The Common Core State Standard, W.6.2, requires students in grade 6 to write “to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.”

Teachers probably need to read that requirement multiple times to fully grasp the level of skill that is needed for a twelve-year-old child to show mastery of this standard!

What does it mean to write persuasively?

Most writers would simply state that persuasive writing convinces the reader. Period.

There are quite a few questions that follow that statement. For instance, does persuasive writing simply mean that the writer is communicating in a way that builds credibility and therefore is persuasive?

The premise of expository writing is that the text will explain something. Explanatory writing can take on so many different forms that young writers are often confused by this mode of written discourse. When writers stop and think about how they explain something in oral language, they realize that all kinds of approaches are used. A simple conversation in the classroom can easily illustrate this practice.

Everyone is a writer. So why even ask this question if we all know what it means to write.