This Lesson's Mentor Text: My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza
In the picture book, My Lucky Day, a hungry and naïve fox is surprised to find his dinner knocking at his door. Could this be his lucky day? Unfortunately, an intelligent and somewhat sly pig has other ideas. Using the power of persuasion, and a keenness for trickery, the pig outwits the fox and ultimately ends up clean, fat and happy. The fox, exhausted by the persuasive suggestions of the pig, collapses and is unable to “roast” his guest. A formidable opponent, intelligence clearly wins over stupidity, or an empty stomach in this case.
This Activity's Title:
Thanksgiving
Turkey Protests
writing a story where a turkey convinces a human not to want to eat him on Thanksgiving
This writing lesson was created by NNWP Consultant Barbara Surritte-Barker during the NNWP's Persuasive Writing Inservice Class for Teachers. Barbara is an amazing middle school teacher in Sparks, Nevada.
Author and friend of WritingFix, Barry Lane, wrote the book that inspired this on-line lesson: Why We Must Run With Scissors: Voice Lesson in Persuasive Writing. In this book, Barry and his co-author, Gretchen Bernabei, share dozens of lesson ideas that are so fun, your students might not even realize that they were learning valuable lessons about persuasive writing and voice as they create drafts for you. In the spirit of one of Barry's favorite quotes--"There's not enough FUN in education"-- we challenge teachers to find new, enjoyable ways to teach persuasive writing skills to their students.
A note from Barbara, this lesson's creator: "In my classroom, I have found that the power of persuasion is a life skill. Children use it all the time to outwit their parents, teachers or any other adult essentially obstructing their goal or reward. I was reminded of this recently when talking to a parent about their child and his behavior in my class. Failing Language Arts, this child was looking at spending his summer in summer school. When inquiring as to why he didn’t attend summer school the previous summer, he replied, ' I weaseled my way out of it.' Hmmm… I got to thinking, what a great classroom activity. A writing prompt that captured (at least attempted to capture) the many conniving, sneaky, and clever ways children weasel their way out of things. The mentor text, My Lucky Day, is an example of how the tools of a persuasive argument can be sneaky, sly, or as my students would say, a little sketchy.
Getting Students to Think about Persuasion:
Give students two copies of this vocabulary graphic organizer and complete one on each of the following words: persuade and sly. This is a graphic organizer that uses as the core, the Frayer Model with a few additions that I have found, helps students to better “own” the word. Some of the not so obvious boxes to be filled out:
Box 1: teacher-provided definition:
persuade (verb) To succeed in making someone do or believe something by giving the person good reasons.
sly (adjective) Crafty, cunning, and secretive.
Box 2: Example – Use the word in a child friendly sentence. Manny tried to persuade his mother to buy him the puppy.
Box 3: Synonyms – List at least five examples
Box 4: Explanation-In your own words, write an explanation of the word using only synonyms. Or, how would you explain this word to an elementary student? Manny tried to convince his mother that he needed the new puppy.
Box 5: Non-examples – What is persuasion not? It is not obstinate, willful, or headstrong.
Box 6: Antonyms: List at least five examples.
Box 7: Mentor Text: List the title and author that goes with the lesson you're teaching,
Box 8: Mentor Text Word Bank – List other words from the story students might be interested in either using in their own story or looking up at a later time. Since this activity will be completed prior to the whole group read, be sure to reference back to this section once the story has been completed.
Box 9: Non-linguistic Representation...no words...symbols are okay.
Box 10: Question and Answer – Create a question with the vocabulary word as the answer. For example, “When taking a family vacation, how do you convince your parents that you should sit in the front sit?”
Box 11: Associations-Discuss personal examples of a time that your students persuaded someone or were persuaded.
Trait/Skill Focus:
In the very best writing lessons, the teacher has pre-determined a trait-based skill that the students all need to show growth with as part of the lesson's objective. For students who can handle more than one trait at a time, the teacher has pre-determined additional skills to focus those students on while they go through the writing process. Here are this lesson's trait skills:
Voice - all students will write a story about a turkey convincing people not to eat him on Thanksgiving, thinking carefully about perspective and vocabulary that is convincing as they write.
Idea Development - all students will select and develop good arguments that will be used by their stories' characters. Stronger writers will be expected to craft even stronger, well-developed arguments.
Using the Mentor Text Skillfully:
A note from Barbara, this lesson's creator: : Whenever I read a mentor text to the class, especially a picture book, I always like to type it up and Xerox it for my students. I just feel like the students can really manipulate the story when they’re holding it in their hands. With their copy in hand, I provide students with several options to enjoy this whole group read. Students can follow along whole group, looking at the pictures as I wander around the room, or students can follow along with their own personal copy."
Paying close attention to the details of the illustrations only supports and enhances this mentor text. The fox’s facial expressions, with each request of the pig, clearly identify his range of emotions. From sheer delight, to the final picture on the back cover, the fox is obviously reckoning with his gullibility.
After reading the piece whole group, have students complete this compare and contrast graphic organizer. Guide your students to focus on the motivation of each of the characters and pay close attention to the voice of each character. For the pig, it’s obvious through his written tone, for the fox, the illustrations guide the audience. Record details from your conversation.
Next outline the book, My Lucky Day, to identify the strategy of the pig. Exactly what tactics did the pig use to manipulate the fox? This should lead to the conversation starter: "So it's Thanksgiving...What sly tactics do you think a turkey would use to avoid becoming Thanksgiving dinner?"
Student and/or Teacher Models of the Writing:
From Barbara: "I’ve also included a copy of a newspaper article that highlights an actual fifth grade classroom from Lodi, California, that protested eating turkey on Thanksgiving Day." This article might inspire your students with energy as they prepare to write their own original stories.
Energy might also be gained from reading/discussing student samples from this lesson. When students read and discuss these stories, be sure they focus on the models' voice and idea development.
Student Samples from Barbara's Classroom
Samples coming soon!
Use this lesson? If you use this lesson with students in grades not represented here, be sure to contact us if you have an excellent and inspirational sample from your classroom. If we end up publishing your students' work at WritingFix, we will send you a complimentary copy of one of the NNWP Publications for your classroom. Samples can be sent to publish@writingfix.com.
Helping Students Choose Topics Well:
Students will be writing an original story inspired by My Lucky Day. In students' stories, they will be having a turkey (instead of the pig) convince a human (instead of a fox) not to eat him this year at Thanksgiving.
Brainstorm arguments a turkey might make to convince a human being not to eat him at Thanksgiving this year. Here are some ideas that get Barabara's students started with their own original ideas to choose from for their stories.
Some turkeys are too good looking to eat, and others are too skinny
Some turkeys might be missed too much by their families
The swine flu scare
Alternative foods taste better – pig, chicken, or vegan - and turkey might be unhealthy to humas
Turkey meat is too dry
You might not have a big enough pan to cook a turkey
Once you’ve created a class brainstorm of reasons and arguments, hand out the graphic organizer below.
Using the Graphic Organizer:
Use this piece as a whole group read to support the brainstorming process. Once you’ve completed the brainstorm, use this graphic organizer to outline your ideas.
Carefully consider who the antagonist might be in this story.
Do you understand the perspective of the turkey? Of your second character?
Why is it so important that he/she not be eaten on Thanksgiving Day?
What persuasive words or phrases might the turkey use?
Have students discuss character roles, point of view (will students write from the perspective of the turkey or the other character?).
How will students develop their story?
Click here to open/print this one-page graphic organizer.
Student Talk Throughout the Writing Process:
It is critical for students to talk to each other throughout the writing process. When students hear how other students are thinking about a writing assignment, all students benefit.
In this writing lesson, purposeful conversations should happen:
as they discuss the mentor text;
as they look for the focus trait/skills in the student models;
as they make choices for their characters' arguments;
as they fill in their graphic organizers. As they finish each row, have them share their ideas with a different partner.
In addition, students can use this list of interesting persuasive phrases to talk about dialogue they might insert into their rough drafts and revised second drafts.
Revision Suggestions:
Revision is a very important step during a skill-based writing lesson. When students revisit and think deeply about the lesson's focus trait/skill after a rough draft has been completed, they are more likely to remember strategies for using that skill the next time they are asked to write. We often gloss over the step of revision when writing lessons go longer than they were supposed to; make certain to find time to include real revision with this lesson.
Attach the following revision post-its to your students' drafts to help them determine skill-based goals for their stories' revision:
Print on yellow paper or yellow Post-it notes.
Print on green paper or blue Post-it notes.
Have students work cooperatively peer editing and revising their work. We use highlighters in our classroom to identify suggested corrections, misspellings or convention errors. Discussing the traits of idea development and voice, have students rank each others papers according to the trait-specific Post-Its.
Publishing Suggestions:
Posting stories on bulletin boards, have selected “sparkler” stories shared during morning announcements or providing an opportunity during class for students to share are just some of the ways you can publish their work. Our school is close enough to an elementary school, where I’ve invited them to come over and hear our stories during their lunch time. The kids are looking forward to the visit and the elementary students are excited to come to the “big school”. Gobble! Gobble!
