Michelle Pozzi & Torrie Browne

PERSUASION

• Australia Curriculum Writing overview

• Classroom practice

»NAPLAN focus»and beyond»ICT

CHALLENGES

• Planning– Ideas– Can’t elaborate detail– Waffle & repetition

• Generic• Time limit• Spelling and grammar

Child’s Persuasive Brain

REMEDIES

• 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

NAPLAN

• The goal of persuasive writing is to persuade!

• Mastery of “big-picture” writing techniques = High Marks

NAPLAN 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)

EXPLICIT TEACHING

• Tennis analogy – more effective?

- ‘’Go play” vs. Skill chunking.

• Gradual Release Model- Modelling (I do)- Interaction with others (We do)- Solo practise (you do)

PLANNING & IDEAS

• Strong piece of writing is always based on great ideas.

• Teaching Only Planning = 2 weeks

• Planning to time limit (5 mins)

BRAINSTORMING

• 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

BRAINSTORMING

• Class, group, solo practise– Thinking on their feet games– Drama improv. Games

• Patterns emerge – common themes• Relate to school values

GROUP BRAINSTORMING

• 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

VALUES

• Care• Cooperation• Pursuit of Excellence• Responsibility

COLLABORATION (WE DO)

• Interaction – Laughter and learning.

• Emphasis on oral to literate

– H.O.T.S• Judge/Jury• 4 Corners• Verbal boxing• Group Brainstorming• Role Plays

GRAPHIC ORGANISER

• 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)

4 SQUARE PLANNER

PLANNING

• TIPS

- Thinking = most important

- Separate brainstorming and planning from writing.

- 2 different timeslots

IMMERSION

• 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

BBC PERSUADERS

MODELING

• 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

PERSUASION GRAPH

INTRODUCTIONS vs. SIZZLING STARTS

• Boring but safe– Scaffolded write by numbers approach – Good as a fall back for writers block

• Formula–Rhetorical question +

–Opinion +

–Preview 3 Ideas +

–Engage Reader (we….)

RISK-TAKING & EXCITING

• 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

SIZZLING STARTS

• 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.

SHOW DON’T TELL

• 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.

SHOW

• 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.

SHOW DON’T TELL

Sizzling Starts

• Teach using sensory input• What can you see, hear, taste, touch,

smell?

• Scaffold Prompts–Imagine if….–Picture this…

AUDIENCE

• Imagine writing to a friendly adult or teacher

• Makes the tone less stilted and generic.

ACTIVITY

• 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

ELABORATION

• Challenge – students can find ideas, but can’t elaborate

• Thesis = hypothesis - walls• Elaboration = proof – wall paper

PERSUASIVE DEVICES

• A- Alliteration• F- Facts• O- Opinions• R- Rhetorical Questions/R- Repetition• E- Examples/Experts/Emotive Language• S- Statistics• T- Rule of Three

PERSUASIVE DEVICES

• Teach explicitly

• Identify examples– Readings– Written work– Ads/ Movie Clips

Activity – Sell a product by creating a poster using A FOREST devices.

SPOT THE DEVICES

ETHOS , LOGOS, PATHOS

QUOTATIONS

• 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)

FINAL ARGUMENT

• 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.

FINAL PARAGRAPH

• 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.

FINAL PARAGRAPH

• 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.

VOCABULARY

• 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

4 SQUARE CONNECTIVES

CONVENTIONS

• 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’’

CONVENTIONS

• 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.

EDITING

• Explicitly taught and modelled• SWAP & CUPS

• Peer Editing –Start with a Star? (What do you like)

–What do you wonder? (3 questions)

–Advice (How to make it better)

–Plans for revising (Written by the writer)

SELF EDITING

• CUPS

• Capitalisation

• Usage and Grammar

• Punctuation

• Spelling

CUPS

• 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

GOALS

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

ICT

• AMAP – collaborative online maps

ICT

• Wordle – vocabulary word art

•

ICT

Tagexedo –

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

• Animoto – Creating ads

ICT

Xtranormal -Animated Persuasion

TEXTS

ACTIVITY

• Draw a portrait of the person you write to.

• Display these pictures near the persuasive environmental print as a ‘’faces of inspiration gallery’’

ACTIVITY

• 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

WE DO – GROUP WRITING

• 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

Art of Persuasion

Connect to Students Lives

• 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.

BBC The Persuaders

Child’s Persuasive Brain

Monty Python defines an argument

Oral to Literate

• Hands Game – Three B’s• Verbal articulation of H.O.T.S – 4

Corners, Judge Jury• Drama – improvised skits, role-play

debates.• Argument Game

Gradual Release

• 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

ICT and Persuasion

• Opportunities are infinite.

Test Triage

• What are your kids’ problems?• - Wyatt Earp Syndrome –brave,

courageous and bold• - Filibustering • -

Writing Scaffolds

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

A FORREST

Spot the techniques

Your Turn

• 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.

Recommended Resources

The End

• Thanks for listening!

What is Persuasive Writing?

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.

Persuasive Genres

You encounter persuasion every day.

• TV Commercials• Letters to the Editor • Junk mail• Magazine ads• College brochures

Can you think of other persuasive contexts?

Steps for Effective Persuasion

• 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

Understanding Your Audience

• 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?

Understanding Your Audience

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?

Understanding Your Audience

• 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

Researching an Issue

• 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

Researching an Issue

• 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.

Researching an Issue

• Predict counterarguments

Example:

Your Argument: Organic produce from local Farmers’ Markets is better than store-bought produce.

The Opposition: Organic produce is too expensive.

Researching an Issue

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.

Support Your Perspective

• 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?

Cite Sources with Some Clout

• 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

Establish Credibility

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

Cite Sources Ethically

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.

Tactics to Avoid

• 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”

Have More Questions?

• 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

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