Unit 06 · Rhetoric & Public Voice · Week 16
How do audience, purpose, context, and occasion shape a message?
A complete five-day rhetoric sequence with local source material, explicit reasoning instruction, handwriting or typing, and evaluator-reviewed mastery.
Weekly targets
Course-created source
COMMUNITY NOTICE — WATER USE Beginning Monday, outdoor watering is limited to Wednesday and Saturday before 9:00 a.m. Reservoir levels are below the seasonal target. Indoor drinking, cooking, and sanitation use is not restricted. The council will review the restriction in fourteen days and publish the measurements used in its decision. Residents may submit documented accessibility or medical needs through the local office.
This original instructional source may be printed, annotated, quoted and adapted for course work.
Day 76
Identify speaker, audience, purpose, context, occasion, exigence and constraints before labeling an appeal.
Model a seven-part situation map for the notice. Separate what the text states from what its format and timing suggest.
Complete a situation map and cite a phrase supporting every inference.
Day 77
Analyze what an audience knows, values, fears, needs and can do.
Compare a resident, a groundskeeper and a council reviewer. Locate where the notice serves each audience and where it may fail them.
Write three audience profiles and one responsible revision for each.
Day 78
Explain why information is selected and ordered.
Outline the notice by function: action, timing, reason, boundary, review and accommodation. Test what happens if the order changes.
Reorder the notice for an emergency alert and explain three changes.
Day 79
Adapt tone, evidence and format while preserving truth.
Draft versions for a text alert and a two-minute public statement. Keep dates, limits, uncertainty and accommodation consistent.
Produce both versions and annotate six audience-based choices.
Day 80
Synthesize the rhetorical situation in a precise four-sentence analysis.
Use the précis sequence: speaker/text/claim; development; purpose; intended audience and relationship. Verify that analysis does not invent motive.
Submit the précis, situation map and audience adaptation.
Weekly mastery assessment
Submit the principal product, five daily responses, source annotations and a 150–250 word reflection. Completion or delivery alone does not establish mastery.
| Criterion | 2 · Secure | 1 · Developing | 0 · Insufficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhetorical understanding | Specific, accurate and complete | Partly demonstrated; revision needed | Missing, unsupported or inaccurate |
| Evidence and source accuracy | Specific, accurate and complete | Partly demonstrated; revision needed | Missing, unsupported or inaccurate |
| Reasoning and qualification | Specific, accurate and complete | Partly demonstrated; revision needed | Missing, unsupported or inaccurate |
| Audience, organization and language | Specific, accurate and complete | Partly demonstrated; revision needed | Missing, unsupported or inaccurate |
| Revision, reflection and delivery evidence | Specific, accurate and complete | Partly demonstrated; revision needed | Missing, unsupported or inaccurate |
Mastery: 8/10 after evaluator review. Below mastery, revise the lowest criterion and resubmit. Accessible speech modes are evaluated by the same intellectual criteria, never by volume, eye contact or physical performance.
Earlier notes remain in their original fields. Bring revisions and tool evidence here.