The Art of Persuasion
When I first saw this article I wasn’t sure that it would help me in my instruction. After reading it, I found that there were many things about teaching persuasive writing that I did not think much about. Students really need to be able to see a purpose and create a piece that reflects their thoughts and opinions, not just a teacher generated topic. Our district does not have a writing unit of study dedicated to teaching persuasive writing so this will fit nicely into my science unit. I think it is important that students have exposure to this form of writing.
Some of the main points in this article that captured my attention was the idea that students are constantly being sucked into a world full of persuasive, peers, adults, new technologies, advertisements, etc. In teaching a student how to write persuasively you are not only preparing them on how to write, but also how to see beyond persuasion that they face. As mentioned in the article, “persuasive writing is a powerful form that affects the lives of our children and is a component of many state standards.”
So I pose this question: where in your lives are you faced with persuasion? What seems to persuade you into doing/buying/saying something?
These are the things that we need to teach our students about. The ideas in this article will actually help me integrate persuasive writing into my unit about water and global warming effects. I can tie in the ideas of adding facts to help someone see things your way.
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8 comments:
Jessica,
What I found quite interesting about this article is that it focuses on young students creating persuasive writing pieces. It seems that when working at high-stakes districts within the state of CT, persuasive writing is not touched until the end of 6th grade because the CMT tests expository writing at this level. It's a shame that our students aren't exposed to this highly motivating type of writing much earlier, but we all know that this major assessment drives how curriculums are written.
Another area of interest to me is that the author mentions that her young students sometimes struggle with coming up with supporting reasons in their persuasive piece. This is developmentally appropriate as they are still developing their logical thinking skills. I know my middle school students struggle at times to come up with good supporting reasons - even on topics that are highly motivating such as homework, dress code, and recess.
As for integrating this into your chosen content area of science, I think this is very powerful when connected to the concept of global warming. Students would have to chose a side, use their classroom knowledge or research to find their supporting details, and then convey this effectively with their persuasive language. I could see this turning into a debate (great for those public speaking skills) if you had students work in groups and create an essay (maybe together). I think the possibilities are endless.
Jen
Ladies-
Jess, I totally agree with you that students need a purpose for writing. I also think that students need to know their audience. I found this year that when my students were asked to write to a Board member or someone else that they were not familar with, they didn't seem to care. However, when given a persuasive assignment, where the audience was a real person---in this case Ponyboy, from The Outsiders---the students really respond to it, took it seriously, and did a great job. I think this is what Jen was saying--give them a creative, persuasive writing assignment. So, I not only think a clear purpose, but a clear audience is key to good persuasive writing.
Where are we not faced with persuasion?! I think the minute we turn on a television or radio, we are met with persuasion--watch this show, listen to this music, use this product. This would be a great way to start a lesson on persuasion with the students--pose the same question to them. And make them hit on who the audience is, what persuasive techniques are used depending on the product and the person.
Jen, my kids have trouble coming up with supporting details too. They can come up with two, but lots of times that last one is either forced, non-existent, and/or the completely same thing as one of the first two! I still have trouble telling kids how to deal with this, especially when I think that sometimes the topics they have to write about are so unfamiliar to them that it is hard to come up with three good topics. Any suggestions?
I would have to agree with Jen (boy Jen, you must love all of this agreeing!) about incorporating persuasive writing into a Science curriculum. My kids, in their Science class, write a persuasive letter to NASA about a planet being a planet or something similar and they love it!
Persuasive writing is here to stay, it is our job to make it interesting and creative to them!
I completely agree that persuasion is all around us. I love the idea about starting with persuasion found in the media as an opener to a unit in persuasive writing.
I think that we should definitely be teaching persuasive writing as part of our curriculum, not just after the CMTs. I actually think that persuasive writing can actually help with CMT questions. We are always asking our students to provide text evidence to support open-ended responses. I think this is a great way to get students to do that. Having a unit on persuasion in the beginning of the school year can set up success in “persuading” your audience that your responses to open-ended questions are correct and why. This concept can also be used when supporting other pieces of writing. I think kids can really relate to the concept of persuasion. I think this will create more motivation in other subject areas as well. This is actually making me think of tucking in persuasion writing in the beginning of next year.
Hi girls~
I love to use persuasive writing to help students explore and improve their writing voice. When they have the opportunity to persuade their audience based on something they feel passionate about, the result is always amazing! I find that persuasive writing can be difficult to launch if it’s the focus of a writing lesson and not the extension of a topic in social studies, math or science.
For example, after learning about global warming, my students were given a writing assignment to discuss suggestions of fixing it and persuading people to do a better job of taking care of the earth. While they are not allowed to “choose” their own topic in this case, it serves as a way to see what students gleaned from the unit. Having students then debate (as Jen stated) would be an excellent wrap-up. There really are a lot of possibilities.
However, when they get to make their own choices about narrative writing, they understand the power of their voice in the piece, but finding a topic to pursue can be difficult for children, as the article states. I find that when we offer examples of topics previous students have written about it helps. When working with persuasive writing, the initial lesson usually poses a simple question to the students. “Think about some things you do at home or at school that you really enjoy. Let’s make a list of these things.” After the list is completed, I’ll say, “Now pretend that those things are going to get taken away from you, how would you feel?” From there, it becomes simpler for the students to produce an outline of their paper.
Hi Ladies-
Jodi, I like your idea about having them make their own choices about what they are persuading a person. I struggle with this in my own classrooms because sometimes the prompts given to us are so generic and while it is assumed that it will "hit" all students, sometimes it doesn't and then that person (who is usually the one needs the most practice) gets even more discouraged.
I think the idea of having them choose their topic will work for any grade level. I am thinking that for 8th grade, I could say something like your parents are debating getting you something you really want (they pick what it is), they are really on the fence, and it is your job to persuade them to get it. Thanks for the tip, Jodi!
What do you girls think of having them plan their papers either with a graphic organizer or an outline? I struggle with this because I promote it and then I have students saying, but Ms. Whitney we don't have this kind of time on the CMTs to plan and whatnot. So then I am between a rock and a hard place because I want them to plan, but I want to make it as realistic as I can for the actual test.
Argghh!! No planning??? This was my worst nightmare when I taught writing. I know students fight against it because they feel the pressure of the clock ticking, but I have found that students need to have the planning time in order to have essays that are well-organized, thought out, and are effective. This is especially true for struggling writers who generally have difficulty because they "don't know what to write". Sometimes it is the graphic organizers that are daunting to students. I had to become creative at times in order to help students through this process, and yes, I do believe in formulaic writing because it gives a foundation to struggling writers, and those that are more advanced move beyond it. I found that for persuasive writing that when I used the following "story" it helped my students develop their pre-writing skills and their essays were more effective. The "story" was that the STORK had to search through 3 TREEs in order to find the WORM. (The STORK was the introduction paragraph -Salutation, topic sentence, opinion, reasons, and kick-off statement; TREE was the body paragraphs - Transitional phrase, reason, elaboration/evidence, and ending and the WORM was the concluding paragraph - Wrap-up statement, opinion, reasons, make-it-happen statement). We used this in Windsor years ago and I still have students telling me they remember this and it sticks in their minds when writing to this day!
Hi,
I like how each of you are considering the importance of persuasion, and being alert to of all the ways others try to persuade us. For me it is essential for our students to be aware of, and critical of all of the ways in which the media tries to get us to think in certain ways. I liked how you touched on persuasive writing as a way to helps students become critical thinkers.
Your conversation about the need to envision our audience and care about what they think seems to me to be so important. The topic about which one writes seems key too. I liked that you talked about integration of science and inviting students to take a critical literacy stance in considering global warming.
Again, I notice how the CMT's play such a major role in how and what is taught even when it sometimes rubs up against what we really think is important to teach!
It is like a Catch 22- that old movie- where whatever you do there is a negative consequence.
Hi everyone-
Lauren, I see your problem about time and testing. There’s such a dichotomy between writing in a classroom environment with time on your side, and writing for a test with time against you. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I try so much to focus on each step of the writing process, but students need strategies when writing is applied to a timed format. So what is the answer???
Jen-I love your suggestion suggestion about the story! I think I might have to steal that from you. I too am a fan of formulaic writing. I think that, while writing is a creative outlet and task, there still needs to some underlying structure, even in testing. Arming students with strategies and useful graphic organizers can only improve their writing when the pressure’s on.
Regarding persuasive writing specifically, I do think that when students have choices they write a stronger piece. But, let’s be honest here. When it comes to testing, students don’t have that choice so we need to devote classroom time to specific prompts. This is the only way that our students will “cope” when faced with the test.
One lingering question I am left with regarding this article. At the end, Tony Stead states that he uses prior pieces of writing to compare to current. I can only assume that he means he uses Billy’s piece from September and compares it to Billy’s piece in April. Am I reading that right? If so, I would like to applaud him. Only when you look at a child’s work as a progression can you really understand all that he has learned and I’m sure all of you feel the same!
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