Persuasive Writing Unit outline Students will be engaged in identifying structural and language conventions used to persuade and audience. The unit will identify key elements used in exposition and discussion writing and give students the opportunity to deconstruct examples of persuasive writing and create their own persuasive piece. Simultaneously, students will read the novel Holes, by Louis Sachar, and use it as an opportunity to build their persuasive techniques. This task will require students to create a brochure or presentation promoting Camp Green Lake as a typical summer camp. Alternatively students can write a letter from a characters perspective (perhaps Stanley or Zero) trying to persuade investors to finance the revitalisation of Camp Green Lake as a holiday destination or summer camp. Students will pay particular attention to expository writing and create work that uses bias, evidence and authority to promote Camp Green Lake. Areas of Interaction: Approaches to Learning –use various brainstorming techniques to generate original ideas/draft and edit writing prior to submission Human Ingenuity – This unit will allow students to create using multimodal formats to create a visual presentation, brochure or letter to convince their audience. Unit Tasks Brochure - Parody Create a humorous brochure to promote Camp Green Lake as a nice summer camp. A parody is a humorous imitation of a serious piece of writing. In your brochure you will make each element of the camp sound much better than it actually is. Presentation Create a humorous PowerPoint presentation to sell “limited” places at Camp Green Lake to parents. The presentation will need to be no longer than three minutes and use a maximum of five slides to sell Camp Green Lake. Students will need to provide a script with along with their presentation. Examples: “At Camp Green Lake we have many organised activities as well as plenty of free time to let campers relax. The activities include, ‘the famous camp treasure hunt……..” “This camp will be a great and new experience for your children as they will be away from civilisation, in a very peaceful area, away from any busy cities, for two months.” Letter Write a letter from a characters perspective (perhaps Stanley or Zero) trying to persuade investors to finance the revitalisation of Camp Green Lake as a holiday destination or summer camp. Choose your audience wisely and use appropriate language and register to persuade the investors. Your work will need to meet all standard conventions for letter writing. Due Date: To be negotiated. 200 words minimum. Name:_______________________________ Criterion A: Content 9-10 Your work is high quality and contains extensive details of Camp Green Lake. Very clear, well supported opinions, bias or facts. Perceptive understanding of persuasive techniques. Criterion B: Organisation 7-8 Your work is of good quality and contains many details of Camp Green Lake. Clear and supported opinions, bias or facts. Uses a variety of persuasive techniques. 9-10 A consistently wellorganised response Very good transitions and paragraph structure Excellent use of structure applicable to a brochure, presentation or letter. Criterion C: Style and Language Use Always appropriate and greatly varied use of vocabulary. Very infrequent errors in spelling, punctuation and syntax. 5-6 Your work included sufficient details of Camp Green Lake. Supported by some opinions, bias or facts. Some understanding of persuasive techniques. 7-8 A generally wellorganised response Good transitions and paragraph structure Some use of structure applicable to a brochure, presentation or letter. 9-10 Yr7 English : Persuasive Assignment – Holes Appropriate and varied use of vocabulary Occasional errors in spelling, punctuation and syntax rarely hinder communication Your work included limited details of Camp Green Lake. Response displays insufficient use of opinions, bias or facts. Insufficient use of persuasive techniques. 5-6 A basically wellorganised response Apparent transitions and paragraph structure Limited use of structure applicable to a brochure, presentation or letter 7-8 3-4 3-4 A response lacking in significant logical order Weak transitions and paragraph structure Lack of examples 5-6 Usually appropriate and generally varied use of vocabulary Some errors in spelling, punctuation and syntax sometimes hinders communication 1-2 IBMYP A very limited or no connections to Camp Green Lake. Response lacks detail Persuasive techniques have not been used. 1-2 A generally disorganised response Very weak transitions and paragraph structure No use of examples 3-4 Sometimes inappropriate and somewhat varied use of vocabulary Regular errors in spelling, punctuation and syntax hinder clear communication 1-2 Often inappropriate and limited use of vocabulary Very frequent errors in spelling, punctuation and syntax often hinder communication