Teaching Writing: Children II

Lesson 2: Teaching Persuasive Writing

Practice

Fact and Opinion

One of the things students need to be able to do in order to write good persuasive essays is to be able to distinguish between fact and opinion. In a good persuasive essay, students express opinions and support them logically. Students need to learn that a fact is just that - something that is factual and can be verified. "There are 250 students in our school" is a fact because the numbers can be checked and verified. Statements found in textbooks, encyclopedias and newspapers can be facts.

On the other hand, opinions are statements of how someone feels about a given topic. "The hamburgers in the cafeteria are delicious" is an opinion. It tells how one person feels about the hamburgers, but it is not a fact. I might think the hamburgers are not at all delicious - also my opinion. In all newspapers, there are also articles that are reflections of an opinion - editorials, letters to the editor and often some news stories.

Some things to keep in mind when choosing a topic for a persuasive essay are that the opinion should reflect more than just a personal choice (I think blue is the best color.), it shouldn't be based just on a feeling (Our class is the best in the school.), and it should be clearly stated (Exercising for good health should be done from an early age. not Exercise is fun.)

When students first attempt persuasive writing, they often use their opinions alone to support their arguments. While this can be done, I've found that the best persuasive writing uses some facts along with logical statements of opinion to support the argument.

Giving students practice in distinguishing between fact and opinion is easy. Check in your language arts textbook for examples, or see these sites:

Fact or Opinion?: http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/eleme...

The 'fact/opinion' page: http://www.efl.arts.gla.ac.uk/CampusOnly...

Fact or Opinion: http://www.sc2000.net/~czaremba/labs/fac...

Here are just a few to try:

1. Mount Everest is 29,028 feet tall. (fact)
2. There were more snowstorms this year than last year. (fact)
3. Skiing is exhilarating. (opinion)
4. His hair is red. (fact)
5. The restaurant was very costly. (This one is tricky since the prices can be verified - but someone's opinion of what is costly can vary!)

Point of View

Another idea to consider is the audience students are writing for. This is where the idea of point of view comes into play. In order to make an effective argument, the writer must consider not only his own opinions, but also those of the intended audience to most effectively state his case. As an example, my students wrote persuasive letters to me stating their cases for reducing the amount of homework. One of the things I encouraged them to do was to see the problem from my point of view, and to choose arguments that would appeal to my position. (I'll tell more about those letters later - very interesting!)

A good way to practice this is to have students tell familiar stories from several characters' points of view. For example, the story of the Tortoise and the Hare would be quite different when told from each character's perspective. Seeing both sides of an argument will make for more convincing persuasive essays.

Steck-Vaughn Publishing Company has a wonderful set of point of view stories: http://www.steck-vaughn.com/c/@3JdnH_aLy... that you might want to use with your class. Cinderella/That Awful Cinderella can be found here: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksea... with links to the others in that series. Students will really get the idea of different points of view after reading a few of these great little books.

Editorials

For this activity, collect several editorials from your local newspaper. Choose those that present an idea your students will understand, and are not too long or complicated. Duplicate copies and have students read them and make note of the statement of opinion and the ways the writer supports that statement. You might wish to brainstorm those ideas on your class chart, and then discuss why certain statements were more effective than others were.

Commercials

Commercials and advertisements are also great examples of persuasion. The point of any commercial is to convince the buyer that the advertised product or service is the best and should be purchased. Give your students this assignment: have them watch TV and focus on the commercials. Tell them to make note of the kinds of statements that are used, and which commercials they feel are the most effective and why. What kinds of statements "sell?" This can also be done in class with newspaper or magazine advertisements.

Those facts again!

The amount that the audience knows about the subject should also be considered, as it is difficult to present an argument to someone who has little knowledge of the subject. If the audience needs to be "educated" about the subject, that is where some facts can be used.

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