Why Teach Persuasive Writing?
Most young people are masters at the art of persuasion. The teenagers I work with have been convincing parents and friends to behave as they would like since they first could talk, some with remarkable finesse. This collection of lessons will help you build upon that innate skill as you develop your students’ facility for crafting a written argument that can persuade others to think as they do. Some writing instructors argue that all writing is fundamentally persuasive. Others view persuasive writing as the construction of a pro or con argument that must conclude with a call to action. I believe persuasive writing is more defined than the first view but less constricting and more interesting than the second. Writing to persuade is a subtle dance between reader and writer during which the writer makes his way of thinking so attractive to the reader that, as night follows day, the reader completes the essay fully convinced by the writer’s argument. Nothing else would seem to make sense.
