Persuade Me
Subject: Language Arts
Grades: 9-12
Ages: 14-18
Lesson Objective
Students always have opinions, but often they don't know how to persuade someone else to accept their point of view. This Inspiration® lesson introduces students to persuasive writing and rhetorical techniques.
Preparation
- One week prior to the lesson, have students read editorials from newspapers and magazines.
- Encourage them to take notes about their reading, especially where the writing makes them reconsider an issue or change their minds.
Lesson
- In groups, have students brainstorm issues they feel strongly about and record their information using the Inspiration® RapidFire® tool.
- Each group should choose a specific issue, research the facts, and then begin to list ideas that support their point of view.
- Ask students to share their lists and ask others to come up with counterarguments. As students confer, you may wish to move among them and interject arguments they have not considered.
- Help students determine who their audience is and decide what their specific purpose is in writing.
- Open the persuasive essay template, Persuasive Essay.ist, found here: Inspiration Starter>Templates>Language Arts. Students can complete the graphic organizer in Diagram View, or begin by switching to Outline View to enter their information.
The completed template will form the rough draft of the persuasive essay.
Assessment
- Confirm that the student’s view is supported through the use of facts and well-stated opinions.
- Confirm that the student has identified his subject, purpose and established credibility within the template.
Lesson Adaptations
- Assign topics to pairs of students and have them take opposing sides. They should write an essay and then trade points of view.
- Direct students to debate alternate resolutions to dilemmas in literature. For example, how else might Hamlet or Romeo have addressed their problems?
- Choose a topic of interest to students and discuss pros and cons with them. Have students work in pairs to write a conversation between two people who represent the different sides of the argument.
