Five-Week Plan
Year 9 HEAP • Persuasion • Five-week sequence
This sequence treats persuasion as a design problem. A campaign starts with a specific audience, a specific change and a specific set of choices about message, evidence and medium. The five weeks move from analysis to research, then to design, drafting, testing and presentation.
Choose the issue carefully. The packet does not prescribe a cause. Students should choose a school or community issue that can be discussed without identifying individuals, disclosing private information or putting anyone at risk. Check the issue and the campaign plan before students contact people outside the school.
Week 1 - Rhetoric and audience
| Lesson | Focus | Formative checkpoint |
|---|
| 1 | What persuasion is, and what it is not. Distinguish informing, persuading, manipulating and coercing. | One example of each, with a reason for the classification. |
| 2 | The rhetorical situation: speaker or writer, audience, purpose, context, message and medium. | A completed situation map for a supplied campaign text. |
| 3 | Audience analysis: what the audience knows, values, needs and resists. | An audience profile with two implications for the message. |
| 4 | Ethos, pathos and logos in campaign material. | Three annotations that name the appeal and explain its effect. |
Week 2 - Argument and evidence
| Lesson | Focus | Formative checkpoint |
|---|
| 1 | Argument architecture: claim, reasons, evidence, warrant and qualifier. | A contestable claim and two distinct reasons. |
| 2 | Evidence and reasoning: what counts, what it proves and what it cannot prove. | An evidence log with three sources and a note on each source's limits. |
| 3 | Counterarguments and rebuttals. Name the strongest objection, not a token one. | A counterargument that a reasonable person could hold. |
| 4 | Research and source evaluation: lateral reading, source types and misinformation. | A source table with author, purpose, date, evidence and bias noted. |
Week 3 - Strategy and design
| Lesson | Focus | Formative checkpoint |
|---|
| 1 | Campaign strategy: problem, audience, change, message, channels and resources. | A one-sentence strategy that names the audience and the change. |
| 2 | Rhetorical devices: repetition, contrast, address, metaphor and call to action. | Three devices used for a stated effect, not decoration. |
| 3 | Visual and media rhetoric: image, layout, colour, type and framing. | A design analysis of one supplied image or poster. |
| 4 | Campaign brief: message, audience, evidence, channels and success indicators. | A one-page brief that someone else could use to make the campaign. |
Week 4 - Draft and test
| Lesson | Focus | Formative checkpoint |
|---|
| 1 | Drafting: slogan, copy, script, poster or short video plan. | A complete draft in one medium, plus a sketch of a second. |
| 2 | Redrafting in three passes: argument, clarity and effect. | One before-and-after section with a named improvement. |
| 3 | Test with a small audience: comprehension, credibility, emotional response and unintended effects. | Three specific responses and one change made because of them. |
| 4 | Ethical review: truthfulness, consent, privacy, dignity and audience vulnerability. | A completed ethics check with one risk and one safeguard. |
Week 5 - Present and reflect
| Lesson | Focus | Formative checkpoint |
|---|
| 1 | Pitch preparation: structure, slides, timing and questions. | A practised three-minute pitch with one visual. |
| 2 | Campaign pitch and audience questions. | A response that uses evidence rather than assertion. |
| 3 | Ethics reflection: what the campaign asks of its audience, and what it refuses to do. | One ethical choice explained in relation to the campaign. |
| 4 | Transfer: analyse a new campaign text using the same questions. | A completed analysis without prompts. |
The plan is adaptable. If a class needs more time on research, shorten the second design lesson rather than dropping the ethical review or the audience test. This is a teaching sequence, not a set of practice papers.