What is Your Child Learning?
Seventh graders are learning to analyze rhetoric - how writers and speakers use language to persuade. This includes understanding three main appeals: ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), and logos (logic). They also learn to identify techniques like repetition, parallelism, and rhetorical questions.
This skill is essential for media literacy - helping students recognize when and how they're being persuaded in advertisements, political messages, and social media.
Key Vocabulary
Ethos: Appeal to credibility - "Trust me because I'm qualified" (expert credentials, experience)
Pathos: Appeal to emotion - "Feel this with me" (stories, emotional language, imagery)
Logos: Appeal to logic - "The evidence proves it" (facts, statistics, reasoning)
Repetition: Repeating words/phrases for emphasis ("I have a dream...")
Parallelism: Similar structure for related ideas ("Ask not what your country can do for you...")
Rhetorical Question: Question asked for effect, not expecting an answer
Activities to Try at Home
📺 Commercial Analysis Challenge
While watching TV or online videos, analyze advertisements together:
- "What are they trying to get us to do?" (Purpose)
- "Is someone famous or an 'expert' promoting this?" (Ethos)
- "How does this ad make us feel?" (Pathos - happy, scared, left out?)
- "Did they give any facts or statistics?" (Logos)
Challenge: Find a commercial that uses all three appeals. Discuss which appeal seems strongest and why.
🗣️ Family Debate Night
Practice rhetoric by debating fun topics:
- Topic ideas: Best pizza topping, cats vs. dogs, best vacation spot
- Each person must use at least one ethos, pathos, and logos argument
- After each "speech," identify what appeals were used
- Discuss: Which argument was most convincing? Why?
📱 Social Media Persuasion Spotting
Influencers and ads on social media use rhetoric constantly:
- "Why does this person want me to buy/do/believe this?"
- "Are they using their fame/expertise?" (Ethos)
- "Are they making me feel FOMO, happiness, or fear?" (Pathos)
- "Did they actually prove anything with evidence?" (Logos)
Tip: This builds critical media literacy - an essential life skill!
📜 Famous Speech Analysis
Watch or read famous speeches together and analyze the rhetoric:
- MLK's "I Have a Dream" - incredible repetition and pathos
- JFK's Inaugural - famous parallelism
- Malala Yousafzai's UN speech - ethos from personal experience
Many are available on YouTube. Watch together and discuss: "What techniques made this memorable?"
Parent Tip: The Power of "Why Does This Work?"
The key question for rhetoric analysis isn't just "What technique is this?" but "WHY does this work?"
When your child identifies a technique, push them further:
- "Okay, they used repetition. Why does repeating that phrase make it more powerful?"
- "Yes, that's pathos. Why does making us feel sad help their argument?"
- "Good - they cited an expert. Why does that make us more likely to believe them?"
This deeper analysis is exactly what the FAST test requires!
Informacion para Padres (Spanish Summary)
Que esta aprendiendo su hijo? Los estudiantes de septimo grado aprenden a analizar la RETORICA - como los autores usan el lenguaje para persuadir. Esto incluye tres tipos de apelaciones:
- Ethos: Apelacion a la credibilidad ("Confia en mi porque soy experto")
- Pathos: Apelacion a las emociones (hacer que el lector sienta algo)
- Logos: Apelacion a la logica (datos, estadisticas, evidencia)
Actividades en casa:
- Analicen comerciales juntos: "Que quieren que hagamos? Como nos convencen?"
- Miren discursos famosos y discutan las tecnicas usadas
- Hablen sobre persuasion en redes sociales
Pregunta clave: "POR QUE funciona esta tecnica?" No solo identificar, sino analizar el efecto.