GUEST BLOGGER COLLEEN PAEFF
Persuasion is an art, and like any art it requires practice. In this lesson, students will put their persuasive writing skills to work in letters designed to convince.
In preparation
Read Firefly Song: Lynn Frierson Faust and the Great Smoky Mountain Discovery (written by Colleen Paeff and illustrated by Ji-Hyuk Kim) to your students. The book tells the true story of Lynn Faust, a woman who noticed there was something special about the fireflies she’d been watching every summer at her cabin in the Smoky Mountains and set out to prove to the scientific community that they were synchronous.
Discuss the following questions:
- What does Lynn notice about some of the fireflies in Elkmont that make her think they are different from other fireflies she has seen?
- How does she try to learn more about these fireflies?
- Today, if you wanted to learn about a particular insect, would you follow the same steps as Lynn? Are there additional steps you might take?
- The author describes three different types of firefly flashing behaviors (or flash trains) in the text of the story. What are they?
- What can you learn about the fireflies of the Smoky Mountains from the text and illustrations in Firefly Song? For example, what habitat do they prefer, what time of year do they flash, how do firefly larvae differ from the adult fireflies in appearance etc.?
- How does Lynn display resilience?
What’s in a letter?
Eventually, Lynn writes a letter to Biologist Dr. Jonathan Copeland, in which she tries to explain how the fireflies she’s seeing in Elkmont are different from other fireflies she’s seen elsewhere. She wants to convince him that this species is special, so he will come to Elkmont and confirm her suspicion that they are synchronous.
Ask your students what they think such a letter may have contained. Possibilities include: an introduction (since he didn’t know Lynn), an explanation of where Elkmont is located, a description of the “light show,” information about the habitat, etc.
Now write…
Working as a class (for younger students) or individually (for older students), ask your students to put themselves in Lynn’s shoes and write a letter to Dr. Copeland. The letters should include some of the topics that came up in your previous discussions. Remind students that their goal is to get Dr. Copeland to come to Elkmont to confirm that this species is synchronous.
Discuss Dr. Copeland’s response
Your students will know from the reading that Lynn’s first letter didn’t convince Dr. Copeland to come to Elkmont. Discuss the following questions:
- What might Lynn have felt when she received Dr. Copeland’s negative response?
- Why do you suppose she didn’t just give up? After all, Dr. Copeland was a biologist who studied fireflies and Lynn wasn’t.
- Why do you suppose the musical score Lynn created, finally convinced Dr. Copeland to come to Elkmont?
The rest of the story
Read the first page of Firefly Song back matter, entitled “The Rest of the Story,” to your students, and discuss the following questions:
- What makes a person an expert?
- What are some ways a person might become an expert? (Think of as many ways as possible!)
- What traits did Lynn possess that helped her to become a firefly expert?
The path to expertise
And finally, ask your students to identify areas in which they might like to be considered an expert themselves. Brainstorm some ways they can start right away! After all, Lynn’s path to firefly expertise started way back when she was a young girl who discovered that the trick to uncovering nature’s magic was simply to pay attention.
Featured image credit: “Firefly” by KeitaroMiao is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Colleen Paeff is the author of The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London’s Poop Pollution Problem and Firefly Song: Lynn Frierson Faust and the Great Smoky Mountain Discovery. A lifelong Californian, she received a Bachelor’s Degree in set design for theater from California State University Fullerton, before becoming a bookseller, preschool teacher, and newspaper columnist. (She never did become a set designer!) Eventually, she figured out how to roll books, kids, and writing into a career as a children’s book author, and now she gets to share her enthusiasm for books and learning by visiting schools both at home and abroad. Colleen is a Robert F. Sibert Honor recipient and winner of the Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction Text for Young Readers. She lives in Los Angeles, CA.
- Website: www.colleenpaeff.com
- Instagram: @colleenpaeff
- Facebook: @colleen.paeff
- Bluesky: @colleenpaeff.bsky.social
- Pinterest: @colleenpaeff
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