Persuasive Writing With Superbowl Commercials

My students LOVE to write, and they love technology… and they love T.V! So I figured we'd combine all three of these into a fun writing activity. I've always loved giving students writing prompts and promoting creative writing in writer's workshop, but teaching sometimes teaching the different techniques can be tough.

So, I am always looking to make the lessons fun for myself, as well as the students. What better way to teach Persuasive Writing then through commercials? AND Superbowl commercials to boot!

I have done this for 4 years now, and it is always a HUGE hit. I offer this product as a freebie in my TPT store.. so you can do it this week, too!

I created a brochure that we use to learn about 4 different types of persuasive techniques: Bandwagon, Celebrity Spokesperson, Humor, and Emotional Appeal. We watch commercials from the Superbowl and decide which type(s) each use!

Then we come up with a product to advertise and make a Storyboard to write our own persuasive commercial. We usually do this activity the week after the Super Bowl, but you could really do it any time of the year!

In this freebie I give a layout of the week...

This can be a quick lesson, or a lengthy one! It depends on how you want to use it. I always take it for a persuasive writing grade, so we spend about a week on it. If I have extra time, I actually let the students "produce" the commercials and we video them and watch them. They love this :)

Here are some pictures of it in action so far this week!

{One of the favorites from this year: Doritos Cowboy commercial}

{I wish I could show you their faces... they were CRACKING up!}

{The brochure projected so we could go over it}

{They love to color!}

{Learning about different different types of persuasive techniques, choosing the product they will advertise, and choosing the technique they'll use.}

The kiddos are having a BLAST with this activity, and I'm loving teaching it. They were so excited about their homework tonight: Watch TV and identify techniques used in commercials. They bragged about it to the whole school at lunch. I had kiddos say their parents wouldn't believe that watching TV was their homework, so I sent out a quick email. They crack me up! :)

You can click here or on the picture below to head on over to my TPT store and get this product for FREE!