Michelle Pozzi & Torrie Browne

• Australia Curriculum Writing overview
• Classroom practice
»NAPLAN focus
»and beyond
»ICT

• Planning
– Ideas
– Can’t elaborate detail
– Waffle & repetition
• Generic
• Time limit
• Spelling and grammar

• Explicit direct instruction ( I do )
• Collaboration with peers ( We do )
• Individual practise ( You do )
• Immersion in genre.
• Timely feedback and conferencing
• Environmental print scaffolds
• Narrow focus on text type

• The goal of persuasive writing is to persuade!
• Mastery of “big-picture” writing techniques = High Marks

• Engage reader (audience 6 marks)
• Strong Ideas (5 marks)
• Plan Powerfully (Structure 4 marks – cohesion 4 marks)
• Persuade Reader (Devices 4 marks)
• Spelling and Grammar (11/48)

• Tennis analogy – more effective?
‘’Go play” vs. Skill chunking.
• Gradual Release Model
- Modelling (I do)
- Interaction with others (We do)
- Solo practise (you do)

• Strong piece of writing is always based on great ideas.
• Teaching Only Planning = 2 weeks
• Planning to time limit (5 mins)

• Creativity can be practised.
– Students will struggle at first
– Skill comes with practise
– Ignore test instructions, analyse the pictures.
• TEST TIP Don’t walk around the room
– People standing behind you raises blood pressure and intrudes on concentration.
– Police interrogation tactic

• Class, group, solo practise
– Thinking on their feet games
– Drama improv. Games
• Patterns emerge – common themes
• Relate to school values

• 4-6 students
• Each student writes a paragraph
• Brainstorm For and Against
• Select + Group main ideas
• Each person chooses one main idea and elaborates
• 1 min of help from group to improve ideas

• Care
• Cooperation
• Pursuit of Excellence
• Responsibility

• Interaction – Laughter and learning.
• Emphasis on oral to literate
– H.O.T.S
• Judge/Jury
• 4 Corners
• Verbal boxing
• Group Brainstorming
• Role Plays

• K.I.S – 4 Square planner
–Easiest = no pre drawn boxes or templates
• Strong plan = excellent marks for
»Ideas (5)
»Cohesion (4)
»Structure (4)
»Paragraphing (3)

• TIPS
Thinking = most important
- Separate brainstorming and planning from writing.
- 2 different timeslots

• Variety good + bad
• Embed persuasive texts into all aspects of Literacy program ( shared + guided reading)
• BBC Persuaders
• Teen Ink
• Shared Student examples.
• BTN
• Kids Picture Books

• I do – “think alouds” as I’m writing
• Involve student input
• What have I done here?
• What’s a more persuasive word I could use?
• Students copy and rewrite neatly as homework

• Boring but safe
– Scaffolded write by numbers approach
– Good as a fall back for writers block
• Formula
– R hetorical question +
– O pinion +
– P review 3 Ideas +
– E ngage Reader (we….)

• Why write something ordinary when you can write something amazing?
• Facts don’t necessarily change minds, the 3 E’s do!
• Engagement + Emotion + Energy
• Compelling stories = Entertain to
Persuade

• Before
– I think books are better than TV because
1)…2)….3). Let me explain.
• After
– I’m in a fantasy land far away, magical and mysterious. I am a sorcerer, a power, a leader of thousands. Ok, I admit it. I’m in bed reading a book. T.V. just doesn’t compete.

• Kids “tell” because it is quick and simple
• Word pictures = empathise and connect
• Creates a solid image
• TELL
Before – Yes we should help other countries because children in places like
Ethiopia are dying without water.

• After – Thirsty? Walk into a shop and pick up a bottle of water. Pay a few dollars, unscrew the cap and drink. That’s if you’re lucky and live in Australia. Now take a close look at that small bottle in your hands. If you lived in Ethiopia, that is all the water you have to live on for three days.

• Teach using sensory input
• What can you see, hear, taste, touch, smell?
• Scaffold Prompts
–
–

• Imagine writing to a friendly adult or teacher
• Makes the tone less stilted and generic.

• Student ad agencies are in charge of marketing flavoured milk to a particular audience.
• Use appropriate persuasive devices and language for their audience.
– Kids - Older people
– Teens - Athletes/Sporty People
– Busy mums and dads - Weight Conscious

• Challenge – students can find ideas, but can’t elaborate
• Thesis = hypothesis - walls
• Elaboration = proof – wall paper

• AAlliteration
• FFacts
• OOpinions
• RRhetorical Questions/R- Repetition
• EExamples/Experts/Emotive Language
• SStatistics
• TRule of Three

• Teach explicitly
• Identify examples
– Readings
– Written work
– Ads/ Movie Clips
Activity – Sell a product by creating a poster using A FOREST devices.

• Students research a good quote on the topic of a persuasive theme.
• E.g. Cats are smarter than dogs. You can’t get eight cats to pull a sled through snow (Jeff
Valdez)
• Dogs come when they are called. Cats take a message and get back to you. (Mary Bly)

• Formula
• End with impact – use questions, rule of
3, short words and sentences.
• 3 Techniques
– Link to opening
– Show don’t tell
– Call to action – tell the reader what to do.

• Before – Finally, plastic bags should be banned because they are not as easily disposed of as some people think. They pollute the land and the sea.

• After – You think plastic bags are harmless? Tell that to the dolphin with the plastic bag wound around its snout, slowly starving to death. You think they’re light and easily thrown out? Over one million bags a week are buried, ditched and dumped in our country. One little bag blowing in the wind couldn’t hurt, could it?
One maybe wouldn’t. A million does.

• Vocab marked separate to spelling, so have students take risks.
• ‘’I think toys are good’’……isn’t very persuasive
• Word walls of emotional + persuasive vocab
• Reinforce words in spelling program
• Explicitly teach high modality words
– Use modality strengthening exercises and word cloze

• Takes a long time to bring a weak speller up to scratch
– Work on higher order thinking (planning etc)
– More empowering that trying to patch weak spots
• Practise, practise, practise words and phrases related to persuasive texts
– Words that crop up in written work
– Words like ‘’extremely’’ ‘’dangerous’’

• Higher marks for complex punctuation
– Brackets, exclamation marks, speech marks, ellipsis… () !! “”….
– Stronger students use small bits of dialogue to show mastery
– Weaker students read work aloud to help with commas and full stops.
• Last 5 mins to check work
– Hard for kids to focus on detail and big picture thinking at the same time.

• Explicitly taught and modelled
• SWAP & CUPS
• Peer Editing
– S tart with a Star? (What do you like)
– W hat do you wonder? (3 questions)
– A dvice (How to make it better)
– P lans for revising (Written by the writer)

• CUPS
apitalisation
sage and Grammar
unctuation
pelling

• Read own work aloud 4 times
– Slows down reading
– Ear catches things the eye doesn’t.
– Read one time for each aspect of CUPS
– Ask yourself, “Does this make sense?”
• Different pen for each stage
• Dictionaries
• Environmental print
• Work with a different student

• Integral part of the curriculum
• Effective communication skills
• Challenge other people’s thinking

• AMAP – collaborative online maps

•
• Wordle – vocabulary word art

Tagexedo –
Students type in words or phrases and computer makes a word cloud or image.

• Animoto – Creating ads

Xtranormal Animated Persuasion

• Draw a portrait of the person you write to.
• Display these pictures near the persuasive environmental print as a
‘’faces of inspiration gallery’’

• Three Word Challenge
– Pair students. Each person writes 3 words on a piece of paper e.g. soup, racing, invisible
– Swap papers – 2 mins to write a persuasive
Sizzling Start using 3 words.
– Randomness gets kids thinking outside square, i.e. creatively

• Groups 4-6
• Each person will write a paragraph
• Timed Brainstorm For & Against
• Select + Group 3-5 Main Ideas
• Each student chooses 1 Main Idea to work on + elaborate
• Students present ideas + 1 minute brainstorm help for more ideas.

Teaching Persuasive Writing –
The Bones
• K-10 Syllabus English Scope and
Sequence for persuasive texts
• First Steps Resource Book – Writing to
Persuade (p103-116)
• Sentence and Paragraph work – First
Steps Writing Resource Book (p190-
196)
• DET NAPLAN site

• Children are natural persuaders??
Variety of genre -
TV Commercials
Letters to the Editor
Junk mail
Magazine ads
• Connect with Literacy – non fiction and fiction books.

Monty Python defines an argument

• Hands Game – Three B’s
• Verbal articulation of H.O.T.S – 4
Corners, Judge Jury
• Drama – improvised skits, role-play debates.
• Argument Game

• Stephen King – “On Writing”
• Teacher directed – graphic organisers completed with think aloud statements.
• Read Write Think – Writing is Fun
• Timely and specific feedback is
CRITICAL

• Opportunities are infinite.

• What are your kids’ problems?
• - Wyatt Earp Syndrome – brave, courageous and bold
• - Filibustering
• -

• O - Opinions
• R - Reasons
• E - Explanation
• O – Opinion restated

• Task – Creative a persuasive poster advocating for either as to why a dog or a cat would make the best pet . Use some of the techniques we’ve covered in the presentation.

• Thanks for listening!

Definition: persuasive writing… seeks to convince its readers to embrace the point-of-view presented by appealing to the audience’s reason and understanding through argument and/or entreaty.

You encounter persuasion every day.
• TV Commercials
• Letters to the Editor
• Junk mail
• Magazine ads
• College brochures
Can you think of other persuasive contexts?

• Understand your audience
• Support your opinion
• Know the various sides of your issue
• Respectfully address other points of view
• Find common ground with your audience
• Establish your credibility

When to Persuade an Audience
• Your organization needs funding for a project
• Your boss wants you to make recommendations for a course of action
• You need to shift someone’s current point of view to build common ground so action can be taken

• Who is your audience?
• What beliefs do they hold about the topic?
• What disagreements might arise between you and your audience?
• How can you refute counterarguments with respect?

What concerns does your audience face?
For example:
– Do they have limited funds to distribute?
– Do they feel the topic directly affects them?
– How much time do they have to consider your document?

• Help your audience relate to your topic
• Appeal to their hearts as well as their minds.
– Use anecdotes when appropriate
– Paint your topic in with plenty of detail
– Involve the reader’s senses in these sections

• Become familiar with all sides of an issue.
-find common ground
-understand the history of the topic
-predict the counterarguments your audience might make
-find strong support for your own perspective

• Find common ground with your audience
For example:
Point of Opposition : You might support a war, whereas your audience might not.
Common ground : Both sides want to see their troops come home.

• Predict counterarguments
Example:
Your Argument : Organic produce from local
Farmers’ Markets is better than store-bought produce.
The Opposition : Organic produce is too expensive.

One Possible Counterargument :
Organic produce is higher in nutritional value than store-bought produce and is also free of pesticides, making it a better value. Also, store-bought produce travels thousands of miles, and the cost of gasoline affects the prices of food on supermarket shelves.

• Appeal to the audience’s reason
– Use statistics and reputable studies
• Cite experts on the topic
– Do they back up what you say?
– Do they refute the other side?

• Which source would a reader find more credible?
– The New York Times
– http://www.myopinion.com
• Which person would a reader be more likely to believe?
– Joe Smith from Fort Wayne, IN
– Dr. Susan Worth, Prof. of Criminology at
Purdue University

• Cite credible sources
• Cite sources correctly and thoroughly
• Use professional language (and design)
• Edit out all errors

Don’t misrepresent a quote or leave out important information.
Misquote : “Crime rates were down by 2002,” according to Dr. Smith .
Actual quote : “Crime rates were down by
2002, but steadily began climbing again a year later,” said to Dr. Smith.

• Don’t lecture or talk down to your audience
• Don’t make threats or “bully” your reader
• Don’t employ guilt trips
• Be careful if using the second person, “you”

• Visit us at the Writing Lab
– Heavilon Hall 226
– 4-3723
– http://owl.english.purdue.edu/writinglab
• Visit us online at the OWL
– http://owl.english.purdue.edu