New ReviewHigh school seniors investigate what national, state and local rules say about voting. After examining the Constitution's articles, clauses, and amendments, researchers look at videos, listen to podcasts, and read articles to gather...

New Review"Words, words, words." Despite Hamlet's opinion, words can be significant. In this inquiry lesson, middle schoolers learn how the words in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, in the view of many, lead to the American Civil War. To...

Should students be paid for doing well in school? That is the question at the heart of an argumentative writing unit that walks writers through the steps of crafting a persuasive essay. The carefully scaffolded scripted plans provide...

Encourage young learners to identify persuasive writing techniques in a text with this resource, which includes two multiple-choice worksheets with advertisements for students to analyze.

As class members progress through eight fully prepared learning stations, they will identify how bias is present in persuasive media, as well as differentiate among types of propaganda techniques like bandwagon propaganda and the use of...

There is no better sight to see than a classroom full of eager young adults, hands raised high, eager to jump into a class discussion. Get your class identifying and discussing rhetorical strategies and then debating long into the night...

Prior to assigning your class their own persuasive writing task, present this PowerPoint and complete the task as a whole class. It outlines characteristics of persuasive writing, as well as includes a great learning activity. Your class...

New ReviewHere's a lesson that adds some zip to a study of parts of speech. Class members read two versions of the same article, one loaded with evocative nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, while the other is missing this sensory language....

Young orators demonstrate what they have learned about persuasion and persuasive devices throughout the unit by analyzing a persuasive speech and then crafting their persuasive essays. Class members engage in a role-play exercise, use...

Did Smitty do it, or is he a victim? Sleuths apply their observation and reasoning skills to build a case for an argumentative paragraph. Class members closely observe a cartoon, make a claim, cite evidence from the image, and support...

High schoolers draft a paragraph about their stance on the issue of school uniforms and share their work with a peer for editing. After watching a  parody video about peer editing and revising, class members generate a "Top 10 list" of...

Scholars, high schoolers, class members! With the help of this lesson, you too can identify the three persuasive appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos) the characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy Julius Caesar used to convince their...

Ethics, emotion, reason—scholars investigate advertisers' persuasive techniques to attract buyers. After examining the techniques used in infomercials, writers craft a persuasive essay on a topic of their choice.

The second session in the two-part "Building Arguments with Evidence" instructional activity asks scholars to craft an argument essay on a topic of interest to them. Writers establish a claim, locate evidence, and justify their stance.

Young environmentalists learn how to craft a persuasive essay about an environmental issue they consider important. After studying the components of a persuasive essay and examining a student model, writers brainstorm possible topics and...

Young journalists learn that how we get our news and information matters in a collaborative social studies activity. The class is divided into three groups with the first analyzing a transcript of FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech, the second...