Entry 9: Time for Me to PERSUADE You of My Understanding... of the Persuasive Genre!!! (See what I did there? ;D)

Last Tuesday, our presenters who did a fantastic job (Sam, Makayla and Taylor) opened my eyes to the importance of the persuasive genre and how I would have missed teaching my future students valuable literacy and life skills from this content area/technique. I do not recall the last time I thought about persuasion in relation to writing. I guess subconsciously, when I have seen an add or heard on the radio a commercial that is "overselling" a product/service. This tends to turn me off  from their product/service as I find any sincerity to be lacking, as it appears to be more of a money grab. The most recent memory I have of thinking more deeply about persuasion, was from a course I took right before COVID at Nazareth College (I cannot recall the name of the course for the life of me!), that had us look at media. For one project we had to essentially persuade our peers to buy our product. From this experience, I learned how I tried to gain credibility, and I often used logic and sprinkled in emotion words or provided examples that would tug at the heart strings. I discovered it was fun trying to merge together sincerity and acquiring my goal of having people "buy" my product. Now I have realize that in regards to teaching, I have never thought of teaching persuasive writing to students. I have often thought of teaching students to read and write, not to ENGAGE in different techniques and styles. I see the benefits now, of being able to adopt multiple stances as you read a piece of work, to know how you are being targeted, or how you can target what you desire/want to invoke from others. 

From the presentation and my engagement of the chapter, I learned how this genre can build on thinking critically and providing students an opportunity to showcase their own voices. Students can even have chances to learn from voices different from their own! To me this means having students explore Logos (logic), Ethos (credibility/character) and Pathos (emotions) texts in addition to having them write from each stance. I imagine having students
look at mentor texts or sentences spread out across the room, and they would record which persuasion technique each quote was. To me, their is power in knowing the difference between logical reasoning, experience, and emotions. When we see how language is being used, how words take on multiple meanings and how students "intellectual identities [develop] ... [those] new ideals in ways... [which] enlarge their mental powers" this to me is having an engaging education (Muhammad, 2020, p. 104). I have noticed that students often are driven by their emotions, as they are young and still maturing/developing. To present literacy content that evokes them to think of their own credibility, using their logic and emotions, we are presenting opportunities for students to work with one another to think beyond what the words are saying. 

As provided in the persuasive leaders presentation, when "students write persuasive letters and essays, they learn to think critically, differentiate between persuasion and propaganda, analyze arguments, and use oral and written language effectively in their appeals" (Tompkins, 2012, p. 252). To me, this sole quote shines light on the importance of teaching students the ins and outs of the persuasive genre and providing them the tools to engage in creating their own pieces, which is necessary for creating thinkers who analyze and reflect. I also imagine having a school based project, at multiple grade-levels that engages students in supporting their reasoning, would not only be a fun project (where students can be very creative) but one that showed the importance of why we express our thoughts in specific manners. I want my students to not write or read only because they are "told". I want them to pause and think for themselves, what is this text (or person) trying to say? How do I know what persuasion techniques are being used? Most importantly, why should I write or vocalize my thoughts that show case my experiences, my understandings, and my emotions?

 References

Muhammad, G. (2020). Cultivating Genius: An equity framework for culturally and historically responsive literacy. New York, NY: Scholastic.