Workshop 2: Making Writing Meaningful

Allen Teng's Lesson

Allen Teng's students participate in a movement activity during prewriting.

Allen Teng's use of popular media, particularly rap music, resonates with his students and engages them in thinking and writing about critical issues. In this lesson on persuasive writing, Allen peppers the class with images from rap music and from the larger world as a way to help them develop and articulate their opinions into persuasive writing pieces.

Allen spends the first day and a half on a number of pre-writing exercises, many of which involve class discussion and movement—particularly effective for active middle level learners. Students analyze the audience and purpose of a variety of videos and rap songs. They're also studying larger world issues and beginning to take stands and articulate their positions. By the end of the second day, they start to write persuasive pieces on topics of their own choosing.

Persuasive Writing Lesson Plan (pdf)