Purpose
Students analyze how Orwell and contemporary speakers use rhetorical appeals, tone, evidence, and logical fallacies to shape what people believe and do. They apply that understanding by developing a persuasive speech and argument essay that take a clear position, anticipate audience response, and distinguish persuasion from manipulation. Through pre-reading, discussion, critique, exit tickets, and final presentation to the class, students strengthen close reading, reasoning, speaking, and listening skills while preparing for the speech, essay, and multiple-choice assessments.
Learning goals
Students will analyze how Orwell and other speakers or writers use rhetorical appeals, tone, evidence, and logical fallacies to shape audience beliefs and actions. They will evaluate claims and reasoning in speeches and texts, then write and revise an argument-based essay and deliver a persuasive speech to the class using relevant evidence and purposeful rhetorical choices. Students will practice collaboration, critique, and revision through reflections and exit tickets while strengthening listening, speaking, and decision-making skills. They will also distinguish between effective persuasion and manipulation by examining how language influences real-world audiences.
Products
Students will create pre-reading rhetoric annotation notes, short analyses of speeches or propaganda excerpts, and daily exit tickets that capture reflections and revisions in their thinking about rhetorical appeals and logical fallacies. As the unit progresses, they will draft a written argument essay using evidence from Animal Farm and related nonfiction texts, revise speech claims and evidence through peer critique, and complete a multiple-choice assessment on rhetoric and reasoning. The culminating product is a persuasive oral presentation delivered to the class in which students argue a clear position, use appeals strategically, and address how persuasion can cross into manipulation. Students may also prepare simple speaker notes or visual aids that strengthen clarity and audience impact.
Launch
Begin with a pre-reading “persuasion gallery walk” using short propaganda posters, political ads, and school-related speeches, where students annotate appeals, tone, and possible logical fallacies. Then present a provocative claim connected to power, equality, or leadership and have students take a stance, defend it in a quick spoken response, and track which rhetorical moves were most convincing. Close the launch by revealing that they will read Animal Farm to study how language shapes belief and action, then create and deliver their own persuasive speech to the class. Use an exit ticket for students to reflect on when persuasion feels effective versus manipulative and what they want to learn about rhetoric.
Exhibition
Host a “Rhetoric Forum” where students deliver their persuasive speeches to the class as a formal exhibition, then field brief audience questions about their claims, evidence, and rhetorical choices. Create a listening guide for peers so they evaluate point of view, reasoning, appeals, and any logical fallacies during each presentation. After the speeches, display students’ final argument essays or key claim-and-evidence boards around the room for a short gallery walk that highlights how their ideas developed from Animal Farm and pre-reading analysis. End with class shout-outs or awards for strongest evidence use, most effective appeal, and clearest rebuttal.
