Lesson video

Hello, I'm Ms. Howard.

And welcome to the incredible rhetoric and change unit.

In this unit, we're going to explore two very, very different writers and consider how they use similar form, the letter form to present very different ideas.

But we're particularly looking at similarity and difference of the use of rhetoric as a whole.

Now I'm not going to ruin it too much, but I'm really excited about the writer that we'll be looking at today.

She's absolutely iconic.

And I'm really excited to share that with you, but for now, close down any conversations or apps that you might have running in the background that might serve to distract you.

You need a pen and some paper to write on for your equipment today.

Find yourself a quiet space where you know that you won't be disturbed or distracted and then resume the video, and we'll get started.

In today's lesson, we're going to explore rhetoric, but particularly rhetoric around change and encouraging change in others or yourself.

We're going to explore a letter that Michelle Obama writes to her younger self.

And consider the different advice that she gives along the way.

We'll close the lesson by thinking about why this unit of rhetoric is particularly unusual in contrast to the usual ways that we would expect to use or see rhetorical language.

We'll be coming back to our Aristotelian triad.

In order to speak persuasively or use rhetoric, we need to consider where these three aspects occur.

Ethos, how trustworthy and credible you are to your audience.

So do you come across as somebody that genuinely cares? Logos, the knowledge and the logic and the reason within your argument, that you've backed yourself up with proof.

And pathos, to what extent have you evoked an emotional reaction from your audience? Many great speakers throughout history have used rhetorical language in this way to give advice and encourage change in others.

Now, this could be the transformation that we experienced growing up.

There are changing opinions.

If we're talking about change, it might be the wisdom that we learn along the way.

We can even just be talking about the physical transformation, if we think about growing up.

But transformation is a really good way of thinking about change.

The word transformation means a significant change.

It's taken from the Latin transformare, which is from trans, which means across.

So if you imagine it as a spectrum or moving from one place to the other.

So as you grow up, you're moving from being younger, to being older.

You're moving across a timeline, transformation.

When Michelle Obama was older.

She decided to write a letter, giving her younger self some advice.

Pause the video here and have a think.

When might we usually see someone write to themselves? If you got diary or journal, brilliant work.

We might sometimes see someone directly address themselves in letter form through a journal or a diary.

Pause the video here and have a go at this true or false.

Fantastic work.

If you've got number one and number two are our true options, no three is false.

Letters or journals are used to directly address yourself when writing.

A transformation is a significant change.

The third one is false.

Rhetoric is only used for persuasive speeches.

It's false because it's also used in this concept with encouraging change.

It's also used in types of writing.

Michelle Obama put this letter together to provide advice for her younger self.

It not only helped her to recall memories and think about the different experience that she had, but it also enabled her to think about what she might have learned along the way.

As first lady within the white house with Barack Obama, her husband, as president, she had uploads of amazing experiences and opportunities to help others.

And you'll see some of that in the letter that we look at today.

As you listen to me read Michelle's letter to her younger self, what I'd like you to do is make notes on the advice that she gives.

Now, you may have quite a long list of the different pieces of advice that she gives herself along throughout the letter.

If you like an extra challenge, what you can do is pick the top three most important pieces of advice she gives in your opinion.

So if you do find yourself with quite a long list, pick out what you think are the top three most important pieces of advice.

Dear Miche, There you are in your Jean jacket and braids, a long way from that little apartment on the South side of Chicago.

You're at one of the finest universities in the world.

You're smiling, and you should be, you worked hard for this.

But even now after you reach your goal, you're still not quite sure if you belong, and can't get one question out of mind.

Am I good enough? There aren't many kids here who look like you.

Some arrived on campus in limousines.

One of your classmates is a bonafide movie star.

Another is really meant to be a real life princess.

Meanwhile, you got dropped off by your father in the family sedan.

Years from now, you'll learn that your parents had to take out new credit cards to pay your tuition.

But Michelle, what you'll come to realise one day is that you're only seeing what you lack and not everything that your story has given you.

You grew up surrounded by soul and jazz and a deep anchoring love.

Your parents taught you to keep your word and treat people with respect.

They encouraged you to develop your own voice and use it.

Those lessons are more valuable than anything material.

They'll come in handy in the future, in settings I won't spoil for you right now.

Your father's final lesson will come far too soon.

He'll teach you that life is fleeting.

So laugh with him until your side hurts.

Savour the grip of his hugs, the softness in his eyes.

A day will come when those memories are all you'll have.

His absence will hit you like a rock.

It'll cause you to rethink everything about yourself and your future.

But don't worry, you won't have to go through any of this alone.

You'll open your heart to someone whose upbringing was nothing and everything like yours, all at the same time, he's driven by a hopeful set of ideals.

He's grounded and kind and absolutely brilliant.

And he's pretty good looking too.

I thought you'd appreciate that.

His certainty about his path will feel like a challenge to yours.

You'll learn even the best relationships take work, but that's okay, that's normal.

And it's what gives your partnership it's strength.

Together, you'll be blessed with two perfect little girls who will follow you so much joy can barely process it yet.

Yet you'll still struggle to find a balance between your family, your husband's rising career and your own sense of self.

Be patient, you'll get there.

And just when you think you've done it, the four of you will be shot out of a cannon into the unknown.

Everything you've fought for so hard, stability, balance, confidence will feel like it's at risk.

You'll be attacked by people who've never met you, and don't really care to.

They'll try to harm you for their own gain.

Don't stoop to their level, no matter how gratifying it might feel in the moment.

Hold tight to those values your parents taught you.

Your family will make history, breaking barriers, and filling out a more complete picture of the American story.

You'll meet two Pope's and the queen of England.

People will feel stadiums just to hear you speak.

It will be easy to think you're something special.

Just remember, there are millions of people who grew up like you did, and don't get this kind of spotlight.

Reflect the light back on them.

There are so many people out there like you Miche.

Black girls, minorities of all kinds, working class kids from big cities and small towns.

People who have doubt themselves, who are uncertain about whether they belong, but has so much to offer the world.

Share your story with them, the struggles and the triumphs and everything else.

Show them that there's more beauty inside than they can see right now.

That's how you'll answer that question, that's following you around.

The one that sometimes keeps you up at night.

You're more than enough Miche.

You always have been, and you always will be.

And I can't wait for you to see that.

I think this final line of the letter is really powerful, because you've got that repeated direct address.

You're more than enough Miche.

You always have, and you always will be.

She also includes these different stories.

These anecdotes, short interesting stories throughout the letter to make it quite interesting, engaging, not just for her younger self, but for us as the reading audience as well.

I think that's really powerful.

So here are some of the examples that you might have heard as you were making notes about the different advice that she gives.

Pause the video here, if you want to add some to your own list.

And then well done, if you manage to take on the extra challenge of prioritising to the top three pieces of advice within this letter.

So let's see how you get on here.

Now, there are two possible answers here.

So brilliant work, if you get one.

Fantastic, if you get two.

Michelle tells her younger self, to be patient, but also to be kind, even when others are not.

Remember she says don't stoop to their level.

In the letter to her younger self, Michelle uses, and again, there are two options here.

So brilliant if you get one.

Fantastic, if you get two.

Anecdotes and direct address.

So now I'd like to have a go at these questions, you've got three questions to complete.

But then you've also got that other challenge question as well.

Full sentences for me, and here it's because to expand upon your answer.

So it might be where you're giving reasons or examples.

So how would you describe the tone of the letter? How does Michelle speak to her younger self to ensure the advice that she's giving is kind but also effective? And number three, which rhetorical device is used most effectively to convince her younger self to take on the advice given? So which rhetorical device does she use in your opinion most effectively.

And can you give an example of it.

For your challenge question, how might writing this letter have also helped older Michelle? Because what we need to remember here is that while she's writing to her younger self, her younger self, isn't going to be the person reading it.

So how might by just writing the letter, as a process, that process of writing the letter have helped older Michelle in some way as well? Pause the video here and finish it when you're done.

So I'd like you to, I'd like to introduce you to these new words.

We're going to use these words when we're exploring this letter in a bit more detail.

The first I have already used it and explained it above to make sure that you are secure in understanding what these words mean.

So the first is anecdote, anecdote You say it, brilliant work.

Anecdote, a short, interesting story about a person or an event.

The next one is imperative, imperative.

You say it, that's right imperative, a command or an instruction.

So when you're telling somebody what to do, okay, eat your dinner, something like that.

The third is anaphora, anaphora.

You say it, brilliant.

Anaphora, repeating a word or phrase at the beginning of clauses or sentences.

And I'm going to show you an example of what that might look like.

So Michelle Obama structures her letter chronologically through her life.

She starts at the beginning or earlier on and goes through her life chronologically.

So tracks the letter in a time order.

At the beginning, she uses the anecdote of her memory of being at university, and she uses direct address as well.

You're still not sure if you belong, she's talking directly to herself as the reader, but she uses those anecdotes at the beginning.

And then throughout the letter, those different short, interesting stories or memories from her life.

She uses imperative instructions throughout as well, which are comforting and reassuring to her younger self.

She says, be patient, don't worry.

And those are all imperative instructions.

In those final lines at the end of the letter, she uses anaphora to emphasise to her younger self, that she should value her good qualities.

She said, you always have been and you'll always will be.

The anaphora is the 'you always' at the beginning of the clause, you always have been, and you always will be, anaphora.

That repetition at the beginning of a clause or sentence.

So let's see how you get on here.

Throughout the letter, Michelle creates a personal tone by using, anecdotes is the correct answer.

Well done if you've got option one.

An example of anaphora would be and you have two examples here.

Brilliant work, if you've got two and four.

Fantastic even if you've just got one, you've just learned anaphora.

So option two, you always have been and you always will be.

And then we also have option four, which is taken from a famous Winston Churchill speech.

We shall fight in France.

We shall fight on the seas and oceans.

That we shall fight, at the beginning of each clause is your anaphora.

Well done.

So we're going to explore this question.

If you can pause the video and write down that question.

Why might Michelle Obama have chosen to use rhetorical language to write a letter to her younger self? Why use rhetorical language? So when we're answering this question, I want you to think about the tone that she uses to her younger self.

I want you to think about how she uses anecdotes, imperatives or anaphora.

And I want you to think about the purpose of the letter overall.

So what advice does Michelle give and why? But what advice does she give to her younger self? And what advice might she take from the letter through writing the letter as a process to her present self, her oldest self.

Here's an example answer that might help you out.

Michelle Obama may have chosen to use rhetorical language within her letter because her younger self would be convinced to listen.

Her use of anecdotes creates a personal tone and she uses imperative statements such as 'share your story' that give kind advice.

Her use of anaphora at the end of the letter is friendly and reassuring.

So if you notice in here, the writer uses rhetorical language, so they answer the question in that first sentence of the answer.

They then pull, the three different ways, the three different devices that Michelle Obama uses, anecdotes, imperative statements, anaphora, to explain how the advice is been given.

Should they then think about, why this would be particularly useful? So her use of anaphora at the end of the letter is friendly and reassuring.

So they think about how it would be affected and why, how it will be effective, sorry, and why that might be quite useful for a letter like this.

So pause the video here.

Use these questions to help you out.

And if you want to, you can go forward to my example as well, to help you get started, and answer that question.

Why might Michelle Obama have chosen rhetorical language to write a letter to her younger self? Best of luck.

Press play when you're done.

Brilliant, I think you've done absolutely splendidly.

I'd like to do two things for me before you finish up today.

I'd like you to write down three things that you've learned from the lesson.

Now that might be the new vocabulary that we looked at, those new devices, the anaphora, anecdotes, imperatives.

or it might be other aspects of rhetoric being used, particularly within the letter form, as Obama did.

The second thing I'd like you to do is complete your quiz so I can see how much you've learned and you can see as well, because I think you've worked really hard.

Next lesson, we're going to carry on looking at Obama's letter, particularly around really intricate study of the detail of the language that she uses.

Before, later on in the unit, looking at another writer and how they use the letter form addressed rhetoric in a very different way.

But more about that later another day.

Take care, I'll see you soon.