Introduction to selected lessons in persuasion  (Page 5/6)

Considering language development in forming pairs or trios

Throughout the unit and in the first four online lessons, students are often asked to use the pedagogical routine, Share in Pairs or Trios. It is important to be intentional when placing students in pairs or trios so that novice English learners can work with more fluent English speakers. Partners and trios are then able to share their oral and written work at different levels of fluency and receive and provide feedback to a range of language learners. English learners and more fluent English speakers can benefit linguistically, academically, and socially from having linguistically-integrated learning experiences.

Oral language

Oral language is also supported by the three speeches students deliver in this unit. For their first speech, students interpret and deliver one of the speeches they read as part of the unit to a group of peers. The second speech is an extemporaneous speech students co-plan and deliver with a partner from a class-generated list of topics. The third speech is also extemporaneous, but in this case, students work individually to plan and then deliver their speeches to the whole class.

California english language arts standards addressed in unit

Teacher leaders from a California district designated the state standards as focus, access and support in order to plan focused instruction on selected standards throughout a school year and across grade levels. The designations also align with the California state assessments.

Focus standards

R 2.8 Evaluate the credibility of an author's argument or defense of a claim by critiquing the relationship between generalizations and evidence, and the way in which the author's intent affects the structure and tone of the text.

SA 2.5 Deliver persuasive arguments (including evaluation and analysis of problems and solutions and causes and effects):

• Structure ideas and arguments in a coherent, logical fashion.
• Use rhetorical devices to support assertions (e.g., by appeal to logic through reasoning; by appeal to emotion or ethical belief; by use of personal anecdote, case study, or analogy).
• Clarify and defend positions with precise and relevant evidence, including facts, expert opinions, quotations, expressions of commonly accepted beliefs, and logical reasoning.
• Anticipate and address the listener's concerns and counterarguments.

Access standards

R 1.2 Distinguish between the denotative and connotative meanings of words and interpret the connotative power of words.

R 2.3 Generate relevant questions about readings on issues that can be researched.

R 2.5 Extend ideas presented in primary or secondary sources through original analysis, evaluation, and elaboration.

W 1.4 Develop the main ideas within the body of the composition through supporting evidence (e.g., scenarios, commonly held beliefs, hypotheses, definitions).

LS 1.1 Formulate judgments about the ideas under discussion and support those judgments with convincing evidence.

LS 1.3 Choose logical patterns of organization (e.g., chronological, topical, cause and effect) to inform and to persuade, by soliciting agreement or action, or to unite audiences behind a common belief or cause.