Disclaimer: This is my first year teaching middle school. I know in the high schools, students do a lot of work with Rhetoric and persuasive writing. Are there any veteran Middle school teachers out there? Do you guys cover Rhetoric? Or at least introduce it? I have some challenging kiddos...who LOVE to argue, and debate so I am hoping to keep them engaged by covering argumentative and persuasive writing. Thoughts? Things to be aware of? Tips?
I have a child in 7th grade and they are doing logos, ethos, and pathos right now. I was honestly surprised they were doing that so young just because it was never taught ever back when I was in school. I teach it in 9th and it is pretty fun to do. I don't know middle school Common Core but in high school rhetoric is in a standard, I think it is RI9.6.
I think middle schoolers can handle it, but you have to simplify it. One activity I enjoyed with my high schoolers was to analyze TV commercials and describe what kind of persuasion they used. We even went into other types of techniques (apparently there is a lot) such as name calling, stereotyping, etc. I think middle schoolers would enjoy it.
I think it would depend on the particular middle school students. Some middle school students are advanced, from what I've seen, and they are doing high school level work. But I can imagine other middle schoolers who would be lost about the differences between these types of rhetoric.
