Moodle: Persuasive Writing
ETEC 565A
Tatiana Bourlova
Rationale: Persuasive Writing Online on Moodle:
I will use the Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) to develop an introductory persuasive writing module for any elementary Language Arts (7-11 year olds) that provides a hybrid environment where the teacher combines group instruction and personalized learning using technology. The incorporation of technology, for example Google Read & Write, has the capacity to provide support for learners with learning challenges or disabilities that would not be possible within the traditional learning model. The flexibility of this blended learning approach improves learning for each learner by enabling personalized learning at any time, any place and at any pace. The following pedagogical frameworks from the Draft Alberta Kindergarten to Grade 12 English Language Arts Scope and Sequence (2017) are the key ideas of learning;
- Exploring a variety of texts provides opportunities to experience enjoyment, appreciate artistry and craft, broaden perspectives and worldviews, and build cross-cultural awareness.
- Exploring the relationship between thought and language strengthens understanding of self, culture and others, and empowers individuals to communicate ethically and responsibly in an ever-changing world.
Contrary to more traditional approaches, the focus of this blended environment is on content mastery through inquiry based-learning tasks that focus on metacognition. Meaningful, personal research questions will motivate students to look beyond the walls of the classroom to build their knowledge. The practical, real-life, summative, persuasive writing project will result in better retention of key facts and ideas than a more traditional lecture setting. It will also allow students to meaningfully demonstrate their understanding of the objectives. The blended learning approach enables students to develop critical thinking skills they can apply across the curriculum to develop deeper understandings. Better still, the engaging, self-paced opportunities increase the level of on-task student behaviour. (Wang, M. et al 2009).
My choice of Moodle was based on three factors. First, it is a cost-effective, open-source platform where students have the freedom to learn, interact and share on a free LMS. Second, my school division has implemented a Moodle support plan that offers continual guidance for course design and functionality to teachers. Finally, keeping my students safe is extremely important and Moodle it complies with Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP Act), as it does not publicly share student information and the server is within Canada.
Unit Structure and Site Design:
Moodle combines the best online learning tools with the best of face-to-face strategies in a truly blended model. This course will be integrated into the Daily 5 and C.A.F.E. Language Arts lessons in which students receive explicit whole group instruction and then are given independent practice time to read and write independently while the teacher focuses on intense instruction to individuals and small groups of students (Boushey, G., & Moser, J. 2012). During independent practice, students will be engaged in Moodle activities to further their understanding of persuasive writing. Each mini-unit focuses on explicit instructions that mirror the teacher’s Daily 5 and C.A.F.E lessons, strategically leading students toward success.
Structure of each mini-unit:
- Grab their attention
- Share the objectives
- Assess previous knowledge
- Activate new knowledge
- Solidify with project based assessment
- Summarize
This persuasive writing unit is for an elementary class, so it includes a range of developmentally appropriate activities that scaffold learners in thinking in new ways, and that build their sense of self-efficacy. For example, articulation of learning targets for each unit in student-friendly language within the unit materials enables learners to confidently recognize if and when they have achieved their learning, thereby building self-efficacy. Additionally, Piaget’s theory of cognitive development identifies the ages 7-11 as a major turning point in the child’s development where their thought processes go from being egocentric to being able to consider external factors and think logically (Piaget, J. 1965), thereby enabling them to begin to bring in life experiences to deepen their understandings. Therefore developmentally this is a perfect timing for the introduction of persuasive writing as it requires them to appreciate the complexity involved in persuading someone else about a topic. In planning a summative performance-based task for their persuasive writing, I take advantage of their natural developmental growth by challenging them to apply metacognitive skills while engaging in the real-world learning tasks in the course.
Achieving Unit Objectives Through Design:
Since children at this level are capable of anticipating others’ beliefs (Piaget, 1965) the activities are designed to engage them in thinking about their peers’ perspectives, thoughts, and opinions. At each level they are guided in thinking about, analyzing and critiquing visual scenarios and examples of persuasive writing to identify the author’s purpose or intention.
The following four sections introduce and explain the format of the online course;
1. What is this topic?: Students are introduced to a video (Mrs. Grant 1.22 mins.) that includes various examples of persuasive writing that are designed to persuade viewers to buy a product or visit a place. By watching the introduction video with guiding questions, students will be intrigued by the art of persuasion. The intention of the video is for students to recognize the techniques used to convince them to buy a product, by having them identify their favourite commercial and the elements they use think persuaded them to like it. The purpose of the activity is for the learner to recognize particular interesting ads around them and the reasons why they are captivating to them.
2.What am I going to learn?
- Students will examine how persuasive writing is used to influence and convince people to think a certain way.
- Students will recognize characteristics and techniques used in good persuasive writing.
- Students will offer critiques of the persuasive information that is pushing you to make an undesirable decision.
- Students will formulate supporting evidence in persuasive writing to support their ideas.
- Students will describe the way in which persuasive writing can be helpful to people in their daily lives.
3. How am I going to learn? Through an activity, students will communicate which learning style they prefer, in order for the teacher to mold the course according to their favoured learning styles. The purpose of this activity is to point out to the learners that there are a range of different materials and activities that apply to different learning strengths and that they can highlight the one that supports their particular learning strengths or preferences.
Activities within mini-units:
- Journals- Students will be writing about how they connect their learning with real world applications. The aim is for at least 5-10 full sentences.
- Tasks/Activities- Learning will be enhanced through videos and active learning tasks, so that students can recognize how they are being influenced by persuasion and about the power of making thoughtful decisions with that information.
- Quizzes- Students will be in engaged formative assessments to solidify the teacher’s instruction and objectives of each mini-unit.
- Performance-based Task- After completing in-class instruction and all mini-units, students will create a performance-based task in which they will formulate supporting evidence in a persuasive writing piece to support their ideas.
4. What Community-Centred Learning Mean? Anderson (2008) suggests that the community-centered lens allows us to include the critical social component of learning in our online learning designs. For this reason, I want the students to have access to different modes of community communication to retrieve information, explore alternative perspectives and ideas, and receive feedback from others. Of course, when engaging in community discussions, it is important for students to express their thoughts and opinions in a manner that is responsible and respectful. Students in Rocky View Schools (RVS) are required to discuss with their parents and sign the RVS…. document at the beginning of the year, along with parent consent. This is the perfect opportunity to integrate just in time lessons about what it means to be a good digital citizen and how their interactions – part of their digital footprint – comply with the RVS technology agreement.
This blended course incorporates most of the with 21st-century competencies which are regularly evaluated at reporting periods in our district. The planned activity and video (Common Sense Education-Super Digital Citizen 2:10mins) is intended for students to recall/review those digital citizenship responsibilities before beginning the course.
At the same time, effective communication is a foundation for a successful blended learning program. In this persuasive writing unit, communication about students’ progress will be undertaken during the weekly in-class Daily 5 and C.A.F.E. lessons. Furthermore, the teacher will enhance understanding by communicating through the students’ Moodle journal entries and Moodle activities to ensure they are achieving the objectives.
Elements and Functionality of the Course Structure:
1. The persuasive writing course contains the following module structure and sections:
1.1) Persuasion around you: Throughout the course, students will be asked to add to their persuasive writing journal. They will make connections to the materials covered in this unit.
Learning Targets: Our school division encourages teachers to write school objectives as “kid friendly” I can statements. The following “I can” statements with be associated with each new unit for the students to see.
♦Can you understand the definition of persuasion and why it is important in writing?
♦Can you identify examples of persuasion in writing on the page and in other aspects of your environment?
1.2) Persuasive techniques: As students develop an understanding of how writing can influence or change another’s thoughts or actions, they can begin to recognize the persuasive nature of the marketing they are exposed on a daily basis. In the process, students become aware of techniques commonly used to skillfully and efficiently persuade people to do things.
Learning Targets:
♦Can you understand the different persuasive techniques and how they can help to convince others to agree with a particular position?
♦Can you identify persuasive writing techniques on the page and in your environment?
1.3) Elements of Persuasion: Persuasive writing follows an organized format. Using a graphic organizer will prompt a student to easily remember the elements of a persuasive writing.
Learning Targets:
♦Can you understand the elements of persuasive writing and how they work together?
♦Can you identify the importance of each element in creating quality persuasive writing?
1.4) Persuasive letter: Persuasive writing helps students to deeply explore the reasons they hold their opinions in order to formulate supporting arguments.
Learning Targets:
♦Can you understand how persuasive writing can be helpful to people in their daily lives?
♦Can you identify how letter writing can be valuable in society?
♦Can you use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create letters for a variety of purposes and audiences?
1.5) Persuasive product and presentation: Students are given choices of performance-based tasks to demonstrate the key elements of persuasion in an authentic real-life project.
Learning Targets:
♦Can you understand how the elements persuasive writing are used to create everyday products we use?
♦Can you create your own persuasive images and text that target a specific audience?
♦Can you use language in creative and playful ways to develop a style?
2. Timeline and Arrangement:
This bulk of the writing unit will be completed within 6 weeks, extra time may be needed for the integration of the persuasive project. When employed in Moodle, students will be provided with scaffolding as they participate in engaging, collaborative, hands-on practice activities to build they understand the elements of persuasion and incorporate them into their own persuasive writing efforts. The unit will culminate in learners investigating and choosing an authentic, engaging and complex challenge. This real-world project will align with student learning objectives related to both writing and elements of persuasion, while at the same time incorporating critical thinking/problem solving, communication, collaboration, and self-management.
It should be noted, prior to this unit students will have learned the components of formal letter writing and will combine that with the need to be formal, pleasant, clear, and brief, in a persuasive letter.
3. Elements:
Several Moodle enhancements are used in the introductory unit that enriches engagement and learning for students. First, audience appropriate videos and media are into the modules to build a connection with the social and cognitive presence, which is critical for deeper understanding. Furthermore, video and other media aspects heighten motivation and appeal to varying learning needs (Choi, H. J., & Johnson, S. D. (2005). Second, at this age, learners rely heavily on specific guidance about where to go next or direction about which choices they can make. Effective navigation tools will be essential for this Moodle course to be successful. Moodle does provide support for building consistent navigation, but I still need to further develop my particular plan for this unit. Third, it is important that the layout for this persuasive writing unit is appropriate and appealing for age group, so the easiness of choosing a theme within the settings of this LMS course, is appreciated. It simplifies the decisions and applies a consistent and complementary colour arrangement for the different elements of the course structure and design. I must admit that I am struggling with some limitations in formatting the pages to my personal specifications. In particular, font size, colour and alignment of tables or pictures cannot be done without directly changing HTML coding. This is one area for improvement in this LMS.
4, Assessment and Communication
Through ongoing assessment and feedback, students will be scaffolded in formulating specific reasons for their opinions and will have opportunities to research facts related to those opinions. Students and teachers will both have opportunities to evaluate learning progress through the use of quizzes, self-reflection tasks and the project-based assignment. Moreover, students will assess their progress as they make their way through the content. Assessment FOR, OF and AS learning will be embedded in a variety of tasks and assignments throughout this course.
Assessment FOR Learning, this formative assessment occurs throughout the teaching and learning of this course to clarify student’s learning and understanding. Each mini-unit will contain formal and informal assessments and activities (discussions-in class, quizzes, tasks) teachers and students will reflect on evidence of learning persuasive writing. Weekly, quizzes will be graded according. Assessment AS Learning, this metacognition occurs when self and peer reflections encourage areas of growth and development. The persuasive writing journal entry’s open-ended questions are an excellent tool to inspire teacher feedback, self-assessment and reflection to monitor further direction. Weekly, the teacher will assess and provide feedback on student reflections based on the explicit rubric provided to the students. Assessment OF Learning, will come in the final performance-based learning project is a summative assessment task which will provide evidence of students learning to assess achievement against the learner objectives. Finally, students will be given a summative rubric for to guide them in completing their performance-based task. (Assessment of, for and as Learning, Retrieved 27 June 2017)
Resources:
Anderson, T. (2008). Toward a theory of online learning. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.) Theory and Practice of Online Learning, Chapter 2 (pp. 45-74).
Assessment for, of and as learning. Retrieved 27 June 2017, from https://curriculum.gov.mt/en/Assessment/Assessment-of-Learning/Documents/assessment_of_for_as_learning.pdf
Boushey, G., & Moser, J. (2012). Big ideas behind Daily 5 and CAFE. The Reading Teacher, 66(3), 172-178.
Choi, H. J., & Johnson, S. D. (2005). The effect of context-based video instruction on learning and motivation in online courses. The American Journal of Distance Education, 19(4), 215-227.
Draft: Alberta Kindergarten to Grade 12 English Language Arts Scope and Sequence (2017) Retrieved from http://fluidsurveys.com/m/ab-education/EnglishLanguageArts/Scope%20and%20Sequence.pdf
Piaget, J. (1965). The stages of the intellectual development of the child. Educational psychology in context: Readings for future teachers, 98-106.
Wang, M., Shen, R., Novak, D., & Pan, X. (2009). The impact of mobile learning on students’ learning behaviours and performance: Report from a large blended classroom. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(4), 673-695.