CLIPS Word Template s28

Teaching notes

How to use this resource This resource, Persuasive Writing, is designed to support the Digital Education Revolution – NSW (DER-NSW) program. The resources and tasks are aimed at supporting student use of the DER-NSW laptops in both online and offline classroom environments.

If you have difficulty viewing this resource on the DER-NSW laptop screens you can switch your web browser to full screen mode. With your web browser open press F11 to switch between normal and full screen mode.

For more detailed support on how to use the DER-NSW laptop software referred to in this resource please visit the TaLe Tools+ site.

This resource is part of a series on composing texts designed to support students in Stage 4 and 5 English. Persuasive writing is used in a wide range of texts that students respond to and compose. In persuasive writing, the writer needs to convince the reader of his or her point of view or opinion on a topic. The writer needs to use appropriate factual information to support the thesis or argument, and to use effective persuasive devices and an authoritative tone to convince the reader. The use of effective cohesive devices further enhances the writing. Persuasive writing may deal with controversial issues such as capital punishment, cloning, drugs in sport, experimenting on animals and genetic engineering.

When students have completed using this resource, they will know how to compose an effective persuasive text.

Explore Students can learn more about persuasive writing by exploring the CLI laptop wraps Writing an exposition and Writing a discussion.

Your tasks Students can click on either the icons or the hyperlinked text to view each task in a pop-up window.

Task 1 When asked to do a piece of persuasive writing, students need to decide on their line of argument or thesis. Then they need to choose relevant facts to support their line of argument. Students look at a persuasive text and state what the thesis is and list the facts that the writer has used to support the thesis. They can do a BBC Bitesize interactive

1 © NSW DET 2010 activity choosing facts that support the thesis that dairy farming is cruel to animals. The Sites2See Web 2.0 tools in the information skills process may help them to plan their work. Students look at the sample NAPLAN writing task prompt. They decide whether they will compose an exposition (agreeing or disagreeing with the topic) or a discussion (where they consider both sides of the argument before concluding with their opinion). They prepare to write by listing facts they will use in their writing.

Task 2 To convince the reader, students need to use persuasive devices such as emotive language and an authoritative tone. Students look at the effective use of emotive language in three persuasive texts. They take the list of facts they developed in Task 1 and write a paragraph for each one. Students can test their understanding of tone in an interactive Captivate where they choose the sentence with the more authoritative tone. Then they look at their writing and decide if the tone they have used will convince the reader or if they need to revise their work.

Task 3 Cohesion is an important part of making meaning clear in a text and is achieved by the use of conjunctions and text connectives as well as referring words, substitutions and word associations. The links provide some examples of cohesive devices. Students look at the effective use of cohesive devices to link ideas in a persuasive text. Then they revise their own writing to ensure that they have used a variety of appropriate cohesive devices. Students share their work with classmates to receive feedback before their final revision of their work.

They can share their published copy with their classmates. You will have to set up a class blog before the students can start blogging. A great place to set up a class blog is through Edublogs. This site also contains various video tutorials to guide you through setting up a blog. Another blogging site is http://www.edmodo.com/ which is a free microblogging site for education. For more information on blogging visit the TaLe Tools+ blogging section. The scaffold and checklist will help them plan, write and check their discussions.

They can use SurveyMonkey to create a survey for others to respond to, for example, how many people agree with their argument. They can collate the responses and add them to their blog entry.

Teaching resources

TaLe (Teaching and Learning exchange) These resources look at both sides of an issue and can be used for persuasive writing tasks:  Koala control: points of view is a multimedia interactive that enables students to explore facts and opinions about controlling populations of koalas. Search on TaLe using the title Koala control: points of view or the number L1285.

 Save our bridge: presenting the arguments is a multimedia interactive that enables students to look at reasons for and against building a new bridge. Search on TaLe using the title Save our bridge: presenting the arguments or the number L1289.

Other resources These websites provide information on some topical and controversial issues. Students can read information that is for and against the issue before deciding which point of view they will support. It is always advisable to check websites before directing students to access them.

Cloning humans:  http://www.globalchange.com/Cloning/ Capital punishment:  www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/capitalpunishment/ Sporting issues—drugs, cheating:  http://www.science.org.au/nova/055/055key.htm  www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/sport/ Animal issues—biotechnology, hunting, experiments using animals:  http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=7  www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/ Genetic engineering:  www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/genetic-engineering  http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/GEessays/gedanger.htm

Quality teaching framework This resource supports students to:  develop deep knowledge and understanding of the language of discussion, exposition, persuasive writing, argument and opinion  use the metalanguage associated with argument and persuasive writing  integrate knowledge by making meaningful connections between texts.