discussion 3-2

Note: I will be using Dave Grohl’s op-ed titled “In Defense of Our Teachers” to provide one example of how these rhetorical strategies/moves are carried out in op-eds.

1. Present information within the first few sentences that explains to readers what has prompted the rhetor to compose the op-ed (identify the exigence).

a. Actually, this occurs at the end of Paragraph 2 in Grohl’s op-ed.

i. Paragraph 2: at the very end of the paragraph, Grohl anticipates his audience’s likely question about why he is composing an argument about public teachers returning to teach school.

ii. In Paragraph 3, he answers this concern by announcing that his mother is a retired teacher.

b. People who read op-eds expect the exigence to be shared almost immediately, and Grohl accomplishes this objective within the first ~200 words (which is appropriate).

2. Exhibit knowledge about the topic being addressed.

a. Personal anecdote: Grohl’s mother taught in American public schools for 35 years, and he shares multiple anecdotes in which Grohl’s mother dedicated her life to the service of others

i. Paragraph 4—worked other jobs in addition to teaching to supplement salary

b. Expert opinion: Grohl presents his mother as an expert/professional in teaching and relates her perspective on reopening schools

i. Paragraph 6—several concerns about reopening schools are highlighted including

1. Convince students, staff, and faculty to wear masks and distance

2. Provide and record temperature checks for all students

3. Practice distancing on buses and hallways

4. Determine whether students should play competitive sports

5. Ensure safety of air ventilation and air conditioning systems

6. Maintain safe working conditions for janitorial staff

3. Make diction choices that are appropriate for non-experts who will be happy to learn something about the topic.

a. Avoids jargon: language that would be used only by professional educators—like “scaffolding” and “standards-based teaching” and “performance assessment—is absent

b. Uses familiar words/concepts: instead, Grohl uses terms that many parents would recognize:

i. SAT & GED

ii. Reopening schools

iii. Remote learning

iv. AP English / English 10

4. Demonstrate a concern not with one’s own interests but rather the well-being of a larger community.

a. Paragraph 6 is one location in which Grohl demonstrates a concern for not only school teachers but also public-school administrators and staff. He shows this concern for other people when he acknowledges that many school workers are members of older generations and need additional protections to safeguard their health.

b. Grohl also does this in Paragraph 7 where he does not articulate any selfish motivations for wanting his own children to return to school. He explains that he is not a very successful home school teacher, but he sets his deficiencies aside in support of protecting school workers’ wellness.

5. Not only anticipate opposing perspectives but also address them directly.

a. To put it simply, in each of the three paragraphs 6, 7, and 8, Grohl identifies a reason people with opposing views have taken regarding why public schools should reopen for instruction in the fall semester AND THEN responds to his opponents’ views in the remainder of each paragraph.

b. Not all op-eds dedicate so much space to anticipating opposing views and responding to them, however, Grohl may have been motivated to do so by what he sees as a shortcoming in school districts’ plans to reopen: what about the health concerns of teachers?

6. Building off the advice of New York Times’ op-ed contributor Bret Stephens, “keep sentences short and paragraphs tight.”

a. If Grohl were to ask me to review his op-ed and make suggestions for revising it, I would have a lot to say here.

i. Paragraph 4 is 317 words. That is too many for one paragraph in an op-ed.

1. Grohl must separate Paragraph 4 into two paragraphs or his readers may get tired or confused. The best place to do this would be between the sentence that ends with “could not afford. Unsurprisingly, …”

ii. Here is a sentence that is likely too long:

1. She was one of those teachers who became a mentor to many, and her students remembered her long after they had graduated, often bumping into her at the grocery store and erupting into a full recitation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, like a flash mob in the produce aisle.

a. For academic audiences, this sentence is perfect.

b. Non-expert readers though may have difficulty understanding how these 4 distinct ideas connect together.

2. Consider the following as a suitable alternative for an op-ed:

3. She was one of those teachers who became a mentor to many, and her students remembered her long after they had graduated. Her former students often bumped into her at the grocery store, erupting into a full recitation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar like a flash mob in the produce aisle.

7. Avoid any cliché language like “thinking outside the box” and “at the end of the day.”

a. Probably the most cliché language in Grohl’s op-ed occurs in the very first sentence when he writes, “I hate to break it to you…”

i. Even though the phrase “I hate to break it to you…” is common in American English, it still functions like metadiscourse.

1. Grohl states that phrase to draw attention to an idea that might surprise his audience.

ii. In this instance, the phrase “I hate to break it to you” is not a cliché but simply the most direct way to introduce an idea.

8. Reframe your thesis near the end but more important, leave the audience with something to ponder about the topic.

a. Reframed thesis: In Paragraph 9, Grohl states, “May we show these tireless altruists a little altruism is return.” This is a restatement of his central idea that public teachers have dedicated their lives to public service, so maybe the American public can show similar service to teachers during the pandemic.

b. Something to ponder: At the end of Paragraph 8, Grohl poses the question “Without [teachers], where would we be?” He combines this with the short question “Wouldn’t you?” at the end of Paragraph 9.

i. Together, these two questions encourage the audience to not only consider the impact of teachers on people’s lives but also to contemplate their own values if they would risk the wellness of such important people.

9. Identify with the target audience and their concerns and values.

a. Grohl is an internationally recognized music artist, yet when you read Paragraph 2, you get the impression that his academic career is one that many people can relate to (he dropped out of high school during Year 11)

b. In Paragraph 4, readers receive the impression that Grohl grew up in a working-class family

c. Paragraph 7 sees Grohl indicate that he is not an effective temporary home school teacher

10. Integrate images (photographs/art) into appropriate locations within the text

a.

11. Use questions as rhetorical strategies: while rhetorical questions and hypophora are common, it is possible to use other question types (maybe multiple choice or Likert scale)

a. There are a total of 8 questions used by Grohl in this op-ed, so let me focus on just a few:

i. “So, with me being a high-school dropout, you would imagine that the current debate surrounding the reopening of schools wouldn’t register so much as a blip on my rock-and-roll radar, right? Wrong” (par. 2).

1. Hypophora: Grohl poses a question—and as we mentioned before introduces the exigence of his argument—and then immediately answers it. This confirms for the audience that he has a legitimate interest in the issue.

ii. Every teacher has a “plan.” Don’t they deserve one too? (par. 8)

1. Rhetorical Question: Grohl does not expect his audience to develop a prolonged argument on this position. Instead, he believes readers will accept that teachers plan before teaching. The question he poses produces an emotional response in readers, one that supports that school administrators must create safety plans before sending teachers back to face-to-face classrooms.

12. Integrate figures of speech (allusions, anaphora, analogies, metaphors, metonymy, similes) if strategies that appeal to logos (facts, statistics, expert perspective, findings) or ethos are unavailable.

a. Allusion—brief reference to a literary, cultural, or historic person or event.

i. Paragraph 5 sees Grohl allude to several other music artists whose parents were public-school workers. He only names them, which implies he expects his audience to recognize those four artists.

ii. Paragraph 7 includes one allusion to a TV series from the 1970s (Welcome Back, Kotter) and a Hollywood film from the late 1980s (Dead Poets Society). Again, Grohl offers no explanation of how his home schooling teaching was similar/different from those settings in the two media, but readers familiar with these two sources would recognize the distinction.

b. Analogy—a comparison of two things in order to clarify or explicate some idea.

i. In Paragraph 8, Grohl compares someone who has never played drums teaching him how to play drums to Betsy DeVos (who has never taught public school) telling teachers how to teach. Grohl likely uses this analogy to support the idea that school administrators need a plan for ensuring the safety of school faculty before demanding that they return to teach public school in the fall semester.

c. Simile—a comparison between two unlike things, people, or ideas designed to create new meaning. Generally one of two words--“like” or “as”—are placed between the two items.

i. In Paragraph 7, Grohl uses a simile to draw a comparison between the Trump Administration and an orchestra missing its conductor.