Performance Task

Name: Date:

Goal: In the following performance task you will demonstrate how well you understand the role
rhetoric can play in persuasion and argumentation and how evaluating rhetoric can allow for you
to be a critical consumer of information.

Scenario: You have determined a change that you would like to see happen at your school (e.g.,
new school lunches, switching from a 7-period day to block scheduling, etc.) and to make this
change occur you need the support of your peers. To gain the support of your peers, you will
create an advertisement (print, audio, or video) applying what you have learned about the
persuasive power of rhetoric to convince your peers to support your proposed school change.

Task: Your task is to plan and design an advertisement informed by your knowledge of rhetoric as
a persuasive tool to convince your peers of the school-level change you wish to see happen at
your school that you would like them to support. The challenge in this situation is to consider
which rhetorical appeal(s) will be most effective in supporting your proposed change and using
this knowledge to persuade your peers. Once you have determined your proposed change, you
will compose a rationale for how you will use rhetoric to support your advertisement. Then, after
your advertisement is created, you will share your ad with peers and employ your skills as a
critical consumer of information to evaluate the effectiveness of your peers’ ads. Then, you will
engage in discussion as to which proposed school changes you will support, using your
knowledge of rhetoric to support your reasoning.

Timeline for task: (at the end of Lesson 10)

Class 1 Determine the change you would like to see happen at your school and
consider rhetorical appeals that will be most effective in persuading your
peers at school to support your proposed change
Class 2-4 Design advertisement
Class 5 Post or share advertisements
Class 6 Class discussion of advertisement effectiveness
And self-reflection for unit on rhetoric

Resources needed:
 Class notes, texts, and other materials on rhetoric and rhetorical appeals
 If creating a print ad: poster board, writing utensils, etc.
 If creating an audio or video ad: recording device, computer, and other relevant
technology

Success Criteria: See rubric.

Rubric for Performance Task:

1—Insufficient 2—Emergent 3—Proficient 4—Exemplary

Rationale for Rationale demonstrates Rationale demonstrates a Rationale demonstrates Rationale demonstrates
rhetorical appeal(s) a limited/minimal developing understanding an understanding of a thorough
used in understanding of of rhetorical terms and rhetorical terms and understanding of
advertisement rhetorical terms and appeals and the ways in appeals and the ways in rhetorical terms and
appeals and the ways in which rhetoric can be which rhetoric can be appeals and the ways in
which rhetoric can be used as a persuasive tool used as a persuasive tool which rhetoric can be
used as a persuasive used as a persuasive
tool tool
Advertisement— Advertisement is Advertisement is Advertisement is aligned Advertisement is
applies knowledge misaligned to somewhat aligned to to knowledge expressed strongly aligned to
expressed in knowledge expressed in knowledge expressed in in rationale knowledge expressed in
rationale rationale rationale rationale

Advertisement— Advertisement is Advertisement is Advertisement is Advertisement is highly

final product ineffective in using somewhat effective in effective in using effective in using
(x2) rhetoric and rhetorical using rhetoric and rhetoric and rhetorical rhetoric and rhetorical
appeals as a persuasive rhetorical appeals as a appeals as a persuasive appeals correctly as a
tool persuasive tool tool persuasive tool

There is no clear The argument being made The argument being The argument being
argument being made is somewhat unclear, made is presented and is made is clearly
and the advertisement lacking detail and the supported by relevant presented and
lacks details and is advertisement is not details but the supported by relevant
unengaging and poorly engaging or well-crafted advertisement is not details and the
crafted engaging or well-crafted advertisement is well-
crafted
Discussion Seldom used Occasionally used Usually used Consistently used
understanding of understanding of rhetoric understanding of understanding of
rhetoric and rhetorical and rhetorical appeals to rhetoric and rhetorical rhetoric and rhetorical
appeals to support one’s support one’s statements appeals to support one’s appeals to support
statements and make and make decisions as to statements and make one’s statements and
decisions as to which which proposed changes decisions as to which make decisions as to
proposed changes to to support proposed changes to which proposed
support support changes to support

Students rarely engaged Students occasionally Students usually Students always

in respectful discussion engaged in respectful engaged in respectful engaged in respectful
with their peers by discussion with their peers discussion with their discussion with their
actively listening and by peers by peers by
participating, engaging actively listening and actively listening and actively listening and
in on-topic discussion, participating, engaging in participating, engaging in participating, engaging
disagreeing respectfully, on-topic discussion, on-topic discussion, in on-topic discussion,
and using appropriate disagreeing respectfully, disagreeing respectfully, disagreeing respectfully,
nonverbal and using appropriate and using appropriate and using appropriate
communication nonverbal communication nonverbal nonverbal
communication communication
Unit Grading Plan:

Weight Assessment Assessment Evidence/ Rationale Detail

15% Rhetoric Exam Assessment description: The exam will be an individual Topics assessed:
assessment administered during class time, which  Rhetorical appeals
students will take after the completion of Lesson 8.  Rhetorical strategies
 Analysis of rhetoric as a tool for
Rationale: This assessment will allow for the teacher to persuasion
assess student knowledge of key topics for the unit.
Further, this summative assessment will communicate to Format:
the teacher, as well as students, what the students know,  Matching
understand, and can do regarding the unit learning  Multiple-choice
objectives prior to unit completion. This can allow for re-  Constructed-response, with focus
teaching as needed and the teacher can modify on making and explaining
instruction based on student learning demonstrated on informed choices through an
this assessment. examination of rhetoric

25% Rhetorical Assessment description: Students will compose a Frameworks or strategies used may
analysis rhetorical analysis demonstrating their understanding of include:
key topics of the unit and application of  OPTIC
frameworks/strategies for analyzing rhetoric. The analysis  SOAPSTone
will be assigned after the completion of Lesson 10, prior  Joliffe’s Rhetorical Framework
to the performance task.

Rationale: The goal of this assessment is for the teacher to

determine (and then communicate) students’ ability to
apply concepts they have learned about rhetoric and
utilize strategies to support them in their analysis of
rhetoric to analyze a text.
40% Performance Assessment description: Including:
Task: This assessment brings together students’ knowledge of  Rationale for rhetorical appeals
Advertisement rhetoric, rhetorical terms, and rhetorical appeals and utilized
requires students to transfer this knowledge to the  Alignment of advertisement to
creation of a persuasive tool in the form of an rationale
advertisement and then evaluate the ways in which  Effective use of rhetoric in
rhetoric effectively persuaded them. advertisement as persuasion tool
 Clearly presented argument
Rationale: This assessment will allow the student to supported by relevant details
demonstrate how well they understand the impact of  Engagement in respectful
rhetoric on argumentative texts, can apply rhetoric as a discussion to support
persuasive text, and how evaluating rhetoric can allow for advertisement and decisions of
them to be a critical consumer of information. Further, peer ads to support
this assessment builds on the learning objectives that
students have worked toward throughout the unit.

20% Reflective Essay Assessment description: The intent of this assessment is Including:
for students to consider all that they have learned about  What has been learned about
the persuasive power of rhetoric. Students will reflect rhetoric through unit (big take-
upon what they have learned about rhetoric and the ways aways)
in which their performance task could have been modified  Reflection on how advertisement
to appeal to other aspects of rhetoric. Finally, the action could have appealed to other
plan students will create is intended to support students aspects of rhetoric
in considering ways in which they can be/continue to be  Action plan of how student
critical consumers of information in the real-world. intends to become (or continue
being) a critical consumer of
Rationale: Reflecting on one’s learning is a valuable tool information
for having students consider what they have learned and
can support a growth mindset when students consider
what they have learned, as well as what they hope to
continue learning.
Grading Purpose of grading
The main purpose of grading students is for a teacher is to be able to communicate what
a student knows, understands, and can do to the appropriate stakeholders (e.g., students and
their parents/guardians). While it is crucial for a teacher to be able to accurately determine what
a student knows, understands, and can do, I argue that this requires assessment, but not
necessarily grading. Therefore, it is important that teachers communicate this information in
ways that students and other relevant stakeholders can make sense of.
Roles grades play in learning
As we have read and discussed this semester, earning good grades can be a motivator for
students; however, this may come at the expense of learning as students are more concerned
about the letter grade than the learning associated with said grade. On the other hand, for some
students, grades can be a source of discouragement essentially telling a student they do not
know something, which can lead to students believing that they are not good at school or to
having a fixed mindset and discourage them in future learning opportunities. When I think of the
number of times my students asked if a particular assignment or task was for a grade, this
suggests the ways in which many students view grades, not as a representation of their learning
but as their status in regard to school. Personally, I do not believe this way of thinking is the way
in which grades should be viewed. However, this is important to acknowledge so that the ways in
which teachers (myself included) use grades to communicate what a student knows,
understands, and can do can be aligned with the purpose of grading and support a growth
mindset, rather than reinforcing attitudes towards grades that seem common in schools today.
With this in mind, there is a clear distinction between the roles grades currently play in
learning in many classrooms compared to roles grades should play in learning. Ultimately, grades
should support learning, as that is the ultimate goal of school. For example, formative
assessments should be used to help a teacher determine student mastery of identified learning
goals so that this information can then be used to support future instruction. However, graded
summative assessments can also be used to support learning and inform future instruction. For
instance, if students perform poorly on an exam, this shows the teacher that students struggled
to master the learning objectives or perhaps the assessment was not well-aligned to the learning
goals. Regardless, this provides the teacher with an opportunity to re-teach and re-assess,
improving her instruction and supporting student learning and mastery of learning objectives.
How I will grade and why
In my future hopes of being a pre-service teacher (PST) educator, I will be responsible for
grading future teachers. As such, I plan to implement best practices for assessment that I have
learned in this course to support my students learning, as well as model best practices that my
students will then be able to apply in their own classrooms. Specifically, I will have frequent
formative assessments to gauge student learning throughout a course of study. However, I will
actually grade students based on summative assessments, such as a performance task, and will
use rubrics so that students have clear expectations set forth prior to the assessment. Using
rubrics will support me in being a more consistent grader as well as clearly demonstrating to
students their areas of strength and areas of growth. I will grade this way because this will make
it clear to me as the teacher and to my students what they know, understand, and can do. In
turn, I can use this information to guide future instruction.