Persuasion, Media, the Election, and 8th Graders.

Whether or not you believe that this election is critical for our country, it should not be ignored that this election season presents a plethora of opportunities to engage students in thinking critically about how this whole democracy thing works.

In my 8th grade Language Arts course, my students are in the process of analyzing the influence of media in our society.  Luckily, this intersects marvelously with the campaign season and we have been provided a number of commercials to discuss and analyze. What has caught me off guard is how interested my students are in the election and the issues surrounding it.  Some are quite informed on the topics, likely from listening to what their parents say, but informed and opinionated nonetheless. This is the cool part about teaching...you get to see students construct their own beliefs and you have the challenge of facilitating a supportive environment in which students can politely discuss important issues with passion.

This analysis of media and persuasion has led us to a fun project wherein we are writing a persuasive letter to a political candidate. I am pushing them to research and load their persuasive toolboxes with facts, statistics, expert opinions, and examples of how and why this issue is important and what the candidate can do to address the topic.  These students are even analyzing where the candidates stand on the issue and imaging what that would mean if said candidate won the election.

In a time where we talk about rigor and relevance in the classroom, I find no better way to achieve both than to put the students in the moment and challenge them to not only explain why their issue is important but defend it and create a scenario that examines the possibilities of what could happen if the issue is ignored. Talk about higher order thinking! We are using technology to research and collaborate and my hope is that these students will grow not only as persuasive writers but as citizens through examining a key topic in our country and finding solutions to solve the issue.

Learning Targets:
-I will be able to identify and use the eight persuasive techniques.
-I will be able to classify ads and PSA's by the techniques.
-I will be able to create an argument for an issue that is important to our community, state, or country.

Essential Questions:
-How are we influenced by media?
-How are we able to influence others?

Want more info? Let me know...email