Activity Summary:

Students will learn to identify logical fallacies in order to avoid using them in their own writing.

Instructions:

This activity is very helpful to use during a Rhetorical Analysis unit. It can be used at almost any point during the beginning of the unit, and is very helpful to get students interested in persuasive arguments.

Lesson plan title: Logical fallacies

Topic of lesson: Identifying logical fallacies

Course competencies and/or other goals addressed by lesson:

• Students will learn to identify logical fallacies in order to avoid using them in their writing. Students will also be able to pick them out of an argument to use in their rhetorical analyses.

Required materials:

• Computers, internet access, textbooks

Step-by-step procedures:

1. Take attendance: What is the one word that describes you?
2. Word of the Day: depone (to testify under oath)
3. Introduce logical fallacies on Ch 12 of EW. Discuss each one.
4. Break students up into small groups and let each group pick a fallacy.
5. Ask students to research a commercial sketch for the product or video of their choice using their assigned logical fallacy to convince their classmates of the logical fallacy they have chosen, the class should try to guess!
6. Show the following example for “Scare Tactics”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am-mq4CfU4E&feature=related (Zazoo condoms)
7. Allow students 10-20 minutes to work, and then they can email their examples to me.
8. Have students present their logical fallacies (present on the screen).
9. Then, have students pick which essay they want to read!

Opportunities for independent practice: Ask students to find an example of a logical fallacy in the news or other media source to share with the class.

Assessment of learning: Each group should be able to present an example of their topic.