Activities

1. What makes a speaker believable or credible?
   
   
2. What is the difference between ethos, logos, and pathos?

3. Categorize a speaker’s claims as weak, moderate, or strong.  Identify the specific evidence that was presented and explain whether or not it was relevant and sufficient.

4. Evaluate which points were most effective in a speaker’s argument and what points were left unsaid that might have helped the speaker’s argument.
   
   
5. Evaluate TV commercials for evidence of ethos, logos, and pathos.

Answer Key/Rubric

1. Student will list their beliefs on what makes a speaker believable or credible.  This answer can vary and may include expert status, facts, statistics, and personality of the speaker.
   
   
2. Student will accurately define the three rhetorical strategies that any speaker may use:

• Ethos – source credibility – if we like and trust the speaker, we are likely to believe what he/she says.  Source credibility can be built by celebrity status, expertise in the field, and trustworthy and/or likeable personalities.
• Logos – the argument is built logically – speaker may use facts or statistics and develops the argument using sound logic where one fact builds upon the last and all the facts culminate into a logical argument.
• Pathos – emotional reaction – speakers use pathos when they get the audience to react with any type of emotion.  For example, speakers may make the audience laugh, cause them to be angry, or make them sad.

3. Student will categorize a speaker’s argument as weak, moderate, or strong.  Students can listen to a speaker via a video or can read a speech or argument.  Then, they should categorize the argument as weak, moderate, or strong and provide evidence in support of their classification.  TED Talks are an excellent source of video speeches; students can read famous political speeches as well.  Choose texts (in print or in other forms of media) depending readability levels, student interest, and topic relevance.
   
   
4. Student will carefully consider the claims made in a speech and will evaluate which points made the argument believable.  If students are watching a speech, they should be instructed to take notes during the speech.  If they are reading one, they should annotate the text when they find strong evidence in support of claims.  After they have completed this stage, they should evaluate what claims the speaker/author could have made to further their claims.
   
   
5. After teaching students about ethos, logos, and pathos, have them watch commercials in class to analyze them for the use of the persuasive strategy.  Conversely, they can be assigned this task as homework – to watch commercials and pay attention to them for the persuasive strategy being used in them.  Students should provide evidence from the commercials in support of their analyses.