Lesson 1: Convince Me, If You Can!

 Lesson Plan

Tuning In

• Watch the Toy Story: This is the Perfect time to Panic video on YouTube. After watching, ask the students:
  • What type of conversation are Buzz and Woody having? How do you know?
  • What are the different viewpoints Buzz and Woody are trying to express?
  • What do you notice about Buzz and Woody’s voices and hand gestures?
  • What is the point of having an argument? What is each person trying to do?
  • Is this a very effective argument? Why or why not?

Teacher Instruction

• As a class, brainstorm some topics that family and friends might argue about e.g. how to spend leisure time, what television shows to watch, where to go on holidays. List these as a mind map on the board.
• Choose one of the topics from the class brainstorm. Ask two students to volunteer to have an argument; one arguing ‘for’ the statement, the other arguing ‘against’ the statement. While the conversation is taking place, encourage the rest of the class to take note of the language, tone of voice, facial expressions and hand gestures being used by the students.
• Discuss the argument as a class. Ask the students:
  • Which student do you think was more convincing?
  • Why do you think this?
  • What language and gestures did you notice during the argument?

Guided/Independent Learning

• Ask the students to form pairs. Provide each pair with a topic card from the Persuasive Topic Cards – Upper Grades. Whichever student is the oldest must take the ‘for’ side of the topic, while the other student must take the ‘against’ side of the topic. Designate a set amount of time for students to conduct their argument e.g. ten minutes.
• Ask each pair to report back to the class about how their argument unfolded. Ask questions, such as:
  • What tone of voice did you use when you were presenting your view?
  • What information did you present to try and make your partner agree with you?
  • What types of words were you using as you were arguing?
  • Did your partner manage to convince you to agree with their viewpoint on the topic?

Wrapping Up

• Ask the students to stand in a circle. Choose a topic card that was not used in the pair game. Taking turns around the circle, students must present an argument for the topic, then an argument against the topic (and so on). Continue around the circle until the students cannot think of any more arguments. Choose another card and repeat the process. This could be played as an elimination game with one student left standing as the winner.

 Differentiation

Extending Students

• Place more confident students together in pairs for the argument game, so that they may challenge and extend each other's thinking.

Supporting Students

• Choose an appropriate partner for less confident students for the argument game, so that they feel comfortable to participate.

 Assessment Strategies

Suggested Assessment Strategies

• used strategic whole class or individual questioning
• observed student participation during learning activities
• recorded student progress on a checklist
• annotated student work samples
• collected and reviewed student work samples
• facilitated whole class or peer feedback sessions
• encouraged student self-reflection
• administered formal assessment tasks.

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Comments & Reviews

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This is an excellent unit to teach persuasive writing! The differentiation and sequenced lessons was exactly what I was looking for!

Alexandra Harrison · Oct 8th, 2019

Hi Alexandra,
Thank you for your lovely comment. I am so glad you are enjoying our resources.

Kristian · Oct 14th, 2019

We do not have have good internet reception at school. What to do if youtube videos wont play? Can’t download it on my computer. I would love resourses that is available off line.

Leonard · Dec 25th, 2017

Thank you for your comment, Leonard. We will certainly keep your feedback in mind when creating future lesson plans.

Stephanie (Teach Starter) · Jan 15th, 2018

Thank you for the differentiation and the sequence of activities. Makes life easy when teaching.

Maura Killalea · Apr 5th, 2016

You are most welcome, Maura! We love making teachers’ busy lives as easy as possible!
Kind regards,
– Steph

Stephanie (Teach Starter) · Apr 5th, 2016

Love the link to toy story!

Katherine Murtz · Nov 21st, 2015

Thanks, Katherine! I thought the children would relate well to this clip. Hopefully it will spark their interest in the persuasive genre!
– Steph

Stephanie (Teach Starter) · Nov 24th, 2015

Brilliant.

Ben Wiggins · Nov 15th, 2015

Thanks for the fantastic feedback, Ben! I hope you find the other lessons in the persuasive writing unit just as useful.
Kind regards,
– Steph

Stephanie (Teach Starter) · Nov 15th, 2015

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