Teach Argument With Holiday Songs!
Holiday music is practically synonymous with wintertime, along with hot chocolate, snowmen, and sledding. But knowing what we know about arguments and rhetoric, these seemingly harmless holiday jingles are often packed with manipulative rhetorical devices, purposeful twists in language to pull at our heart strings, and subtle messages that are replayed for us again, and again, and again.
This lesson bundle kicks off with a guided rhetorical analysis of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," before prompting students to select, analyze, and synthesize their own holiday songs. This is the perfect student-centered way to teach argument and rhetorical analysis during the holiday season!
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Wondering what you can expect from this lesson bundle? Look no further:
This bundle kicks off with a four-page guided rhetorical analysis of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" — spanning four pages, and prompting students to think critically about the lyrics they've often heard time and time again;
The "core" of this lesson is a small-group project, divided into three parts: (1) identifying a song for analysis, (2) conducting and composing that analysis, and (3) preparing a scaffolded analysis to be shared out with the rest of the class. This is the student-centered awesomeness that makes this lesson ROCK. (The editable Word doc can also be tweaked, and depending on your purposes, this can just as easily be turned into an independent project or homework assignment.)
The lesson culminates in a little present at its end — in the form of a synthesis essay writing prompt. This is designed to be assigned as independent work — as a homework (or longer term) assignment, but can be scaled up or down depending on your needs!
Lesson Features
Focus Rhetorical Analysis, Close Reading, Rhetorical Devices
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Teach Argument With Pokemon Go
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Teach Argument With The Jonas Brothers
The Jonas Brothers' hit song, "Sucker," provides us with a nice opportunity to engage in rhetorical analysis while hooking students with a chart-topping pop song. This particular lesson bundle spans four activities across ten pages, each of which have been crafted to teach argument, rhetorical analysis, and close reading. The cherry on top is a lovely intertextual analysis exercise (which also lends itself nicely to an analytical essay task).
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Teach Argument With Macklemore
Whether you're looking for a lesson that's timely in the context of current events and modern politics, you're looking to add a compelling new dimension to a "gender studies" unit, or you're simply looking for a new lesson with which to engage your students — you've found a good one.
This lesson uses Macklemore's "Same Love" as a core text, prompting students to engage in a close reading of the music video (visual rhetoric) and lyrics (close reading) before comparing and contrasting with other, related arguments.
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