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 at the end of
the second lesson. 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
comprehension 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 analyze, synthesize, and evaluate a text.

Alignment between assessment items and objectives:

3 rhetorical appeals and their definitions K3
are….
3 examples of how rhetorical appeals can be U2, K4, S1
used to influence an argument are….
(name the appeal and provide an example)
1 explanation of how an understanding of U4, K1, PRU4, PRK7
rhetoric and rhetorical appeals can help you
to evaluate texts and why this is important….
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 and will help me to craft future lessons.

3 rhetorical appeals and their definitions are….

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

(name the appeal and provide an example)

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 and will help me to craft future lessons.

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 how rhetorical appeals can be used to influence an argument are….

(name the appeal and provide an 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 how students are progressing regarding the unit understandings. The
previous formative assessment (lower-prep FA 1) was a quick and efficient assessment that
allowed the teacher to assess students’ 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 (e.g., Joliffe’s Rhetorical
Framework and SOAPSTone) 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:

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.

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.

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.

PRU2: Students will have an understanding of the concept of persuasion and the goal/purpose of
a persuasive text.
PRK7(A): Students will know what it means to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate a text.

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

PRS5: Students will have the skills to incorporate textual evidence into a piece of writing.

PRS7: Students will have the skills to evaluate a text based on their own analysis and synthesis of
the text.

Alignment between assessment items and objectives:

1. What is the argument the author of U2, S3, PRU2, PRK7(B)
the text is making in this piece?
Highlight the portion of text in the
above paragraph (textual evidence)
that supports your response.

2. How is the author utilizing rhetorical K3, K4, S1, S5, PRS5
appeal(s) to make their argument?
Support your response with at least
two pieces of textual evidence.

3. Evaluate the effectiveness of the text. U2, U3, S5, S7, PRU2, PRK7(A), PRS5, PRS7
What made the text persuasive? What
are ways in which the author could
have increased the effectiveness of
the text? Incorporate textual evidence
to support your response.
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 in the above paragraph (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? Incorporate textual
evidence to support your response.
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 when the author states that the cost of tickets is not
expensive, the author does not provide sufficient evidence to support this appeal to logos. How
cheap are the tickets? Providing an actual cost could have increased the effectiveness of the
argument. Further, 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’ emotions.
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 at the end of 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.

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

PRK6: Students will know how to transfer ideas/notes from a graphic organizer into paragraph or
essay form.

PRS3: Students will know that a text can have a broad definition and is not restricted to
traditional definitions; rather, texts can include (but are not limited to) the following: newspaper
article, speech, advertisement/commercial—radio, tv, or print; podcast, blog, etc.
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 applying each strategy for the purposes of a rhetorical
analysis and evaluation of a text (green= very confident; yellow = getting there; red = not
confident at all). In the white spaces next to the stoplight, list the strategy name and provide 1-2
brief sentences explaining your reason for this evaluation of the strategy. *Please note: you may
have more than one strategy for a color on the stoplight below. This is not a ranking system, but
rather a way to gauge your confidence with three different strategies for rhetorical analysis.
 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 applying each strategy for the purposes of a rhetorical
analysis and evaluation of a text (green= very confident; yellow = getting there; red = not
confident at all). In the white spaces next to the stoplight, list the strategy name and provide 1-2
brief sentences explaining your reason for this evaluation of the strategy. *Please note: you may
have more than one strategy for a color on the stoplight below. This is not a ranking system, but
rather a way to gauge your confidence with three different strategies for rhetorical analysis.

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.

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.

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.

PRK4: Students will know characteristics of an effective argument.

PRK6(A): Students will know what it means to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate a text.

PRK6(B): Students will know how to write a synthesis paragraph or essay based on their analysis
of a text.
PRS2, PRS4, PRS5: Students will have the skills to express their thoughts/ideas in written form,
including: establishing a clear topic or thesis, creating a logical flow and organization of ideas,
incorporating supporting evidence, and using appropriate language and grammar.

PRS2: Students will have the skills to analyze and synthesize a text.

PRS5: Students will have the skills to incorporate textual evidence into a piece of writing.
Name: Date:

Directions: Read the following essay titled “Humor and Stress.” Then, use the SOAPSTone strategy to
analyze the text. Finally, evaluate the overall effectiveness of the text based on your analysis. On a
separate sheet of loose-leaf paper, write your analysis and evaluation in 1-2 paragraphs. While there is no
time limit on the assessment, this is expected to take you between 20-25 minutes to complete. Finally,
please 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. Then, evaluate the overall effectiveness of the text based on your analysis. On a
separate sheet of loose-leaf paper, write your analysis and evaluation in 1-2 paragraphs. While there is no
time limit on the assessment, this is expected to take you between 20-25 minutes to complete. Finally,
please 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