It seems that, once again, rhetoric has asserted itself in the Democratic primary.

Of course, it hasn't happened yet, but now news outlets are focusing on Obama's speech tomorrow night as a "make or break moment" for him. It might be a good way to start a conversation in class about rhetorical situations - what Obama's goals are in this speech, what is the context, etc., and then follow it up the next class with an analysis of how well he responds to the rhetorical situation.

I'm posting two exercises that I used in the Fall and again in the Spring - each a considerable success. In the Spring, though, I used the visual art exercise to transition from visual arguments to rhetorical analysis - the focus of our second unit. I found this extremely helpful because most of them were new to rhetorical analysis and this exercise not only forced them to participate in an act of analysis, but also to break down those barriers of insecurity - I wanted to show them it's important to try, even though they may not have mastered the discourse. They ended up being a great demonstration of how a comprehensive analysis will take into account both text and context.