Donald Trump vs. Stacey Abrams - A Rhetorical Comparison - State of the Union

This resource includes the annotated text, blank copy of the speeches, marginal notes, and accompanying guided reading activity for the following resources:

• President Donald J. Trump's 2019 State of the Union Address
• Stacey Abrams's Democratic Party Response to the 2019 State of the Union Address
• A Comparison Activity Between Both Speeches that Evaluates the Rhetorical Impact and Approaches of Each Speaker

The included zipped folder also includes a copy of the speeches without annotations and marginal notes so that you can reproduce it for students so that they can annotate it. Students will complete a comparison activity about the effect of the rhetorical devices and logical appeals in the speeches using the provided graphic organizer. This resource provides the teacher with both annotated speeches and a rigorous activity that analyzes different elements in the historical speeches. The resources include critical commentary and analysis of the figurative and connotative meanings, rhetorical devices (logos, ethos, pathos), parallelism, logical fallacies, repetition, allusions, and, central ideas aligned with the RI1, RI2, RI3, RI4, RI5, RI6, and RI8 standards from the Common Core State Standards. In addition to the identified figurative language, rhetorical devices, etc., the documents includes standard alignment for each comment and marginal notes that explain the significance of each identified element. Students will have to evaluate which speech was more effective in reaching the audience and provide textual evidence in order to answer each of the 20 critical thinking comparison questions. This resource will help teachers to guide students’ close reading of the text and help them to become more critical readers of informational texts. The provided commentary includes Common Core standard references so that you will be able to help students to see how the guided statements and commentary align with specific reading informational standards.