Persuasive writing: rebuilding a jumbled skate park letter on Microsoft Whiteboard.

Year 7 know the devices of persuasion, but their letters wander, so this lesson is about structure. The teacher gives each pair a Microsoft Whiteboard, shared through school accounts, holding twelve sticky notes cut from a letter to the local council asking for a skate park on the old tennis courts: an opening that states the case, three arguments with evidence, a counter-argument and its rebuttal, and a closing call to action. Pairs drag the notes into the order that makes the strongest letter, then add a label beside each paragraph naming its job. The teacher circulates and asks pairs to defend any choice that breaks the pattern, such as opening with the counter-argument. Students finish by copying the paragraph plan into their books as the frame for their own letter.

Tools: Microsoft Whiteboard Nine ideas for your own version in Generate