Documentary Rhetorics and Public Pedagogy: Teaching <i>an Inconvenient Truth</i>

Abstract While documentary films have long been employed as pedagogical tools across subject areas, this chapter argues that documentary storytelling offers unique opportunities for teaching multimodal composition and rhetoric in secondary and postsecondary English Language Arts (ELA) and literacy classrooms. The aim of this chapter is to model for teachers and teacher-educators how documentary can be used to teach rhetorical awareness, multimodal writing, digital media creation, and critical/civic literacies. The chapter starts by offering an overview of the civic, rhetorical, and pedagogical potentials of documentary film for ELA teachers. Genre is a central concept in studying writing and rhetoric and can be a starting point for teaching documentary. Next, a close rhetorical reading of the acclaimed documentary feature film, An Inconvenient Truth, is used to model how teachers and teacher educators can use documentaries to engage students in complex civic and rhetorical learning. The chapter ends by describing various documentary and other ecomedia-making projects for engaging students in critical media making for authentic, public audiences. Examples discussed include civic advocacy videos, remixes, détournement, and climate narrative arts projects. These hands-on, digital projects students can learn about rhetorical invention, juxtaposition, and visual rhetorics.