Persuasive Writing

Ideas for developing a whole school approach…

What is persuasive writing?

• Persuasive writing is where the writer attempts to persuade the reader to her or his point of view.

• Writer presents their opinion and the offers reasons for this view.

• Persuasive text covers arguments, letters, debates, advertisements, posters, poems, songs.

NAPLAN • MUST convince reader of their opinions

• Text MUST include an introduction, body and conclusion

• It can be one sided (agree or disagree) or it can be a discussion

• Must address 10 criteria (audience, text structure, ideas, persuasive devices, vocabulary, cohesion, paragraphing, sentence structure, punctuation, spelling)

• Persuasive devices a must!

The marking guideCriteria Skills Focus

Audience Writer’s capacity to orient, engage and persuade reader

Text structure

Organisation of the structural components of a persuasive text (intro, body & conclusion) into appropriate & effective text structure

Ideas Selection, relevance & elaboration of ideas for persuasive argument

Persuasive devices

Use and range of persuasive devices to enhance the writer’s position and persuade the reader

Vocabulary Range & precision of contextually appropriate language choices

Cohesion Control of multiple threads and relationships across the text, achieved through the use of referring words, ellipsis, text connectives, substitutions and word associations

Paragraphing Segmenting of text into paragraphs that assists reader to follow line of argument

Sentence structure

Production of grammatically correct, structurally sound and meaningful sentences

Punctuation Use of correct and appropriate punctuation to aid reading of text

Spelling Accuracy of spelling and the difficulty of words used

Persuasive devices• Repetition of words or phrases

• Questions that appeal to reader

• Stereotypes

• Quotes from authorities

• A call for action

• Posing of problem and suggestion of solution

• An appeal to the reader

• Rhetorical questions

• It’s a known fact…

Talk is essential prior to writing:

•Shared reading

•Non fiction texts – print and multi media

•Encourage discussion and accountable talk

•Don’t accept yes/no responses – children should justify their responses

Teaching strategies

• Modelled writing

• Shared writing

• Guided writing

• Interactive writing

• Independent writing

• Shared reading and discussion of a variety of texts – use exemplars and other texts

• Explicitly teach planning

Use a variety of resources

• Go for something that polarises opinions

• Newspaper articles

• News clips

• Picture books

• Big books

• Video clips – You Tube, Fuse

• DVDs

Teacher resources

• VCAA website – units of work for grades 3, 5, 7, 9 http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/prep10/naplan/schools/persuasivewriting.html

• Teachit.co.uk website http://www.teachit.co.uk/index.asp?currmenu=238

Literature and digital texts

• My Brother Dan’s Delicious

• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

• Should There Be Zoos?

• Charlotte’s Web

• Miniscules animated series

• Earrings

• Romeo and Juliet

• Holes

Some more ideas:

• Give students a topic to write on

• Time limit as per NAPLAN

• Encourage them to plan, write, proofread, revise and edit

• Assess against criteria

• Make teaching decisions for whole group mini lessons and small group guided writing

On a final note!