Day Four: Structuring a Persuasive Essay and Determining Topics Objective: Students will analyze the structure of an effective

persuasive essay, and begin structuring their own persuasive essay. Students will determine a persuasive topic that they will use for the remainder of the unit. Materials and Technology Used: Persuasive Strategies packet; Persuasive Writing Packet; Structuring a Persuasive Argument activity and worksheets; Dear Comic Book Monthly, p. 142 in The Writers Craft. Links to Assessment: Students will be learning how to structure a persuasive essay, and will learn how to adjust their argument to a specific audience. Standards Aligned: Writing:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.1a Introduce claim(s), acknowledge alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.1b Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

Intro/10 Minutes: Go over the agenda, allow students to get their folders from the back. Remind students of the goal: Persuasive Writing SBA. Review the last few days using the Blooms Taxonomy Handout. Explain to students how their knowledge and skills develop throughout the unit: Learning about persuasive writing and its techniques (knowledge); identifying and classifying examples of these techniques in advertising (understanding); using these techniques to generate our written persuasive arguments (applying). Will lead to: organizing and outlining our persuasive writing drafts (analyzing); checking and critiquing examples of writing using rubrics (evaluating); constructing a persuasive essay for the SBA (creating). Review: Propaganda (war-time propaganda in World War 2), Persuasive Strategies in Advertising and Writing. 30 Minutes: Persuasive Argument Structure worksheet activity. For the first 6 Minutes, students will complete Part 1, where they find examples of each category from the mentor text Dear Comic Book

Monthly. They will already have these recorded on the worksheet where we dissected the mentor text, they just need to apply it to this activity. For the next 12 Minutes, students will be working with a partner to organize the slips of paper into the proper order on the worksheet. We will discuss the answers as a class. For the last 12 Minutes, students will be working on their own, writing examples for each aspect using the prompt: Should teachers assign homework? *Claim is not a yes/no answer. 5 Minutes: Discuss persuasive writing graphic organizer. Explain to students that they will be stating 2-3 reasons in body paragraphs. 15 Minutes: Students have the remainder of the period to determine a topic that they will be using for the remainder of the unit. They must get their topic approved by me! They will write their finalized topic at the top of their brainstorming worksheet.

Anatomy of a Persuasive Argument Name(s): _____________________________ Claim: the position or assertion that supports an argument Evidence: the facts or reasons that support your claim Reasons: the chain of thinking that connects the evidence to the claim; why? Counter-Argument: an opposing position or point of view Rejection: logical reasons for rejecting the counter-argument 1. Whole-Class Practice: As a class, we will look at the mentor text Dear Comic Book Monthly to find examples of each of these. Claim:_______________________________________________________________________________ Evidence:____________________________________________________________________________ Reasons:___________________________________________________________________________ Counter-Argument:____________________________________________________________________ Rejection:_____________________________________________________________________________

2. Practice Together: With a partner, arrange the following statements to complete the argument outline: Topic: People should be encouraged to commute by bicycle, rather than by car. Claim:

Evidence:

Reasons:

Counter-Argument:

Rejection:

Name: _______________________ 3. Individual Practice: On your own, write a statement for each point below responding to the prompt: Should teachers assign homework? *Your claim cannot be a yes/no answer. YOU MUST restate the prompt in your claim. (Ex. Teachers should not) Claim:_______________________________________________________________________________ Evidence:____________________________________________________________________________ Reasoning:___________________________________________________________________________ Counter-Argument:____________________________________________________________________ Rebuttal:_____________________________________________________________________________

People should be encouraged to commute by bicycle rather than by car.

Maintaining a bicycle is significantly less expensive than maintaining a car.

Spending less money on commuting expenses is a good thing in this tough economy.

Some may say that riding a bicycle to work would increase commuting time and therefore decrease productivity and money earned.

Bicycles can navigate rush hour congestion more efficiently than cars.