Plan A Persuasive Message

Overview

Lesson 8 of 14 in Persuade Through Time. Students investigate how people can use ideas about the past to persuade an authentic audience, then plan a persuasive letter or speech for the school community.

Learning intentions

• WALT organise ideas for a persuasive letter or speech.
• Students will choose an audience and clearly state a viewpoint.
• Students will develop reasons supported by evidence from the past.
• Students will select persuasive words and plan a strong conclusion.

Success criteria

• I can name my audience and state my position clearly.
• I can give at least two reasons for my position.
• I can match each reason with evidence about the past.
• I can plan an opening, persuasive language and conclusion.

Curriculum links

• Creating and organising ideas for spoken and written texts for familiar audiences.
• Creating persuasive texts with a clear purpose, viewpoint and supporting reasons.
• Using vocabulary, sentence structure and language features to influence an audience.
• Listening, discussing, asking questions and building on others’ ideas.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 minutes – Hook and inquiry question Open with the hook and inquiry question. Show a striking before-and-after image of a school or community place, such as an old playground and a current playground. Ask: “If you could change something in our school, who could you persuade, and what would you say?” Students briefly turn and talk, then share ideas. Record possible audiences such as the principal, school council, families or students.

2. 5–12 minutes – Revisit persuasive text structure Use the persuasive structure slides to revisit the parts of a persuasive letter or speech: greeting or attention-grabbing opening, clear viewpoint, reasons, evidence, persuasive words and conclusion. Model a simple example: “Our school should plant a vegetable garden because it would help us learn about food. Long ago, people often grew food close to their homes.” Explain that historical evidence is information about something that happened or existed in the past. Invite students to identify the viewpoint, reason and evidence.

3. 12–18 minutes – Explore possible topics and evidence Display the topic and evidence prompts. In pairs, students choose a school or community topic, such as keeping an old school tradition, creating a history display, improving the playground, planting a garden or caring for a local place. Ask: “What do we know about this from the past?” “What could we find out?” “How might this help persuade someone today?” Students may use known class learning, photographs, stories, objects or teacher-provided facts as evidence. Emphasise that evidence must match the reason.

4. 18–32 minutes – Individual planning Distribute the persuasive letter or speech planning sheet. Students choose either a letter or speech and complete the plan: audience, opening viewpoint, reason one and matching historical evidence, reason two and matching historical evidence, persuasive words, and conclusion. Students may draw first, use sentence starters or dictate ideas to an adult. Confer with students, asking: “Who are you speaking to?” “What do you want them to think or do?” and “How does your evidence support your reason?”

5. 32–39 minutes – Partner inquiry and feedback Students explain their plan to a partner as if presenting to their chosen audience. Partners use the partner feedback prompts to respond: “I heard your position,” “Your strongest reason is…” and “Your evidence matches because…” Partners suggest one improvement, such as adding a specific fact, a stronger persuasive word or a clearer conclusion. Students revise their plans.

6. 39–45 minutes – Share and reflect Invite several students to share their opening viewpoint and one reason. Return to the success criteria and reflection slide. Students show a thumb signal for each criterion or circle “ready” or “still working” on their worksheet. Ask: “Which audience would be most likely to listen to your idea? Why?” Collect plans to guide the next lesson, where students will draft their letter or speech.

Resources

• the complete lesson slide deck
• the persuasive letter or speech planning sheet
• Whiteboard and markers
• Pencils, crayons and erasers
• Teacher-selected photographs, objects or simple facts about the school or local community’s past
• Student writing folders
• Optional adult scribe or speech-to-text support

Assessment

• Observe pair discussions and questioning to assess students’ understanding of audience, purpose, viewpoint, reasons and evidence.
• Check planning sheets for a clear position, at least two reasons and matching historical evidence.
• Use student sharing and reflection to identify who is ready to draft and who needs further modelling or guided support.

Differentiation

• Provide separate letter and speech templates, sentence starters such as “I believe…” and “In the past…”, and visual sequencing cards showing opening, reasons, evidence and conclusion.
• Allow students to draw, rehearse orally, dictate ideas to an adult or use speech-to-text. Pair students strategically and provide a teacher-led planning group.
• For EAL learners, pre-teach audience, persuade, reason, evidence and conclusion with pictures and gestures; provide word banks and oral rehearsal before writing.
• Extension students add a counterargument, such as “Some people might think…”, and a response explaining why their position is still the best choice.