A R.A.F.T. assignment that relies on persuasive writing techniques
This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by Nevada teacher Jennifer Mitchell at an SBC-sponsored inservice class.
The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School by Mark Teague. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.
Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.
Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources :
Step one (sharing the published model):Mark Teague’s hysterical picture book, Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School, charmingly uses point-of-view and persuasive writing techniques in the safe format of a friendly letter. The book is about Ike the dog, who is attending obedience school, and who is writing letters to his owner. Describing each day with specific details and dramatic words, he tries to persuade his owner, Mrs. LaRue, that he is a good dog who doesn’t belong in an obedience school. The charming part of the book is that often the pictures of Ike's life at obedience school directly contrast the message he is sending in the letters.
While reading this book, teachers should stress what author, Mark Teague, has done well. Notice the dog, Ike, uses powerful details when describing each day from his point of view. He uses emotionally-charged words. He uses emphatic capitalization techniques. He slips in a quote or two to support his argument that he doesn’t belong in obedience school. He crafts each letter to persuade his audience--Mrs. LaRue--whom he wants something from.
Xerox a few of the letters from the book. Put one letter on the overhead, and discuss whole-group 1) its most persuasive word and 2) its most persuasive technique. Share your opinion. Ask students if they have a different opinion.
Hand out the rest of the letters to small groups and have your students analyze Ike's most persuasive techniques. Each group should share 1) most persuasive words and 2) most persuasive techniques. List the words and techniques on the chalk board or white board. Challenge your students to use these words and techniques in their own persuasive and friendly letters.
Step two (introducing models of writing): In small groups, have your students read and respond to any or all of the student models that come with this lesson. The groups will certainly talk about the voice, since that's the focus of this lesson, but you might prompt your students to talk about each model's word choice as well.
We're looking for student samples for all grade levels for this prompt! Help us get some, and we'll send you free books for your classroom! Contact us at publish@writingfix.com for details.
Step three (thinking and pre-writing):Tell your students it is now their turn to plan the writing of an unusual friendly letter. If your students aren't sure what unusual Role and Audience on which to base their letters, the interactive button game on the Student Instruction Page will help them come up with fun ideas.
The persuasive word cluster will help them think of words and ideas to put in their letters before they write them, and the friendly letter template will remind your students how to organize a letter.
Step four (revising with specific trait language): Two tools for revision are provided below. You can use one or both, depending on how much time you have to spend on this assignment.
To promote response and revision to rough draft writing, attach WritingFix's Revision and Response Post-Its to your students' drafts. Make sure the students rank their use of the trait-specific skills on the Post-Its, which means they'll only have one "1" and one "5." Have them commit to ideas for revision based on their Post-It rankings. For more ideas on WritingFix's Revision & Response Post-Its, click here.
Step five (editing for conventions): After students apply their revision ideas to their drafts and re-write neatly, require them to find an editor. If you've established a "Community of Editors" among your students, have each student exchange his/her paper with multiple peers. With yellow high-lighters in hand, each peer reads for and highlights suspected errors for just one item from the Editing Post-it. The "Community of Editors" idea is just one of dozens and dozens of inspiring ideas that is talked about in detail in the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Workbook for Teachers.
Step six (publishing for the portfolio): When they are finished revising and have second drafts, invite your students to come back to this piece once more during an upcoming writer's workshop block. Their stories might become a longer story, a more detailed piece, or the beginning of a series of pieces about the story they started here. Students will probably enjoy creating an illustration for this story as they get ready to publish it for their portfolios.
Interested in publishing student work on-line? We invite student writers to post final drafts of their original at WritingFix's Community of Student Writers. This is a safe-to-use blog for students and teachers. No writing is posted until it is approved by the moderator. Contact us at publish@writingfix.com if you have questions about getting your students published.
Learn more about author/illustrator Mark Teague by clicking here.
