Lesson video

Miss Howard here.

Welcome to the fourth lesson of our Rhetoric and Change unit.

I cannot believe we're already at lesson four.

So we've previously explored Michelle Obama's letter to her younger self, and used that as inspiration for our own fantastic letters to your younger self.

Today, we're going to be exploring a different type of letter called an open letter.

And we'll talk about what an open letter is later on, so that you have a full understanding of that.

What I do need to share with you today is that this lesson covers a sensitive topic of knife crime.

If this is a sensitive topic to you, we do recommend checking with a trusted adult before starting, or doing the lesson with a trusted adult nearby.

For the lesson today, you'll need to close on any distractions or conversations that you've got going on, if you know how.

Find yourself a piece of paper and you'll need a pen, put yourself in a quiet space where you know that you won't be distracted for the lesson itself, and then we'll get started.

So in the lesson today, we're going to be exploring an open letter.

What an open letter is, so have a really secure understanding of that, but also thinking about why rhetoric would be used within a letter of this kind, and why it might be useful.

We'll be exploring the way that the open letter is used to encourage change in a particular aspect, particular group within society.

And we'll be thinking about the impacts that it might have upon the audience.

So we'll cover these key questions during our lesson.

What is an open letter? So we should be able to answer with quite a great deal of confidence as to what an open letter is, by the end of the lesson.

What is the key purpose of Lennie James' open letter? How does James use rhetoric to highlight this particular issue? And then we'll close by thinking about why open letters are used within the press.

So we'll have a think about how open letters use rhetoric to make an issue more significant when they're published.

The word significant is when something is important, and of a serious nature.

It's taken from the Latin signum, which means token.

Before we get started on our letter, what I'd like to do is have a little bit of a rhetoric retrieval, and see how much you remember from these four devices.

So I've got a series of statements up for you on the screen.

If you can pause the video here, and use the answers at the bottom, and those four words to fill in the gaps, how did you get on? So the first one, don't throw your life away: Be better than that, gives the current situation is bad and a better alternative.

This is an example of dialysis.

Anaphora is repeating a word or phrase at the beginning of clauses or sentences.

Do you remember Obama's "Anaphora"? Was you always have been, you always will be.

We should be ashamed.

I am is an example of emotive language, but use of collective nouns, coupled with that ashamed, it's the ashamed that makes it so emotive.

And direct address creates a personal tone.

And again, we saw that all the way through Obama's letter with her using you or your, or referring to herself using her nickname Mish.

So what is an open letter? Well, an open letter is addressed to a particular person or group of people, but it's always intended for publication in a letter.

It's a brilliant way of writing with a personal tone to your writing, but at the same time, presenting a message to a wider audience.

Lennie James is a British actor, screenwriter, and playwright.

In 2008, so 11 years ago, he starred in "Fallout", which was a play put on the stage that shared a story of teenage violence and had a specific focus on knife crime.

The more he researched for the role, the more he became aware of the significant figures of young boys and men, particularly involved in knife crime, within the United Kingdom at the moment.

He included in the precursor as such.

So the part that he wrote to introduce the letter that was then published, this is what he wrote.

"As I sat down to complete the article, to add some statistics to bolster my argument and clarify my misgivings as to whether or as I've had exit strategy for this war.

I read of the death of Robert Knox.

Robert, 18, was allegedly stabbed today by a 21-year-old, who was carrying two knives.

So I scrolled up my article to change 13 dead, unlikely to rise to 14, unlikely to.

And as I did, so I wondered how many more times I would have to scroll up and change that number before the article was printed.

Would I have to change 16 to 17, 18, 19, but would it still be likely to rise? The problem is that we're so very adapt," sorry, "at exploring our own deficiencies, but so very slow to improve on them or learn from them." So as he was putting an article together where he wanted to explore how knife crime was on the increase, he became more and more aware that this wasn't something that he'd be able to report on, because every time he wrote the article, the figure of those killed as a result of knife crime would increase.

So instead he chose to put his own experiences and his own background and his own reasons into an open letter.

The open letter was published within The Guardian and it was entitled, "This is no Way to be a Man".

The open letter directly addressed anybody who was involved in knife crime or knew others that would be involved in knife crime, as a way of raising awareness of this really significant issue.

So pause the video here and see how you get on.

What is an open letter? Fantastic work, if you got option four.

An open letter is a letter addressed to a particular person or group of people, but published in a newspaper.

So this quotation very much explains the reasons why Lennie James put an open letter together.

He says, "We're very good at exploring our own deficiencies." So our own issues, our own failings, but very slow to improve on them or learn from them.

And he wanted people to improve on them or learn from them and learn from our mistakes.

So that's a same thing, didn't keep happening.

The word deficiency, which is a noun, it's a lack or shortage of something.

It's taken from the Latin, deficere, meaning failing.

So we're going to be reading an edited version of the letter.

As I read, I'd like you to make notes around the different ways that Lennie James builds ethos within his letter, where does he build trust and demonstrate that he genuinely cares about the issue? "My name is Lennie James.

I'm a 42-year-old father of three.

I grew up in South-west London.

I was brought up by a single mother.

I was orphaned at 10, lived in a kids' home until I was 15, and was then fostered.

I tell you this, not to claim any special knowledge of how you've grown, but to explain how I have, and from where I draw my understanding.

I want to talk to you about the knife you're carrying in your belt or pocket or shoe.

The one you got from your mom's kitchen or ordered online or robbed out of the camping shop.

The knife you tell yourself you carry for protection, because you never know who else has got one.

I want to talk to you about what the knife will do for you.

If you carry it, the chances are you will be called on to use it.

It is a deadly weapon.

So if you use it, the chances are you will kill with it.

And after you've killed with it, after you've seen how little force it takes for sharpened steel to puncture flash.

After your mates have ran away from the boy you've left bleeding.

When you're looking for someone to dash the blade, and lighter fluid to burn your clothes.

When your blood is burning in your veins and your heart is beating out of your chest to where you want to puke or cry, but can't 'cause you're toughing it out for your boys.

When you are bowing smack in the middle of, "Did you see that?" And "Oh, Jesus Christ." Here's who to blame.

Blame the boy you just left for dead, blame him for not believing you when you told him you were a bigger man than him, blame him for not backing down when you made your chest broad, bounced into him and told him about your knife and how you would use it.

Blame him for calling you on and making you prove yourself.

Tell yourself if he had just freed up his phone or not cut his eyes at you like he did.

He won't be choking on his blood and crying for his mom.

Be a better man than that.

Let the story they tell of you, they've got you exceeded expectations that you didn't drown.

Don't spend your days looking to be a bad man, try to be a good one.

Our biggest failure is that our actions have left you, not knowing how precious you are.

We've left you unaware of your worth to us.

You are precious to us.

Give yourself the chance to grow enough to understand why.

Be safe." Lennie James.

So before we take a look at your notes about where Lennie James builds a sense of ethos with his reader, we really need to establish the key purpose of the open letter.

Pause the video here and pick which option you believe to be most accurate.

Well done, if you've got option one.

The key purpose of Lennie James' letter is to give advice to those involved in knife crime.

Here's another one, just to check your understanding.

Lennie opens the letter with an explanation of his background to, pick two answers from the options below.

Fantastic work, if you've got option one and option four.

Brilliant, if you've got even one of those.

Fantastic.

So Lennie opens the letter with an explanation of his background to build ethos with the reader and to ensure he appears as trustworthy to the reader.

Now, this is quite a sensitive topic that any reader that was involved with knife crime would feel particularly defensive about.

So it's really important that Lennie James establishes that he understands, and that he builds that he is a voice of trust, that he builds that sense of ethos with the reader overall.

So let's consider how he built ethos, but why it's important to build ethos at the beginning, the very start of the open letter.

Let's have a look at the opening of the open letter.

My name is Lennie James.

"I am a 42-year-old father of three.

I grew up in South-west London.

I was brought up by a single mother.

I was orphaned at 10, lived in a kids' home until I was 15, and was then fostered.

I tell you this, not to claim any special knowledge of how you've grown, but to explain how I have, and from where I draw my understanding." Building ethos is so important for a letter of this nature, because it establishes a sense of trust between the writer and the reader.

If we didn't take the time to build ethos at the start of this letter, then it might not gain the attention or the respect or make sure that the reader is receptive.

So receptive means open to.

Listening to what the writer has to say.

Building ethos is absolutely vital here, because there needs to be an element of trust in order to have a conversation or in order to raise awareness of this particular topic, because it's so sensitive.

Lennie James builds ethos here by providing details around his background, how he grew up in London, but also that use of personal pronoun.

So that repeated personal pronoun really builds that personal tone, that intimate tone with the reader.

By providing information about his own life, he's trusting us as the reader.

And so as a result, with them more likely to trust him in return.

I am.

I was, I was.

I am, I have.

All of those personal pronouns help build up a sense of really strong ethos for the reader.

He also is quite modest, quite humble when he states here.

"I tell you this, not to claim any special knowledge." So he is explaining to the reader, "I'm not providing you with full details of my background because I claim to have any sorts of special insight in knife crime.

However, my experience has meant that I have grown up aware of knife crime." So he again is building this really strong sense of ethos.

He's saying, "I understand." And that's that sense of empathy.

We'll look at empathy later on.

Right, so pause the video here and have a go at this question, which one finishes the statement most accurately? Lennie James spends the first section of the letter.

Now you can have more than one answer here.

If you got two or three, fantastic work.

Lennie James spends the first section of the letter, building a sense of ethos and showing the reader that he's credible.

He really focuses on building that level of trust with the reader.

So why is ethos so important in this open letter? And you may have had some of the examples in your own notes when you were listening to the letter.

Ethos is so important, because when you're talking about something of a sensitive nature like knife crime, it's really important that you establish trust between the writer and the reader, in the way that James does.

It's also important, in any argument, where we're using rhetoric, 'cause we have seen previously that you use ethos at the beginning, because trust is essential to then your reader or your audience listening to, or being receptive to open to your ideas later on.

So it's all always really important, really essential to start with building ethos, start by showing that you genuinely can, start by showing that you are trustworthy.

And then the audience or the reader, later on, is more likely to listen to your ideas.

We're now also going to look at this sense of empathy that James explores, as we were saying, building empathy with his reader.

Empathy is a noun, and it means the ability to understand one another.

So if I empathise with you, I understand what it's like to be in your situation.

It's taken from the Latin, pathos, which we know very well now.

Pathos means pity or suffering.

So empathy, I'm building pathos, very much go hand in hand.

For building empathy with our audience, with our reader, with showing that we understand what it's like.

Pathos is their reaction to our empathy.

Let's have a look at how James builds ethos through pathos.

And remember, we've always said before that the really well constructed rhetoric is where the writer manages, or the speaker manages to use these almost as threads running through or more than one at the same time.

So this is very clever.

"I want to talk to you about the knife you're carrying in your belt or pockets or shoe.

The one you got from your mom's kitchen or ordered online or robbed out of the camping shop.

The knife you tell yourself you carry for protection, because you never know who else has got one." Lennie James uses a really anecdotal tone here.

He talks in real-life scenarios.

So he says, "I want to talk to you about the knife you're carrying on your belt or pocket or shoe." We've got that three, that use of trickling on there.

You've also got the one you got from your mom's kitchen or ordered online or robbed out of the camping shop.

He provides really real-life relatable situation here that the reader would say, you know, would be able to respond to and go, "Well, guess such that that is where I bought the knife from." So that really kind of anecdotal tone.

"The knife you tell yourself you carry for protection." It's like he know, he understands his reader very well.

He also uses throughout here, building ethos and to demonstrate his empathy here, this use of direct address.

"I want to talk to you." "The one you got." "The knife you're carrying in your belt." "The knife you tell yourself you carry for protection." "Because you never know." That consistent use of direct address builds a sense of empathy with the reader.

It makes them feel that James understands where they're coming from, what it's like to be in that situation.

Let's have a look at the next section of the letter to see how James still does this and builds upon this further.

"After your mates have run away from the boy you've left bleeding.

When you're looking for somewhere to dash the blade, and lighter fluid to burn your clothes.

When your blood is burning in your veins, and your heart is beating out of your chest, to where you want to puke or cry, but can't 'cause you're toughing it out for the boys." Pause the video here.

And I'd like you to find me one or two examples of direct address, and one or two examples of an anecdotal tone.

Remember anecdotal is informal, or a particular situation describing a short, interesting situation.

We also have other things at play, but we'll start with your examples.

Now you may have heard, how did you get on? We're going to look at some other devices that he uses in here to build on this pathos and empathy to empathise with them.

But we've also got here.

We've got our direct address throughout, haven't we? "You mates." "You've left bleeding." "You're looking for somewhere." "Your blood is burning in your veins." "Your heart is beating out of your chest." We've also got that anecdotal tone in two different ways.

He is describing a particular situation.

Isn't he? He's describing this hypothetical situation where someone has stabbed a boy to death, and is now kind of dealing with afterwards, where to hide the knife, how to get rid of their clothes, how they're feeling.

So he describes all of this anecdotal.

You've also got the fact that he starts to use language to demonstrate our empathy, through an anecdotal tone again.

So that use of boyz with the z is a really key example of that.

That's isn't just some other ideas that he uses to build this sense of empathy.

So as well as "Your, your, your, your," that direct address.

We've got some really powerful verbs in here that he uses to describe the emotional reaction.

So we've got, burning in your veins, when your blood is burning in your veins, that hyperbole, hyperbole and saturation.

Remember, our best rhetoric is double-whamming words.

So burning is not only a powerful verb.

It's also hyperbole, the blood isn't actually burning in your veins.

It's figurative language, yes? He's exaggerating.

Your heart is beating out of your chest.

It's not actually beating out of your chest, but that hyperbole, that exaggeration builds empathy because he's giving very much the impression to the reader that he understands what it's like to be in this situation.

We have this repetition of when your, when your.

That really builds this sense of urgency, and he understands how the panic must feel of being in this particular situation.

So all of these different devices that he uses builds this sense of empathy.

He's saying to the reader, "I understand what it's like to be in this scenario.

I understand what it's like to be in." So true or false here.

You've got three different statements.

Brilliant work, if you've got one and two.

Fantastic.

So Lennie James uses personal pronouns to build empathy.

He also uses direct address to building ethos.

So that ethos and pathos are very intertwined within Lennie James' letter.

Let's have a look at the closing, because let's remember the purpose of the letter is to encourage change, is to encourage others to think about their actions, if they are involved with knife crime.

So in the closing of the letter, I'd like you to, once I finish reading, jot down one or two examples in this closing of direct address, dialysis and emotive language, where does it make us feel a particular emotion and react in a particular way? "Be a better man that that.

Let the story they tell of you that you exceeded expectations, that you didn't drown.

Don't spend your days looking to be a bad man, try to be a good one.

Our biggest failure is that our actions have left you not knowing how precious you are.

We have left you unaware of your worth to us.

You are precious to us.

Give yourself the chance to grow enough to understand why.

Be safe." Lennie James.

Pause the video here.

See if you can spot a couple of examples for each one of those devices.

And then we'll talk about how they're used to encourage change.

How did you get on? These are the only options, so don't worry too much if you've got different ones to me, but here are some of the examples that you could have had.

Direct address, we've got, don't spend your days.

Let the story they tell of you be that you exceeded expectations.

We have left you unaware of your worth, give yourself the chance to grow.

You've got lots of direct address through here, that's really giving advices and to encourage change.

This is how to be better.

This is how to avoid these situations.

We've also got this use of dialysis here.

Don't spend your days looking to be a bad man.

And he plays on kind of that slime, doesn't he?.

And when he puts it into quotation marks, so don't spend your days looking to be a bad man, try to be a good one.

And he provides an alternative there.

There is your dialysis.

The use of emotive language, I think it's this repetition of precious.

Our biggest failure is that our actions have left you not knowing how precious you are.

You are precious to us.

It really would bring out this emotional reaction in the audience, because it may be the fact that Lennie James is implying that individuals, if they were involved in such situations as knife crime, that they might not necessarily feel really full of self-worth or worthy, or they might not feel particularly precious.

So he is instilling that at the closing of the letter, he's reinforcing that idea.

So what we're going to do now is try and have a go at answering this question.

Lennie James must build ethos with his audience.

How does he do this? And why is it so important? So it might be the fact that we look at the beginning and the middle of the letter in order to answer this question.

I want you to use your notes that you took earlier about building ethos.

And I want you to have a go at using this structure.

What, how, why structure to answer that question.

Here's an example, in case you're struggling to get started.

So your what is what device has been used? And the quotation to support your idea.

So James uses an anecdotal tone to build empathy within the quotation, when your heart is beating out of your chest.

Now, what other device is being used in there as well? It could have talked about, but it doesn't matter.

That's right.

They could have also talked about hyperbole.

This exaggeration, this figurative language of your heart beating out of your chest.

Here's our how.

They've chosen one word that they think is the most important word, and explored it in the how.

So the word beating would imply that James understood the fear felt by someone carrying a knife.

So they used that one word to explain how the word has been used, and has been used to build ethos.

Why, this is where they use, why is being used.

And you can tell that it's why, because of that word, because.

He includes this because he knows to encourage those carrying knives to think about their actions.

He must demonstrate that he understands what it's like to feel afraid.

Now what other word could they have used in there as well? If they're talking about, he must demonstrate that he understands, if we're talking about understanding how somebody feels, that's right, he could have talked about empathy there.

The writer could have talked about empathy when they were analysing.

It doesn't matter, it's just the fact that it would have slightly built their analysis a little bit further.

So I want you to pause the video here, write down that statement.

Lennie James must build ethos with his audience.

How does he do this? And why it's important.

And then what I want you to do is use that what, how, why structure to explain, in your own words, how Lennie James builds ethos.

If you're struggling to get started, don't forget you can skip back in the video and reread the parts of the letter.

Best of luck.

So how might open letters be used within the press? This use of letters isn't particularly unusual.

The press use it a lot, and newspapers publish open letters a great deal.

It might be the fact that open letters are used to raise awareness of a particular issue.

It might be if something has happened that's quite controversial or somebody feels quite strongly about and they want to share their opinions, open letters can also be used in that way.

Lennie James' open letter was quite significant and quite well known because of the fact that it tried to address what is quite a sensitive issue within society.

And that's the end of the lesson today.

Well done.

You've worked absolutely fantastically, in what is quite a sensitive topic and also a very mature topic.

So you've handled it really, really well.

If you do need to speak to somebody about the nature and the topic of the open letter today, please do take the time to go and speak to a trusted adult.

I need you to do two things for me before you go.

I need you to write down three things that you've learned, and that could be across the unit as a whole.

So see how far back you can remember, or it could just be about this lesson.

I also need you to complete the quiz, because I'm really interested to see how much you've learned.

Next lesson, we're going to have a look at how to compare these two very, very different letters.

And how actually they both encourage change, but in an entirely different way.

So we're now going to be building our analysis, but also thinking about how we make contrast and comparisons between two tats.

I'll see you next time.