Cooperative Persuasive Lesson

Greta Niethammer
April 4th, 2019

I. Framing the Lesson

A. Lesson Rationale.​ The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to common
persuasive techniques used in writing or advertising. This will be the beginning of
their persuasive writing unit, and hopefully the content of this lesson will get them
excited about the upcoming unit.
B. Conceptual skill/big idea/central focus.​ There are two big ideas for this lesson: 1)
teach students about persuasive techniques, and 2) have students work together to
apply those persuasive techniques in a short persuasive advertisement. This lesson
requires students to comprehend the material and then apply their knowledge in
their writing.
C. Lesson Objectives.
1. Students will…
a) Recall the different persuasive techniques and their definitions.
b) Apply persuasive techniques in their writing.
c) Collaborate with their peers to produce one piece of writing.
D. Michigan Standards.
1. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.1​ Write arguments to support claims with clear
reasons and relevant evidence. (Somewhat)
2. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.1​ Engage effectively in a range of collaborative
discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners
on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing
their own clearly.
3. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.6.3​ Use knowledge of language and its conventions
when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
E. Lesson Materials.
1. Guided notes sheet, writing instruments, projector, Google slides, post-it
notes, lined paper

II. Engage
A. To begin this lesson, I will give students the following prompt: "Raise your hand if
you usually win an argument, any argument — with your siblings, parents, friends,
and so on." I will then ask those who raised their hands: "Why do you think you
win? What do you do or what techniques do you use to win your arguments?"
Hopefully that will generate a brief discussion. I may choose to write their
persuasive techniques on the board as they say them, especially if they are relevant
to the techniques we talk about during the lecture portion.
III. Explore/Enable/Explain
A. At this point, we will transition to a short lecture about persuasive techniques.
Students will have a guided notes sheet to fill out as we move through the slides
presentation. I will show students examples of these techniques used in
advertisements.
1. We will discuss the following persuasive techniques: Emotional Appeal
(Pathos), Expert Opinion (Ethos), Testimonial, Product Comparison,
Bandwagon, Security, Rewards, Humor, Repetition. We may need to move
through these a little quickly to save time for the activity.
a) I would love to show examples of these used in video ads like
commercials, but I want students to have as much time as possible to
work on their own advertisements.
B. After the notes, I will explain the activity for the day. Students will work in small
groups to create an advertisement for an object. The objects will be: bacon flavored
chewing gum, clothes that change color depending on your mood, keypad locker
combination, socks that have built in air freshener, a pencil that does your
homework for you, voice activated journal. The groups will receive images to use
for reference while writing their advertisement. Each student will have a role to
fulfill in their groups. The roles will be as follows:
1. Writer​. This student will record the ideas their group comes up with. It is
their job to write down the advertisement so the presenter can read from it
when we have group-share.
2. Editor​. This student will read over what the writer creates to ensure there
are no spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes. They will be looking to
make sure sentences flow well.
3. Illustrator​. This student’s job is to create an illustration of their group’s
product. They want to make it look as attractive as possible in order
convince people to buy it.
4. Presenter​. This student will present the advertisement their group comes
up with to the class.
5. Wildcard​. This student’s job will be to fill in as necessary. They could be a
questioner, they could help the editor, or they could help write some of the
advertisement. It’s up to them to decide where their services are needed.
C. Students will have one minute to alter their roles as they prefer. After that, they
will have roughly 20 minutes (or until the end of class, depends on their progress)
to create their persuasive advertisements. They must use at least 4 persuasive
techniques in their advertisement, and they should flow naturally. I don’t want
them to just write 4 sentences with 4 techniques and be done with it. I will
probably show them an example before we jump into the activity so they fully
know the expectations.
IV. Enact/Evaluate
A. If there is time, each group can share their persuasive advertisement and students
from the audience can identify the persuasive techniques they noticed. They can
also share compliments if they have them. Once the audience members have a
chance to share compliments and persuasive techniques they noticed, the group
that presented will share the exact persuasive techniques they used in their ad.
They will be graded on whether or not they successfully use 4 persuasive
techniques in their ad.

V. Extend
A. I will extend the lesson by challenging them to look at advertisements (whether on
the computer/social media, television, newspapers, magazines, etc.) and identify
persuasive techniques the companies use to try and convince you to buy their
product.

VI. Differentiation
A. In order to differentiate instruction in this lesson, students will be assigned roles.
The roles vary in difficulty. Roles will initially be assigned, but students will have a
chance to trade roles with others if there’s a role they feel better suits their needs.
Students will be provided with a guided notes sheet they can refer back to during
the activity. I will also give students images during the activity to use as a
reference. The activity appeals to multiple intelligences, such as visual and
interpersonal.