Di Coley
Persuasive writing
Prewriting stage-fourth grade
Explanation of genre
Persuasive writing is anything that convinces the reader to take your side. It can be in the
form of a debate, it could be a letter trying to convince someone to stop doing something,
and it could even be a lemonade sign convincing people to buy lemonade from you.
Explanation of resources and student’s specific writing assignment
Pencils and paper will be provided to complete the writing assignment. The students can
also use the Internet, dictionaries, or people as resources.
Using written models during instruction
The teacher can present the students with videotape of a debate. It could be a real debate
with politicians or a simple debate that was shown on one of the lasted sitcoms. Either of
these resources will give the students a visual representation of what they are about to do.
The teacher can also provide the students with a written debate written by real people.
Practice activity
The teacher will present the students with several topics to choice from to debate on. The
students will narrow the topics down to one and choose which side they want to be on.
Then the students will get into groups based on their side of the debate and come up with
ideas to present for the debate. Once the two groups have conversed, they will present
their arguments to the opposing side while the teacher writes down the arguments on a
graphic organizer in front of the class.
Assessment activity
The students will regroup to come up with new arguments about the information that was
presented. They will make visual aids to help convince the audience of their argument.
Persuasive writing samples
Persuasive stories written by second graders
http://www.ttsd.k12.or.us/District/curriculum/elem/author/wa.html
READ 7140
Di Coley
Persuasive writing
Drafting stage-fourth grade
Explanation of genre
Persuasive writing is anything that convinces the reader to take your side. It can be in the
form of a debate, it could be a letter trying to convince someone to stop doing something,
and it could even be a lemonade sign convincing people to buy lemonade from you.
Explanation of resources and student’s specific writing assignment
Pencils and paper will be provided to complete the writing assignment. The students can
also use the Internet, dictionaries, or people as resources.
Using written models during instruction
The teacher can present the students with a paper on a debate. The teacher will point out
that persuasive papers include opinions, facts, and your viewpoint about a certain topic.
Practice activity
Once the two groups have conversed about new arguments to present, they will continue
to debate on the subject while the teacher writes the arguments on the graphic organizer.
This time the students will present visual aids that were created to help support their
argument.
Assessment activity
The students will regroup to come up with an opening paragraph for their draft, and then
finish the draft on their own.
Persuasive writing
Persuasive essays written by children
http://www.teachers.k12.sd.us/bg016/persuasive_writing.htm
READ 7140
Di Coley
Class Debate
For
Team 1
Against
Team 2
READ 7140