Students compose a persuasive essay based on research data as well as their personal experiences and views related to their country of origin.

Technology Standards

• 3T-P2. Use a variety of technology tools for data collection and analysis to support a decision;
• 5T-P1. Develop a research strategy to find accurate, relevant, appropriate electronic information sources;
• 3T-P3. Use technology tools to publish and present information with interactive features.

• 6FL-P3. Compare and contrast the treatment of current issues in both the target culture and the student’s culture by drawing on authentic texts.
• 3FL-P1. Present persuasive arguments effectively on a range of topics.

Objectives

Academic

•  Students will compose a persuasive essay by debating a thesis, collecting supporting evidence, analyzing, comparing and evaluating the data and constructing an argument.

Students will decide on appropriate technology tools to collect accurate, relevant data as supporting evidence for their thesis, to publish and to present their composition.

Using Internet search engines.

Word processing.

Presentation tools.

• Computers with Internet connection.
• A template of a persuasive essay.
• Presentation devices.
• Hand-outs—Persuasive Essay Outline.

Strategies
Varied pacing; student-teacher goal setting; varied scaffolding; use of cooperation, collaboration and independence; community mentorship; explorations by interest.
This lesson differentiates What?

• Content: Students are expected to use different research data to support their varied arguments.
• Process: Students select a topic of their essay and a way to work on it, publish and present it.
• Product: The paper will be the same format—a persuasive essay,--but it will vary in length, depending on the student’s readiness.

This lesson differentiates How?

• Interest: Students select a topic according to their interest and country of origin.
• Readiness:

    RIT Range 160-190 Illiterate students will require a tutor to guide them through the essay structure and write down their ideas.
    RIT Range 201-210  Students will create a lengthier essay independently and with more structural variety.
• Learning Profile: Students make a choice, whether they will work independently, with a partner, with a mentor; select their working environment, their pace of work; and choose what kind of research to conduct.

1.  Students are introduced to a Persuasive Essay Outline.    The teacher explains the following denominators of the essay structure:  outline, persuade, persuasive, paragraph, thesis, supporting details, argument, opinion, fact, supporting evidence, acknowledge, opponent, viewpoint, point of view, reinforce, restate, wording, paraphrase, etc.

2.  The class collectively decides on a topic and votes for a thesis. The teacher guides students through the outline and the essay itself as necessary, providing individual help to students of a lower RIT Range.

3.  Students brainstorm what issues related to their countries of origin can be a topic of a persuasive essay and develop a thesis of their own persuasive essay.  The teacher observes the students' efforts and makes a decision which students should be offered the template of the essay or a helpful website address that helps them create the argument.    Illiterate students work with a mentor that takes notes of their ideas and helps to copy them in a word processing document.  Further, he guides them through the Internet sites where they draw for information from visual images mostly or listen to the tutor as he reads out loud.

4.  Students search for supporting evidence that would validate their opinions using the following Internet sites:

http://www.elbalero.gob.mx/index_kids.html Mexican Government site for students
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Mexico  Encyclopedia of Mexico
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rjsalvad/scmfaq/scmfaq.html Culture and Society of Mexico

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/vm.html  -- CIA book of facts on Vietnam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam  Encyclopedia of Vietnam

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html  CIA book of facts on China
http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~agenhtml/agenmc/china/china.html  Art of China
http://chineseculture.about.com/  Culture of China

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ke.html  CIA book of facts on Kenya
http://www.kenya.de/

5.  Students are instructed in ways to process the discovered data:

• how to select relevant facts;
• how to create a table and insert pertinent data;
• how to refer to the source and compile a bibliography;
• how to avoid plagiarism;
• how to summarize the information;
• how to accurately paraphrase sentences;
• how to identify facts and distinguish them from opinions;
• how to differentiate between reliable data and scam, fraud and myth, etc.

6.  Students include the results of their Internet research into their essays.  The teacher instructs students to thoroughly select the data from the abundant information that they discover on the Internet, and insert only the most accurate and relevant statements.

7.  Students present their projects in a way they choose: create a Power Point, have a discussion, make a poster, etc.

The final product is the persuasive essay that is assessed on the 6 Traits Rubric for Conventions, Organization, Ideas and Content, Sentence Fluency and Voice, as defined by the Arizona Department of Education at  http://www.ade.az.gov/sbtl/6traits/6traits.pdf.  This particular assessment instrument is selected in order to make it as similar as possible to the AIMS requirements.