Focus on Learning 

At the end of last term, Year 5 & 6 completed The Writing Process around persuasive texts. Their topic was… “Lying is not always/is always bad”. In our last Focus on Learning post, we had a look at student planning examples. Students then completed the Confer phase of the process where they met with the classroom teacher for feedback and sharing possible ideas for the Refining phase. Today we will take a look at some excerpts of student persuasive writing, that has been refined and published 

How would you feel if someone said you had terrible hair? Pretty sad, right? That’s the same with other people…they have feelings. In my opinion, people must be allowed to lie to spare people’s feelings. So, the next time your friend comes to school with a terrible haircut, think about all the times your feelings got hurt by that one lie, and tell your friend they have great hair. After all, we all want to be kind, right? 

Rosie Lee

Do you want to live in a world full of lies that keep building up and up and up? No you wouldn’t. When you lie it also makes you feel trapped and being trapped isn’t what a human is meant to feel. So technically you’re becoming less human each time you lie. So take a deep breath and think exactly about why you shouldn’t lie.

Alex Davis

There is no doubt that if you lie you could hurt someone's feelings. In addition when you lie it could make someone sad. When a person is lied to they won't talk to the person that has lied to them. By not lying to people they won't get hurt feelings or feel sad.

Mason Newlands

Lying can be fun. For example, when you exaggerate we can make ourselves seem better than we are and we can make people laugh by lying. Exaggeration can be fun for example when we go hunting we can brag about the things we caught. Even though we are lying, these types of lies do not hurt others and make you feel good.

Babesh Dangol

Lying is most definitely bad, it increases the chance of your trust being broken. You will find that you will show a lot of emotions. Lying creates an uncomfortable situation  because you expect to get treated better. It will  make you feel insecure about the person who lied to you and you probably won't trust them because of what they did.

Caleb Iffland

There is a huge gap between things that are lied about and things that are made up. For example, do any of you remember any games you played as a preschooler or kindergartener? Raise a hand if you do. Another example is mythology, it could be real or fake to some people, but a lie is what ruins that wall of trust. 

Ayla O’Rance

When lying to someone you can feel really guilty and you will remember lying to that person. If you lie during a job interview it can be on your job application and you might not get the job you wanted, so never lie.

Joel Morris 

Did you know that all of 5/6 have lied and most have made people upset. Sometimes people lie about a person to someone else then it starts a rumour. For the person that the rumour was about can get upset. That's only one reason out of many that can make people feel hurt and disappointed by lying.

Phoebe Farrant-Wills

Everyone you have met has lied once in their lifetime. Your mom has lied as well as your dad, best friend and even your grandparents, so don't say you’ve never lied because we know you have. Lying can get you out of trouble and lying can be used for good too, everyone you’ve met has lied once in their lifetime, even your parents.

Shivansh Madan

It is essential that we look at lying in a new perspective. Lying can also be a way of protecting yourself, surprising others and keeping your private conversations non-public. Those are known as white lies and are used in a caring, safe way and I will mention these throughout my argument. An example of a white lie is when my mum told a chef her food was delicious, when it really wasn’t. This small lie protected the chef’s feelings.

Olive Dillon

Did you know, lying can build trust, how might you say? Well lying is actually essential in building trust. If you do it right and remember who your telling lies to you can build trust between anyone!  You tell lies a lot even without you knowing. Like when you say Grandma's cooking was good when it wasn’t. Did that little lie hurt anyone? So, lying can make people feel better about themselves and build trust.

Jorja Jamieson

In my opinion people lie in a good way when they are keeping presents a secret. Cause who wants a present when they know what it is? The whole point of a present is the shock of opening it on your birthday or Christmas and seeing what you got, this is an example where lying has a positive effect.

Zeb Allan

First of all, lying can lower your self esteem. Lying about things can make you feel bad later in life or later in the day and make you have a negative self view. There have been quite a few people who have lied a lot and don't have a positive self view. Therefore, it isn’t right to lie.

Hope Irvine 

It is essential that you know the reasons behind why lying is not always bad. Lying helps develop your creative side of your brain, lying also helps keep a secret, lying can save you from getting harmed or to save someone's feelings.

Ricky Hird