ClassX Video Lessons Youtube Channel Teaching Without Frills Persuasive Writing for Kids – Episode 4: Developing Reasons
Persuading someone means trying to convince them to agree with you. Imagine you want to convince your teacher to give you more recess time. How would you do that? You need to give good reasons why more recess is a great idea!
Reasons are important because they explain why your idea is worth considering. If your reasons are strong, your teacher might say, “Yes, let’s have more recess!” But if they’re not convincing, your teacher might not agree.
To make your reasons stronger, think about what someone might say if they disagree with you. This is called a counter-argument. For example, your teacher might say, “We don’t have enough time for more recess,” or “You need to behave better to earn more recess.”
Once you know what they might say, you can prepare your responses. If your teacher says there’s not enough time, you could reply, “Even just five more minutes would help us a lot!” If she mentions behavior, you could promise, “We’ll behave better if we get more recess!”
Another way to make your reasons stronger is by using facts. Facts are true statements that can be proven. For example, you might find an article that says kids learn better when they have more recess. You can use this fact to support your reason by saying, “Students who have more recess do better in school!”
Now that you know how to develop strong reasons, you’re ready to start writing your persuasive piece. In the next episode, you’ll learn how to write an introduction that grabs attention. Happy writing!
Recess Debate: Organize a small debate in class. Divide into two groups: one group will argue for more recess time, and the other will argue against it. Each group should come up with at least three reasons to support their side. After the debate, discuss which reasons were the most convincing and why.
Fact-Finding Mission: Go on a fact-finding mission! Look for articles, books, or ask adults about the benefits of recess. Write down one fact you find and share it with the class. Discuss how this fact could be used to support your argument for more recess time.
Role-Playing: Pair up with a classmate and take turns being the teacher and the student. The student will try to persuade the teacher to allow more recess by giving reasons. The teacher will present counter-arguments. Practice responding to these counter-arguments with strong reasons and facts.
**Persuasive Writing Episode 4: Writing Your Reasons**
To persuade means to convince. When we persuade someone, we aim to convince them of something we want. For example, I want to convince my teacher that we should have more recess.
Reasons tell your audience why they should listen to you. I’ve already thought of a few reasons, but I want to make them even better because if my reasons aren’t strong enough, my teacher may not agree to give us more recess time!
One effective way to develop stronger reasons is to consider the counter-argument. A counter-argument includes reasons that oppose what you want. Think about what your audience might say in response.
For instance, what might my teacher say if I ask for more recess? She might respond, “No, we don’t have enough time for more recess,” or she might say, “You all need to behave better to have more recess!” Now, I can come up with responses to those counter-arguments.
If my teacher thinks we don’t have enough time for more recess, I could say, “I understand we don’t have a lot of time, but even five more minutes would be beneficial!” If she believes we need to behave better, I could respond, “If we have more recess, we promise to improve our behavior!”
Next, I can enhance my reasons by supporting them with facts. Facts are statements that can be proven. I’m going to research some facts about recess. I found an article that states kids learn better when they have more recess. So, I will include in my reasons that students who have more recess perform better in school. This will definitely help convince my teacher.
Are you ready to start writing? Check out episode 5 to learn how to begin writing your introduction.
