Launching rhetoric — ethos/pathos/logos applied to mentor speeches (Yousafzai Nobel, Sotomayor Princeton)

Quick-write: 'Why did your fall argument include the kinds of evidence you chose? Was it more about credibility (ethos), feeling (pathos), or reasoning (logos)?'

• Circulate to read 3-4 quick-writes
• Press for SPECIFICITY about WHICH evidence served which mode
• Acknowledge that most arguments use all three but one tends to lead

M-6-S-RH-01-B Illustration

Classical triangle diagram with three labeled vertices: ETHOS (blue, with credibility/authority icon — gavel or laurel wreath), PATHOS (red, with heart icon), LOGOS (green, with brain/scales icon). Center: AUDIENCE word with arrow showing 'audience determines balance.' Style: clean diagrammatic, dyslexic-friendly font. Print-ready 11x17 for display.

Welcome to G6 spring — the term you become a RHETORICIAN. We met ethos/pathos/logos in fall as a NAMING tool. This term we DEPLOY them. Aristotle gave us not only the three modes but a toolkit of NAMED DEVICES — patterns of language used deliberately for argumentative effect. Today we re-meet ethos/pathos/logos in two mentor speeches you haven't analyzed yet. Yousafzai's Nobel lecture (2014) is heavy on ETHOS (her authority as a survivor) and PATHOS (her direct address to children worldwide). Sotomayor's Princeton commencement (2014) is heavy on ETHOS (her judicial credibility) and LOGOS (her structured account of how affirmative action shaped her). Notice the AUDIENCE — Nobel committee + global audience vs. graduating Princeton class — and how each mode serves that audience.

• Yousafzai leads with ethos because her audience must first accept her authority — only then will her pathos and logos land.

  model Highlight ETHOS in blue (her authority as a survivor); PATHOS in red (her direct address to children); LOGOS in green (her statistics on out-of-school girls). Which mode dominates this paragraph?

  prompt Read paragraph 4 of Yousafzai's Nobel lecture.
• Sotomayor leads with logos because her audience (Ivy graduates) values reasoned argument over emotional appeal.

  model Highlight ETHOS (her judicial standing); LOGOS (her structured argument); PATHOS (her gratitude). Which dominates?

  prompt Read paragraph 2 of Sotomayor's Princeton speech.

• Pair-share: how does Yousafzai's audience differ from Sotomayor's audience, and how does that shape the mode balance?
• Cold Call (Lemov): name one passage where ethos is dominant and explain why.
• Thumbs: I can name the dominant mode in each excerpt (up) / I need re-explanation (down)

• Annotate paragraph 5 of Yousafzai's lecture using the 3-color highlight key. Label dominant mode in margin.

  scaffold Partial-fill annotation with ethos already highlighted; student adds pathos + logos
• Compare: which speech relies more on logos? Why might the audience drive that choice? Discuss with elbow partner.

  scaffold MG-17 SOAP framework card on desk to identify audience

M-6-S-RH-01-C Chart

MG-17 SOAP framework anchor printed at 8.5x11 per student. Four boxed fields (Speaker / Occasion / Audience / Purpose) with prompts for each. Reverse has worked example for King's I Have a Dream.

MG-17 Chart

SOAP framework anchor (for rhetorical analysis): 4-field card. SPEAKER (S) — Who is speaking? What is their credibility/persona/role? OCCASION (O) — When and where is the speech given? What was happening at the time? AUDIENCE (A) — Who is listening? What do they know, value, fear? PURPOSE (P) — What is the speaker trying to achieve? Inform / persuade / commemorate / inspire / mobilize? Worked example for King 'I Have a Dream': S = MLK, civil rights leader, Baptist minister, age 34; O = 28 August 1963 March on Washington at Lincoln Memorial; A = 250,000 marchers, national TV audience, US government; P = to mobilize support for civil rights legislation and to articulate the moral case for racial equality. Bottom: 'SOAP analysis precedes device analysis. Devices serve purpose for audience.' Print-ready 11x17.

• For your fall argument topic: if your audience were CHANGED (e.g., from peers to school board), which mode would you lead with and why?

• Restate: ethos = credibility, pathos = emotion, logos = reason; audience drives the balance
• Preview tomorrow's L.6.1.e Standard-English variations work and L.6.1 pronoun review

• Read your independent-reading nonfiction. Find one paragraph where ethos, pathos, OR logos dominates. Bring the source tomorrow with your annotation.