Persuasive Writing

I suffer from writer's block.  I have a difficult time coming up with writing prompts for my Fifth Graders.  We do not have a writing program.  Rather, our writing program is not a good one, so we make up our own using the standards.  Persuasive Writing is one of those standards.  I didn't want to do the same old "convince your parents for a (insert golden ticket item here)" prompt.  Hmmm.  What to do?  Read Shel Silverstein!  Because you know, a good poem solves everything.  And in my case it solved my writer's block.  I found "Headphone Harold" in Falling Up and a prompt was born.  The assignment: Write a letter to Headphone Harold to persuade him to not wear his headphones all the time.  Give at least two reasons he needs to stop.

First stop: Stephanie Moorman's blog Teaching in Room 6 for a pre-write graphic organizer.  Then, a read through of the poem and a discussion on why wearing headphones is not a good idea.  I asked the students about long-term reasons and immediate reasons.  I told them they needed to appeal to Harold's sense of self-preservation. Then we were writing!

Before we started editing, we had a discussion on frequent errors in writing: your vs. you're, the fact that were and where are not interchangeable, and most words do not have capitals in the middle of the sentence (or word!).  There were a few others I noticed as I circuited the room and I brought those up as well.  Then I had the students look for those errors as well as other language issues.  It is hard to let students do their own editing.  They read their paper the way they intended it, not the way it actually is.  This is one area of writing where I really struggle as a teacher.  I think next year I am not going to try to do the entire writing process with every piece I assign.  We'll get more writing done with intense focus on particular areas of the process rather than huge writing assignments that seem to drag on interminably!