At this point, Miss Zips read the names of five students to stand up on stage with her: Lizzy O’Malley, Connor O’Malley, Kym Park, Deon Gibson, and Padma Bitar.
Hoots and shouts greeted them. “Hi, Deon!” A girl swooned.
Finally, Miss Zips announced, “And now for our special surprise.”
The curtain opened. Suddenly a dragon with red wings flew across the stage. Well, actually, it was someone in the costume of a dragon. The wings were just arms with extra red material.
“Way to go, Principal Tuxbury!” a voice called out. The kids stomped their feet on the floor, creating a thunderous roar.
“Way cooler than an armadillo,” Connor whispered to Lizzy.
Kym turned around. “Maybe we should’ve gone with the hamster,” she said.
Then she laughed. “Not really!”
Miss Zips’s “Wow Me” Tips
Have you ever tried to convince your parents to let you stay up late? Perhaps you want to get a family pet, or take a trip to Disney World? Have you ever tried to get out of cleaning your room or doing your homework? If so, you’ve been practicing your persuasion skills!
You’ve probably noticed that whining and begging are not the most effective ways to persuade somebody. Making a logical argument is a much better way to get others to see your point of view, because you are giving them reasons to be persuaded. Let’s start at the beginning.
What’s the big idea?
Presenting an argument is not about being the loudest, or the funniest, or even the smartest. As I tell my students all the time, it’s about making a claim, and supporting that claim with evidence.
What do you need to convince your audience of? A claim often starts with a big idea. An idea is “big” if it is something you feel excited or passionate about. If you don’t feel strongly, how can you convince anyone else to agree with you?
Lizzy and Kym had the big idea that their school should get a new mascot. To turn that idea into a claim, the BIG needed to be specific, direct, and make one main point: Drake the Dragon would make a better mascot for Clay Elementary than Arnold the Armadillo. There is no question about what they are arguing!
Now what? Support that claim!
Supporting your claim means trying to prove it. Think about it this way: if you simply made a claim and stopped there, your audience would be left wondering, WHY? So you have to answer that question for them. You have to give your audience reasons to be persuaded, and back those reasons up with evidence such as facts and details.
It’s always good to start by asking yourself some questions. For example:
Why isn’t the armadillo a good mascot?
Why would a dragon make a better mascot?
Why might anyone want to keep the armadillo mascot, and how can I argue against that?
What are the benefits of getting a new mascot?
Being able to answer these kinds of “why” questions will give you the reasons for your argument and help you come up with the facts and details you need to support your claim.
Let’s look at Lizzy’s speech. What support does she offer to convince Clay Elementary to vote for a dragon mascot?
REASON: An armadillo doesn’t make sense as a mascot for an elementary school in Connecticut.
EVIDENCE: They are warm-weather animals and there are no armadillos living in Connecticut or anywhere close.
REASON: A new mascot could help raise money to improve the school.
EVIDENCE: The new dragon image could help sell T-shirts, banners, etc.
REASON: Dragons could take down any opponent!
EVIDENCE: They are magical and fierce.
Wrap it up!
Now that you’ve made your claim and supported it with reasons and evidence, it’s time to wrap everything up in the conclusion of your argument. This is your last chance to get your audience to agree with your point of view—make the most of it! In your conclusion, you can restate your claim, tie up any loose ends, and make a call to action if needed. A call to action asks your audience to believe something or do something. In Lizzy’s speech, she says, “Let’s all be Dragons together!” This is a call to action because she is asking the other students to vote for Drake the Dragon.
Put it all together!
What we’ve just gone over are the basic elements of a strong argument. This is a good format to follow for your next persuasive speech or writing assignment:
CLAIM
Reason
Evidence
Reason
Evidence
Reason
Evidence
CONCLUSION
So, what’s your big idea? Better get to work—you’ve got a lot of convincing to do, and I want you to wow me!
— CHAPTER 1 —
The Best Part of the Day
For Deon Gibson, there was no debate. Only one answer could be correct. Recess was absolutely, positively, 100 percent, totally the best part of the school day. No one could convince him otherwise.
Sure, some kids liked PE best.
They were wrong.
Others kids loved math.
But again, according to Deon, those people were nuts. Sure, those math-loving students might go on to become scientists or computer wizards, but Deon didn’t care.
“Recess is the best part of the school day,” Deon claimed to anyone who’d listen at his Clay Elementary cafeteria table.
“That’s just your opinion,” Kym replied.
“Not opinion, fact!” Deon stated.
“Well, personally, in my opinion, I like reading better.” Kym Park closed her eyes and smiled. “Silent, independent reading. And I love it when Miss Zips reads out loud to us. Ah, pure heaven. I could listen to her read books all day.”
“Reading is okay,” Deon countered. “But you have to sit still and be quiet. That’s so not me. I’m the opposite. At recess, I get to run around and scream my head off. I get to see all my friends. We laugh and joke around. We play ball. Plus”—he tapped the left side of his chest—“it’s good for the old ticker.”
Connor O’Malley shoved a fistful of chips into his mouth. He said, “Lunschhh.”
Kym swiveled her head in Connor’s direction. Then she turned to Connor’s twin sister, Lizzy. “What did he say?”
Lizzy O’Malley shook her head. “My brother is trying to say ‘lunch,’ Kym, but Connor’s face is too stuffed with food—as usual. Connor, could you please swallow your chips before speaking?”
“Shhhorry,” Connor apologized, still chewing.
Deon leaned forward. “I know a guy who tried this trick where he ate ten crackers crazy fast and tried to whistle. You have like thirty seconds to do it. And I’m telling you, it’s impossible—and it’s hysterical. Crackers were flying everywhere. It was raining Saltines!”
Kym made an ew face.
“Sounds disgusting,” Lizzy said.
“No, trust me, it’s funny,” Deon said. “The crackers absorb all the water in your mouth. Then you can’t whistle.”
Kym frowned. “I can’t whistle at all. Even without crackers.”
“It’s easy,” Connor said. “Just put your lips together and blow.” He let out a whistle that would have made a sparrow proud.
Kym furrowed her brows in concentration. She pushed out her lips to form a tight circle. She puffed out her cheeks.
And nothing happened.
Not a peep.
Not a chirp.
Not a tweet.
“Sad!” Deon snorted.
Kym’s cheeks flushed pink.
“Hey, don’t laugh, Deon,” Lizzy said. “I bet there’s lots of things that Kym can do that you can’t.”
“Yeah, like math,” Connor joked.
“I can do math,” Deon claimed. “I just don’t see the point. Two and two makes four. What more do I need to know?”
Lizzy rose to take her things to the recycling bin. She checked the wall clock. “Well, in one hundred and eighty seconds it will become
your favorite time of day.”
Deon looked puzzled.
“Three minutes,” Lizzy said. “Sixty seconds is a minute. Sixty times three is one eighty. That’s when we go outside for recess.” She grinned. “See, Deon. Math isn’t so bad after all. It’s just a question of how you look at it.”
Buy the Book
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Visit hmhbooks.com to find all of the books in the Big Idea Gang series.
About the Author
JAMES PRELLER is the author of the popular Jigsaw Jones Mysteries, which have sold more than ten million copies. He is also the author of Bystander, named a 2009 Junior Library Guild Selection, Six Innings, an ALA Notable Book, and the Scary Tales series of mystery-horror stories for children. James lives in Delmar, New York, with his wife, three children, cats, and dog.
Visit him at jamespreller.com
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