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Teaching Arguments: Rhetorical Comprehension, Critique, and Response
Most people see arguments as a "he said, she said" or as a backand-forth match that has no apparent winner at the end. This nonsensical bickering solves nothing. Arguing to get your point across and persuade your audience to view the issue your way can be a sticky situation that turns ugly quickly. Many people do not know how to argue with critical thought, nor do they know how to use persuasive techniques in a way that will eliminate negativity, frustration, and insult. For this reason, teaching adolescents how to comprehend, analyze, and respond to arguments is one of the most essential skills teachers can give to their students.
In Teaching Arguments, Jennifer Fletcher provides language arts teachers with engaging activities, graphic organizers, writing prompts, and much more to help students read, write, think, speak, and listen rhetorically. She says, "If we want our students to do more than just point and shoot when it comes to argumentation, we need to teach them what rhetoric is and does. Rhetorical reading and writing are the gateway practices behind effective argumentation" (xiv). Fletcher offers teachers approaches to helping students gain deeper learning through a rhetorical approach.
Why Is Rhetoric Important?
Fletcher writes, "Rhetoric-in addition to being versatile-has...