Unit Four: Persuasive Essay

  • Prompt: Your job is to persuade the faculty and administration at the next faculty meeting to see your point of view and change the policy on one of the following issues. Pretend you are speaking to teachers and principals, and base your speech on facts rather than opinions. Make sure you use language appropriate for the audience, and give reasons for your statements.

    You will choose to convince the faculty and administration to do one of the following:

    •
    1. Change graduation requirements
    2. Change or discontinue SRT time
    3. Change lunch choices
    4. Change the school day hours (must keep it as long, but you can switch the times)
    5. Change the way students are punished (change the discipline system)
    6. Change the dress code
  • Use the following outline as a guide for how you should set up your essay. Brainstorm ideas under each heading:
    •
    1. Current system
    2. What’s wrong with it
    3. What you want changed and why your ideas are better (based on FACTS)
    4. Conclusion (What should the faculty/administration do?)

    Essay should be four paragraphs of 3-4 sentence each! Remember to PROOFREAD and write from FIRST PERSON!

    Essay will be graded on the following:

    Use of persuasive language

    Construction of a logical argument

    Fact-based persuasion

    Tone

    Soundness of argument

     

    Persuasive Essay (Prewrite)

    Use the following outline as a guide for how you should set up your essay. Brainstorm ideas under each heading:

    I. Current system

     

    II. What’s wrong with it

     

    III. What you want changed and why your ideas are better (based on FACTS)

     

    IV. Conclusion (What should the faculty/administration do?)

     

     

    Remember to PROOFREAD and write from FIRST PERSON!