Infomercials as Arguments

When teaching argument writing, I find connecting concepts to advertisements helps students understand the basic elements of persuasion. After my developing writers put together a mini persuasive argument that focuses on solving a problem in their lives, they also create a video in the informercial style to go along with it. Students create these infomercials in iMovie or Clips and have really learned to incorporate more than the five elements of argument: they really tap into the wacky, awakward, and overly dramatic tone found in many infomercials. Check out the assignment and some great student examples here.

And if you want to official pitch for this idea, I gave a showcase presentation at the 2017 ADE Academy in Houston, which you can check out here.