Students will examine the various needs of the writer and audience in this unit and discover various approaches to organizing that fulfill these needs. At the end of the lesson, students are going to:
- Determine the audience's various attributes.
- Intend to portray themselves as inoffensive individuals.
- Recognize, accept, and disprove opposing arguments.

- To what extent does the writing process influence writing quality?
- How can we become proficient writers?

- Attitude: The position, opinion, and beliefs of a writer are expressed through diction, imagery, tone, and syntax. 
- Audience: The intended listener or reader of a piece of literature. 
- Concession: Acknowledging one minor point or truth in an opponent’s argument. 
- Counterpoint: To refute one part of an argument by bringing up evidence or reasons to weaken it.

- copies of Two Sides to Every Argument graphic organizer (L-C-5-2_Two Sides Graphic Organizer and Model)
- copies of the Voice Brainstorming Plan handout (L-C-5-2_Voice Brainstorming Plan)
- copies of Letter to the Editor and KEY (L-C-5-2_Letter to the Editor and KEY)

- Students who are having trouble identifying concessions may benefit from seeing examples on the board or in a small group setting.
- Students who struggle to pinpoint their opponent's top three points will gain from collaborating in groups or with a partner.
- Depending on the context or target audience, students can change the tone of their writing to suit the needs of the audience or situation. Ask students to discuss how speaking with friends, teachers, parents, administrators, or anyone else influences their language use, grammar, and topic choice.

Explicit instruction, modeling, scaffolding, and active engagement
W: The lesson's goal is to examine persuasive techniques in example texts to think through effective audience management techniques. Completing a graphic organizer will promote the development of points and counterpoints to comprehend an opponent's viewpoint. 
H: A writer can better understand how people are perceived and the decisions they can make by conducting a voice and audience analysis of an early editorial. Encouraging the selection of a persuasive topic and collaborating in pairs will promote contemporary themes and solitary investigation of argument structure. 
E: Presenting opposing viewpoints will promote discussion of how to construct an argument and show how to refute one. 
R: This lesson covers voice again and highlights the significance of the audience. Students will analyze a text to infer writer and audience characteristics. An activity will cause learners to reflect on how acknowledging an opponent’s position demonstrates respect. An end-of-lesson summary offers a final review. 
E: Students can begin goal-setting by determining if their voice plan is detailed enough to guide while writing to a specific audience with a set agenda in a respectful manner. 
T: The lessons incorporate a few different multiple-intelligence strategies: visually-spatially appealing handouts; verbal-linguistic-intelligence information delivery; reading pieces that may be preselected for various reading levels; and interpersonal group work requiring critical thinking, inductive reasoning, and logic. Intrapersonal intelligence is also accessed through work on a topic of choice. 
O: To help students get on the path to using skills independently in the future, the lesson is structured according to a predetermined order for student access: introduction, information, guided practice, comprehension check, and extension. 
 

Focus Question: What strategies can an author employ to make the reader more likely to accept their point of view?

Part 1

Inform students: "Becoming an effective communicator is more than just learning the various persuasive techniques. Understanding your audience and their needs is equally important. " Examine and evaluate a letter to the editor (L-C-5-2_Letter to the Editor and KEY) for tone and attitude. Students are to identify the author's attitude and influence on different audiences with a partner:

Is the author's intention apparent?

What would you say about the used language level? Basic (mostly single-syllable words), Everyday (common words with one to two syllables), or Advanced? What does that possibly mean about the reading proficiency of the author?

Who is the target market?

What would you say the piece's tone is?

Do you believe the tone contributes to or takes away from the author's credibility and ability to sound reasonable?

As a class, share observations or ask groups to collaborate to share findings. You can change this exercise by having small groups analyze different texts.

Ask the class as a whole: "Does the writer's voice—that is, their overall combination of word choice, tone, and sentence structure—make them seem like a reliable, respectable person? How might this piece affect someone who holds a different opinion? Could it have been worded to sound more courteous? More ironic? More startling? How?"

Part 2

Next, students should identify one particular local change they would like to see. It could be in their house, the school, a club or organization, or the nearby city. For instance, a student may write to the school board to propose eliminating tests and uniforms. A student might persuade a parent in writing to request a later curfew or to work out a new cell phone plan.) Give the students the Voice Brainstorming Plan handout (L-C-5-2_Voice Brainstorming Plan) to complete about the selected scenario.

Describe: "You must address the opponent's concerns and fears to truly convince an audience to accept your position, or even to motivate him or her to complete a specific action."

Make notes with your students: "Recognizing the opponent's concerns and intellect is a sign of respect. Your thoughts are more likely to be taken into consideration as a result. To do this in a dispute, follow these three simple steps:

Determine the position of the audience and the reasons behind it.

When the audience expresses a legitimate concern, make a small concession (acquiesce and agree) and then demonstrate how the audience's fear or concern may be unimportant in the grand scheme of things. This demonstrates respect and validation for some portion of the arguments and viewpoints of your opponent.

To demonstrate why the opponent's arguments are unimportant or unrelated to the overall issue, offer counterarguments backed up by logic or facts. This takes the argument beyond simple declarations of intentions or convictions. Additionally, by focusing on the bigger picture rather than the particular annoyances of a situation, one can persuade opponents to agree for the benefit of the community."

Give students a point-counterpoint construction model to review. For a chosen topic, have students complete their own two sides of an argument to gain experience understanding the perspective of an opponent (L-C-5-2_Two Sides Graphic Organizer and Model). Think about this: "Where can we make a concession or counterargument to defuse the audience's defensiveness?"

Argument plans can be discussed with a partner, the class as a whole, or with you after individual brainstorming. Recall that you can conduct a more in-depth study and acquire proof at a later time if you want to see the students' plans expanded upon.

In conclusion, instruct students to use the following review questions in pairs to test one another. Students should refer to their notes for any questions they are unable to answer. Students should write their collaborative responses on an exit ticket and turn it into you for a brief comprehension test. If not, pose the following questions to the class to gauge recall:

"Why is it crucial to take the audience into account?" (To increase persuasive success by demonstrating respect by acknowledging the anxieties and concerns of the audience.)

"How can you convince an opponent to support you by offering them a concession?" (Acknowledgment of your opponent's arguments and points of view is a sign of respect and validation.)

"What makes counterpoints crucial in an argument?" (Counterpoints take the argument beyond simple declarations of intent or conviction. Additionally, opponents may support a larger picture rather than concentrate on the more minor, personal annoyances of a situation if they can see the bigger picture.)

Extension:

Students might compose a persuasive letter to someone who has the power to effect the desired change. It is best to use voice brainstorming, counterarguments, and concession. You could decide to assign students to edit and send the letters themselves. Students can look up and evaluate other persuasive writings' voices. The simplest and most obvious examples are found in political texts or newspaper editorials.