Lesson Plan #2
The Art of Persuasion
Duration: 3 to 5 days
Objectives: Students will :
design a brochure that will help persuade people to visit a state
locate and cite five Web sites to be included in their travel brochure
use the writing process to create a travel brochure
research the Internet for gathering information about a town or cities
Materials:
Word Processor such as Claris Work, The Writing Center, Microsoft Publisher
Sample Brochures Travel Brochure.Com
Internet Access
Encyclopedias, Online Encyclopedias
CD-Roms
Trade Books
Key Vocabulary:
brochure, design, province, state, travel
Procedures:
This project could be assigned to individual students or to teams of 2 or more students.
Students will create a brochure about a state that informs, educates, or persuades. A brochure is not an in-depth study of a topic but it should give enough information to grab and keep the readers interest from start to finish.
A brochure may cover a broad topic but it shouldn't contain so much information that it overwhelms the reader. Students are to choose 2 to 3 key points about the state to describe. If there are other important elements, consider listing them in a simple bullet list or chart somewhere in your brochure.
In addition to what your brochure says, students must decide the best format to present their information. Different formats work best for brochures with lots of text, lots of pictures, small blocks of text, lists, charts, or maps. Students will need to find the format that works best for your information.
Steps
Internet Resources for Research
Assessment:
The teacher and fellow students will use the criteria listed in the checklists (Brochure Checklist ) to see how well the students have presented their state. Not everyone will agree on the effectiveness of a single brochure but if the students have done their job well, most readers will agree that their brochure gives them the information they want and need, is easy to follow, and makes them want to know more.
Allow the students to share their brochures with the class if they choose to do so and collect the brochures afterwards. Make sure all of the required information is included. Make a rack for the brochures to be displayed on, just as if they were in a travel agency.
Home Learning:
Can you convince me? After viewing the brochures students have created, have each student choose another student's state and write a persuasive paragraph to convince the teacher not to visit that state.
Extension Activity:
TV
or Not TV? This website provides a topic with which students at any level
can relate.
Have students work in pairs on the computer to access the website. Have them
follow the site's Web Quest activity that asks them to research the effect of
television and guides them in preparing a persuasive Power Point presentation.
Have students begin the activity by clicking on the Introduction, and then
moving on to the Task and the Process icons, as well as anywhere else on the
site that they find necessary.