Rhetoric: Persuasion in Writing, Reading, and Critical Thinking
In this language arts course, students become masters of rhetorical analysis and persuasion. By the end of the year, students will have influenced a controversial local government decision, pitched a Super Bowl commercial, solved a mystery through rational evidence-building, and negotiated a plan for sharing a limited global resource. By tackling these challenging projects, students develop a deep understanding of how they can wield the tools of rhetoric to persuade others — and how they can recognize the rhetorical strategies at work in the world around them.
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NEXT COURSE: Exposition: Informational Writing and Public Speaking
Course Overview
- Middle School Language Arts
- Academic Year Program | 36 Weeks
- Weekly Class Time: 105 minutes once per week
- Homework: 1-2 hours per week
- Skills: Rhetorical analysis, evidence-based arguments, creative writing, negotiation and debate
- Course Texts: Contagious: Why Things Catch On, Murder Is Bad Manners, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In
Note: Students who are new to AoPS Academy can receive course approvals by going through our admissions process.
Available Sessions
Don't see an option that works for you? Take our classes online at Virtual Campus.
Class Experience
Each unit of Rhetoric invites students to imagine themselves within a richly-developed, (mostly) real-world scenario, solving a problem by taking on a key role within that context. To solve each problem, students learn and apply skills across the spectrum of language arts: reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, interpretation, critical thinking and public speaking.
In the first unit, students find themselves in the small midwestern town of Pilot Pass, where the Town Council wants to sell a beloved green space to property developers. Students learn to recognize and master the components of the Rhetorical Situation while investigating the Council Members through a sequence of role-played "Encounters" and crafting a speech perfectly targeted to sway their votes.
In the second unit, students learn how classical rhetoric applies in the world of business and marketing. Students deepen their understanding of persuasive techniques by studying successful marketing strategies, all while preparing to pitch a commercial for a fictional business.
In the third unit, students are immersed in a fictional mystery as they learn how to build a strong body of evidence and solve the case through advanced literary and rhetorical analysis. Students finish the unit by putting pen to paper to write their own resolution to the mystery.
In the final unit, students expand their rhetorical skills to the global stage as they convene in a simulated United Nations to argue for the best way to distribute a limited natural resource.