At first glance, the rooms seems in order; students are in their seats, students are quiet, and the teacher is shuffling through overheads at a podium in front of the room. As you slip quietly into a chair at the back of the room, you quickly realize that this room has been stripped of its emotion. Though students' type-written work appears on the walls, the students themselves are drained of emotion, and the mood matches that which was felt in the hallway.

As Ms. In-Need-of-Persuasion begins to speak about the day's activities from her podium, you scan the room. There are twenty-eight students in this classroom. Fifteen are female and fourteen are male. You observe the cultural diversity in the room: it appears there are eight African American students, seven White students, seven Latino students, and six Asian American students. You aren't even listening to what the teacher is saying to these students; instead, you are captured by the sad and obvious fact that these students are incredibly disengaged. As you tune back into the words of the teacher, you learn the following:

In teaching a unit on persuasive writing to her 11th grade composition students, she asked them to write a persuasive essay on whether or not the Electoral College should be changed. However, she discovered that the students writing is largely perfunctory because they have little interest or engagement in completing the assignment. As she goes on about the flaws she saw in their writing, you can't help but think about how this teacher may have approached the unit differently.

Discuss the following prompts in preparing to help Ms. In-Need-of-Persuasion and her students.

1. What are some possible reasons for the students' lack of interest or engagement?

2. What are some alternatives that this teacher might have considered to enhance her students interest and engagement?