Writing that Works

Would your students respond strongly if asked any of these questions?

 

In order for students to write passionately, they need topics that elicit strong emotions. Which is why I created fact-based opinion writing units on topics I knew my students would go crazy over. 

The topics are posed in a way that students' have an immediate reaction. Through research, they learn about bigger issues and that there's not always an easy answer.

Initially, students' main focus is solely on if would it be gross to eat a bug or drink water from a toilet. Their research allows them to actually learn about important global topics like:

-sustainable food sources, world hunger

-animal captivity, preservation and research

-water pollution, recycling, droughts, effects and solutions

My students need to be prepared to research and create valid arguments on topics that matter. 

Before the unit, I gather all of the research materials I want my students to use. We spent time going through each one together. Students are responsible for taking notes and keeping track of where they found their information. This way when it comes time to write our fact-based opinion writing papers we can use quotes to support our claims.

We spend about 3 weeks on each unit and culminate our units with a fun writing celebration that we invite our parents and guardians to attend. Choosing topics that elicit strong emotions from our students and then giving them a platform to voice those emotions creates an engaged and excited class of writers.

Even my most reluctant writers beg for more time when we work on these units. Below you can find a blog post about why we ate insects in class one day!

Here is the link to the argumentative writing units as well, if you're interested: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fact-Based-Opinion-Writing-Unit-Bundle-4356058