Writing Persuasively in High School Barbara Leilani Brazil

Writing Persuasively in High School Barbara Leilani Brazil Keys ESOL Coordinator/ Teacher Albemarle High School 1

9 -12 Expectations for Persuasive Essays • Students will generate, gather, and organize writing to address a specific audience and purpose. • Students will produce arguments in writing that develop a thesis to demonstrate knowledgeable judgments, address counterclaims, and provide effective conclusions. • Students will clarify and defend a position with precise and relevant evidence. • Students will use computer technology to plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish writing. • Students will Self- and peer-edit. 2

SOL Progression of Expectations Persuasive Essay Writing Grade 9 • Communicate clearly the purpose of the writing using a thesis statement where appropriate. • Arrange paragraphs into a logical progression and use transitions between paragraphs and ideas. • Write clear, varied sentences using specific vocabulary and information. • Elaborate ideas clearly through word choice and vivid description. Grade 10 • Synthesize information to support thesis. • Organize ideas into a logical sequence using transitions. • Write clear and varied sentences, clarifying ideas with precise and relevant evidence. • Elaborate ideas clearly through word choice and vivid description. Grade 11 Grade 12 • Produce arguments in writing that develop a thesis that demonstrates knowledgeable judgments, addresses counterclaims, and provides effective conclusions. • Produce arguments in writing that develop a thesis to demonstrate knowledgeable judgments, address counterclaims, and provide effective conclusions. • Organize ideas in a sustained and logical manner. • Clarify and defend a position with precise and relevant evidence. • Clarify and defend position with precise and relevant evidence elaborating ideas clearly and accurately. • Create arguments free of errors in logic and externally supported. • Adapt content, vocabulary, voice, and tone to audience, purpose, and situation. • Use a variety of rhetorical strategies to accomplish a specific purpose. • Adapt content, vocabulary, voice, and tone to audience, purpose, and situation. 3

• Audience and Purpose: Persuasive essays are perfect opportunities for authentic writing! • How can students come up with their own persuasive essay topics so that the writing is more meaningful to them? Issue: Should there be video cameras in school classrooms? 4

The Writing Process Pre-Write: Idea Collection Submit/ Publish Organize Writing Apprenticeship Edit Compose Revise

Pre-Writing Tools to Develop Arguments ü Philosophical Chairs ü Class debates- Writing about a different argument ü Creating a mock newscast with interviews ü Persuasion Map ü Edmodo (blogging) ü Take polls of other students/faculty 6

Drafting Suggestions • • • Give students ample class time to free-write Make computers available for students who want to type their drafts. Provide a variety of MENTOR TEXTS in the form of newspaper editorials, articles, previous student work Students may be at different places in the writing process at different times. Allow students to revise as they progress through the process. Students will need to talk ideas out with others- allow a space for a writing conference. Provide mini-lessons on grammar, thesis development, and organization at the beginning of each writing workshop As students draft, use the persuasive essay rubric to discuss and score sample papers. 7

Scoring Sample Papers as a Class 8

Sample Persuasive Essay Rubric Ideas and Content Organization Thesis Development Novice 1 • No clear position taken; Reader unclear of writer’s main points. • No evidence of paragraph structure • No introduction or conclusion • Illogical organization of ideas. • Minimal or no evidence given to support main purpose. • Use of vocabulary, voice and tone are weak. • Counter-arguments are not addressed. Apprentice 2 Practitioner 3 Expert 4 • Position emerging but not clearly stated; development of thesis is brief; • Unrelated, unsupported general statements, reasons, and details, minimal facts used. • Somewhat logical organization; organization of ideas not fully developed • Introduction and conclusion present but not fully developed • Clear position taken and • Created a strong thesis, defined demonstrating knowledgeable • Some reasons and some judgments, addressing details present but not fully counterclaims, and providing developed. effective conclusions. • Paragraph development progressing but not perfected. • Either introduction or conclusion are weak. • Writer attempts to transition through paragraphs in a logical way. • Writer demonstrates logical, subtle sequencing of ideas through well-developed paragraphs • Transitions are used to enhance organization; • A gripping introduction and a strong conclusion evident with a call to action. • Gives some evidence to support main purpose although evidence is weak. • More accurate or precise language are needed to convey message. • May acknowledge opposing viewpoint but ineffectively, without overcoming objections. • Gives evidence to support main purpose using some rhetorical devices, tone, and vocabulary to emphasize main idea. • Contains relevant evidence, though thin in some areas • Acknowledges and addresses opposing viewpoint. • Adapts content, vocabulary, voice, and tone to audience, purpose, and situation. • Clarifies and defends position with precise and relevant evidence elaborating ideas clearly and accurately. • Acknowledges, addresses, and overcomes opposing viewpoint effectively. 9

Peer Revising and Editing • Use peer and self-revision tools like Google docs • Pick a student paper and have a debate based on the arguments and counterarguments presented in the paper • Organize Peer Revision Conferences that are goal-oriented • Pinpoint the editing needs of each student and do topic-centered skill review with small groups 10

Contact Information Barbara Leilani Brazil Keys bkeys@k 12 albemarle. org 11

Disclaimer Reference within this presentation to any specific commercial or non-commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise does not constitute or imply an endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Virginia Department of Education. 12