Dear families--
Students have a hard time relating to anything that doesn’t apply to their lives. They interpret, analyze, and form opinions about their world from the moment they’re born.
As I review the Common Core standards, it occurs to me how integral persuasion is to everything—every problem, every undertaking, and every subject in school. Life is persuasive, and in order for our students to be effective communicators, which is at the heart of the Common Core, we must provide them with opportunities to practice expressing themselves through both their writing and their interactions with others.
It is our job, yours and mine, to equip our students with the skills and strategies necessary to maneuver their world successfully, for most certainly they’ll need to be able to discuss, convince, convey, cajole, pitch, sway, urge, compete, sell, recommend, reason, argue, debate, justify, influence, and state clearly and compellingly in their lifetimes.
Grade 5’s next focus will be on writing persuasively while grade 6 will ratchet it up a notch by writing an argumentative essay. The difference is subtle but significant –
- Persuasion is more emotive; its purpose is to get the reader to agree with the writer’s point of view.
- Argumentation is evidence-based and presents multiple perspectives, although one is clearly the focus. It offers the reader credible facts, relevant reasons, and sufficient evidence to demonstrate the validity of the writer’s perspective while acknowledging the counterclaims. CCSS highlights argumentation across the curriculum starting in grade 6.
NEED SOME HELP?
ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE WEEK OF
JANUARY 27-31
READING:
BOOK PROJECTS AND STORY MAP DUE ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 31ST--PROJECTS WILL BE PRESENTED IN CLASS
SPELLING/WORD STUDY, GRADE 5
Monday: Pages 87-88
Tuesday: Pages 89-90 (assessment)
Wednesday: Guidance
Thursday: Black History Month informational writing
Friday: Work time
LANGUAGE ARTS, GRADES 5 & 6
Monday: Complete Part 3 of "Show Don't Tell" -- poem
Tuesday: Introduction: what is persuasion? How does it differ from Argumentation? Brainstorm list of real-world topics for writing. (Briefly discuss Propaganda in Advertising.)
Wednesday: Complete planning worksheet/Persuasion Map
Thursday: Begin gathering evidence for persuasive/argumentative piece
Friday: View Civil Rights Movement presentation
SOCIAL STUDIES, GRADES 5 & 6
Monday, Grade 5 and Tuesday, Grade 6: Prince Henry the Navigator activity (Marco Polo activity is due--are you done?)
Wednesday, Grade 5 and Thursday, Grade 6: Columbus Discovers the New World activity.
Friday: Homeroom
Writer image: http://writepass.com/journal/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/persuasive-essay.jpg
Two writers image: http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/cms/lib07/UT01001306/Centricity/Domain/2893/Pictures/Clip%20Art/la_creativewriting.gif
