Persuasive Writing Activity

Battle Bars!

Introduction You have just received a certain brand of

candy bar. For this assignment, you will argue that your brand of candy bar is the very best and provides the greatest value. We will complete this assignment together in several stages, so make sure you keep up and follow directions.

Reasoning Individually or with a partner who has the

same brand, brainstorm a list of 10 reasons why your candy bar is the best. We will write these on the board as a class, so make sure you have some good ideas! (5 minutes)

What We Came Up With Record what we came up with on the board

here (5 minutes):

Brand #1 Brand #2

Top Reasons and Thesis Circle the top three reasons we chose as a

class for each candy bar in your chart above. Now, write a thesis statement that expresses

why your brand is the best using the three reasons from above (5 minutes)

Share your thesis statements by writing them here on the board:

Creating a Body Next, write a 3-sentence paragraph that

explains ONE reason from your thesis statement. Set up your paragraph in the following way: (15 minutes)

1.Topic sentence2.Detail or example3.Explanation of what detail/example means or

shows

The Opposition Think about the opposition. What three

reasons from above does the other brand use to claim that they are the best? Write a one paragraph (3-sentence) concession that explains the opposition’s viewpoint and argues why they are wrong. (10 minutes)

Quick Poll

Congratulations! You are now an expert on Persuasive Writing! Now, use your knowledge of Persuasive Essay

writing to begin brainstorming for your Beowulf Essay. Fill out the table to come up with reasons for your thesis statement and your concession (opposition) paragraph.

Is Beowulf a hero? Share some of the examples you came up

with in your group here on the board:

“For” Reasons “Against” Reasons

Is Beowulf a hero? Share some possible thesis statements that you

could use for our upcoming essay, using the reasons we came up with in our group and class discussions:

Now, using what you learned from this activity and the Persuasive Essay guide to start working on your outline for your essay tomorrow.