1. Bell Ringer: A1 TURN IN Summer Reading
Add yourself to the class REMIND group!

2. Bell Ringer: B4 TURN IN Summer Reading
Add yourself to the class REMIND group!

3. Day 2 – What is Rhetoric?
I can identify the speaker, audience, subject, purpose, and context of a text.

4. Agenda Defining Rhetoric Rhetorical Triangle Notes Class Practice
Reading Aziz Ansari
Complete Rhetorical Triangle and analyze the op-ed
Connection to the unit
Homework: Read Chapter 1 of Everything is an Argument

5. What is Rhetoric?
Meriam-Webster simply defines rhetoric as “the art of speaking or writing effectively as
a: the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times
b: the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion.”
Sounds simple, right?
It might be a LITTLE more complicated than that and we will be delving in to the depths of this question ALL year.

6. Rhetoric
Since Rhetoric, at its most basic level, is the art of speaking and writing effectively, we must first understand a few fundamental questions about each text that we read…
Who is SPEAKING in the speech/writing?
What SUBJECT is being addressed in the speech/writing?
Who is the AUDIENCE of the speech/writing?
What is the PURPOSE of the speaking/writing?
What is the CONTEXT in which it is being spoken/written?
Each of these questions are part of what formal rhetoricians call the Rhetorical Situation.

7. The Rhetorical Situation:
C.A.P.S.S. is a short way to remember the parts of the Rhetorical Situation.
Context
Audience
Purpose
Speaker
Subject
We also use the Rhetorical Triangle to visually represent the relationship between the parts of the Rhetorical Situation.
Rhetorical Triangle
Speaker
Context
Purpose
Audience
Subject

8. Intro to Rhetorical Triangle
What do we mean by CAPSS?
Context: The situation in which the rhetoric is delivered
This includes:
major world or community situations (war, controversy, newsmakers)
the more specific situation in which the rhetoric is delivers (e.g. a speech given to an audience that largely disagrees with the speaker)
Sometimes, you may have to go outside of the text and study other sources to fully understand the context of the piece.

9. Intro to Rhetorical Triangle
What do we mean by CAPSS?
Audience: Who are the intended recipients of the message?
Must be as specific as possible
Think about Gender? Age? Ethnicity? Subculture? Political party?
Ex: Females over the age of 35 who intend on having children late in life.
Ex: Fiscal conservatives that feel out of place in the Republican party because they agree with certain more “liberal” social beliefs like combatting climate change and supporting a woman’s choice to have an abortion under certain circumstances.

10. Intro to Rhetorical Triangle
What do we mean by CAPSS?
Purpose: What is it that the speaker hopes to achieve by presenting this rhetoric?
To inform?
To reflect?
Stop something?
Begin something new?
Keep something the same?
Discover the reason for something?
Change someone’s belief?
Get someone to buy something?
Get someone to take some other action?

11. Intro to Rhetorical Triangle
What do we mean by CAPSS?
Speaker: Who or what is presenting the rhetoric?
Remember: Speaker is not always the same as author.
If we’re reading a speech, then yes, they will be the same, but we have to be careful with reading fiction and personal writing rhetorically—they could be different.

12. Intro to Rhetorical Triangle
What do we mean by CAPSS?
Subject: What is the message about?
This will never be just one word! We need to be as specific as possible when understanding the subject of a text.

13. Intro to Rhetorical Triangle
Let’s do a triangle together:
ch?v=Pji_IX-UacM

14. Practice Who is Aziz Ansari?
Aziz Ansari, an actor, writer and director, is a creator of the Netflix series “Master of None.”
He also is the child of Muslim immigrants.
Read Aziz Ansari: “Why Trump Makes Me Scared for My Family,” published in The New York Times, June 24, 2016.
As you read, annotate for the parts of the rhetorical situation.
Then, complete a rhetorical triangle for the op-ed.

15. Essential Questions: Answer the following questions:
How does Aziz Anasri’s identity influence his understanding of discrimination against Muslim Americans?
Considering Ansari’s rhetorical situation, how was his op-ed effective?

16. Homework: Read Chapter 1 of Everything is an Argument
As you read, make sure to take careful notes.