Writing powerful persuasive prose begins by stirring up voices deep within the writer. As readers, we remember some of these voices of passion, humor, hope and chutzpah. We forget all the bureaucratic, jargon-filled position papers that mask real voices with dead words pinned in paragraphs on the page. There have been many great books on teaching the rhetoric of persuasion, but few tackle the complex art of liberating the dynamic voices of the student persuaders themselves. Why We Must Run With Scissors-- Voice Lessons in Persuasive Writing shows teachers how to approach persuasive writing from the inside out, teaching not only the craft of persuasion, but also the wild and crazy art that informs it. Composed of 83 practical, classroom-ready lessons with examples of student writing from grades 3 to 12, this unique and user-friendly professional book provides teachers with an idea-packed curriculum for sparking a class of creative and savvy persuaders. Inside you will find lessons on: * Exploring your personal persuasive power * Imagining your audience * Finding persuasion in all forms of literature * Mining passionate opinions from the real world (fix size of dot) * Using humor and parody to teach persuasion * Digging beneath an entrenched position * Finding your own distinct voice, even when writing to a uniform prompt * Dressing as the Enemy * Crafting beginnings and endings * Learning the secrets of elaboration * Acing the state persuasive writing test without ?. . . * Assessing our arguments and efforts with sample student papers * Using rubrics and other tools for student self-evaluation ..........and much, much more.