Persuasive Writing: Creating Book Reviews
By reading and analyzing examples of persuasive text, students can get a better idea of how to form their own essays.
By Tracey Rouse
During our language arts unit this month, we focused on persuasive writing. Students practiced higher-order thinking skills, and learned to develop the reasoning to defend their convictions.
To introduce this concept, I started with a mini-lesson to help students develop a definition of persuasive writing. I had students read and discuss book and movie reviews. Using these reviews, students identified the characteristics of a persuasive writing piece. It is important to help students understand that this writing genre isn’t about “begging” someone to do something, it’s about convincing them to agree with your reasoning.
The next mini-lesson focused on helping students develop reasoning skills. One way I accomplished this was to have students engage in an exercise in which they had to choose between two things and defend their choices. For example, I put "Country Music vs. Rap Music" on the overhead. Students had to pick one and come up with three reasons why they chose that particular musical genre. I also discussed the difference between fact and opinion during this mini-lesson.
The next mini-lesson involved a “think aloud” session. I started the mini-lesson off by showing students a candy bar, trying it, and describing how delicious it was. I gave students a list of reasons why they should try it. I then asked them to raise their hands if I had successfully persuaded them. Then, I gave each student a piece of candy and they had to persuade their partner to try it. This was a motivating lesson and it really gave students a good idea of what persuading someone means.
After a few of these lessons, I felt that students were ready to dive into the main focus of our writing unit, which was to create book reviews using persuasive language. As teachers, I realize that a lot of times we expect students to know how to write in particular genres without giving them the tools to do it. I wanted to make sure that my students understood exactly what was expected of them, so I completed a book review with them.
I created an outline on the overhead, and helped students fill it in. The outline required students to come up with an introductory statement, and list reasons for their opinion. I chose a book for the review from our current author study. This worked well since students were familiar with the book since we had read it as a class. While developing my book review outline on the overhead, students participated constantly, giving reasons why others should read this book and evidence to support those claims from the book. This was a fantastic mini-lesson because it helped students develop better reasoning skills. Instead of saying “This book was so funny!” they would say “This book was hilarious because of the language the characters used. For example . . .”
Once we completed the outline, students created their own outlines for their book reviews. Students filled out their individual outlines while I conferenced with them. I found that the more that I conferenced with them, the easier it was to assign students “writing buddies” based upon their ability level. The stronger students were paired up with students who were having difficulties. This helped cut down on the amount of time I had to conference with each student.
Once their book review outline was completed, it was easy for students to use it to complete their persuasive book review. I modeled how to use an outline as a tool for their writing. The end result? The book reports were rich with details, with plenty of language to grab a reader’s attention. What follows are more persuasive writing ideas.
Persuasive Writing Lesson Ideas:
This lesson focuses on helping students choose a position on a specific issue and develop reasons behind their convictions.
In this lesson, students develop persuasive essays that focus on getting a pet of their choice.
This lesson has students write persuasive letters to the President.