Ethos, Pathos, Logos: The Appeals of PersuasionActivities & Teaching Strategies
Active learning works because Year 7 students best grasp abstract persuasive techniques when they see, hear, and create examples. Moving between analysis and production keeps them engaged with Aristotle’s appeals in memorable ways.
Learning Objectives
- 1Analyze how a speaker's background, experience, or character builds credibility (ethos).
- 2Compare and contrast appeals to logic (logos) and appeals to emotion (pathos) in persuasive texts.
- 3Evaluate the effectiveness of ethos, pathos, and logos in a given advertisement.
- 4Design a short persuasive speech incorporating ethos, pathos, and logos for a specific audience.
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Gallery Walk: Appeals in Advertisements
Print adverts and display them around the room. In pairs, students circulate, identify ethos, pathos, or logos on sticky notes with evidence, then discuss as a class which ads use all three most effectively. Collect notes for a shared anchor chart.
Prepare & details
Analyze how a speaker establishes credibility (ethos) to persuade an audience.
Facilitation Tip: During the Gallery Walk, circulate and ask each pair to justify one example before moving on, ensuring every poster earns attention.
Setup: Wall space or tables arranged around room perimeter
Materials: Large paper/poster boards, Markers, Sticky notes for feedback
Sorting Cards: Rhetorical Appeals
Prepare cards with persuasive excerpts from speeches or ads. Small groups sort them into ethos, pathos, logos piles, justify choices, then test sorts with new examples. End with groups sharing one tricky card.
Prepare & details
Differentiate between an appeal to emotion (pathos) and an appeal to logic (logos).
Facilitation Tip: For Sorting Cards, model the first card aloud so students hear how to explain their choices clearly.
Setup: Groups at tables with case materials
Materials: Case study packet (3-5 pages), Analysis framework worksheet, Presentation template
Mini-Debate: School Rules
Assign debate topics like longer lunch breaks. Small groups prepare 1-minute speeches, assigning one appeal per member. Perform for class, who vote and label appeals used.
Prepare & details
Design a short persuasive message that effectively incorporates all three rhetorical appeals.
Facilitation Tip: In the Mini-Debate, stop the discussion at two minutes to highlight how speakers mix appeals, not use just one.
Setup: Groups at tables with case materials
Materials: Case study packet (3-5 pages), Analysis framework worksheet, Presentation template
Persuasive Poster Design
Individuals design posters for a cause, like recycling, labeling ethos, pathos, logos sections. Pairs swap to peer review balance and suggest improvements before final share.
Prepare & details
Analyze how a speaker establishes credibility (ethos) to persuade an audience.
Facilitation Tip: When students design persuasive posters, require a 20-word justification beneath each image so they connect technique to effect.
Setup: Groups at tables with case materials
Materials: Case study packet (3-5 pages), Analysis framework worksheet, Presentation template
Teaching This Topic
Teach ethos, pathos, and logos as tools students already use daily, not distant concepts. Avoid over-framing them as ‘Aristotle’s rules’; instead, show how speakers rely on them naturally. Research suggests students learn best when they analyze real-world examples before abstract definitions, so anchor lessons in ads, speeches, and class scenarios they recognize.
What to Expect
Successful learning looks like students confidently identifying ethos, pathos, and logos in varied texts and using them deliberately in their own work. They should explain how each appeal influences an audience and choose the most effective combination for a purpose.
These activities are a starting point. A full mission is the experience.
- Complete facilitation script with teacher dialogue
- Printable student materials, ready for class
- Differentiation strategies for every learner
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Common MisconceptionDuring Sorting Cards, students may assume ethos only comes from famous people.
What to Teach Instead
Pause the activity and ask groups to swap cards, reading aloud the credibility sources (e.g., ‘teacher with 20 years experience’). Prompt them to notice how everyday roles build trust.
Common MisconceptionDuring the Mini-Debate, students might argue that pathos always wins over logic.
What to Teach Instead
After each speaker, ask the class to hold up fingers for the dominant appeal, then debate which argument actually persuaded them and why.
Common MisconceptionDuring Persuasive Poster Design, students may list facts without explaining their link to the claim.
What to Teach Instead
Before they finalize designs, require them to add a ‘because’ sentence beneath each fact to show logical reasoning.
Assessment Ideas
After the Sorting Cards activity, give students a new short text. Ask them to label one example of each appeal and write two sentences explaining why each fits.
During the Gallery Walk, pause students at three posters. Ask, ‘Which appeal is strongest here, and how does it shape your view?’ Collect responses to assess their analysis of audience impact.
After the Mini-Debate, show a 30-second clip of a persuasive speech. Ask students to hold up fingers for the dominant appeal and explain their choice in one sentence.
Extensions & Scaffolding
- Challenge early finishers to redesign a weak advertisement by adding two missing appeals.
- Scaffolding: Provide sentence starters on cards for the persuasive poster (e.g., ‘This image creates pathos by…’).
- Deeper exploration: Ask students to find a speech with balanced appeals and annotate how the speaker transitions between them.
Key Vocabulary
| Ethos | An appeal to the speaker's credibility, character, or authority. It aims to convince the audience that the speaker is trustworthy and knowledgeable. |
| Pathos | An appeal to the audience's emotions. It uses language and imagery to evoke feelings like sympathy, anger, joy, or fear to persuade. |
| Logos | An appeal to logic and reason. It relies on facts, statistics, evidence, and logical arguments to persuade the audience. |
| Rhetorical Appeals | Techniques used to persuade an audience, primarily ethos, pathos, and logos, as identified by Aristotle. |
Suggested Methodologies
Planning templates for English
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