Purpose
Students will investigate: How can we, as student-advocates, use the tools of rhetoric to persuade decision-makers to solve a pressing issue in our community? Beginning with a Rhetoric Remix Lab, teams will analyze public messages and apply claims, evidence, commentary, counterclaims, organization, rhetorical appeals, and audience awareness to a polished argumentative essay, four- to five-episode media mini-series, and social media outreach plan. Structured peer critique, teacher conferences, rehearsals, and exit reflections will guide revisions and AP Language skill growth, documented in a final portfolio. At the Rally for Change Showcase, teams will present their campaigns to Dallas City Council members, experienced council speakers, nonprofit leaders, families, teachers, and peers, who will use a rubric to select the most persuasive campaign for a potential live council presentation.
Learning goals
Students will craft a sound public argument with an arguable thesis, credible evidence, commentary, counterclaims, rebuttals, purposeful organization, and a compelling call to action. They will analyze speeches, advertisements, and public messages; apply ethos, pathos, logos, rhetorical devices, and audience awareness across an essay, media mini-series, and social media outreach plan. Through peer critique, teacher conferences, rehearsals, and exit reflections, students will evaluate feedback, revise for clarity and impact, and track growth in AP Language skills. Teams will present persuasively and respond respectfully to questions from peers and community partners using logical transitions, active listening, eye contact, effective pacing, clear enunciation, and purposeful gestures.
Products
Teams will create a polished argumentative essay advocating for action on a local issue, supported by credible evidence, commentary, counterarguments, rhetorical appeals, and a clear call to action. They will adapt the essay into a four- or five-episode YouTube, podcast, graphic, or animated mini-series and design a coordinated social media outreach plan. Throughout development, teams will produce revised scripts or storyboards, peer-review notes, teacher-conference revisions, rehearsal feedback, and exit reflections. Each team will submit a final portfolio and present its campaign at the Rally for Change Showcase, where the most persuasive presentation may advance to a live Dallas City Council meeting.
Launch
Open with a Rhetoric Remix Lab featuring short speeches, city council testimony, ads, social posts, and graphics about Dallas-area public issues. In teams, students identify claims, evidence, rhetorical appeals, audience choices, diction, syntax, and persuasive delivery, then rank each example’s effectiveness using an AP Lang–aligned rubric. A Dallas City Council member, nonprofit director, or resident who has addressed the council shares a brief challenge about persuading local decision-makers, followed by student questions and reflective listening notes. Teams then select a community issue and respond to the essential question by creating a one-minute “remix” that adapts an effective persuasive move for their intended audience.
Exhibition
Host a Rally for Change Showcase where each group presents its argumentative essay, 4–5 episode mini-series, and social media outreach plan to Dallas City Council members, nonprofit directors, community advocates, families, teachers, and peers. Groups will explain how they used claims, evidence, commentary, counterarguments, rhetorical appeals, and audience awareness, then respond to audience questions. Guests will use a shared rubric to evaluate argument quality, evidence, rhetorical effectiveness, delivery, and call to action, and vote for the most persuasive campaign. The winning group will have the opportunity to adapt and present its argument at a live City Council meeting.
