Political Ad Writing

9 grade Government 4 weeks

April Leitshuh
th

Stage 1 - Desired Results

Essential Questions:
How do political ad writers persuade the voting public?
Is one type of political ad more effective than another?
What techniques do political ad writers use?
Evidence Outcomes from Colorado State Standards:
1.c. Refine the expression of voice and tone in a text by selecting and using appropriate vocabulary, sentence structure, and sentence organization
2.a.iv. Use appropriate rhetorical appeals and genre to engage and guide the intended audience
2.a.v. Anticipate and address readers biases and expectations
2.a.vii. Explain and imitate emotional, logical, and ethical appeals used by writers who are trying to persuade an audience
SS:
1.e. Critique various media sources for accuracy and perspective
Objectives (what students need to know, understand, and be able to do):
IWBA2 anticipate what issues my classmates are passionate about and create political ads aimed at those issues
Use emotional appeals to persuade my peers to vote for a political candidate I am writing political ads for
Identify the perspective political ad writers use when writing political ads
Write political ads for a presidential candidate that are informative, ethical, and effective
Stage 2 - Assessment Evidence
Performance Task:
Other Evidence:
Goal: Write a political ad for a presidential candidate that convinces your
Quiz on types of campaign tactics
peers to vote for your candidate

Research on presidential candidates

Role: Political Ad writer

Writing conferences
Audience: Northglenn High School Social Studies classes

Peer conferences
Situation: The 2016 presidential election is fast approaching and the

Class discussion
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Political Ad Writing
9 grade Government 4 weeks
April Leitshuh
th

candidates want fresh meat working on their campaigns. They have asked
the students of 9th grade government classes at our high school to identify
important political issues in our community and then create political ads
for the candidates surrounding those issues. The students have to identify
different types of political advertising and determine which is the most
effective, informative, and ethical, and then create a political ad using
that strategy.
Product: Political Ad (30 second TV commercial, mail flier or radio
commercial and DBQ
Standard for Success: Teachers/students in the social studies department
will view the political ads created to vote in a mock election. The
candidates that win will have had the most persuasive political ad writers.

DBQ

Stage 3 - Learning Plan

Learning Activities: See calendar/mini-lessons (below)
Highlights:
Creating ad for everyday product
Creating political ad
Peer editing
Guest Speaker (political ad writer)
School wide presentation
DBQ Writing
Mini Lesson 1: What makes an effective political ad?
I. Objective/Rationale
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Political Ad Writing
9 grade Government 4 weeks
April Leitshuh
th

IWBA2 evaluate what makes an effective political ad

II. Colorado Reading/Writing/Speaking Standards
2.a.vii. Explain and imitate emotional, logical, and ethical appeals used by writers who are trying to persuade an audience
1.e. Critique various media sources for accuracy and perspective
III. Materials and Preparation
Super bowl commercials
Items for writing ads (notebooks, markers, soda, teddy bear, lanyard, chair, banana chips, etc).
IV. Lesson
1. Connecting to previous learning
Advertising is all around us. We see it on TV, billboards; we hear it on the radio. There are even television ads played in stores as we walk down the
aisles. What makes these ads effective? Who is producing these ads? Do they have the consumers best interest in mind? In relationship to social
studies, how do political ad writers convince us to vote for their candidate (buy their product)?
2. Teaching activity (what method are you using?)
1- Have a discussion about what makes advertising effective (Mentor text: use 2 30 second super bowl commercials) 5 minutes
2- Have students answer the following questions about each commercial (5 minutes)
Who is the intended audience? How does the producer play on the consumers emotions? How do the producers portray other competing products?
What benefits does the producer say the consumer will achieve if they become in possession of the product?
3- Lecture about the types of advertisements (10 minutes)
4- Have students pick a product from a box and describe the assignment (3 minutes)
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Political Ad Writing
9 grade Government 4 weeks
April Leitshuh
th

3. Practicing
1- Have students take the product they chose from the box and have them write advertisements for them, choosing one of the strategies given to them
in lecture. (15 minutes)
2- Have students present their commercials to the class and have the class give constructive feedback on which was the most effective (10 minutes)
3- Discuss why the ads were so effective
4. Linking to the writing students are expected to produce
Advertising is everywhere, sometimes we arent even aware that we are being advertised to. Today you watched 30 second commercials, and used
those as a baseline to write your own advertisements for a product. As we move throughout the unit, you will see that advertisers for commercial
industries use the same types of methods as political ad writers. Use the information you received today from your peers about which ads were the
most effective and why, because eventually, you will write your own political ads to persuade people to vote for a candidate you are representing.

Mini Lesson 2: Writing a political ad

I. Objective/Rationale
IWBA2 identify which type of political ad I think is the most effective
Create a political ad for a candidate that will persuade the teachers/student body to vote for
II. Colorado Reading/Writing/Speaking Standards
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Political Ad Writing
9 grade Government 4 weeks
April Leitshuh
th

1.c. Refine the expression of voice and tone in a text by selecting and using appropriate vocabulary, sentence structure, and sentence organization
2.a.iv. Use appropriate rhetorical appeals and genre to engage and guide the intended audience
2.a.v. Anticipate and address readers biases and expectations
2.a.vii. Explain and imitate emotional, logical, and ethical appeals used by writers who are trying to persuade an audience
III. Materials and Preparation
All political fliers from previous lessons
Paper
Computers
Phones
IV. Lesson
1. Connecting to previous learning
Weve looked at different types of political advertising and propaganda, and today you are going to synthesize that information and write a political
ad for a candidate.
2. Teaching activity (what method are you using?)
1- Show students several examples of mentor texts (100 ads from November 2014 election), You tube examples, radio ads, etc.
2- For each ad discuss with them the types of propaganda techniques employed throughout (have students take notes on the type of ad used and have
them justify their answer) (15 minutes)
3. Practicing
Students will write their political ads based on the candidates they researched from the previous week
4. Linking to the writing students are expected to produce

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Political Ad Writing
9 grade Government 4 weeks
April Leitshuh
th

Youve practiced making advertisements for products, and you now know about the types of political ads. Its time to create an ad that you think will
persuade the most people to vote for the presidential candidate you researched. Remember from our previous lecture to keep it ethical, informative,
and effective.

Mini Lesson 3: How to Peer Edit (NCTE Method)

I. Objective/Rationale
IWBA2 understand and apply a three step peer editing process
II. Colorado Reading/Writing/Speaking Standards
1.c. Refine the expression of voice and tone in a text by selecting and using appropriate vocabulary, sentence structure, and sentence organization
2.a.iv. Use appropriate rhetorical appeals and genre to engage and guide the intended audience

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Political Ad Writing
9 grade Government 4 weeks
April Leitshuh
th

III. Materials and Preparation

IWBA2 effectively peer edit my peers political ad and make suggestions for improvement
IV. Lesson
1. Connecting to previous learning
Youve spent weeks determining what makes an effective political ad, and writing actual ads. Today you are going to collaborate with your peers to
make sure your ad is effective, ethical, and informative.
2. Teaching activity (what method are you using?)
1- Have students pull out their copy of the rubric they created as a class
2- Have students analyze the importance of each thing on the rubric
3- Have students share out what we were trying to accomplish with the political ads created (effective, informative, ethical)
4- Bring up one student to the front. Ill read their ad for the class and then do a mini-conference in front of the class to model
5- Show students to focus on three things: Compliments, suggestions, corrections
6- Separate students into groups of 4 and have those groups trade their papers with another group (no one will grade the paper of someone else in
their group)
3. Practicing
Students will grade each others papers using our rubric. They will give compliments, then suggestions, then corrections
Bring students back together after theyve edited 3 papers and share out common compliments, suggestions, and corrections
4. Linking to the writing students are expected to produce
Examining the regular and political ad examples helped you create political ads. Now that youve seen the work of your peers and given them
compliments, suggestions, and made corrections, you can evaluate your own work. What corrections do you need to make? Did you do something
well? What can be done to make your candidate seem like the best person for the job?
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Political Ad Writing
9 grade Government 4 weeks
April Leitshuh
th

Mini Lesson 4: Writing for a DBQ

I. Objective/Rationale
IWBA2 convince a political candidate to let me campaign on them based on my advertising strategy
IWBA2 identify and justify which political ads are the most effective, informative, and ethical.
II. Colorado Reading/Writing/Speaking Standards
1.c. Refine the expression of voice and tone in a text by selecting and using appropriate vocabulary, sentence structure, and sentence organization
2.a.iv. Use appropriate rhetorical appeals and genre to engage and guide the intended audience
2.a.v. Anticipate and address readers biases and expectations
2.a.vii. Explain and imitate emotional, logical, and ethical appeals used by writers who are trying to persuade an audience
SS:
1.e. Critique various media sources for accuracy and perspective
III. Materials and Preparation
DBQ Packet
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Political Ad Writing
9 grade Government 4 weeks
April Leitshuh
th

IV. Lesson
1. Connecting to previous learning
You learned about the types of political ads. You created advertisements for products and for presidential candidates and had your teachers and
classmates vote on which they thought was the most persuading. Now you need to write a letter to a presidential candidate presenting your
conclusion as to which political ads are the most effective, ethical and informative through a DBQ.
2. Teaching activity (what method are you using?)
1- Read prompt to students (From mini Q Im teaching now) You have a $1 million to spend on three ads- 600,000 for one, 300,000 for the second,
and 100,000 for the third. You must write a letter to the candidate which describes your advertising plan. With each of your three strategy choices do
the following: State the amount of money you will be spending, use documents form the Mini-Q that provide historical examples of the strategy,
explain why you believe that strategy is informative, effective, and ethical.
2- Quick review of letter writing format
3- Look at documents with students
4- Have students answer questions about the documents individually or in pairs
5- Pull class together and correct any mis-findings
6- Have students re-read prompt
3. Practicing
Using the information from all previous lessons and activities, students will answer a DBQ using various documents
4. Linking to the writing students are expected to produce
You will write a letter persuading a political candidate on which types of political ads are the most effective, informative, and ethical.

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Political Ad Writing
9 grade Government 4 weeks
April Leitshuh
th

Rubric (developed with students) from Rubistar

6+1 Trait Writing Model : Political Ads

Student Name:

________________________________________

CATEGORY

Effective:
Word Choice

Writer uses vivid words and phrases that linger or draw pictures in the readers mind, and the choice and placement of the words
seems accurate, natural and not forced.

Ethical:
Accuracy of
Facts (Content)

All supportive facts are reported accurately.

Informative:

The writer seems to be writing from knowledge or experience. The author has taken the ideas and made them "their own"

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Political Ad Writing
9 grade Government 4 weeks
April Leitshuh
th

Adding
Personality
(Voice)
Flow & Rhythm
(Sentence
Fluency)

All sentences sound natural and are easy-on-the-ear when read aloud. Each sentence is clear and has an obvious emphasis.

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Political Ad Writing
9 grade Government 4 weeks
April Leitshuh
th

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