1qaSADJ

Special Focus:
Writing Persuasively
Activities
1. Students identify Reagan’s domestic and foreign policies as well as his leadership,
personal life, and personality traits.
2. Students identify rhetorical strategies and appeals we have analyzed and discussed in
arguments read in prior class periods. These are listed on the board.
3. In groups, students write an argument either defending or challenging the claim
that Reagan was the greatest president of the modern era. They employ some of the
rhetorical strategies and appeals listed on the board.
Summary: Each group reads its argument to the class. Other students note rhetorical
strategies and appeals employed by each group.
Sample Group Response
Who would have thought that a humble radio announcer from California
would become one of the greatest presidents of the modern era and
arguably of all time? His “Reaganomics” boosted a crippled economy and,
even more importantly, a crippled American mindset. Former President
Nixon had shown weakness in the face of communism by relaxing the
tension of the Cold War. Reagan showed the Soviet Union that the United
States of America would not submit to foreign pressures in Grenada and
Nicaragua, thus boosting Americans’ confidence in their government
and in their country. The strategic defense initiation would provide an
impalpable sense of security that would destroy the Evil Empire, their “red
death star,” and Lord “Gorbachev” Vader. His policy of intolerance towards
hostile groups and threats to American security guaranteed the eventual
collapse of the Soviet Union during the presidency of his own vice
president, George Bush. Any president who gets re-elected by a landslide
was a successful and well-liked president. Ronald Reagan won by 525 to 13
electoral votes. Thus, Ronald Reagan was a successful president.
AP® English Language and Composition: 2006–2007 Workshop Materials 41