Argumentative Essay
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Students are writing a persuasive essay. These assignments introduce students to what a persuasive essay looks like, analyzing persuasive essays, understanding arguments and reasoning. Students will also learn how to write their own persuasive essays using these skills. Please do NOT go past the steps Mr. Carles presents in class: we will learn each step in the writing process and then complete it when Mr. Carles says to.
A persuasive essay tries to convince the reader to believe a certain way or do a certain thing. Students will have several choices as to what their essay will focus on (that comes later).
The files at the bottom of the page help the students learn about persuasive essays.
The "Banning Guns" files look at the controversial topic of gun control to learn about essays (the issue for our class is analyzing the essays, not spending time trying to convince each other that guns should/shouldn't be banned). We use the "3 Parts..." worksheet above to go through both essays and then have a discussion afterward.
Bicycle Helmet Safety - we look at the issue of wearing bicycle helmets and complete the "3 Parts..." worksheet above to analyze the essays.
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Bike Helmets - Pro - we will take each step of the essay writing process and write an essay persuading people to wear bike helmets. (mostly written together as a class)
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Bike Helmets - Con writing assignment - try to convince someone that wearing bike helmets is not a good idea (good luck). (mostly written individually)
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Related Files
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Persuasive - Introductory Questions
questions to help students start thinking about what persuasion is and how it is done -
3 Parts of a Formal Persuasive Essay
worksheet to identify the parts of persuasive essays - used to learn about already written essays -
After Reading Analysis
after reading a persuasive piece, use this sheet to work through how well the author did in writing the piece -
Gun Banning Discussion
discuss the quality of the arguments for (pro) and against (con) banning guns -
Costs & Benefits Chart
a chart used to explore what the costs and benefits for a certain topic might be -
Argumentative Writing Introduction - flash format
information to introduce ideas about argumentative writing