Persuasion in Democratic Politics

Instructional Strategies

Direct Instruction

While there has been a big push for differentiated (small group) instruction in the classroom; I find some direct (whole group) instruction a "necessary evil". In using direct instruction I am ensuring that the students get the specific information that I want them to receive. By using direct instruction I can use different kinds of technology in the classroom. Whether it is through lectures, power points, SMART board activities, videos, or recorded material I know that they get only the relevant information that I want them to have. With the use of direct instruction I will be able to better assess the student's assimilation of the information being presented to them through written and verbal assessments, quizzes, and other activities such as crosswords. I will use direct instruction techniques whenever the presentation of new concepts is being taught.

Graphic Organizers

A graphic organizer is a visual representation of knowledge that structures information by arranging important aspects of a concept or topic into a pattern using labels. These organizers help students in learning and thinking by: representing abstract ideas in more concrete forms, or depicting the relationships among facts and concepts. Graphic organizers can be used before a lesson to activate prior knowledge, guide thinking, and to develop vocabulary. During a lesson, the graphic organizer can help students organize information and stay focused on the content material. After a lesson, the graphic organizer allows the students to confirm or rethink prior knowledge and to relate the new concepts to the old. ¹⁴ Some types of graphic organizers that may be used are: hierarchical organizers that present main ideas and supporting details in ranking order, comparative organizers that depict similarities among key concepts, or sequential organizers that illustrate a series of steps or place events in a chronological order. We will use graphic organizers throughout the entire unit.

Rubrics

In using a rubric I will be able to let the student know exactly what I am expecting from them. There will be no question about what is being expected from them when they present in front of the class as their culminating activity.

Cloze Activities

Cloze procedure is a technique in which words are deleted from a passage according to a word-count formula or various other criteria. The passage is presented to students, who insert words as they read or listen to complete and construct meaning from the text. This procedure can be used as a diagnostic reading assessment technique. ¹⁵ -We will use cloze activities when we have learned the different components of a persuasive speech. Students will listen to a speech or portion of a speech and then they will have to re-write them using their own words. This way I can assess what they have gotten out of what they heard and if they truly understand the different components of a rhetorical speech.

R.A.F.T. Activities

The R.A.F.T. Technique is a system to help students understand their role as a writer, the audience they will address, the varied formats for writing, and the expected content. RAFT is an acronym that stands for:

• Role of the Writer - Who are you as the writer?
• Audience - To whom are you writing?
• Format - What form will the writing take?
• Topic + strong Verb - What's the subject or the point of this piece?

Almost all RAFT writing assignments are written from a viewpoint different from the student's, to another audience rather than the teacher, and in a form different from the ordinary theme. Therefore, students are encouraged to use creative thinking and response as they connect their imagination to newly learned information. ¹⁶ We will use these methods in preparation for their final project which will be an oral presentation.

Oral Presentations

The final project will be an oral presentation given in front of the class. This will be a culminating activity that will reflect everything that the students have learned. In being able to give a short persuasive speech that they have either written on their own or have re-written a portion of a speech of a famous person in history will reflect upon the techniques and knowledge learned throughout the course of the lesson.