Lesson Overview

Title: Developing Persuasive Writing

Author: Rachel Henderson

Subject: Reading/Language Arts

Grade Level: 3rd

Duration: 50-minute session

IEP Classifications:  The teacher will follow and the accommodations and recommendations that are listed on the student's IEP. 

Unit Description

This lesson deals with the students using their skills and knowledge. The main study of this lesson is persuasive writing, which is an important skill that can be shocking to elementary aged students. Students will get to choose their own persuasive piece and then will be associated with definitions. From there, the students will use their skills to apply persuasive writing techniques to the activities that will follow the assignment. They will also be able to analyze the other student's work.

Lesson Description for Day

In this first lesson, students will explore and analyze the techniques of persuasive writing. 

State Standards

Arkansas Common Core Standards, Language Arts AR.CC.L.3: (Vocabulary Acquisition and Use) The student will determined and clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. The student will use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. The student will be able to demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings. The student will identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g. describe people who are friendly or helpful). The student will acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships.

Arkansas State Standards RI.3.1: The student should ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. RI.3.4: The student will determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topics or subject area. The student will be able to read on-level text with purpose and understanding. 

Goals

Unit Goals:

• Students will identify and give examples of persuasive sentences
•  Students will demonstrate organization charts for further review
•  Students will apply their knowledge to the classroom about the effective use of persuasive writing and its importance. 

Lesson Goals:

• Students will be able to work in cooperative groups to collaborate ideas and organize them into a persuasive argument to the class.
• By the end of the unit, students should be able to have knowledge of all the different strategies that are used in persuasive writing
• The students will use a graphic organizer to help display their ideas

Instructional Methods

Anticipatory Set:
Share the lesson goals and objectives with students that they will learn about persuasive sentences, writing techniques, and how to argue the common knowledge. Ask them why they think it is important to learn about persuasive techniques so that they can understand how to use them in real world situations.

Lead the class with brainstorming ideas for about 5-7 minutes and ask them to tell you everything that they know about persuasive sentences. If time allows, have the students get into small groups and play a trivia style game relating all of the questions to writing techniques. Summarize the main discussion and highlight the categories that were brought up during the brainstorming session. Afterwards, have the students return to their desks to continue practicing same handouts that you have provided. 

Prepare the game that students will play by dividing the class into four of five groups. A prize should be chosen for the winning time (e.g. first in line, 5-minute release to early lunch, or a handmade certificate). For the game to be centered on a real life situation have another teach or faculty member come in the classroom to play the role of the judge. The students will battle with each other in order to claim victory. The game should be structured and organized with enough detail to avoid confusion among the students.  

Recognition “What” Multiple means of Representation 1-3	Strategic “How” Multiple means of Action and expression 4-6	Affective “Why” Multiple means of Engagement 7-9
1.1 Customize the display of information	4.2 Provide varied ways to interact with material	8.1 Heighten salience of goals and objectives
3.1 Provide and activate background knowledge	5.3 Provide ways to scaffold practice and performance	8.3 Foster collaboration and communication

Introduce and Model New Knowledge

• Provide the students with a new collection of information that will relate to the lesson. 
• Use the direct teaching method to further explain the process and the findings of the lesson. 
• Start by having the students brainstorm to come up with ideas that can be useful in persuasive writing models.  
• Make sure you highlight the important aspects of the persuasive writing techniques. Use correct vocabulary and make sure the students can grasp the overall idea.
• Use power points and displays to address new information to the students about persuasive writing techniques
• Assign the Persuasive Techniques Quiz for the students to complete

Recognition “What” Multiple means of Representation 1-3	Strategic “How” Multiple means of Action and Expression 4-6	Affective “Why” Multiple means of Engagement 7-9
1.1 Customize the display of information	4.3 Integrate assistive technologies	7.3 Reduce threats and distractions
1.2/1.3 Provide alternatives for visual and auditory information	6.2 Facilitate managing information and resources
3.3 Guide processing information

Guided Practice:

The students should work in teams with this activity. For this activity, markers, and poster boards should be provided. Each student should be given computer access or taken to a computer lab. From there, they should log on to the Study Guides and Strategies website (www.studygs.net/wrtsr4.htm) Once the student has successfully found the website, the students should pick a section of the writing techniques and design a colorful poster board display about it. The displays can be as simple or complex as the student wishes to do. The students may include examples of sentences, pictures, or facts about persuasive writing.

      

Next, provide each student with a copy of the Castle handout. Each handout should be reviewed carefully with the students. The students should be prompted to give their best efforts on this assignment. The teacher will need to explain to the students that the scenario for the assignment is “if I lived in a castle.” The space provided allows for the students to respond to the scenario. Make sure to remind the students to use the persuasive writing techniques that they have learned in class. Once each student is done, assess his or her work, and hand back to the student. They will be able to take the handouts home and share their new knowledge with family members.

Recognition “What” Multiple means of Representation 1-3	Strategic “How” Multiple means of Action and Expression 4-6	Affective “Why” Multiple means of Engagement 7-9
3.1 Provide or activate background knowledge	4.3 Integrate assistive technologies	8.2 Foster collaboration and communication
3.3. Guide information processing	6.3 Facilitate managing information and resources	9.1 Guide personal goal setting and expectations

Independent Practice:

For this assignment, supply the students with lined notebook paper and pencils. The task for the classroom is to right down 20 persuasive sentences. There will be no time limit for writing these sentences. The students should be aware that ten of the sentences need to be complex and the other ten can be simple. The goal for this assignment is to get the students brain switched into the gear of writing these different styles of sentences. If the student finishes with time left over in class, make sure you review the completed work and challenge the student to keep going.

Recognition “What” Multiple means of Representation 1-3	Strategic “How” Multiple means of Action and Expression 4-6	Affective “Why” Multiple means of Engagement 7-9
2.5 Illustrate key concepts non-linguistically	4.1 Provide varied ways to respond	7.1 Increase individual choice and autonomy
1.3 Provide alternatives for visual information	5.3 Provide ways to scaffold and practice
3.3 Support memory and transfer

Wrap-Up

The students are given their choice to share their poster boards and their new knowledge about the techniques of persuasive writing with the classroom. If the students don't feel comfortable standing in front of class and displaying their boards then they will not have to. For the students that do share their display boards, the teacher should encourage them to use correct grammar as well as appropriately using the correct format with their sentences.

When the students complete the task of showing their poster boards, allow for questions to be asked. The questions can either be from you or from another classmate. 

The session should end with the class getting into groups of four and communicating with persuasive sentences when the teacher calls on them. The team with the most tallies/correct usage of persuasive sentences at the end of class will be rewarded. 

Recognition “What” Multiple means of Representation 1-3	Strategic “How” Multiple means of Action and Expression 4-6	Affective “Why” Multiple means of Engagement 7-9
1.1 Customize display of information	4.1 Provide varied ways to respond	8.3 Foster collaboration and communication
3.2 Highlight critical features, big ideas, and relationships		8.4 Increase master-oriented feedback

Assessment
Formative Assessment:
Make copies of the student's "If I Lived in a Castle" handouts. Instruct each student to highlight the persuasive sentences that are written throughout their work. IEP-Student A writes a persuasive word beginning with the letter "I" and IEP-Student B writes a persuasive word beginning with the letter "R."

Keep a checklist on the student's work by keeping track of the student's names that are learning the quickest. Take note of each student's level of participation during group activities in the classroom. 

At the end of the lesson, collect the poster boards and describe to the students about what they did correctly and incorrectly. Feedback is important for the students to improve.

• Did the student use the correct format?
• Did the student have any grammatical or spelling errors?  
• Were the displays relevant to the information on the website?

Recognition “What” Multiple means of Representation 1-3	Strategic “How” Multiple means of Action and Expression 4-6	Affective “Why” Multiple means of Engagement 7-9
1.1 Customize the display of information	5.3 Provide options for expressive skills and fluency	9.1 Guide personal goal-setting and expectations
		9.3 Develop self-assessment and reflection

Collaboration Practices: 
The special education students or students who are unfamiliar with persuasive words, may need extra help on this assignment. The teacher can supply them with a list of ten persuasive words and the selected words can be the ones they use for this assignment. When the page is complete, give them a new piece of paper and ten new persuasive words. Having them to keep practicing using these words in sentences is an effective method of teaching. Students might also choose to have words that start with the first letter of their name. This will make the process easier for the student to understand and they might also be able to come up with new words on their own. The teacher will need to work with the special education teacher by having them collaborate with the students in the class and helping them come up with new persuasive words. 

CLD Accommodations: 

• General Education Teacher uses various accommodations while displaying the lesson so that each student is learning.

• Teacher will need to watch the ELL students closely make sure they can access and work the equipment and understand the process of the lesson. Further direct teaching may include giving examples of persuasive words and having the student write them down. 

Materials

       The list of materials represents different types of media including websites, graphics, and classroom items.

Websites:

www.studygs.net/wrtsr4.htm

Graphics:

• Persuasive Techniques Quiz
• Castle Handout

Electronics:

• Computer with internet access
• LCD projector 

Classroom items:

• Markers
• Poster Boards
• Pencils
• Lined Notebook paper