The Fine Art of Persuasion

or How to Convince People Without Breaking Arms!

Prepared by Mrs. Searle for 8th Grade Language Arts Students

at JBYoung Intermediate

1709 Harrison Street

Davenport, IA 52803-4811

searlek@davenportschools.org

Being able to convince a person or a group to agree with you is a valuable skill you'll need in life. To help you develop this skill, you will pretend you're an adult who's confused by the controversy surrounding certain sport team names like "Braves," "Indians," "Chiefs," "Redskins," "Blackhawks," and "Seminoles" and the mascots that represent these teams.

Your first step in becoming a master persuader is to get the facts. You need to find out who is upset and why. You need to discover the reasons some groups want the offensive team names changed and what role the mascots play in the controversy. Click on the underlined words and READ. Take notes; copy/print the important arguments so you are informed on the issues.

You agree with the groups who think the offensive Native American sport team names and mascots should be changed;

You think people are getting upset over nothing. The team names and the mascots should NOT be changed; or

You think the whole idea of political correctness has gotten out of hand. People need to get a grip.

Print the graphic organizer  at this link and start filling it out. Your graphic organizer will be handed in with the draft and the polished, word-processed letter.

You are going to write a persuasive letter to the editor of a newspaper concerning the controversy over certain Native American sport team names and mascots.

Your letter will need to have the following three parts:

INTRO: explain the problem.  Your intro must include a THESIS STATEMENT-- in this case, your  position with regard to the controversy.

BODY: present your arguments/reasons in topic sentences, and supply the supporting details using a paragraph for each argument.

CONC: summarize by restating your intro. Repeat your position one last time so the reader ends up thinking what you think.

What exactly is persuasive writing, and how do you persuade the reader? Click and read. Take notes! These persuasive tactics will help you in a variety of situations. You might even try to persuade your teacher to give you a better grade!

Your letter will be assessed according to the following criteria on the basis of "Needs," "Meets," or "Exceeds."

Content indicates your 

level of understanding of the issues;

Intro contains an explanation of the problem and states your position in a thesis statement;

Paragraphs include topic sentences that state each argument and supporting details that back up each argument;

Conclusion summarizes and restates your position persuasively;

Tone is appropriate to persuade; and

Mechanics (spelling, punctuation, and capitalization) do not detract from your ideas.

You will hand in a t-bar, your graphic organizer, a draft, and a typed, polished copy. You will take what you've learned about persuasive writing and apply it to other situations you encounter in life.

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