Developing a Creative Writing Club in your Primary School
I’m Dreaming of a Persuasive Christmas
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Persuasive Christmas project
I’m Dreaming of a Persuasive Christmas A six-week programme of lesson plans and resources for new or established creative writing clubs culminating in a Persuasive Christmas debate Designed and Produced by Mark Grist as part of the Well Versed Poetry in Schools project.
Week 1
Dictionary games
Week 2
Dramatic readings of Christmas tales.
Week 3
Benjamin Zephaniah – talking Turkeys. Persuade people not to eat you – as a turkey.
Week 4
Persuasive videos to Father Christmas
Week 5
Pupils create arguments for/against Christmas.
Week 6
Final debate – with examples. Play a few games to finish off.
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Persuasive Christmas project
Week One Intended learning Dictionary games to make it clear that dictionaries are going to be used throughout the half term.
Intended outcomes The students note down the range of information that is available in the dictionary. Time
Activity
00-05 minutes
Give each pupil a word on a slip of paper. Six words you could use are: Circus Liver Revenge Callow Snitch Bounty Pupils come in and find their word in the dictionary. They have to see how much information they can learn about the words.
05-15 minutes
Look at Appendix One. Go through the examples and get pupils to complete the activities that come up.
25-30 minutes
Pupils race to find the following three words in their dictionaries and copy out the information they find. The three words are: Buccaneer, Astoroid, Escapade, The pupils share back what the words mean.
Extension Work
To become an undercover wordsmith. Pupils need to try to use two or more of the words from today at home in conversation with their families, without anyone realising what they’re doing. Then to come back and tell the rest of the group how they managed to do it.
Resources required
Appendix One is at the end of this document
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Persuasive Christmas project
Week Two Intended learning To try combining writing with mime and develop the idea of narration.
Intended outcomes
To write a short piece of prose that explores a Christmas memory and to create a dramatic reading of the prose that combines mime and narration.
Time
Activity
00-05 minutes
Pupils hunt for the following three words in the dictionary and note down as much information on them as they can Memory Hallucination Bequest
05-10 minutes
Pupils sit on the floor in their own space. They are to mime putting a DVD on to watch. Explain that they are going to mime watching two films. One will be a scary film, the other a comedy film. For the scary film. They must mime putting the DVD in and the film starts and it isn’t very scary at all. 0 out of 10 for how scary it is, in fact. They must mime the reaction (or lack of reaction). But the film is going to get scarier and their faces are going to have to change to show how scary the film is getting. Then start giving the students new numbers for how scary the film is out of 10. A good way to do this is to go from 0 to 2. Then 2 to 6. Then 6 back down to 3. Then 8. Then 9. Then 10. Do the same thing with the comedy film. The pupils are going to mime putting the DVD on and will then react as the film gets funnier or less funny.
Resources required
Persuasive Christmas project
15-25 minutes
Pupils write down the best/worst presents they’ve ever had at Christmas. In pairs they’re going to write about a Christmas memory. It can be made up, but one person will be a narrator reading the story about their Christmas morning, while the other person will be miming the actions. For example. ‘I woke up and I could smell mince pies downstairs. As I got out of bed I saw that there were loads of amazing presents at the bottom of the bed.’
25-30 minutes
Perform the pieces to the rest of the group.
Extension Work
To practice the piece and perform it in an assembly in the future.
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Persuasive Christmas project
Week Three Intended learning To use Talking Turkeys as a stimulus for writing their own piece of persuasive writing.
Intended outcomes
Pupils all write their own persuasive speeches about Brussels sprouts.
Time
Activity
Resources required
00-05 minutes
Pupils look up the following three words in the dictionary Giblet Baste Paltry
05-15 minutes
Read through ‘Talking Turkeys as a group. Then listen to Benjamin Zephaniah’s reading.
Benjamin Zephaniah’s ‘Talking Turkeys’ can be found here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/ poetry/outloud/zephaniah_ turkeys.shtml You need realplayer to play the audio.
15-25 minutes
Pupils write a piece persuading people to eat more Brussels sprouts and not to eat turkeys (or the opposite, if they really want to). They must try to include repetition, rule of three and alliteration, if these have been taught.
See Appendix One for information on repetition, rule of three, and alliteration.
25-30 minutes
Pupils share their persuasive speeches with the rest of the group.
Extension Work
To see whether they can write a persuasive piece to get something that they’d like. E.g. more pocket money, chocolate for dinner etc.
Persuasive Christmas project
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Week Four Intended learning Writing a persuasive letter to Father Christmas.
Intended outcomes Pupils create short films for Father Christmas.
Additional resources You may want to include filming equipment for this session. Time
Activity
00-05 minutes
Dictionary search to start – the following 3 words Persuade Sorcerer Flattery
05-10 minutes
Pupils prepare their letters for Father Christmas. They can work on this in pairs. The performance should be 1 minute exactly. These short films should persuade Father Christmas to give you the things you want. You could think about including Persuasive techniques How happy you’d be if you got the presents you want How sad you’d be if you didn’t get the presents you want Reasons why you deserve each of the presents What makes these presents so important Flattery Humour How will you make your video stand out against all the others?
10-30 minutes
Students film and share their messages to Father Christmas.
Extension Work
Editing the videos
Resources required
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Persuasive Christmas project
Week Five Intended learning Students develop their rhetorical skills in order to debate whether Christmas should be banned.
Intended outcomes
Pupils create the various statements required to hold a debate next week.
Time
Activity
00-05 minutes
Dictionary search Debate Argue Statement
05-15 minutes
Pupils have 5 minute to come up with a list of positive/negative things to do with Christmas. Share these and write them up on the board – try to get at least 6 for each side.
15-25 minutes
Pupils get split in two groups and begin preparing their arguments for/ against Christmas. They should try to include persuasive techniques in each piece. As a group they will need An opening statement. This should be the responsibility of one student. It should be no more than a minute long and should be as persuasive as possible. 3 issues that they wish to raise and discuss – each should be no longer than two sentences. A closing statement – should be 30 seconds to a minute, making it clear why Christmas should be saved/cancelled.
25-30 minutes
Pupils make sure that any statements which aren’t finished are ready to be worked on next session.
Extension Work
Pupils to finish preparing themselves for the debate next week.
Resources required
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Persuasive Christmas project
Week Six Intended learning Pupils arrange and hold a debate, discussing whether Christmas should be banned.
Intended outcomes
Pupils could be assessed based upon speaking and listening levels during this debate if you wished.
Time
Activity
00-05 minutes
Pupils agree their reasons for/against Christmas
05-15 minutes
It would be best to have another teacher to be on the panel for the debate.
15-25 minutes
With the teacher keeping order, the pupils are to run their own debate. They will have an opening statement and a closing statement and at least three arguments to deliver. The motion is that ‘Christmas should be banned.’ First of all The opening statements are read Then one side will raise its point. The group will be able to discuss it for no longer than two minutes. Once all the statements have been read and discussed, with students trying to argue their case, the closing statements are read.
25-30 minutes
The panel should then make its decision on which argument is most persuasive.
Resources required
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Persuasive Christmas project
‘I’m dreaming of a Persuasive Christmas’ resources Week
Resources
Can be found
Poem
‘Talking Turkeys’ can be found here – http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/poetry/outloud/zephaniah_turkeys.shtml
1 2 3
See Appendix One for information on repetition, rule of three, and alliteration. 4 5 6 Additional resources
Word search
http://www.teachit.co.uk/attachments/xmaswdsch.pdf
Persuasive Christmas project
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Appendix One Repetition Repeating important words or phrases can indicate to the reader that they are important. They help to make the writing more persuasive. Tony Blair said that his main priority as Prime Minister would be:
Lists A list of three fixes itself in a reader’s/listener’s mind.
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Persuasive Christmas project
Alliteration
Can you fill in these sentences with alliterative words? 1.
The _______ weather made me feel _______ ____________ !
2.
_______________ is a _________ ____________ ________
3.
I can’t believe how __________ ____________ _______ was!