One of my favorite stories we read during the year features
a time machine and how it helps build a friendship. The lesson just after this
story teaches about persuasion. So, my teaching team and I came up with a new
idea to weave these two lessons together. The students will build a model of
their time machine as a prototype. Then they will need to make a brochure to
sell their idea. One of the focus points of the brochure needs to be why people
will want to buy it. I have found that 5th graders do not think like
sellers. For that matter, they are not truly thoughtful buyers either. Completing
this writing prompt after they build the prototype, but before they make the
brochure, will help them focus their thoughts on the consumer. This project will
help them see how businesses sell to them as they develop their ability to
persuade others.
While the image is on the Smartboard, the class will come up with a a list of motivations for consumers. Again, 5th graders are not well versed in thinking about why other people would do something. Scaffolding their thinking as a whole group will help them not stall at the beginning. I would not require them to use the group's ideas, but they could pick out of why the group lists.
Fire, L. (2013, December 20). The Museum of Science Fiction To Open In Washington, DC. . Retrieved June 28, 2014, from http://firewireblog.com/2013/12/20/the-museum-of-science-fiction-to-open-in-washington-dc/
