Learn to write a persuasive essay by organizing arguments in a logical order, providing appropriate supporting details, clarifying main arguments, and identifying and refuting a counter argument. W.9-10.1 Arguments, W.11-12. 1 Arguments

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Students will expand knowledge about music vocabulary through exploration of The Carnival of the Animals, composed by Camille Saint-Sains. Students will be able to use key music terms in discussions with their peers and in persuasive writing.

In this lesson, students examine travel brochures to learn about persuasive writing. They then create a travel brochure themselves, giving three strong reasons that a person should come and visit their location. Once the brochure is created, students will write a persuasive paper connecting all of their thoughts from the brochure into their paper.

Links to 37 lessons that focus on skills within third grade reading standard W.3.1.

Links to 27 lessons and activities that build student skills in standard W.3.1b: Provide reasons that support the opinion.

Links to 11 lessons and activities that build student skills in standard W.3.1d: Provide a concluding statement or section.

In this article Laura Turner explains how to write a position paper, a paper in which one takes a stand on one side of a topic and builds a case for it with factual information. [1:03]

Gives a few potential debate topics and accompanying resources from which students can choose.

Students will listen to historic news events as broadcast on radio, view current news coverage on television, and compare and contrast how those events were reported on both media by developing an essay which addresses the question "Is radio a valid medium to convey news or entertainment?" Students will evaluate the impact of radio as compared to other current broadcast media, including television, magazines, and newspapers. Students then use question sheets to evaluate and compare coverage, and the lesson culminates in students writing a comparative essay.

Prepare students for persuasive writing by introducing them to the concept of making an argument. Students discover there's a difference between "arguing" and making an argument in support of a position, and that making an argument is a learned skill that doesn't depend on how you feel about an issue. LESSON OBJECTIVES: Define argument, counterargument, and supporting argument. *Identify supportng arguments for a main argument. *Distinguish between types of arguments. *Discuss hypothetical situations where persuasive writing skills are useful.

Students meet Ben Brewer and find out what happened the day he decided to wear his favorite band t-shirt to school in violation of a new dress code rule. Students read a summary of a Supreme Court case to figure out the "rule" that applies to Ben's problem. This lesson lays the groundwork for students to write two short persuasive essays-one arguing each side of the issue. LESSON OBJECTIVES: Identify a freedom of speech issue in a fictional scenario. *Construct the rule about freedom of speech in schools by reading and color-coding a summary of the Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines. *Apply the rule to a variety of hypothetical scenarios.

In order to build arguments for their essays, students examine evidence about whether band t-shirts were disruptive at Ben's school. Students think critically to filter out evidence for and against each position. LESSON OBJECTIVES: Generate evidence in support of two positions by evaluating oral testimony and written exhibits. *Use a graphic organizer to organize the evidence.

Students begin to organize their arguments and evidence both for and against the rule banning band t-shirts. Students learn the necessity of clear organization, generate main and supporting arguments, and create idea webs to organize the evidence they gathered in the last lesson. LESSON OBJECTIVES: Compare well-organized supporting arguments with poorly-organized ones. *Deconstruct a well-organized argument. *Develop main and supporting arguments. *Use a graphic organizer to organize arguments and evidence.

Students meet "Yabbut Rabbit" and learn how to flesh out the support for their arguments by developing counterargument. Using the technique they learn in this lesson, students add arguments to their idea webs. LESSON OBJECTIVES: Formulate counterarguments based on fact, not opinion. *Use counterarguments to strengthen the arguments begun in Lesson 4.

As a precursor to writing a rough draft, students learn that you can't ignore evidence for the other side of an argument. Students learn how to use complex sentences to minimize or emphasize evidence when they argue. This lesson may not take an entire class period, so you may want to combine it with your own sentence-writing exercises or with another lesson. LESSON OBJECTIVES: Determine which part of a complex sentence minimizes an idea and which part emphasizes an idea. *Write complex sentences designed to emphasize or minimize evidence in an argument.

Students make direct connections between the format of an outline and the organization in an essay. Using side-by-side examples, students see how the outline translates into a written product. They also see examples of complex sentences in action. At the end of this lesson, students begin their rough drafts. LESSON OBJECTIVES: Deconstruct an essay by color-coding its parts. *Compare an outline and an essay by color-coding the same information in both. *Write the rough draft of an essay.

In this minilesson, students practice identifying and purposefully using vocabulary in persuasive writing that is intended to have an emotional impact on the reader.

Using an interactive mapping template, students are guided to design an argument for a persuasive essay or debate. After the Persuasion Map is created, it may be printed, emailed or saved.

A good lesson, to be used during the last month of the school year, for motivating students to remain faithful to reading over the summer. Uses strategies such as student-chosen books and persuasive writing techniques.