Curated OER
A Movie in Your Mind: Persuasive Text
Students listen to a broadcast of War of the Worlds and illustrate what they hear. In this persuasive text lesson students prepare for making a movie poster intended to persuade a director to make a film based on a short story.
Curated OER
Inventing and Presenting Unit 3: Persuasive Speaking and Invention Promotion
Middle schoolers write a proposal for a speech. Students prepare appropriate visuals for use in the proposed speech. Middle schoolers produce one or more graphs that summarize the results from the experimentation. Students deliver an...
Judicial Branch of California
A “Commemorative” Bill of Rights
It's 1943, and Jewish people in Denmark are in hiding from the Nazis. What protection can the United States offer them? By examining the Constitution, specifically the Bill of Rights, scholars consider the protections afforded to those...
Teach-nology
Author's Purpose
Challenge your class to find the three purposes for writing. After they read three short passages, kids note whether the author's purpose was to inform, persuade, or entertain.
Teach-nology
Author’s Purpose
What is the author's purpose in writing a joke book? What about a book about the digestive system? Explore author's purpose with a worksheet that challenges kids to identify whether ten books are meant to entertain, inform, or persuade.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 25
After analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence they have recorded on their argument outline tool, writers draft their essay's first body paragraphs, ensuring they have properly cited their source material.
Curated OER
Shakespeare: Henry V - Writing Task
Pairs of pupils choose a person who they consider to be a hero. They research that person, develop a speech, and deliver it to the class in hopes of persuading them that this person really is a hero. A vote is taken after the...
Curated OER
Advertising and Healthy Decisions
Students analyze alcohol and tobacco ads and create parodies of them. The eight lessons in this unit include discussions about why teens smoke or drink, the psychology behind the advertising, and writing persuasive letters to agencies,...
Curated OER
Creative Inventions
Ninth graders develop ideas for an invention and write a persuasive essay explaining why their invention is best. In this invention essay lesson, 9th graders review persuasive essay writing. Students create a graphic web for an original...
Curated OER
GMOs: Should We Grow Them?
Learners examine the ethics of biotechnology and genetically modifying various organisms. They complete various activities and labs on GMOs and then write a position paper regarding their individual opinions on the subject.
Curated OER
Writing a Political Leader
Students investigate politics by writing a formal letter. In this U.S. Government lesson, students discuss political issues they would like to address and research their topic using the Internet. Students locate an appropriate political...
Curated OER
Design a New Dollar Coin
Students create a design for a new coin after researching people who have impacted history. Students must write a persuasive essay about why this person should be memorialized on the dollar coin and present their person to the class.
Trinity University
Julius Caesar: The Power of Persuasion
"Friend, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears..." Those words begin one of the most persuasive speeches in literature. Explore the elements of persuasion in a series of lessons related to William Shakespeare's Julius...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Causes and Effects of Climate Change
It's time for your class to literally show what they know! Pupils illustrate what they learned about the causes and effects of climate change by filling out a graphic organizer to complete the 5-part series of lessons. They discuss them...
Curated OER
Teaching Debate to ESL Students
Language learners use the debate format to practice formulating, expressing, and defending their ideas. Working in teams, class members develop resolutions, use opinion indicators to express their opinions and reasons, and prepare...
Library of Congress
Thomas Jefferson's Library: Making the Case for a National Library
The United States Library of Congress, the largest library in the world. But such was not always the case. The library was destroyed during the War of 1812. In a persuasive letter to Samuel H. Smith, Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his...
Curated OER
The Federalist Debates: Balancing Power Between State and Federal Governments
Students examine the pros and cons of state sovereignty vs. federalism, as argued by the Founding Fathers. They identify the basic positions of each side, complete a worksheet, and write a persuasive essay arguing for Jefferson or Hamilton.
Santa Ana Unified School District
The Power of Point of View
Sometimes a whole story can change based on the perspective of the person telling it. Practice identifying and analyzing point of view in various reading passages and writing assignments with a language arts packet, complete with Common...
Judicial Branch of California
Articles of Confederation…Well, They Were Trying!
Different currencies, multiple armies, unreliable protection from thieves: class members experience these challenges playing a game that demonstrates life under the Articles of Confederation. After playing the game—which takes them on a...
University of Virginia
Uncle Tom's Cabin: Reading the Novel
Teach the importance of context and perspective with a unit focused on Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. The first lesson considers the role of female characters and readers, including the gender expectations of the time. The...
Curated OER
5th Grade Historical Fiction: Solder's Letter
A picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes a single word can go a long way as well. Practice making inferences about character traits with a letter written from the perspective of a soldier in the American Revolution.
Curated OER
A Day at the Beach: How to Keep Our Planet Clean
Students write a persuasive essay based on cleaning up the coast and other philanthropic values. In this writing instructional activity, students determine what is needed in order to keep the planet clean, and offer solutions to the...
Building Evidence-Based Arguments: Grade 9
High schoolers investigate the dilemma of a proportional response with a lesson about the history of terrorism and militant extremists in the United States. As they examine memos from the FBI and speeches from President Bush and Obama,...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Plyler v. Doe: Can States Deny Public Benefits to Illegal Immigrants?
Illegal immigration is an ever-changing source of consistent controversy. A reading passage about the rights of undocumented workers and illegal immigrants—and the lack thereof—guides high schoolers into a mock trial activity. Three...