Rhetoric Writing I
Full-year course. Rhetoric I is the first year of a three-year high school sequence. Students are introduced to the techniques of persuasive writing. The initial focus of the course is on sentence and paragraph construction; students then move on to the progymnasmata exercises (narrative, description, fable, proverb, anecdote, refutation/confirmation, commonplace, praise and blame, comparison, speech-in-character) to teach thesis establishment, development, and support; the year concludes with the construction of a persuasive piece following the pattern established by Aristotle in Rhetoric. Click here for an explanation of our writing and grammar curriculum, and sample course sequences.
Prerequisite: Expository Writing III or Preparation for Rhetoric Writing. Students entering the Rhetoric Writing program from outside of WTMA’s expository writing program should complete our writing assessment before registering for class.
Grammar Preparation: Students are expected to demonstrate proficiency in composing essays that are grammatically correct at both sentence and paragraph levels. They should also possess the ability to recognize and utilize common grammatical principles, including identifying parts of speech, composing complete sentences, identifying sentence fragments and run-on sentences, and effectively using grammatical phrases.
- We highly recommend Essential Grammar for High School for any student who has not completed a formal grammar program.
Rhetoric Writing I Information
- Example Syllabus
- Class meets twice per week for 50-55 minutes.
- Class cap: average 12 students.
- Designed for grades 9-11.
- High school students may be awarded 1 Language Arts credit upon completion of this course.
- Taught by Margaret Strickler, MA , Kathryn Baskara, MA, and Amy Samuelson, PhD