Persuasive Writing Techniques

Lesson Details

Unit: Persuasive Power Play
Lesson: 3 of 4
Subject: Languages – English
Curriculum Area: National Curriculum for England – Year 3
Focus: Sentence Structure and Grammar in Persuasion
Lesson Duration: 60 minutes
Class Size: 1 student

Learning Objectives

By the end of the lesson, the student will be able to:

• Identify and construct simple, compound, and complex sentences.
• Use a variety of sentence structures to enhance persuasive writing.
• Recognise and correct common grammatical errors.
• Apply sentence variety in a persuasive paragraph.

Success Criteria

The student can:

• Accurately structure different types of sentences.
• Improve writing through varied sentence structures.
• Edit and refine persuasive writing for grammatical accuracy.

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Lesson Structure

Starter (10 minutes) – Sentence Challenge

Objective: Introduce sentence structures in a fun and engaging way.

1. Warm-up discussion – Ask the student:

   • "What makes a sentence strong and persuasive?"
   • "How do longer and shorter sentences affect your writing?"

2. Quickfire task:

   • Display three sentence types on separate cards:
     • Simple: "Chocolate is delicious."
     • Compound: "Chocolate is delicious, and it makes me happy."
     • Complex: "Although chocolate is delicious, eating too much can be unhealthy."
   • The student will sort the sentences into the correct categories and explain their reasoning.

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Main Activity (30 minutes) – Strengthening Sentences

Part 1: Sentence Construction (15 minutes)

Objective: Help the student experiment with different sentence types.

1. Sentence Sorting Game:

   • Give the student a set of jumbled words.
   • Challenge them to rearrange the words into correctly structured simple, compound, and complex sentences.

2. Expanding Sentences:

   • Provide a basic persuasive sentence (e.g. "School uniforms are important.")
   • Guide the student to change it into all three sentence types.
   • Example:
     • Simple: "School uniforms help students feel equal."
     • Compound: "School uniforms help students feel equal, and they make schools look organised."
     • Complex: "Although some students dislike them, school uniforms help students feel equal."

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Part 2: Editing for Impact (15 minutes)

Objective: Encourage independent editing and grammatical accuracy in writing.

1. Common Mistakes Hunt:

   • Provide a short persuasive paragraph with intentional mistakes (e.g. run-on sentences, missing commas).
   • The student highlights and corrects errors.

2. Persuasive Sentence Expansion:

   • The student writes a persuasive sentence about a fun topic (e.g. “Why we should have longer break times”).
   • They then rewrite the sentence using all three sentence structures, improving persuasion.

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Plenary (10 minutes) – The Power of Grammar

Objective: Consolidate learning through reflection.

1. Grammar Detective:

   • The student reads a short persuasive paragraph aloud.
   • They explain how the different sentence types improve persuasion.

2. Self-Assessment:

   • The student rates their confidence in using different sentence structures.
   • Teacher-led discussion: "How will sentence variety help make your argument stronger in your next piece of persuasive writing?"

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Resources Needed

• Sentence structure sorting cards
• Jumbled word sets for sentence building
• Pre-written persuasive paragraph with mistakes
• Whiteboard and marker (if available)

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Differentiation Strategies

• Support: Provide clear sentence scaffolds for complex sentences.
• Stretch: Challenge the student to include rhetorical devices (e.g. rhetorical questions) in their persuasive sentences.

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Assessment for Learning

• Observation of student's sentence construction.
• Self-assessment during plenary.
• The student's ability to correct grammatical mistakes in a persuasive paragraph.

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Teacher Reflection

• How well did the student engage with sentence types?
• Did the student recognise and correct errors effectively?
• What improvements can be made for the final lesson in the unit?

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This lesson is designed to make grammar and sentence structure engaging while showing their importance in persuasive writing. The activities encourage hands-on learning, reflection, and application of skills in a persuasive context, preparing the student for the final unit lesson.