Hawley’s Persuasive Writers Host A Special Visitor

By Eliza Hallabeck

After working on persuasive writing, Hawley fourth graders in Lea Attanasio’s class were visited on Monday, April 30, by Jim Knox, the curator of education for Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo.

To cap their study of persuasive writing, students will be writing an imaginary letter to a zoo curator to recommend a new zoo exhibit. Before suggesting an animal for the zoo, Mrs Attanasio said the students will first research an animal.

While Mr Knox brought some of his animal coworkers to visit with students, like a black rat snake named Buzzer, he also explained part of his job as curator of education for Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo means planning exhibits and persuading the zoo what animals would be best for the space.

Buzzer, for instance, Mr Knox said, would be a perfect animal to exhibit at a zoo if the zoo were interested in having an exhibit on trees. As a black rat snake, Buzzer is nonvenomous and he lives in trees, according to Mr Knox’s presentation.

“The students will have to be cognizant of their audience and write a convincing argument for their choice,” Mrs Attanasio explained following Mr Knox’s presentation.

This assignment, Mrs Attanasio said follows the students’ study of expository writing, and other assignments, including conducting a debate.

“Students now understand the need to understand many perspectives when trying to write a persuasive argument,” said Mrs Attanasio.

When writing to their imaginary zoos, Mrs Attanasio said students will have to take into consideration all of the criteria Mr Knox shared while visiting the classroom, including whether the animal has a habitat that can be recreated, whether the animal is safe to display for the public, and more.