In the last iCommunicate, we looked at how teachers can help students in Grades K-5 write an opinion paper.  In this issue, we will focus on the fact that at grades 6-12, standard #1 of New Illinois Learning Standards requires students to write arguments to make a point or support a claim and a counterclaim, and substantiate both with reasons and/or evidence. More importantly, one must remember that arguments may have a variety of purposes, and may not be aimed at winning.  In addition, students should be made aware of the basic vocabulary terms that are relevant to argument writing and noted in the standards.  They are

As noted in the last article, one of the best ways to help students hone their ability to write effective opinion is to expose them to mentor texts. Effective mentor texts engage and inspire students, but, above all, they move them forward in their writing because they give them a picture of the type of writing they are about to engage in.  In the following list retrieved from http://www.ilwritingmatters.org are some mentor texts to help students along their path to writing effective opinions.

Once students have been exposed to mentor texts, the next logical step is to provide some graphic organizers to help students organize their thinking.  Here is one again retrieved from http://www.ilwritingmatters.org. 

While opinion/argument writing is the focus of Standard #1 of the New Illinois Learning Standards for English/Language Arts, the focus for Standard #2 is Informative/Explanatory writing.  Be sure to check out iCommunicate next month to see resources for teaching Informative/Explanatory writing in Grades K-5.  And, above all, check out http://www.ilwritingmatters.org, a website developed by ISBE's ELA content area specialists Jill Brown and Kathy Rhodus, to provide tools and resources in our mission to realize that Writing Matters in Illinois!

Resources:  

Illinois State Board of Education. "Illinois Writing Matters." www.ilwritingmatters.org. 2014