persuasive writing
CURRICULAR OUTCOMES
- Use a variety of strategies for generating and organizing ideas and experiences in oral, print and other media texts
- Select and use visuals that enhance meaning of oral, print and other media texts
- Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to manage ideas and information.
- Connect prior knowledge and personal experiences with new ideas and information in oral, print and other media texts
- Distinguish between complete and incomplete sentences
- Identify a variety of sentence types, and use in own writing
TEACHING METHODS
During the teaching of this unit, I approached persuasive writing in a variety of ways. Using a combination of class discussion and short writing exercises, I had the students understand what it means to convince me of an idea or opinion. We started with an arrangement of cut-out writing prompts that I had sorted out at the writing centre, with a wide range of topics used as writing prompts. This was meant as a short pre-assessment piece for me. Students would then write their opinions and give me three convincing arguments. One of our favourite writing prompts, which tied in well with the School Beautification Program, was writing about what things could be enhanced or added into the school setting. I initiated excitement and realism by using a letter from the principal, which I drafted onto an official school letter head. Throughout the unit, I gave short mini-lessons on grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and other common mistakes I encountered while assessing the students' work that they handed in to me. As a class, we also read some pieces of persuasive writing so that children could understand what makes a good piece of writing. For some topics, we even had student debates in order to facilitate student verbal and oral capacities tied into their thinking.
We then moved on to a common theme for persuasive writing. What is the best season? I had a class discussion with students, while they gave me their ideas as to why a given season was the best, along with some opposing views and differences. We then started an art project that I designed, which tied together the four seasons in a beautiful way. It also tied in some symmetry concepts used for Mathematics. I showed them an example of one I had already started. Students were to draw a line of symmetry, that would be used for reflection. They then traced a cut-out of a tree, one for each reflection, and began drawing a season for each quadrant. Their final piece of art would portray four seasons, each reflected on a different side of their drawing. I gave some short lessons on when and how to use oil pastels and chalk pastels to enhance artwork, in which most students initially struggled with. This was meant as an activity that would stimulate their imagination in order to prepare for the big persuasive writing piece about seasons.
Before starting the writing assignment, I split the class into four groups, one for each season, and had each group brainstorm ideas of what makes that season so great. Each group came up with their own mind map. This gave students ideas to write about, bringing in memories or activities they have done in the past on specific seasons. They were then to choose a season from their artwork, conduct a draft, and then a final good copy of which season they thought was the best. They would give me three reasons, using the tactics of persuasive writing that I taught them, while drawing in experiences of their own.
We then moved on to a common theme for persuasive writing. What is the best season? I had a class discussion with students, while they gave me their ideas as to why a given season was the best, along with some opposing views and differences. We then started an art project that I designed, which tied together the four seasons in a beautiful way. It also tied in some symmetry concepts used for Mathematics. I showed them an example of one I had already started. Students were to draw a line of symmetry, that would be used for reflection. They then traced a cut-out of a tree, one for each reflection, and began drawing a season for each quadrant. Their final piece of art would portray four seasons, each reflected on a different side of their drawing. I gave some short lessons on when and how to use oil pastels and chalk pastels to enhance artwork, in which most students initially struggled with. This was meant as an activity that would stimulate their imagination in order to prepare for the big persuasive writing piece about seasons.
Before starting the writing assignment, I split the class into four groups, one for each season, and had each group brainstorm ideas of what makes that season so great. Each group came up with their own mind map. This gave students ideas to write about, bringing in memories or activities they have done in the past on specific seasons. They were then to choose a season from their artwork, conduct a draft, and then a final good copy of which season they thought was the best. They would give me three reasons, using the tactics of persuasive writing that I taught them, while drawing in experiences of their own.
LESSON PLANS
The following is a list of lesson plans that I used while teaching the unit of persuasive writing:
Lesson - Brainstorming Ideas - Mind Map
Lesson - Persuasive Reading
Lesson - From Brainstorming to Planning
Lesson - From Planning to Paper
Lesson - Writing Prompt - Special Day > PowerPoint
Lesson - Writing Prompt - School Beautification > PowerPoint > Letter from the Principal
Resource - Persuasive Words