Freewriting is an effective means of teaching students how to develop persona in writing. One approach is to have students imagine that they are inanimate objects or nonhuman creatures, provide them with a specific situation or environment, and ask them to freewrite for five to ten minutes. Another slant is to have them become famous historical figures facing a famous historical event. If it is accepted that the personal appeal of the speaker/writer is the strongest means of persuasion, then it is important to teach students how to create such appeals. After letting students experiment with persona through freewriting, it is easy to plug the concept of persona into an overall rhetorical scheme. This can be done by requiring students to establish in one of their essays a persona that is something other than themselves. Freewriting is no rhetorical panacea; however, it is a way to give students "hands on" practice. (DC)