Purpose: This learning module incorporates blended learning where students interact face-to-face as well as in the online forum. It also involves two writing projects where students give and receive feedback using a structured rubric.

This initial activity is designed to engage students in writing camp through valuing their prior knowledge and linking to their lifeworlds. It also values students as active knowledge makers, contributing ideas to our "Live Wires" learning community.

Teaching Tips:

As students come into the room, get them to log into CGScholar, update their avatars and send a positive message to a peer. While students are doing this, emphasise the importance of selecting non-racist, sexist or violent images, being safe in online environments, supporting each other and not bullying their peers.

Then invite them to the front of the room to read and discuss the mentor text.

Students can then write comments, listing as many possible jobs as possible that may become the focus of their persuasive writing project.

The Writing Project

What is the best job in the world? Give reasons with evidence (examples, anecdotes, quotes, facts) in your arguments. Write 400-600 words. Include 1-2 images to make your writing even more interesting and persuasive.

Start the writing project before the lesson. Students can then log into CGScholar and click on the "Work Request" in their Notifications. This will take them to Creator to start their work.

They should add their title for the best job and then record some dot points of their reasons and examples. This becomes their plan. Students should save this plan as a new version. Then they can expand on their dot points in the next version.

When students start their projects, get them to look around the Toolbar, especially "About this Work" and also the rubric in "Feedback".

They write their persuasive texts gradually over the next three lessons. Include some explicit teaching of text structure and language features in each lesson based on Updates 2 and 3. On day 4, they submit their works for peer review and give feedback. They complete this and revise their works for publication in the fifth lesson.

Purpose: This update explores the mentor text, a model of a persuasive text, in more depth so that students respond, discuss and identify key structure and a persuasive technique (reason and evidence).

Teaching Tips:

TEXT ANNOTATION STRATEGY

Support students to annotate the text. After the first reading, ask students to ? and Underline. Ask them to share their annotations with a partner.

Then model how to identify R (Reasons), followed by E (Evidence - examples, anecdotes, quotes, facts).  Finally, circle the connectives. You may have to read  parts of the text a couple of times, telling students what to annotate.

Symbol	Annotation
?	In the margins record a question mark (?) for any questions you have about vocabulary or anything you didn't understand or want the author to add more information.
Underline	Underline aspects of the writing style. This could be an interesting word or line/phrase/sentence that you think is well written or makes you think. Put a double line under what you think is the most persuasive sentence.
R (Reasons)	Write R above the reasons the author gives to support her opinion.
E  (Evidence)	Write E  above the evidence (examples, anecdotes, quotes, facts)  that you think is good and supports the opinions of the author. You can record as many Es as you like.
C (Concluding sentence)	Write C above the last sentence in each paragraph
Circle	Circle any words that connect paragraphs.

Emphasise a key understanding that persuasive texts provide reasons and evidence.

PERSUASIVE TEXT STRUCTURE

The structure of a persuasive texts supports its purpose.

A text is organised into paragraphs following a PEC structure. The length of a paragraph ranges from one sentence to many sentences (e.g. 3-10). 

After students have written their paragraphs and commented, go back to the mentor text and in the margins, students annotate the structure of the whole text.

Write P for the Point Paragraph, E for the E Paragraphs and C for the C paragraphs. Write an O for the E paragraph that has an opposing opinion. Check to see that each paragraph is doing its job - it should be annotated with an R, Es and Cs!

P  (Point)	Clearly states the opinion of the writer Has 3 main reasons Has one opposing reason
E1 (Evidence)	States reason Gives evidence (examples, anecdotes, quotes, facts)  Concluding sentence
E2 (Evidence)	States reason Gives evidence (examples, anecdotes, quotes, facts) Concluding sentence
E3 (Evidence)	States reason Gives evidence (examples, anecdotes, quotes, facts) Concluding sentence - says why it is not a good reason
EO (Evidence - Opposite)	States an opposing reason Gives evidence (examples, anecdotes, quotes, facts) to argue against the reason Concluding sentence
C (Conclusion)	Summarises the reasons Has a concluding statement (e.g., comment on why the topic is important, ask a question, comment on the future, or have a call for action)

There is further work on types of evidence in Update 3 - Persuasive Techniques.

Purpose: In this update, the teacher guides students to identify persuasive techniques in the mentor text and then to incorporate at least three techniques in their own texts. 

Teaching Tips

Types of Evidence:

This builds on the focus on structure in Update 2 by exploring types of evidence - facts, information, examples, statistics, graphs, anecdotes and quotes (direct and indirect)

1. Quotes:

There is one direct quote in the text.

When students from around the world, who were attending an international conference, were asked what makes a good teacher, many discussed the importance of relationships. For example, Christiane Stroeher from Germany, said, "A good teacher should be friendly and consequently should listen to the pupils and she should care for every pupil in the class.” (http://www.unicef.org/teachers/teacher/teacher.htm, UNESCO, 1996).

Note: This is sentence is also a good example of a multi-pronged sentence.

Written as an indirect quote:

When students from around the world, who were attending a UNESCO international conference, were asked what makes a good teacher, many discussed the importance of relationships. For example, one student said that teachers should be friendly, good listeners and they should care about their students.

2. Anecdotes

An anecdote is short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. They can be used to expand on examples. There is one personal anecdote in Teaching is the Best Job in the World.

I remember my grade 4 teacher telling me that I was a good writer. She even read my story to the class. After that, I kept writing and I am still a writer today.

LANGUAGE FEATURES

1. Rhetorical Questions

Watch the video about rhetorical questions. Then students look at the first paragraph in Teaching is the Best Job in the World and highlight the 2 rhetorical questions. They then find the third one in the second paragraph. Then, they add at least one rhetorical question to their writing project (if they don't already have one).

2. Repetition and Triples

Repetition is a way that you can emphasise a point. Repetition is a word or a phrase used two or more times close together or following a pattern such as the repetition in the C sentence for each E paragraph. Students find the examples of triples in the mentor text, Teaching is the Best Job in the World such as "Teachers see.... They see..... They see....." in the second paragraph and "Every day teachers experience......" in the conclusion. Then, they add repetition to their writing projects for emphasis.

3. Modality

Another persuasive technique is modality. Mode means "method" or "the way something is done". Modal verbs are verbs that tell us the mode in which something should be done. Strong modal verbs are should, ought, must need, would, have while low modal verbs are can could, may, might.

There are also connectives and adverbs such as definitely or probably which indicate high and low modality. These words show whether you are certain or unsure about your opinion. To be really persuasive, you need to show certainty and that you really believe in your opinion.

Note that  weak modal verbs are only used in the EO paragraph. In this way you can make opposing arguments weaker and easier to dismiss. 

Students circle all the modal verbs, connectives and adverbs. Then, they some modal verbs to their writing projects.

4. Exclamations

Teaching is the Best Job in the World uses 4 exclamation marks. This is another persuasive technique to influence the reader. Students add an exclamation mark to their writing projects. Be careful not to overuse them - no more than 4 or 5.

5. Emotional Language

Another way to persuade readers is to appeal to their emotions so they empathise with your arguments. Ask students to find any emotional words in the mentor text.

Answer:  praised, laugh, unhappy, facing problems, care, precious time, for hours and hours, overworked.

6. Multi-Pronged Sentences

Identifying simple, compound and complex sentences can be tedious, although still important to do. While analysing the mentor text, use the idea of multi-pronged sentences to get students to write more varied sentences. If necessary, hand out a new copy of the mentor text. This version has no special formatting such as underlining of connectives.

Firstly, identify an example of each sentence and then students find 2 more examples of each, highlighting them with different colours.

Single Pronged Sentences (Simple Sentence - 1 idea, 1 verb)

• They see students grow!
• Teaching is still the best job in the world.

Double Pronged Sentences (Compound Sentences - 2 ideas, 2 verbs and a conjunction (and, or, because, as))

• No, I believe that teaching is the best job in the world because it has many rewards.
• This planning and assessment might happen in the evenings and on weekends and may take precious time away from family life and recreation.

Multi-Pronged Sentences (Complex Sentences - 2+ ideas, 2+ verbs, participles ("ing" words") and relative pronouns (who,when, which/that).

• Teachers work closely with their students in the classroom, on excursions, and during extra-curricular activities, challenging students to learn and encouraging them to do their best.
• Do you remember a teacher who helped you personally and praised you when you learnt something?
• So, teachers see this as a reward which makes up for all the time that they must invest.

Purpose: This update aims to engage students through listening to and responding to a great narrative. It enables students to think critically about what they have learnt about narrative and persuasive texts, and how they are the same and different, and developing conceptual understanding of genre - argument and narrative. This supports them to transfer learning from one set of learning activities to another set of learning activities.It also helps students to generate their own ideas for a narrative.

The narrative mentor text is central to learning about narratives.

Teaching Tips:

• Engage students through a prediction based on the five word story: The Devil's Own.
• After reading the narrative, students discuss their reactions - prompt students to discuss their emotional reaction to the story (identification, empathy, antipathy). 
• Next, students should focus on what makes this narrative a good/great one. Key ideas can then be shared with the whole class by recording ideas on the Venn Diagram. This will enable students to connect what they are learning about narratives to what they already know about persuasive texts. 
• Print out the Venn Diagram (below) template and enlarge to A3. Ideas can be recorded on the A3 sheet as a whole class.
• In completing the Venn Diagram, prompt students to focus on how the author hooks the reader, variety in sentences, description (triples, similes, action verbs and wow words) and dialogue.  Cameron, S. & Dempsey, L. (2013). The Writing Book: A Practical Guide for Teachers. Auckland: S&L publishing, p. 70).

The Writing Project

My Narrative Writing Project

Write a narrative. It could be about yourself or another person/s or animal/s. It can be based on a real or imaginary experience. Include at least one image to illustrate your narrative. Add your 5 word title. Write 400-600 words.

• Start the writing project before the lesson. Students can then log into CGScholar and click on the "Work Request" in their Notifications. This will take them to Creator to start their work.

• They should add their five word story and add dot points with more ideas. This becomes their plan. Students should save this plan as a new version. Then they can expand on their dot points in the next version.

• When students start their projects, get them to look around the Toolbar, especially "About this Work" and also the rubric in "Feedback".

• They write their narrative texts gradually over the next three lessons. Include some explicit teaching of text structure and language features in each lesson based on Updates 4 and 5. On day 4, they submit their works for peer review and give feedback. They complete this and revise their works for publication in the fifth lesson.

Purpose: Here students identify the structure of the narrative of the text they read in the initial activity and use it as a model for their own narratives. Students also start writing orientations based on their Five Word Stories in update 4. They can use these when they start their writing projects. By sharing these in the Community discussion forum, they are seeing other student models of orientations which they can use to improve their own.

 As students work on their narratives, they learn more about language and narrative techniques, including description and dialogue. The focus on description through verbs shifts the emphasis away from adjectives.

Teaching Tips:

Print a copy of the mentor text for each student before the lesson and provide highlighters and coloured pencils.​ Work through the following activities gradually, allowing students to incorporate what they have learnt in their writing.

1. Language Features

Instructions for students:

• Circle all of the connectives. Hint: They are underlined for you. How many are there? Connectives help you to vary your sentences. Note that they connect paragraphs as well as connect sentences in a paragraph
• Highlight 10 "Wow" words and share them with your partner. Count how many you had that were the same.
• There are two similes in the story. Circle them. Similes create exciting pictures in your mind.

His heart pounded like a drum.

The storm sounds like the devil's own.

Can you imagine what the sound would be like in the following sentences which have a simile. Similes start with "like" or "as".

The children shrieked like meowing cats.
The sound was as loud as a squawking bird.

• There are 2 triples in the story. Highlight them too. "Wow words," triples and similes can make your writing more exciting and descriptive. Further, the repetition in triples build lexical cohesion.

Car lights? Wrong side. House lights? Wrong place. Torch lights. Wrong colour.

No ghosts, no evil spirits, no monsters; just bats.

2. Narrative Technique: ​Dialogue

Focus on the narrative technique of using dialogue as a tool to show character and to advance the sequence of events. Then ask students to look at the dialogue in the handout and work out the punctuation rules - capital letters, speech marks, full stops, commas, and new lines/paragraphs.

Instructions for students:

Look at the dialogue. What are three rules that you notice for writing dialogue? Dialogue is a narrative technique.

3. Narrative Technique: ​Description

By now the first copy of the mentor text will have so many annotations, it will be difficult for students to add more. Print this version for each student. It has different things bolded, underlined and italicised.

Instructions for students:

• Count up the "wow" verbs (Hint: They are highlighted in blue).
• There are 6 verbs with adverbs (Hint: They are in bold).
• Then count up the adjectives (Hint: They are in italics).
• Note the two similes again.

Note: Verbs and adverbs, adjectives and similes are tools to include description in narrative writing. Verbs are the tools that really do the "heavy lifting" in description!

Extension: Another narrative technique is pacing. For example, fast pacing is included through action verbs and short sentences.

 Another scream. Up ahead. Somewhere on his left.

Lightning flashed. For an instant a pair of glowing red eyes peered back. And then gone.

Lots of description can slow down the pacing.

The dim streetlights were too few to be of any real use but Jamie knew the route home well. He turned the corner into his own street, avoiding the low branches of the large tree on the corner.

7. Best Written Sentence

Invite students to add ideas about what makes a great narrative to the Venn Diagram. Students can refer to this for the following summative activity on language features to justify their choice of what makes the best written sentence.

Instructions for students:

Put a double line under what you think is the best written sentence in the story. Explain to your partner why you think it is good. Then talk to another pair and share your ideas in a Think-Pair-Square.

8.  Multi-Pronged Sentences

Again, while analysing the mentor text, use the idea of multi-pronged sentences to get students to write more varied sentences. 

Firstly, identify an example of each sentence and then students find 2 more examples of each, highlighting them with different colours.

Single Pronged Sentences (Simple Sentence - 1 idea, 1 verb)

It didn’t seem human.

He could see nothing. 

Double Pronged Sentences (Compound Sentences - 2 ideas, 2 verbs and a conjunction (and, or, because, as). Check the conjunctions which are underlined.

Jamie moved to the curb edge and slowly walked on.

He jogged the last few metres to his house and went inside.

Multi-Pronged Sentences (Complex Sentences - 2+ ideas, 2+ verbs, participles ("ing" words") and relative pronouns (who,when, which/that). See yellow highlighting.

Suddenly, an eerie scream filled the air, instantly followed by a bright flash of lightning, startling Jamie.

Extension: Add an update where students can comment about what they have or will include in their narratives.

Comment: What are at least three things that you will include to make sure this is your best narrative ever. You can add more - keep on adding ideas until you run out. Read other students' comments and give feedback on 1-2.

Purpose: This reflection activity promotes student metacognition about what makes quality writing by reading and reflecting on other students’ writing.

Teaching Tips:

• Add more ideas to the Venn Diagram.
• Refer to the Analytics to see how students have performed.