Name _____________________
Teacher ____________________
Period _____________________
Date ______________________
English I
Fall 2012
Community
Communities 5/6
Introduction and Theme Song Persuasive Presentation
Your objective is to get to know your group members, classmates, and teachers by discussing various
topics that interest you and provide the community with thoughtful insight about your group
members. You will create a presentation to give the community so that we can learn about your
group members and vote on a community theme song.
Procedure:
1. Interview your group members and get to know them by discussing family, school, favorites,
interests, hobbies, goals, extracurricular activities, strengths, weaknesses, and talents.
2. As a group, decide on a group name and ONE SCHOOL APPROPRIATE song that you believe
should be our community theme song this year. It could be for any reason (so think outside the
box) but you must persuade the community to vote for your choice during your group
presentation so make sure it is representative of the community as a whole.
3. Go to any free lyrics website and print out the lyrics for the song. CHECK TO MAKE SURE IT IS
SCHOOL APPOPRIATE IN BOTH LANGUAGE AND CONTENT! The final product here can be a
website printout so don’t waste time making it look pretty. Just make sure your group name is
on it.
4. Use the required outline template (provided) to develop an informal outline (on a separate
sheet of paper-handwritten is OK) and use it to create your persuasive argument to convince
the community to vote for your group’s theme song. Be sure to include everything provided on
the template and that EACH group member has provided a persuasive piece of evidence for
the outline. The more variety you have in the types of argument techniques and the
explanations, the stronger your argument will be. You will turn in this outline to Russell after
your presentation to the community.
5. Create a poster that encompasses all of your group members and their individual uniqueness
AND their persuasive contribution (evidence) to your group’s theme song choice. Make this as
creative and colorful as possible. All basic art supplies and ONE poster board will be provided
to each group but feel free to plan ahead and bring in additional supplies to make your poster
unique.
6. EACH group member must choose an effective, SCHOOL APPROPRIATE visual to bring in to
show how the song represents each group member and supports your opinion that the song is
worthy of being chosen as our community theme song. Think outside the box! It could be a
picture, home video, trophy, medal, award, etc. FYI people, animals, and You Tube are NEVER
acceptable visual aides for school projects and simply showing the music video is not
acceptable here either.
7. Procure a method of playing the song for the community. You can play a CD, or your IPOD, or
an online version. JUST BE SURE IT IS SCHOOL APPROPRIATE IN BOTH LANGAUGE AND
CONTENT. If you so desire your group may turn in a digital copy of the song to Russell to add
to our class playlist. However, illegal downloading, paying for a new CD, or paying for a
download are NOT recommended for this project. Use the resources already at your disposal.
8. Informally introduce yourselves BOTH as a group and individuals to the community. Be sure to
use an attention getter and impactor from your outline to begin and end your presentation.
Showcase your poster, your audio song, your persuasive evidence prepared in the outline, and
your visual aides to PERSUADE THE COMMUNITY TO VOTE FOR YOUR GROUP’S SONG
CHOICE.
9. All students and teachers will then vote on the official community theme song.
Attention Getters:
 Rhetorical question
 Famous quote
 Unusual/shocking statement
 Humor
 Startling statistic
Impactors:
 Issue a challenge
 Show an indication of future use
 Make a prediction or warning
 Evoke a vivid image
Persuasive Argument Techniques:
 Pathos (an emotional connection to song or artist)
 Anecdote (short entertaining story that relates to song or artist)
 Logic and/or Analogy (an educated assumption)
 Authority and/or Expert Opinion (about song or artist)
 Statistic or Fact (about song or artist)
 Evidence (direct quote from lyrics)
Template:
I.
Introduction
A.
Attention Getter:
B.
Thesis Statement/Claim: The song _________ by _________ should be our choice as
community theme song because __________________(connect to attention getter).
II.
III.
Topic Sentence One: (reason #1 why you believe your thesis)
A.
Connect topic sentence idea to thesis statement idea (be general):
B.
Provide argument technique and group member’s name:
C.
Explanation (connect evidence back to topic sentence idea):
D.
Provide NEW argument technique and NEW group member’s name:
E.
Explanation (connect evidence back to topic sentence idea):
Topic Sentence Two: (reason #2 why you believe your thesis)
A.
Connect topic sentence idea to thesis statement idea (be general):
IV.
V.
B.
Provide NEW argument technique and NEW group member’s name:
C.
Explanation (connect evidence back to topic sentence idea):
D.
Provide NEW argument technique and NEW group member’s name:
E.
Explanation (connect evidence back to topic sentence idea):
Topic Sentence Three: (reason #3 why you believe your thesis)
A.
Connect topic sentence idea to thesis statement idea (be general):
B.
Provide NEW argument technique and NEW group member’s name:
C.
Explanation (connect evidence back to topic sentence idea):
D.
Provide NEW argument technique and NEW group member’s name:
E.
Explanation (connect evidence back to topic sentence idea):
Conclusion:
A.
Re-state thesis/claim in DIFFERENT words:
B.
Impactor:
EXAMPLE:
I.
Introduction
A.
Attention Getter: (rhetorical question) How many of you were nervous about your first
day of high school?
B.
Thesis Statement/Claim: Well the song “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers should be our
community theme song because it will help us overcome these fears to achieve great success this
year.
II.
Topic Sentence One: The song “Lean on Me” is special because it makes us feel like if we work
together we can accomplish anything.
A.
Connect topic sentence idea to thesis statement idea (be general): Any song that
can motivate us to achieve our full potential deserves to be our community theme song.
B.
Provide argument technique and group member’s name: (evidence) The lyrics “but if
we are wise we know that there’s always tomorrow” is a great attitude to live by. -Herstine
C.
Explanation (connect evidence back to topic sentence idea): This line reminds us
that even if we have setbacks this year, tomorrow is always another day and we cannot give up. We
can always improve and do better and keep going forward to accomplish our goals.
D.
Provide NEW argument technique and NEW group member’s name: (anecdote)
Sometimes our work can be overwhelming, especially when we have huge community projects, like
the research paper. Every year my team members step up and each learn a portion of the project and
help me grade them so I do not go crazy trying to do them by myself. -Russell
E.
Explanation (connect evidence back to topic sentence idea): It is important to have
people you can rely on to help you. A group is always stronger than one person when working on a
goal and we can accomplish things better and faster together than we could by ourselves.
III.
Topic Sentence Two: Our song “Lean on Me” is perfect because it incredibly well known for all
ages.
A.
Connect topic sentence idea to thesis statement idea (be general): Our community
theme song should be well know to all the community members since it representative of the group
as a whole.
B.
Provide NEW argument technique and NEW group member’s name: (statistic or
fact) This song has been remade 8 times by 8 different artists from a variety of genres. -Barnard
C.
Explanation (connect evidence back to topic sentence idea): No matter which
version we are familiar with, the song is powerful enough to speak to a variety of audiences and is
well known by many throughout the years, since its original release in 1972.
D.
Provide NEW argument technique and NEW group member’s name: (logic) The
song is so well known and well liked that many people also know it from the movie based on the true
story about an actual famous high school principal, Joe Clark. -Lambdin
E.
Explanation (connect evidence back to topic sentence idea): The song title was used
to inspire the movie, also titled Lean on Me, which was an inspirational story for many students and
teachers alike about a failing high school and the role one principal had in turning it into a success
story.
IV.
Topic Sentence Three: Our choice for the community theme song should be “Lean on Me”
because we can all relate to the parts about having a friend to rely on.
A.
Connect topic sentence idea to thesis statement idea (be general): All of us here
understand and appreciate the main purpose of the song, a need for a great friend we can rely on.
B.
Provide NEW argument technique and NEW group member’s name: (pathos) When
I graduated high school, after the ceremony, someone started singing this song and the whole senior
class joined hands and sang it together. It was so moving to see such an unplanned and honest show
of solidarity and support, that many people were crying. -Hinnerichs
C.
Explanation (connect evidence back to topic sentence idea): We were so sad to see
the end of high school but this song made us realize that we could still have our great friendships
even after graduation.
D.
Provide NEW argument technique and NEW group member’s name: (evidence) The
lines “lean on me, when you’re not strong and I’ll be your friend I’ll help you carry on” reminds me of
the time that one of my longest friends did exactly that.
E.
Explanation (connect evidence back to topic sentence idea): My friend knew I was
having a rough time coping with a personal issue in my life so he called me up and told me to pack a
bag because he had planned a weekend for us to get out of town and have some fun and get some
perspective. It was exactly what I needed and he literally carried me through these hard times just like
the lyrics say. -Babics
V.
Conclusion:
A.
Re-state thesis/claim in DIFFERENT words: “Lean on Me” is well known, it is
motivating, and it reminds us of the importance of making and keeping strong friendships this year,
which is why it should be our community theme song.
B.
Impactor: We know that if you vote for our song as the community theme song you will
be able to get over your nervousness because it will remind you that you have a whole room full of
people to lean on this year that want to help you achieve success.
Rubric: GROUP GRADE FOR ALL 3 CORE CLASSES (THAT IS 300 TOTAL POINTS!)
If your presentation, outline, audio song, poster, or visual aid contains ANYTHING inappropriate for
school your grade will suffer a minimum letter grade job up to a maximum no credit-per our
discretion. If you are unsure about something, ask or change it!
Group Members:
Poster: _____/25
Creative
Colorful
Neat
Includes group name
Includes group members’ names
Includes theme song evidence
Outline: _____/25
All template elements are present
Variety of argument techniques
Strong connections between thesis,
evidence, and explanations
All group members contributed a piece
of
evidence
Persuasive
TOTAL: __________/100
Presentation: _____/25
Eye contact
Body language
Volume
Pace
All group members spoke
Introduction with attention getter
Conclusion with impactor
Support: _____/25
Each group member provided a visual
aide
Group submitted song lyrics
Audio track was played
Rubric submitted
Persuasive