Should kids go to school on the weekend? Boy oh boy! If you want to get your students talking, this is the question to ask! This is the question that I write on the board at the start of each opinion writing unit I teach. I lead the students in a passionate debate about school vs. sleeping in and video games. My kiddos love to share their opinions and always have a lot to share! This is why opinion writing is one of my favorite writing units to teach. Read more to learn my top three tips for teaching opinion writing in your classroom.
Opinion Writing Mentor Texts
One reason I love teaching opinion writing is all the fun books I get to read! There are countless engaging stories you can use as opinion writing mentor texts. I know when I pull out I Wanna Iguana or Earrings, I can hook my kiddos in the opinion writing process. Then, I share personal stories after each book. I will tell about times when I would share my own opinion with my parents just like the characters in the books. Along with experiencing great stories, my students love the real life examples I share that tie in to opinion writing. I’m sure you can think of a few examples when you fought tirelessly to change your parents opinion on something. Crack open an opinion writing mentor text and start sharing all of those opinionated stories with your students.
Here are links to some of my favorite opinion writing mentor texts.
Opinion Writing Anchor Charts
Opinion writing is engaging and can create passionate writing. However, be sure you ground your students in the opinion writing process at the beginning. Teach them the difference between having an opinion and just sharing facts. Teach them that they need both, yes both reasons and examples to support their opinion. Otherwise you will be handed papers saying, “I think double stuffed oreos are the best because they taste the best”. This will be followed by, “I have nothing else to say.” Ugh nothing is more frustrating to a writing teacher than hearing a student say that phrase. Talk about wanting to do a face palm right then and there. Let’s avoid all that shall we? When you teach your epic lessons throughout the opinion writing process, be sure to hang tools on the walls for students to use and refer to. We know anchor charts can be so powerful! Use them and refer to them constantly in your lessons. Here are some examples of opinion writing anchor charts that I love.
Opinion Writing Graphic Organizers
You know I love me some graphic organizers. Simply put, graphic organizers are the bomb dot com and opinion writing graphic organizers are no exception. I have so many students each year who go from reluctant writers to crushing it writers, just because I give them this visual tool.
I use opinion writing graphic organizers all the way through the writing process. These tools help my students create strong introductions, compelling body paragraphs, and confident conclusions. I give my students the option of using graphic organizers and they always blow me away! Your kiddos have strong opinions they want to share, trust me, sometimes they just need the right tools to do it. If you want to check out these graphic organizers for opinion writing, click HERE.
There are countless ways to increase the writing skills of our students. I hope you enjoyed reading my tips for increasing student writing skills in opinion writing.
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