The debates are done, and I’d just like to congratulate my students on knocking it out of the park. They wrote their pieces; they stood up and argued; and they did it all with style and panache.
The thing I love most about the way I handle these debates is the fact that the students don’t get to choose their own teams — they draw what they draw and have to live with it. Therefore, there are kids who love rock music, but are required to pretend to hate it; the kids who hate rock music are required to profess their love — and each member is required to find some piece of information to back up the team’s position.
There’s a little research involved here, a little teamwork, a lot of persuasive writing, and then they all get to put on a play. Some kids even came out of their shells: in reciting some rap lyrics, one student had the opportunity to swear her head off while reading lyrics in reference to the fact that Rap Music is nothing but foul language. Another student (a lover of rap music) gave us an interesting fact: Some rap songs have no variety or ingenuity — all they offer is the repetition of one word or phrase. For example, did you know that “In the Club,” by Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz repeats (roughly) the same phrase “’bout to roll up in this club,” 28 times in 4 minutes?
Some kids who assumed (before they did any research) that country music talked about beer and violence found a number of song lyrics glorifying one or both of those activities.
Some kids who argued that rap and rock and country were today’s version of poetry found research articles written on that topic and provided information from those articles.
Some students created posters; some handed out flyers; and though I had to cut them off at some point, a number of students asked me if they could create PowerPoint slideshows, websites, or if they could bring in music to help sell their point.
it was fantastic. But I’ve gotta say this: one of the most powerful arguments came from a team who professed to love rap music. The team was comprised of people from both sides of the field — some love it and some hate it (and when the other team was up front complaining about specific songs, this team was rapping along with the lyrics read before the class; in a way, they worked to help out the other side, but their enthusiasm helped sell their own point) — but the closing argument came from the quietest guy in class. he never says a word during class, never chats with anybody. Always does his work and pays no mind to anyone else, but when he came up to seal the deal on his team’s argument, he did it through rap. he rapped his closing speech, complete in a syncopated rhythm and with rhyme; he did it while reminding the audience about the topics the team covered; and he did it while making a call to action: he told the audience not to listen to the other team, but to listen to his poetry. (In other words, he used the other team’s argument (that rap is pretend poetry) against them.)
They all (except one kid — literally one kid, who refused to take part) blew it out of the park. Which is why I know that they blow the next assignment — Persuasive Writing — out of the park: they’ve got it down pat.
Today I used the McDougal Littell Anthology to teach Persuasive writing, and I only did so because I think their definition of persuasive writing is spot-on with my own definition. Here’s (roughly) their definition:
Persuasive Writing:
Persuasive writing uses the power of language to inform and influence others.
Isn’t that just perfect? Doesn’t that definition just make you want to cry out those words: INFORM and INFLUENCE? Isn’t that what we all want to do at times? Don’t we all want to give people our opinions and have them swayed by the words we choose and the facts we present to them? Don’t we all want to be heard?
Ssing McDougal Littell’s rubric for persuasive writing, I gave them the following requirements for their essays: (anything in italics is my notes for the session)
INTRODUCTION
- Have a strong introduction.
- Clearly state the issue and the writer’s position.
Introduce the topic; describe the topic; tell me your position (pro or con). If you just come out and say “I hate that movie ’cause it sucks!” doesn’t tell me about the topic, the name of the movie, or what the movie’s about. It just tells me it sucks. How much it sucks should come in the THESIS STATEMENT, where you’ll give me three reasons for why it sucks.
Therefore, your introduction should look something like this:
[INTRODUCTION]“Pirates of the Carribean part 15: Johnny Depp’s Underwear,” is a movie about pirates, heroes, and the ladies they love. It’s also about underwear. I expected the movie to be a fantastic sequel to the fourteenth part, but this installment just didn’t satisfy me. [THESIS STATEMENT] I found the acting bad, the special effects too important, and the story itself childish.
BODY
- Present ideas logically.
- Answer opposing viewpoints.
In the body, you do what the person in your persuasive essay did: that persion laid out all the FACTS. If you can’t back up your opinions with facts, you’re screwed.
The THESIS STATEMENT laid out the next three paragraphs for you…all you have to do is provide information for each of your opinions.
BODY PARAGRAPH 1: Here, you’d better talk about bad acting. Give examples from the movie.
BODY PARAGRAPH 2: Here, you’d best provide me with at least 3-to-5 sentences explaining how the special effects ruined the movie.
BODY PARAGRAPH 3: Finally, you’d best start talking about how stupid the story was. Tell me that it didn’t take any thinking to understand it. Tell me that your baby sister found it remarkably incompetent.
CONCLUSION
- End with a strong argument or summary or call to action.
Do one of three things here:
- A strong argument tells me what to believe. (“How can you not believe what I believe after reading this?”)
- A summary asks me to reconsider what I just heard. (“If you consider that this movie has bad acting, awful special effects, and a simple storyline, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.”)
- A call to action is exactly the thing coaches (for any sport) do right before a game — they get everone riled up. (“Now what are you going to do about it?!? Start telling other people how ridiculous this movie is! Start telling your congressperson to instate ‘good movie’ laws! Get other people on your side! Demand your money back for such an awful movie!)
And that’s about it. Today, after telling the students how proud I am of their debates, I gave them two assignments:
The second essay due in these next two weeks is this “review” essay, for which they’re required to write a review of a movie, cd, video game, etc. I gave them the above example to help them out. But I also had the students brainstorm about the number of topics that could be covered in a normal persuasive essay, say on abortion, gay marriages, war, impeaching the president, or immigration laws. I’m going to give them the more difficult essay first, and see how they fare.
Keep an eye out in the next week for the students’ progress in writing theses, constructing arguments, and finding information to back up opinion.
Should be fun.
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If you think I’m giving Mcdougal Littell too much praise in this post, please check out my prior post on their anthology.
Filed under: Lesson Plans, Reflection, Teaching, Writing, praise, students
Sounds like great fun! I love the idea of opening your unit on persuasive writing with a fun debate that all the kids(except one, dang it!) can get into!
I can’t believe you’re only a second-year teacher. The things you come up with are amazing!
Mrs. Which: I’ve gotta say, the debate has been VERY beneficial to talking about persuasive writing. I don’t even ahve to do much teaching — I just ask, “Who here was the thesis statement for their group?” and when the kids raise their hands, I ask: “What did you say during the debate?” and the kids usually give me something like: ‘I told the class about the three reasons we love rap music.’
It worked just right.
Profesoradeespanol: Gracias, maestro!