Teacher Resources Title: Preparing an Effective Outline for a Persuasive Paper. Goals/Objectives/Standards 1.

Student will be able to identify reliable sources of information for the persuasive paper topic of their choice 2. Student will be able to write an effective thesis statement for their persuasive paper. 3. Student will be able to create an accurate paper outline to match their thesis statement. Learner Description: The learners are seventh through tenth grade homeschooled students of mixed ability, who have contracted independently with the author for individualized online tutoring in composition. Their parents are highly involved but unskilled in both composition and technology. Learner Needs: Students have inconsistent access to the internet, so the lesson must accommodate a variety of timelines. Students require access to the internet periodically, email and research materials on their topic of interest, preferably but not necessarily, online. All seventh and tenth graders are required to learn to write a persuasive essay for state proficiency exams. Washington State EALRS 1.1.1 Student analyzes and selects effective strategies for generating and planning writing 2.3.1 Student writes in a variety of forms/genres 3.1.1 Student develops ideas and organizes writing Teacher/Staff Information: Ginny Cronin, Instructor/Consultant, Learning and Behavior Solutions, Washington. Introductory/Welcome Announcement: Very often in life writing is used to persuade another person of our position on a given topic. We might be convincing parents to allow us a new privilege, persuading a business owner to reconsider an unfair decision or explaining and defending our political or religious beliefs. The process we use is persuasion, and we often persuade in writing. In this unit we will be learning to compose an effective argument in writing through the persuasive essay. This unit will require research, organization and effective writing to create a six paragraph essay with footnotes and a bibliography. Lesson Overview Using online instructional materials and interactive tools, learners will choose a topic, conduct research, organize sources and create an outline for a persuasive paper. In further lessons learners will complete an essay and participate in peer editing, revision and selfevaluation.

Assessment/Expectations Formative assessment will consist of peer-editing and teacher evaluation of individual components submitted at intervals throughout the lesson. Summative assessment will take place during a pre and post self-evaluation and teacher evaluation of the finished product based on an (optional) attached rubric. Assigned reading/additional resources and URLs include: Introduction to the persuasive essay http://www2.waterforduhs.k12.wi.us/staffweb/Sereno/mainpages/InfoLit/Microsoft%20 Word%20-%20Writing%20the%20Persuasive%20Essay.pdf or http://tiny.cc/s50kh Introduction to choosing a topic, research and organizing a paper http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/writing/prewrite.asp?topic=Persuasive Rules for using quotation marks http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/writing/worksheet_9.asp Quotation mark mini-lesson http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/writing/writework/reader.htm
Rubric for persuasive paper http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/persuasive_writing.htm Nice explanations /intro to persuasive writing components http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/persuasive_writing.htm Sentence variety explanation http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/573/01/ Introduction to persuasive writing http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/696/1/ (PowerPoint) Sentence clarity powerpoint http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/711/1 Build a thesis statement and a guiding outline for a persuasive essay http://www.tommarch.com/electraguide/thesis.php Mini lesson on using transitional words http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/writing/persuasiveflash/transitionalwords.htm Mini lesson on supporting details http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/writing/persuasiveflash/supporting.htm

Scroll down to the middle of the page for a slide show on peer editing http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/peer-edit-with-perfection786.html

Multimedia: This project was created in PowerPoint, and converted to video format through Jing. The videos are stored at www.screencast.com, then embedded and linked to the website created in Dreamweaver. Buttons and banners were created in Fireworks and audio components were recorded in Audacity and exported as Mp3.