Writing Lesson Plan

Writing Persuasively

Background Information:

Level: Adolescent
Proficiency Level: Intermediate
Class Time: 2 Class Periods

Objectives:

Students will be able to support an argument, point by point.
Students will be able to appeal to logic or to the emotions.
Students will be able to use varied methods to develop an argument.

Material:

Transparencies of articles of Readers'Forum in the Daily Universe.
Overhead projector and white screen.
Chalkboard and chalk.

Warm-up:

Teacher shares ideas to change BYU for the better. Ask students if there is something about BYU that they don't like and would want to improve or for which they want to commend BYU.

Introduction:

Teacher says following things:
There are many ways to make your voice heard. For instance, there is a section called Readers' Forum in the Daily Universe. You can write your thoughts and share them with others. To be effective, you need to organize how you introduce your ideas and arguments logically and clearly.

Presentation:

Put up the transparencies of articles on the projector and articles are read aloud.

Practice:

Some articles are well-argued and some are not. Discuss the qualities of articles in terms of following points.

Argument-specific vocabulary and rhetoric.
Who is the target audience?
What should the audience to do as a result of the argument?
Which one sentence sums up the argument?
In what order is the argument organized?

After that, each student picks an issue that they want to argue. The students break up into pairs to discuss their topics. Students write down ideas they got from the discussion. Use it for writing an article for the next class period. The students will return to class with the finished article which they will read aloud and other students and the teacher will critique their articles.

Evaluation:

The teacher will circulate among the pairs, listening to their discussions and answering their questions. Help find things which are weak in their arguments.

Application:

Each student will write a letter to the editor and their chosen topic. The letters will be sent to a newspaper, and printed together in a class paper for the other students to read and give feedback on.