One of the reasons I like to have students do a George Bush 9/11 speech rhetorical analysis that is relatively short and very approachable, especially at the beginning of the year, making it a great text for high school English classes.
The Rhetorical Situation
Personally, I like to do a pre-reading exercise in which we discuss the rhetorical situation of the text. Here are some questions I ask:
- Speaker: When was George Bush president?
- Purpose: Knowing that he addressed the nation on the evening of September 11, 2001, what do you think was the likely purpose of the speech?
- Audience: What were the American public’s needs, beliefs, or values at this time?
- Context: Why was the 2000 election controversial?
- Exigence: What happened on September 11th?
For more detailed September 11th lesson plans, check out this George Bush 9/11 Speech Rhetorical Analysis mini unit here. Or, for more detailed lessons, check out my 9-week rhetorical analysis unit, which includes activities for George Bush’s 9/11 speech and the speech he gave on the 20-year anniversary of 9/11.
Listen to the Speech
While reading the speech in class has its benefits, hearing the speech can help students better understand the tone.
There are multiple videos available online. Click here for a video of the speech.
Annotations
Depending on your students’ understanding of rhetorical analysis, you might have them annotate the speech.
I like to have students do “what/why” annotations, especially at the beginning of the year. Click here for teacher instructions about how to setup “what/why’ annotations.
“Silent annotations” can be great especially for the beginning of the year as students are getting to know each other and are learning rhetorical analysis skills.
- Divide students into groups. Each group needs a copy of the speech pasted or taped to a larger piece of paper or poster board. Each student should have a different color pen.
- Have students read the speech and write 1-3 initial observations or annotations.
- Then, have students respond to group member’s annotations to start a “silent conversation.”
Thesis Statement
Another great low-prep beginning-of-the-year activity is having students write a defensible thesis. While writing 1-2 sentences might seem simple, this is a great opportunity to have students practice including rhetorically accurate verbs and identifying a specific message or purpose.
Here is a sample Bush 9/11 Rhetorical Analysis Speech Prompt:
Analyze how President George W. Bush makes rhetorical choices to achieve his purpose OR Analyze how President George W. Bush makes rhetorical choices in order to reassure the stunned and grieving American public.
And here are two thesis statement sentence frames students can use:
In his TONE speech to AUDIENCE, President Bush CHOICE 1 and CHOICE 2 in order to PURPOSE.
In his TONE address to the nation following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush CHOICE 1 and CHOICE 2, ultimately causing the American public to PURPOSE.
- Students can modify the sentence frames above as needed. The goal is to include specifics about the tone, audience, rhetorical choices, and purpose.
Bush’s 20-Year Anniversary of 9/11 Speech
For additional rhetorical analysis practice, consider having students read the speech George Bush gave in 2022 on the 20-year anniversary of 9/11.
Here’s a sample prompt:
On September 11, 2001, United Airlines flight 93 crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against the hijackers. Twenty years later, on September 11, 2021, former president George W. Bush (who was president in 2001) gave a keynote address in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. After reading the speech, write a well-developed essay in which you analyze how George W. Bush makes rhetorical choices to convey his message about America’s unity and strength after 9/11.
In addition to having students analyze the speech, you might ask them to compare the style of the two speeches.
For extra writing practice, have the students practice writing a thesis and topic sentence for subsequent body paragraphs. This activity is a simple way to reinforce the concept of writing claims and creating a line of reasoning.
“Boatlift”
The “Boatlift” documentary is relatively short (approximately 11 minutes,) which means that students can watch and discuss (or write about) the documentary within a class period.
This documentary can be shown before or after reading George Bush’s 9/11 speech.
In “Boatlift” Tom Hanks narrates the heroic story of the “9/11 boatlift” which resulted in the evacuation of half a million people from Lower Manhattan following the collapse of the Twin Towers.
Rhetorical Analysis of “Boatlift”
To continue to build rhetorical analysis skills, have students analyze the choices the film producers made when constructing the film. These choices could include interviews, photos/videos, narration, etc.
Argument Practice with “Boatlift”
At the start of the documentary, there is the following quote by Romain Rolland: “A hero is a man who does what he can.”
Have students write a well-developed paragraph in which they use evidence from the documentary to support this claim.
Teachers, want done-for-you lessons? Be sure to check out my 9-week rhetorical analysis unit which contains both speeches mentioned above (printable and digital lessons.)
