Why a class specifically on persuasive writing?
First of all, here in Nevada, the state writing test for eleventh graders must be passed by every student planning to graduate, and the prompts given to our juniors can be either expository or persuasive. Second, we believe persuasive writing is a neglected genre, even though it is clearly embedded in our state standards. Too often, persuasive writing lessons are taught only by our language arts teachers, who only have limited time to focus on this genre because they are teaching so many other genres. We believe persuasive writing is a type of writing that can be practiced in every curriculum area, and we believe with repeated exposure to persuasive writing tasks that our students will be that much more prepared for their eleventh grade writing tests. Our new inservice course was designed to help teacher participants design powerful persuasive writing lessons that would engage students to use their voice in all curriculum areas. The theme of our Persuasive Writing Across the Curriculum
