Take a look at these different political ads from the 2006 election for Georgia Governor:

Cathy Cox 

Mark Taylor 

Sonny Perdue 

Examine these ads closely.  How does each candidate portray themselves and their opponents? By using ethos (credibility/authority), pathos (emotions), and logo (logic) how does each candidate appeal to voters?  Do you think that this works?  

From the perspective of a candidate running for student body president, write a campaign ad.  Think about how you can use ethos, pathos, and logos to your advantage.  In your ad, address your competition and decide how you will portray them.    What are your goals if you become student body president?  Does your campaign have a slogan (see here)?  Would you pick a song to narrate your commercial (see here)?  Be sure to include these things.  If you need some more examples, visit the links from the original ads.  This assignment is to be completed individually and should be about 1 to 1 1/2 pages.   Your final copy should be edited and polished.

I would plan this activity for a ninth grade class.  While discussing different literary techniques, such as ethos, pathos, and logos, I would introduce the political ads.  The ads are short enough that it is possible to view multiple examples in class. These ads are also overt in their message, making it easier for students to identify the ethos, pathos, and logos.  In order to fully understand the concepts, the students would then write their own campaign ads for student body president. I did not want the students writing “real” political ads because that might be too foreign to them. Instead, they can realistically imagine how students campaign for different positions such as student body president or prom queen.  These types of campaigns are similar versions of statewide or national campaigns.

As stated in the actual assignment, I would refer students to the other political ads posted on YouTube under the “related videos” tab.  It would be important to keep in mind time for students to complete this project.  Ideally, I would like to view the ads together as a class and briefly discuss each.  My goal in this would be for students to be able to correctly identify the ethos, pathos, and logos in the ads.  From there I would lead the discussion into the effectiveness of these strategies.  How does each candidate  portray themselves and their opponent?  Completing this type of discussion for each commercial could be possible because each commercial is about thirty seconds.  One challenge I might face with this assignment is getting the students started.  I would want to be in a locations where each student could use a computer.  By electronically posting the assignment I could easily give the students direct access to the political ads and links I include with the assignment.  I want to give students the chance to begin writing their ads in class in order to address any initial concerns my students had.  From beginning to end this lesson would probably take up an entire class period.

I believe this assignment can be beneficial inside and outside of the classroom.  Not only does it address ethos, pathos, and logos, but it also helps students become informed citizen.  As ninth grade students they will soon be able to vote and need to digest these ads in a “real world” setting.

Here are the standards I feel are appropriate for this assignment:

ELA9RC4  The student establishes a context for information acquired by reading across subject areas.  The student:

B. Discusses in both writing and speaking how certain words and concepts relate to multiple subjects. 

ELA9W1  The student produces writing that establishes an appropriate organizational 

structure, sets a context and engages the reader, maintains a coherent focus throughout, and signals closure.  The student:

B.   Selects a focus, structure, and point of view relevant to the purpose, genre 

expectations, audience, length, and format requirements. 

ELA9LSV2  The student formulates reasoned judgments about written and oral communication in various media genres.  The student delivers focused, coherent, and 

polished presentations that convey a clear and distinct perspective, demonstrate solid 

reasoning, and combine traditional rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description. 

When responding to written and oral texts and media (i.e., television, radio, film productions, and electronic media), the student: 

B. Analyzes the types of arguments used by the speaker, including argument by 

authority, emotion, and logic.  

It does seem like the students put in many hours of work on these projects, inside and outside of school.  Looking at this project from a teacher’s perspective, I would be interested in how to manage “teaching time” and “project time.”  It seems like the lines would blur, and I’d be concerned some information is being lost in the process.  As a teacher, I’d just want to make sure the students were getting everything they need.  

I think his program is great, but I’m not sure if it would work for every school.  I can’t imagine an inner city, lower income school having these types of resources.  It would seem they wouldn’t have the financial support to provide this kind of technology.  I’d like more information on how Mabry operates when they make these movies.  I wonder if each classroom has many computers or if there is one lab all students use.  I would also be curious how they assign which classes movies are assigned.  As a future English teacher, I would like to do something like this in my classroom.

Outside of this website, my favorite website is for The Atlanta Braves.   Visit the link for more information about this amazing sports team.

Pictured above is The Braves number one hurler, John Smoltz

Watch the video below to see a fun commerical that ran during The Braves season on SportsSouth locally.