Monday, September 28

Today, we began by reminding everyone that Chapter 3 of Animal Farm is due on Wednesday. We also underscored the importance of bringing books to class, since we are working closely with the text and with strategies for active reading.

Next, we quickly reviewed the concepts of Pathos, Ethos, and Logos. You thought about your usual "style," and decided which one of these rhetorical approaches is a particular strength for you. Taking advantage of the amphitheatre, Pathos people sat on the top row, Logos people sat on the second row, and Ethos people sat on the bottom row.

You then watched a video clip (shown below) and looked for evidence of your particular rhetorical approach in the interactions between the characters, their appearances, and anything else.

Omar and Brother Mouzone

We discussed what we'd seen and found ample evidence of all three rhetorical approaches in the scene.

Next, we divided you into groups, and asked you to look through Old Major's speech (in Chapter 1) for specific examples of Pathos, Ethos, and Logos. We asked you to write down quotations (with page numbers) to show each rhetorical approach. A copy of the sheet is below:

Old Major's Rhetoric

You worked diligently and thoughtfully (really!) on this for the remainder of the period. It was interesting to see the same quotation being used as Logos (in one group) and Ethos (in another group) -- as we discussed at the end of the class, that is certainly a possibility.