Why We Must Run With Scissors: Voice Lesson in Persuasive Writing

by Barry Lane, Gretchen Bernabei

Writing powerful persuasive prose begins by stirring up voices deep within the writer. As readers, we remember some of these voices of passion, humor, hope and chutzpah. We forget all the bureaucratic, jargon-filled position papers that mask real voices with dead words pinned in paragraphs on the page. There have been many great books on teaching the rhetoric of persuasion, but few tackle the complex art of liberating the dynamic voices of the student persuaders themselves. Why We Must Run With Scissors-- Voice Lessons in Persuasive Writing shows teachers how to approach persuasive writing from the inside out, teaching not only the craft of persuasion, but also the wild and crazy art that informs it.

Composed of 83 practical, classroom-ready lessons with examples of student writing from grades 3 to 12, this unique and user-friendly professional book provides teachers with an idea-packed curriculum for sparking a class of creative and savvy persuaders. Inside you will find lessons

* Exploring your personal persuasive power
* Imagining your audience
* Finding persuasion in all forms of literature
* Mining passionate opinions from the real world (fix size of dot)
* Using humor and parody to teach persuasion
* Digging beneath an entrenched position
* Finding your own distinct voice, even when writing to a uniform prompt
* Dressing as the Enemy
* Crafting beginnings and endings
* Learning the secrets of elaboration
* Acing the state persuasive writing test without ?. . .
* Assessing our arguments and efforts with sample student papers
* Using rubrics and other tools for student self-evaluation
..........and much, much more.

Genres: Teaching, Education, Professional Development

290 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

Reviews

[Christine Engelbrecht · Rating 3 out of 5]

A whole book full of individual targeted lessons for teaching students about persuasive writing, writing it and reading it. Each lesson contains the big idea, what to say to preface the lesson, during the lesson and debriefing the lesson, as well as a list of resources you will need for the lesson (along with some graphic organizers and handout examples thought they might not be big enough or on their own page, making photocopying difficult). It spans 3-12, but a lot of lessons can be adapted to fit different age groups. Not a bad shelf book for teaching resources.

[Jason Lilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What's better than a book by Barry Lane or a book by Gretchen Bernabei? A book by Barry Lane AND Gretchen Bernabei. This amazing book is packed with persuasive activities, some extensive but most brief and powerful. As you can expect from Barry Lane, this book is also a lot of fun for both teacher and students. Bring life back into your persuasive writing lessons and buy this book.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from our superintendent of instruction and oh, how I hated to give it back! Lane's humor and creativity make for a remarkably fun read as well as offering numerous ideas, most of which I immediately wished to test with my students. Bravo Barry!

[Alise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for teachers!

[Dana]

Saw him at WSRA...interesting ideas.

[Kathy McC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found a few ideas, but most of the information was common sense and nothing earth shattering.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on teaching writing.

[Sundra Wilder]

Loved the creative process for developing esaays while fostering critical thinking skills.