Fallacies.mp4

Direct Instruction

The learning intention for this lesson was for the students to identify and use persuasive techniques in their writing. The week prior we had read some persuasive essays and identified techniques such as repetition, imperative and the use of rhetorical questions. We then read the articles featured in the text in a guided reading session to unpack the key ideas, before critiquing the texts (as seen in the video). At this point I wanted them to start thinking about the choices that the authors had made when writing the articles. We then went on to write our own persuasive essays in response and you can see us giving some feedback in the latter half of the video.

Extended plan here

Reflection

There were several interruptions throughout this session and two of the students had missed our initial guided reading lesson so they didn't have the same awareness of the text as the others. However, we really enjoyed discussing the text and some of the students became quite passionate about animal testing! We did have some moments where all of the students wanted to talk, but it was great that they were all engaged and made some strong points.

Things to note

The students in the video are of mixed abilities in writing, but they all had a passion for this subject and finished writing their first paragraph at the same time. At one point of the video the camera died and at the end the next class entered our room, so there are some disjointed cuts (such is life in the classroom!).