ABQmom Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 (edited) How do you do it? Do you have any resources you find extremely helpful and easy to use? More specifically, SWB suggests Anthony Weston's A Rulebook for Arguments. Does anyone have any thoughts on this book? Easy for student to understand? One more question. What have you used or done with your student to develop the skill of writing a thesis? Edited October 19, 2010 by ABQmom added a question Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 Does anyone have any thoughts on this book? Easy for student to understand? It's very easy to understand — and very very short. It's basically a list of 45 "rules," each of which occupies a page or so. The whole text is about 80 pages. Two books I really like for Rhetoric are Thank You for Arguing and Nonsense: Red Herrings, Straw Men, Sacred Cows: How We Abuse Logic in Our Everyday Language. (And can I just say how much I hate a double colon in a book title??? One subtitle is enough, sheesh!) If you're looking for formal rhetoric texts, these are not what you want, but they're light, accessible, somewhat irreverent, and illustrate their points with contemporary examples (IOW, ideal for teens!). Both have lots of reviews on Amazon, as well as the Look Inside feature, so you can get a feel for whether they might work for you. I haven't taught rhetoric yet, so I'm afraid I can't help with implementation ideas (although I'm seriously considering making DH — AKA the king of the "straw man" argument — read the Nonsense book :tongue_smilie:). Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 Nonsense: Red Herrings, Straw Men, Sacred Cows: How We Abuse Logic in Our Everyday Language. This sounds like a great book, Jackie. Thanks for mentioning it. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karenciavo Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 How do you do it? Do you have any resources you find extremely helpful and easy to use? More specifically, SWB suggests Anthony Weston's A Rulebook for Arguments. Does anyone have any thoughts on this book? Easy for student to understand? One more question. What have you used or done with your student to develop the skill of writing a thesis? I have found Argument Builder to be helpful and easy to use for beginning rhetoric. I have also used The Lost Tool of Writing and found it very helpful for forming a thesis. It is easy to use, but teacher intensive. The Lively Art of Writing is very inexpensive and easy to use, the instructions for forming a thesis are similar to the one used in LToW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 Adding another book idea: I am working through Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. I can't believe how much I have learned from this book. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 I used Weston's Rule Book with dd in 9th grade along with the Art of the Elegant Essay as an introduction to non-research, expository essay writing. She did quite well. Her senior year, after worldview studies and introductory logic, we did Traditional logic and Classical Rhetoric with Artistotle. DD felt that Classical Rhetoric was quite tough although she still managed to pull an A, with a lot of input from us. I felt that it wasn't as hard as she made it out to be but I must admit to having along with my Piano Performance/Music Ed majors, tripled majored in Philosophy. So, my opinion of how difficult it really is may be skewed because after four years of university philosophy classes, it appears quite easy to me and that's probably not an accurate picture. I think there is a lot of value to Classical Rheotirc with Aristotle but I also think that for many students, it requires intensive teacher input in order to "get" it and succeed. Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 It's very easy to understand — and very very short. It's basically a list of 45 "rules," each of which occupies a page or so. The whole text is about 80 pages. Two books I really like for Rhetoric are Thank You for Arguing and Nonsense: Red Herrings, Straw Men, Sacred Cows: How We Abuse Logic in Our Everyday Language. (And can I just say how much I hate a double colon in a book title??? One subtitle is enough, sheesh!) If you're looking for formal rhetoric texts, these are not what you want, but they're light, accessible, somewhat irreverent, and illustrate their points with contemporary examples (IOW, ideal for teens!). Both have lots of reviews on Amazon, as well as the Look Inside feature, so you can get a feel for whether they might work for you. I haven't taught rhetoric yet, so I'm afraid I can't help with implementation ideas (although I'm seriously considering making DH — AKA the king of the "straw man" argument — read the Nonsense book :tongue_smilie:). Jackie ugh. I just got OFF amazon, and now you link me back. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABQmom Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 Thanks everyone. This has been very helpful. I'm off to check out these suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABQmom Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 I have found Argument Builder to be helpful and easy to use for beginning rhetoric. I have also used The Lost Tool of Writing and found it very helpful for forming a thesis. It is easy to use, but teacher intensive. The Lively Art of Writing is very inexpensive and easy to use, the instructions for forming a thesis are similar to the one used in LToW. Karen, Did you use "The Art of Argument" before you did "Argument Builder"? I looked at that, and wondered what that book is like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karenciavo Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 I did, but you don't have to. The Art of Argument is CAP's fallacy curriculum, if you've done another you're good. If you have an older child that "get's it" fairly quickly there is some coverage of fallacies in Argument Builder and it may be enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizabeth in WA Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 I will be using Nonsense mentioned above along with the website The Fallacy Files as part of our English curriculum (intended to improve the arguments in the kids' writing) after Christmas this year. The kids already enjoy browsing the website on their free time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 I just bought Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers, which looks like a great, easy-to-use intro to rhetoric. It covers 33 "rhetorical devices," from analogy & hyperbole to synecdoche & metonymy, divided into 4 categories: strategy, style, organization, and analysis. There's a student exercise for each "device," which is generally to write examples of the device, or to convert one type of example to another. It also includes cumulative exercises where the student has to analyze a text and list all the rhetorical devices and the reason they were used. Very clear, straightforward, and inexpensive ($13). Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nissi Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 Potters School offers a Rhetoric Course for 11th and 12th grades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 I'm trying to follow the plan she lays out in A Plan for Teaching. If you had not listened to that she provides other resources for after The Rulebook for Arguments in later years (assuming you start in 9th). I will also use The Lively Art of Writing this year when we finish Rulebook. It is also fairly slim and easy to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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