorical devices were used in the speech but were not properly used which hurt the overall persuasive nature of the speech.

Audience Grade-(10% of Final Project)

(4-3.5) Audience was manipulated by your speech and thought you used rhetorical devices effectively, your mannerisms were appropriate, your vocabulary was strong, and you set your scene very well

(3-2.5) Audience was manipulated by your speech but thought your use of rhetorical devices, mannerisms, vocabulary ,& scene could have been more convincing

(2-1.5) Audience was somewhat manipulated by your speech but thought your use of rhetorical devices, mannerisms, vocabulary ,& scene needed work

(1-0) Audience was not manipulated by your speech and thought your use of rhetorical devices, mannerisms, vocabulary ,& scene didn’t work at all.

Final Project Speech Text

(50-42) 1-2 pages had an original topic, 0-1 errors, showed use of 8 or more literary devices and rhetorical devices, used appropriate persuasive grammar and written in a way that persuaded me the same as when it was delivered.

(41-33) 1-2 pages, had an original topic, 2-4 errors, showed use of less than 8 literary devices and rhetorical devices, used appropriate persuasive grammar and written in a way that persuaded me the same as when it was delivered.

(32-24) Less than 1pg, had an original topic, 5+ errors, less than 5 literary devices and rhetorical devices, used appropriate persuasive grammar. Did not persuade me the same as when it was delivered.

(23-0) Less than 1pg,didn’t had an original topic, 8+ errors, less than 4 literary devices and rhetorical devices, did not used appropriate persuasive grammar. Did not persuade me the same as when it was delivered.

Total Points Possible: 190+Final Project points (200 plus 10% audience grade)

Total Points Achieved:

Final Unit Letter Grade Achieved:

I wanted to create a unit that would be useful in my student’s everyday life. As an

educator I think it is very important to bring real life events into the classroom. I got the idea for

this unit based on the fact that our country is currently in the middle of a Presidential Campaign.

I played off that and thought to myself, how I can draw a unit out of this that teaches and

educates my students on persuasive speech and writing. After I had the main idea, I turned to the

Common Core Standards to help form the building block of my unit and answer my questions. I

began brainstorming different ways I could go about this topic when it hit me; have my students

create their own persuasive speech. I made this the final project of my unit. I wrote out how the

final project would work, and began to write my unit backwards. I knew what I wanted the end

result to be so I planned my unit backwards to make sure the lessons before would help my

students do the best they could when it came time for their own speeches. The final project hits a

lot of the Common Core Standards I wanted to hit. They are working on public speaking,

putting themselves in a different time period, creating the scene, writing up the speech, arguing a

specific side in hopes to persuade the audience, and learning how to role play. The final project

is in a way a complete summary of what they’ve learned throughout the five week unit. They

have to apply what they have learned and discovered through research, in order to do well.

I also wanted to help my students see different sides of an argument and how they apply

in all different types of situations. The best way I knew of showing them this and actually

experiencing it for themselves was to join up with their history teacher. That is how I came up

with the idea of having them do a mock trial in their history class while I was covering this unit

at the same time. The same type of public speaking and persuasive skills are needed in a mock

trial. I also came up with the idea of forming a list of famous speeches with the history teacher.

We would assign a one page analysis paper on the students choice of a speech from that list, and

they would receive two grades on it (one in my class, one in their history class), stemming from

one rubric developed by both the history teacher and myself. This would help develop the skills

they need in order to do well in the mock trial and in their final project in my class.

My unit includes a lot of room from personal creativity and community. I started the unit

off by making my own speech; making myself vulnerable in hopes to gain respect from my

students so they can see I’m a real person. I then took it a step further and took them on a

writing marathon where they first discovered their own self in writing, and then others by

listening to what each other had written. Since my unit does deal with a lot of controversial

topics I found that it was very important to have a strong community in my classroom and make

it known from day one that everyone must respect all students’ opinions in order for this unit to

work.

I wanted to make the final project very open in choice, but also well-structured in what I

was looking for in the presentation delivery. My unit is very liberal in the sense that it is hand

on, very interactive, and not as strict as I normally would have it. The addition of filmed

speeches is a new way of seeing a text. Some students gain more from seeing and listening

instead of reading. This unit gives a lot of opportunity to do both. I force them to see, listen, and

read speeches. This helps all types of learners. There are opportunities for the structured

students to get what they need through the paper, final project, homework, and rubrics. There

are opportunities for the less structured students to show their creativity through class

participation, and their final project scene, topic, and delivery. I also give choice a lot in this

unit. I give choice to their final project topic, and I give choice to their text analysis paper which

when added together make up a lot of the points in their grade. I designed my unit in hopes that

all types of learners will do well, and will learn a lot of valuable information that can be applied

to everyday life.