Naomi
The prospect of teaching Persuasive writing doesn't usually inspire great excitement and so this term, I went in search of a creative spark.
Following a tip on LinkedIn, I discovered the podcast “Bust or Trust” which looks into intriguing mysteries from all over the world, like The Bermuda Triangle or Chupacabra. One of the hosts shares evidence to persuade you to trust the phenomenon while the other sets out to bust the myth. I knew that this could be the perfect way to find some new ideas to teach my students about persuasive writing in an innovative and engaging way.
Last week, the experiment began when our Year 6 class listened to part of series 1, episode 44, “Do Mermaids Exist?” with the focus of the lesson being to practice using evidence in Persuasive Writing to back up the points we make.
We started the lesson by polling the class on their opinion: “Yes, they exist” moved to the window side of the room, while “No, they don't” to the door side. Then we listened to the evidence section of the episode, with students noting down useful evidence on their whiteboards. As we listened, we could also identify some persuasive techniques being used by the hosts, like rebuttal.
Afterwards, we discussed what evidence had been persuasive to us and some students admitted they had changed their point of view while listening. They then wrote a short persuasive text themselves, making points backed by evidence. The students followed this up with exchanging feedback with another student on their persuasive powers: how well did they use evidence and other language techniques?
Back when I trained to teach - which wasn’t THAT long ago, this being my second career, podcasts did exist, but they were definitely not such a big thing. Now there are so many talented people sharing their voices in this format and producing brilliant, thoughtful and entertaining podcasts.
I hugely recommend this process to anyone teaching persuasive writing to upper primary! The class were super-engaged with the podcast and the task.
Why not use podcasts as fodder for your own creativity? Here are three more terrific ones to explore:
Short and Curly
This ABC Australian ethics podcast takes on the biggest and curliest questions in a zippy, thought-provoking style. They explore intriguing questions like “Should we ban families?” and “Do you have to forgive someone who says sorry?”.
The Big Fib
Two “experts” share their knowledge of a subject, be it whales or volcanos - but only one expert is real and the other is lying. A kid has the responsibility of working out who really knows their stuff and who’s the fibber.
Smash Boom Best
Cereal Vs Toast. Mullets vs Mohawks. Capybaras vs Komodo Dragons. This podcast is a masterclass in persuasive techniques. Two debaters duke it out using facts, passion and jokes!
If this was helpful and you would like some more ideas and tips on teaching for creativity from Shona & Naomi, subscribe here and come along for the ride!
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