Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Persuasive Writing – Week 3 OSPI High School Instructional Support Materials for Writing These materials were developed by Washington teachers to help students improve their writing. Version 2

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Expository vs. Persuasion Expository writing  has a narrow topic.  stays focused on the main ideas.  is elaborated using reasons, well-chosen and specific details, examples, and/or anecdotes to support ideas.  includes information that is interesting, thoughtful, and necessary for the audience.  is organized with an introduction, supporting paragraphs with main points and elaboration, and an effective conclusion.  uses transitions to connect ideas.  shows commitment to topic with voice and language appropriate for audience and purpose.  uses specific words and phrases that help the reader understand ideas.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Expository vs. Persuasion Persuasive writing  has a clear position and is focused on that position.  has more than one argument to support a position.  is elaborated by using reasons, well-chosen and specific details, examples, anecdotes, facts, and/or statistics as evidence to support arguments.  is organized to make the best case for a position.  anticipates and refutes the opposing position.  begins with an opening, including a statement of position, and ending with an effective persuasive conclusion, such as a call for action.  uses transitions to connect position, arguments, and evidence.  shows commitment to position by writing in a voice appropriate for audience and purpose.  use words, phrases, and persuasive strategies that urge or compel the reader to support a position.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Persuasive Writing In persuasive writing, a writer takes a position FOR or AGAINST an issue and writes to convince the reader to believe or do something.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Getting Ready - Purposes of persuasion  Support a cause  Urge people to action  Promote change  Refute a theory  Arouse sympathy  Stimulate interest  Win agreement

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Who should Win? You will be working in small groups. candy candy There is only enough candy today for one group. Think of reasons why your group should get the candy. Persuade the class that your group should be rewarded. Your group’s task is work together to write your best arguments. You will have 15 minutes. Your classmates will be voting for the best group. Keep in mind that you will not be able to vote for your own group.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Present Your Case Appoint a member of your group to draw a number to decide which team presents its case first. Present your case when it’s your turn. Take notes about each team’s position, arguments, and support.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Vote and discuss. Vote on which group presented the best case.  A group cannot vote for itself.  Each individual can only vote once. Discuss why you voted the way you did. Discuss the persuasive strategies you used or observed.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Persuasive Strategies Preponderance of evidence (more expository) Firm position Audience awareness Concession and rebuttal (or counter argument) Persuasive word choice Expert testimony Inclusion of statistics Compromises or problem-solving Call to action Rhetorical questions Emotional appeal “House that Jack Built”

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Write to a Persuasive Prompt Many people have expressed concern about the starting time for high school. The school board has suggested that school begin two hours later and end two hours later. Take a position on this proposal, and write a multiple-paragraph letter to the school board to persuade them to agree with your position.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Remember Use what you’ve already learned about  choosing a topic  narrowing a topic  organizing your ideas  elaborating your ideas  checking for conventions

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Read for conventions.  Basic spelling (including homonyms)  Capitalization  Punctuation Periods (run-togethers), apostrophes (possessives), commas, question marks especially in rhetorical questions  Subject-verb agreement, particularly number agreement with “their” (pronoun referents and verb agreement)  Complete sentences  Paragraphing  Conventions on your own personal list in your folder

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Reflect Reread your persuasive writing from the beginning of today’s class. Think about the strategies you identified as being effective for persuasion. Which strategies did you use? What other strategies might you have used?

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Agenda -- Day 2 Share reflections Go to three corners – cell phones in school Write using strategies Share your strategies Read for conventions Discuss cell phone articles Reflect

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Share Reflections Exchange yesterday’s reflections with a partner and read them. Compare strategies with your partner. What did you have in common? What was different?

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Three Corners The school board has suggested that cell phones be banned from school. Is your position  Cell phones should be banned.  Cell phones should not be banned.  Cell phones should be used with guidelines. Take a position and move to the corner that matches how you feel. Discuss with your group how to support the position.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. The school board has suggested that cell phones be banned from school. Take a position on this issue. Using the strategies you found effective from the three-corners activity, write a multiple-paragraph letter to your school board members, persuade them to agree with your position.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Share Strategies Trade papers with a partner. After reading your partner’s paper, identify and discuss the strategies that are most effective.  What makes those strategies effective?  Are you persuaded?  What could be done to strengthen the arguments?

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Read for conventions.  Basic spelling (including homonyms)  Capitalization  Punctuation Periods (run-togethers), apostrophes (possessives), commas, question marks especially in rhetorical questions  Subject-verb agreement, particularly number agreement with “their” (pronoun referents and verb agreement)  Complete sentences  Paragraphing  Conventions on your own personal list in your folder

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Cell Phone Articles Read the two articles written by high school students. Take out your handouts and underline and label the persuasive strategies used. Share with a partner strategies you saw being used. Identify which strategies you have also tried in your writing.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Reflect What do you need to remember from today’s lesson to be more effective on the HSPE persuasive prompt? Be specific.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Agenda – Day 3 Define concession Take this! Take that! Look at the other side Concessions and rebuttals - your turn

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Definition -Concession Concession is when you acknowledge or recognize the opposing viewpoint, conceding something that has some merit. A reader of your essay is more likely to listen to you if you show you can see his/her point of view before you counter that argument.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Take this! Take that! (a concession / rebuttal exercise) You have been asked to be on a committee to review your high school’s rules. Choose one rule that needs to be revised, added, or eliminated. Write a multiple-paragraph letter to your principal persuading him or her to adopt your recommendation.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Take this! Take that! Trade your paper with a partner. Acting as principal, respond to your partner’s paper with your own arguments. When you get your own paper back, counter the principal’s argument. Repeat, following the same procedure. Repeat procedure once more. Your paper, when complete, will be argument and counter- argument.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Group discussion Say goodbye to your partner and find two other people for a discussion. Select one paper to read aloud as a group and discuss the answers to the following questions  Were the concessions and rebuttals effective?  What made them effective?  Were you persuaded? Why or why not?

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Looking at the other side When you write a good argument (as you did in Take This, Take That!), it is important to look at the other side. Here is a form to help you write a concession and counter argument. Look at this student’s sample.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved.

Transitional Phrases for Looking at the Other Side It is true that…however…therefore… Certainly…but…in short… Admittedly…on the other hand…so… Of course…nevertheless…as a result… Obviously…on the contrary…finally… Sure…however…in addition…

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Concessions from WASL Example 1 It is true that students should not have headphones on when their teachers are giving a lesson. Students should not be allowed to block out their teachers. However, when every member of the class is working individually after important information has been given, listening to music can be a helpful learning tool. It would create a more relaxing, calm environment for learning. Some students can concentrate more while listening to music. As a result grades could go up and it would definitely make school more enjoyable. Therefore, our school should allow headphones in the classroom.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Concessions from HSPE Example 2 Certainly, some students abuse the absentee policy and lie about being sick. They usually try to get out of school for one reason or the other. But the majority of students stay home because they are sick. When a student is sick, he should be focusing on getting better, not worrying about missing classes and grades. Also when a student comes to school when he is sick because he doesn’t want to lose credits, he is not helping himself. Chances are he'll have trouble concentrating and won't learn anything. In fact, he will probably be spreading germs to other students. The bottom line is a student has no control over when he is going to get sick. It would be better for everyone if excused absences were dismissed.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Concession - your turn Look at your arguments from your Take This! Take That! activity. Fill in the blank Concessions/Rebuttal Form using the information from Take This! Take That! making revisions as needed. Include your arguments in a multiple-paragraph letter convincing your principal to your position. Include concessions and rebuttals.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Some Ways to Organize Your Persuasion Order of Importance “The House that Jack Built”

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Order of Importance Look at the prompt on the next slide. List arguments on one side or the other. Try organizing the arguments two ways  From most important to least important.  From least important to most important. Which one seems to be the best fit for your audience? Why?

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Persuasive Prompt Recently, a citizen’s group proposed a change to the rules for obtaining a driver’s license. The group has proposed that high school students have at least a “B” average in order to get a driver’s license. Take a position on this proposal. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper to persuade voters to agree with your position.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Remember this Nursery Rhyme? This is the house that Jack built. This is the malt That lay in the house that Jack built. This is the rat That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built. This is the cat That killed the rat That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built…

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. The House that Jack Built as an Effective Organizational Strategy Basically, this is about a ballooning cause and effect. Event A causes event B, which in turn causes event C, etc. This organizational strategy may be used for an entire essay or just a portion of it.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. If you give a mouse a cookie, When you give him the milk, He’ll probably ask you for a straw. When he’s finished, he’ll ask for a napkin. He’s going to ask for a glass of milk.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. The House that Jack Built as a Persuasive Strategy Look at a HSPE sample using this strategy.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. To the school board, It is 5:45 a.m. Time to get up. “Mom, just a little longer,” I beg. 6 o’clock rolls around, time to get up. “OK Mom, I am getting up,” I say as my eyes drift back shut. It is now 6:25 and I spring up out of bed and try to get ready in time to leave at 7:00. Skipping breakfast, a mistake I will regret later, this is my typical morning. So, as a high school student I know the concerns that people have expressed about the starting time for school. School starts too early and I agree it should be started later and held an equal time longer. For me school starts at 7:30, which means I need to leave my house at 7:00 or 7:05. But for other students who ride the bus they must be ready far earlier than that. I see people half asleep standing outside waiting for that big yellow bus to take them to a long, tiring day at school. I think if school started later it would put many people at ease. Even if you get that extra 1/2 an hour of sleep it can do wonders. You won’t be tired for that first period test, you won’t have to take that nap 2nd period and miss your history notes, You won’t miss breakfast and have to spend class time counting down the minutes to lunch. Many things would be so much better if school started later… In other words getting up too early makes you tired, which makes it hard to take the test, which causes you to nap and miss your notes, which causes you not to pay attention because you are hungry because you missed breakfast.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved.

Try it – The House that Jack Built Remember this prompt?  Recently, a citizen’s group proposed a change to the rules for obtaining a driver’s license. The group has proposed that high school students have at least a “B” average in order to get a driver’s license. Take a position on this proposal. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper to persuade voters to agree with your position. Write an argument using the House that Jack Built organizational strategy.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Write On-demand Some nutritionists think the snack offerings at your school are terrible. Because of this, parents are asking the principal to remove all soda pop and candy machines. Take a position on this proposal. Write a multiple-paragraph letter to your principal to persuade him or her to agree with your position.  Use the WASL Persuasive Checklist and Persuasive Strategies handout.  You may use a dictionary and/or a thesaurus in print form.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Remember Use what you’ve already learned about  choosing a topic,  narrowing a topic,  organizing for persuasion,  elaborating your ideas,  persuasive strategies,  organizational strategies (Don’t forget the House that Jack Built.),  checking for conventions.

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Read for conventions.  Basic spelling (including homonyms)  Capitalization  Punctuation Periods (run-togethers), apostrophes (possessives), commas, question marks especially in rhetorical questions  Subject-verb agreement, particularly number agreement with “their” (pronoun referents and verb agreement)  Complete sentences  Paragraphing  Conventions on your own personal list in your folder

Copyright 2006 Washington OSPI. All rights reserved. Final Reflection for the Week Today you experienced writing in a testing situation. What different persuasive strategies did you try? What goals do you still need to work on?