This Lesson's Title:

I Wanna [Something]...

writing a persuasive letter that will be responded to by a classmate

This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by Nevada teacher Summer Springer at an SBC-sponsored inservice class.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Check out I Wanna Iguana at Amazon.com.

Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

The writer will discuss the persuasive techniques used by Alex in the notes he sends his mother in I Wanna Iguana, as well as the persuasive responses his mother returns.  After playing the interactive button game below, writers will then compose persuasive notes to and from a pair of writers.  Students will then switch papers and respond accordingly to classmates. Teachers: Click here to see the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is voice; using effective persuasive skills is the main focus of this letter-writing exchange.  The support trait is word choice; carefully chosen words are the basis of several of the persuasive techniques highlighted in this lesson.

Recipient of the NNWP's
Excellent Writing Lesson Award:

Because of the quality of its resources and ideas, this WritingFix lesson was selected by the Northern Nevada Writing Project as August 2007's Writing Lesson of the Month. It was e-mailed to thousands of teachers who are members of the NNWP's Writing Lesson of the Month Teacher Network.

To find out how to become a member of this free network, click here to visit the NNWP's webpage. You can have a link to a high-quality writing lesson sent to you every month.