Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Here there be dragons!

Really, what fantasy medieval kingdom is complete without dragons? Dragons, as a topic for writing, presents all sorts of fun approaches. Perhaps a story will be thrilling with characters fending off a terrifying beast, or a gentler approach with misunderstood dragons and budding friendships. The sky is limit in creative writing.

When I am on the hunt for a new project or the next unit I need to tackle, I want it to be along the current classroom theme. Persuasive writing was up next so the challenge was to connect it to the fantasy/medieval theme we were immersed in. What better way to bring dragons into the fold? Hence, Dragon Persuasive Writing- with OREO format , was born.





To allow creative expression, but focus in on writing persuasively, students have three choices of prompts to choose from. Whether desperate, clever, or beseeching, the persuasive tone will change depending on which direction the student will take in reasoning with their dragon.






Creative writing can be difficult for students, even with a fun prompt to nudge them on the way. Included is a teacher's example for a different dragon persuasive situation, both a filled out graphic organizer and a written example. Students have a dragon writing paper to complement their final draft and to color as personality suits. The graphic organizer follows the OREO format, which stands for Opinion, Reason, Examples, and Opinion Restating.



Why stop at one prompt? Time allowing, students could complete the other two prompts and the lesson could shift to difference in tone in persuasion. All in all, I wish your students eloquence in their attempts to persuade their dragon. May their ventures end well!


For more dragon writing fun, check out Dragon Profiles: Creative Writing.


More medieval and fantasy resources at my TeachersPayTeachers store here.










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