Persuasive Writing – Teaching Students to Strengthen Their Reasons

Persuasive writing is one of my favorite genres to teach! However, just because students are naturally compelling doesn’t mean they can write strong persuasive essays. In fact, I’ve found that while they can easily take a stand and come up with some proof, they often struggle to expand on those reasons. In this post, I’ll show you how I taught 4th and 5th graders to develop and strengthen their reasoning.

Step 1: Why Reasons Aren’t Enough—You Have to Prove Them

Teach your students why just saying a reason is not enough. You have to prove the reason to justify your opinion. I often share an analogy of a lawyer in court. They can’t just list the reasons to support their case. Instead, they have to come prepared with examples, facts, evidence, and details to back up their reasons, which will then validate their arguments.

Step 2: Two Powerful Ways to Strengthen a Reason

Once students understand the importance of strengthening their reasons, it’s time to teach them how to accomplish this task. I teach them to reinforce their reasons in two ways: Prove It and Make the Reader Care.

Prove It! – For Prove It, students are providing evidence that their reasons are valid and true. They can do this in three ways:

• Give Specific Evidence
  • Reason: Playgrounds should be kept open after school because they are a ready-to-go safe place for students to play.
  • Example: Playgrounds are checked for safety and have fences to keep children inside.
    
• Give a Real Example
  • Reason: Playgrounds should be kept open after school because many students don’t have places to play such as backyards or access to public parks.
  • Example: For example, my cousin who lives in an apartment had no place to play until the school opened its playground to the community to use after school hours.
    
• Use an If…Then Sentence
  • Reason: Playgrounds should be kept open after school because otherwise many students would spend their time on devices or find themselves in risky situations.
  • Example: If students don’t have a place to play after school, then they stay on their devices or get into situations that aren’t safe or appropriate.

Make the Reader Care –  Use these strategies to help the reader connect with your opinion:

• Imagine How You Would Feel –  Help the reader picture themselves in the situation.
  • Reason: Playgrounds should be kept open after school because many students don’t have places to play such as backyards or access to public parks.
  • Example: Imagine having to stay inside every day after school with no place to run and play.
    
• Use a “So What?” Sentence –  Tell the reader why this really matters.
  • Reason: Playgrounds should be kept open after school because they are a ready-to-go safe place for students to play.
  • Example: This is important because children need a safe place to play to avoid injuries and stay protected from unsafe environments after school.

Make the Reader Care – Connect Emotionally

Two tools to help the reader feel the reason:

• Imagine How You’d Feel
  
• So What? Sentence

Obviously, there may be some overlap between these methods, and students will mix and match these. But the key is to teach students strategies and show them examples in order to model the process of developing valid, evidence-based reasons to support their opinions. Also, naming the strategies is helpful because I’ve found that giving techniques a name helps my students become more successful.

Here is how it all looks modeled:

Teacher Think-Aloud: Choosing Support Types for My Body Paragraph

My Reason: Technology makes writing and research easier for students.

Now, I want to make my paragraph stronger by adding support. I know I have two categories to choose from: Prove It and Make the Reader Care.

Prove It! – I need to show how this is true.

I can start with a real example or specific evidence. Maybe I’ll mention how using a computer helps students type faster or fix mistakes more easily than writing by hand.

Then I could add an If…Then sentence to show the benefit. Something like:

If students use tools like spell check and grammar suggestions, then they’ll feel more confident in their writing.

Make the Reader Care – I also want the reader to feel why this matters. I could use a sentence like:

Imagine spending hours writing something by hand and then having to start over just to fix a small mistake.

I can finish with a “So What?” Sentence:

This is important because when writing feels easier, more students actually enjoy doing it, and that helps them learn more.

Ready to put these strategies into action? Choose one to model during your next mini-lesson, then challenge students to try it in their own writing. You’ll be amazed how much stronger their arguments become with just a bit of structure and support.

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