9th - 12th Writing, November 7

Lesson:
In this lesson, I taught the basic principles of persuasive writing.
Persuasion is the art of guiding and influencing others to think, feel, and behave in a desired manner. Persuasion involves establishing a need or problem, proposing a solution, supporting that solution with sound evidence and argumentation that will appeal to the audience, foreseeing and countering any resistance or opposition to the proposed solution, and issuing a clear call to action.

Persuasion involves:
ethos - an appeal from the authority and integrity of the writer (or speaker)
pathos - an appeal to the emotions of the audience
logos - am appeal to fact and logic

Logic without emotion may be dry or merciless, and may fail to stir many people to act or change.
Emotion without logic may be shallow at best, and may fail to produce lasting change.
Persuasion without ethos becomes propaganda, manipulation, or brainwashing.

We discussed how to structure and support an argument, how to choose the best terms to define one's arguments, how to understand and counter opposing viewpoints, how to gain the trust of the reader (in part by not alienating the reader with overblown claims, unsupported absolutes, or inflammatory language), and how to move the reader along to the desired conclusion.

I distributed a list of some common logical fallacies, such as ad hominem attacks, straw man arguments, etc.
We discussed some of these, and will spend more time next lesson discussing logical fallacies and identifying them in common usage.

Assignment:
Students are to write a five-paragraph persuasive essay on a topic of their choosing, whether a political, moral, or practical policy issue. This must be a topic about which decent, honest people may disagree, and which calls for and allows for a change of mind or behavior.