Week 12 By: Kellie Katelman
Persuasion as a Strategy for Responding to Resistance
Persuasive Strategies
Persuasive strategies are used by teachers to find different conclusion. To find the desired results we have to convince a student or group of students to hold a certain opinion about a belief, circumstance or course of action. These different appeals provide different methods of persuasion necessary for our students to be successful in the classroom.
Emotional Appeals
This persuasive strategy is used to try to persuade someone of something based on the feelings they have as a result of being human. This can be an effective tool because our feelings often influence our decisions. For example, to persuade a student to finish homework I could tell them about another student who never turned anything in and had to retake the class. I would explain that because they had to retake the class it set back their graduation date and would result in the student being in high school longer then they would have to if they would just do their homework when its assigned.
Benefits Appeal
This persuasive strategy puts a spotlight on how a person would improve if they end up supporting or following a particular opinion or course of action that you, as the teacher, support. I need to present the benefits in my case of persuasion in the most positive light possible so that they can see over any positive aspects in the opposing stance. For example, to my student who doesn't want to the homework I would tell them that by doing the homework when its assigned it will decrease the amount of work to do in the end. If they wait till the end of the semester to turn anything in, it will result in a huge pile of work to do at the last minute.
Logical Appeal
This persuasive strategy appeals to a persons sense of reason. The key to this strategy is to show your opinion in a way that it seems to be the only reasonable path to take. For our student who doesn't want to do his homework, I would say it is silly to spend more time in high school retaking classes than it is to just take the class seriously and do the work as the semester goes on. My way of persuading my student is showing them a layout of all the classes he would need to take to graduate and then show him the same layout of classes but with the next year at the top. Its a cycle that he will just continue in until he decides to do the work and take control of his education.
Character Appeal
This persuasion strategy refers to the character of a speaker, who has to be seen as respectable in the eyes of the student. If the student doesn't see this person as respectable and honest they will not believe their side of the persuasion. They have to earn credibility by being relied on and believed. As a teacher, I need to have that credibility with the student and if I don't then I would have to find a different person to explain why my persuasion is the best route to take.