My students were SO DISGUSTED when they saw this picture of me eating bugs. I’m pretty sure one kid’s scream could be heard downstairs, ha! But…guess what? Every student was fully invested and WAITING for what I was about to say. When’s the last time your students were on the edge of their seats in writing? My students LOVE to write, and today I’m sharing the top 3 ways I get my students excited for opinion writing.
PS: YOU DON’T NEED TO EAT INSECTS 😉
1. GIVE OPINION WRITING PROMPTS THEY’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT
By the time our kiddos are in upper elementary, cats vs dogs, homework, and school uniforms are tired-out topics and OLD news. We need to give them topics that elicit a STRONG opinion from them, challenge their thinking, and cause them to be curious! (Plus they’re way more fun to teach and read 28 papers on!)
ALL-TIME STUDENT FAVORITE OPINION WRITING TOPICS
- SHOULD ANIMALS BE IN ZOOS?
- Kids love animals so there’s immediate buy in, many students have personal experiences with zoos, this is a relevant social issue, and there is a lot of research to support both sides
- SHOULD HUMANS EAT INSECTS?
- This is an opinion writing topic that students have an immediate and STRONG opinion about, their thinking is challenged through research as they learn about social issues, different cultures, and think critically about our world’s future…plus their curiosity is peaked to a point where even your most reluctant writers will beg to write! Their opinion writing graphic organizers are filled in a snap.
- Oh, and the BEST PART?! We always end the unit by eating insects ourselves! Our students, parents, and admin all love and know about this. Siblings can’t wait to get to 4th grade so they can eat insects too.
- SHOULD HUMANS DRINK TOILET WATER?
- Did I peak your interest with this one too? Water recycling and conservation is another relevant and important topic for students to learn about and a no-brainer when it comes to engaging opinion writing prompts!
If you’re interested in any of these topics, I’ve created 3-week long opinion writing units
you can grab HERE!
- It contains daily lessons, opinion writing graphic organizers (and completed examples for the teacher), all of the links to research articles and videos for your students to support their opinion writing with, and it’s both digital and printable!
2. INCLUDE RESEARCH
Before you judge this tip, hear me out! You may be thinking, “Umm…no, Shannon…my students don’t get excited about research.” BUT I want to challenge you here for a second, if you’re open to it, what I have found to be true year AFTER year, is including research ***with engaging topics*** deepens student interest, builds their interest, increases critical thinking, cultivates confident and passionate writers, AND reinforces positive debate and communication skills. Including researching for opinion writing for 4th-grade, 5th-grade, and 6th-grade students is a must!
In addition, supporting your answer with text evidence is something students are expected to do all the time, this is an amazing way to practice the skill. If you don’t feel like spending hours looking for the perfect videos and articles for students to use, you can grab all of the resources I use right here.
3. END YOUR WRITING BLOCK WITH SHARE TIME
When students are passionate about a topic, they want to share their thoughts, feelings, and opinions with others! Reserve the last 5-10 minutes of your writing block for students to share a piece of what they wrote that day. Once my students had opinion writing topics they cared about and they knew we had time to share, students paid close attention to my modeling and couldn’t wait to read their daily work.
Spending the last few minutes of writing having students share their work is helpful in SO many ways:
- Engages students deeper in the lesson
- Results in more meaningful practice
- Builds student confidence
- Students hear peer and teacher writing examples daily
- Hold students accountable
What are your students’ favorite topics for opinion writing? Are there any opinion writing prompts that have gone over really well?
If teaching opinion writing hasn’t been your favorite before, give one of these student-loved units a try! You can learn more here.
