Knowing full-well that some of my students will intellectually shut down when I begin to blather about syllogistic constructs and Aristotelian reasoning ...
I always introduce my heuristics with children's bedtime stories.
Believe it or not ... there are tons of narratives written syllogistically.
To demonstrate this concept, I use PD Eastman's classic tale: Are You My Mother?
Body paragraphs that employ the syllogistic method heuristic, if they are to sustain a cogent line of reasoning, must do what the lost bird in the story does ... return to the nest and seek the comfort of mom.
In today's writing workshop video, I model this concept for poetry analysis.
In future videos, I will model the same concepts for the other expository modes (rhetorical analysis, argument, persuasion, synthesis ... even research)
Happy teaching and happy writing!
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