CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.1.A

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Warm-Up for Promoting a Cause

Warm-Up for Promoting a Cause

One way that persuasive writing can empower you is to help you promote an important cause.

How Can I Promote a Cause?

Promoting a Cause
© Thoughtful Learning 2016

You can promote a cause by showing readers how it will help them or help others. To convince readers, you must give solid reasons and express your ideas clearly. In this unit, you will be asked to write an essay that persuades others to support a cause that you believe in.

“Save the whales!” “Alba Moreno for class president!” “Reduce, reuse, recycle!” These statements are more than just slogans that you might see on campaign posters or advertisements. They also identify worthy causes—helping an intelligent species, electing a candidate, and recycling. Almost everyone supports one worthy cause or another. When you support a cause, you express your belief about something. When you try to get others to support your belief, you use persuasion.

In this unit, you will be asked to write an essay that persuades others to support a cause that you believe in.

Thinking About Opinions

People have all kinds of opinions and all kinds of reasons for their opinions. An opinion is a statement that reveals your thoughts or feelings about something. It involves a judgment. (For example, you may like or dislike asparagus.)

Write opinions.

For each sentence starter below, choose "like" or "don't like," provide a topic, and write your reason after "because."

  1. I like/don’t like   because . . .
  2. I like/don’t like   because . . .
  3. I like/don’t like   because . . .
  4. I like/don’t like   because . . .
  5. I like/don’t like   because . . .

Teaching Tip

Help students realize that opinions are personally held beliefs that can't be directly proven true, while facts can be proven true. For example, if a classroom is 70 Fahrenheit, the temperature is a fact that can be proven. One student might feel it is too cold, and another might feel it is too warm. Those ideas are opinions, because they cannot be specifically proven.

Creating Opinion Statements

You can most powerfully express your opinion by creating an opinion statement. An opinion statement shares your specific opinion about an interesting topic.

  • Specific topic: basketball
  • Thought or feeling: constant action makes it exciting
  • Opinion statement: The constant action in basketball makes it one of the most exciting pro sports.

Create opinion statements.

For each opinion you wrote in the previous activity, write the topic and a specific thought or feeling. Then combine the two into an opinion statement.

Cheating in America

Cheating in America Did you know that 7 out of 10 students have cheated at least once in the past year? Did you know that 50 percent of those students have cheated more than twice? These shocking statistics are from a survey of 9,000 U.S. high school students. Incredibly, teachers may even be encouraging their students to cheat! Last year at a school in Detroit, teachers allegedly provided their students with answers to statewide standard tests. Students at the school told investigators that they were promised pizza and money if they cheated on the test as told.

Summer: 15 Days or 2 1/2 Months?

Summer: 15 Days or 2 1/2 Months? The final bell rings. It’s the last day of school, and summer has finally come! Students don’t have to think about school for at least another 2 1/2 months. That is the way it should always be. Schools should continue using the traditional calendar and not a year-round schedule. There are numerous downsides to year-round schooling. It has no positive effects on education, it adds to costs, and it disrupts the long-awaited summer vacation. Contrary to the well-accepted belief, year-round schooling has no constructive impact on education.

Hang Up and Drive

Hang Up and Drive You see it every day, especially in freeway traffic. A car is weaving back and forth, speeding up then slowing down, or suddenly stopping. No, it’s not a drunk driver. It’s a cell-phone driver. Cell phones are used everywhere, but on the road they are a dangerous distraction to drivers and should be prohibited. The New England Journal of Medicine reported that “motorists using a cell phone were four times more likely to have an accident than those not using a phone.” The major problem is that the driver is not focused on the road, but on his or her conversation.

Musical Arts

Musical Arts “Fine arts are important in the curriculum because of what they do for learning,” stated Patty Taylor, arts consultant for the California State Department of Education. In other words, the arts, especially music, should be part of every school’s curriculum at every grade level. Music makes students smarter, gives children something positive to do, and builds self-confidence. Most students don’t have a chance to learn music outside of school, and everyone deserves that opportunity. Students would be much smarter if they had some music experience.

Dear Dr. Larson

To: Heidi Larson Dear Dr. Larson: Your accountant, Rusty Silhacek, is my neighbor. He mentioned that your office stays very busy, so I wondered if you could use some extra help. I would like to apply for a position as a part-time veterinary assistant. As far as animal care goes, I’m experienced in feeding, bathing, exercising, and cleaning up after small and large animals. I truly love animals and have always given them special attention and care. I would be available to help after school and on weekends. I would be happy to come in for an interview at your convenience.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.1.A