If you want students to use higher levels of academic language in discussions and in writing, use easier content. the type of academic language you are asking them to produce. Be sure, when choosing books for your students that you take into consideration the level of new content vs. We Are Teachers has a great list of opinion books as well. You could extend a few of these book discussions into identifying point of view, as well. I Wanna Iguana (and other books from the series).These days, there is a ton of great literature that lends itself to opinion writing. Books can be a familiar topic, but border on becoming too complex, depending on the level of your students and classroom culture around book discussions. Other familiar concepts include food, games, family activities, and school subjects. You can see more about that process in my How to Teach Opinion Writing blog post. We later cut it apart and brainstormed reasons for several of the activities. This is an anchor chart that we created about recess games. Our writing time came after our first recess, so students had just been on the playground and I was able to tap into what they had chosen to play 20 minutes earlier. I usually start my opinion writing unit with very tangible concepts, like what students do at recess. What types of familiar content do I use in my classroom? Now, you don’t want to keep the content low for the entire opinion writing unit, but to introduce the concepts and learn to write opinion paragraphs and essays, starting with familiar content is key. If the content is lower and more familiar, they can learn new and more complex academic language. If the content is too high, students will have more difficulty using academic language. I talk a bit about this concept in a blog post on using academic language, specifically for English learners, but the idea can apply to all learners. When you use familiar content you can go deeper with the academic language. When you use something that students are already familiar with, you generally don’t need to teach new vocabulary or new concepts and can get right to the core of what it means to form an opinion. This might seem like an obvious one, but using what students already know hooks them into the lesson and builds on a solid foundation. Use What Students Know and Ask Them What They Think Teaching Ideas to Solidify Students’ Understanding of Opinion Writing.Teaching How to Conclude the Opinion Writing.Teaching How to Introduce the Opinion Writing.Post the text in an accessible spot in the classroom, and provide opportunities for students to read or use the text multiple times over the next several days or weeks. Take a few minutes to have students orally summarize what has been learned about writing during this session. Model the immediate construction of a high-quality draft. Add a word using a caret, for example, or delete unneeded text.ĭo not deliberately make errors during shared writing. Reread the text to students from time to time to discuss what needs to be written next or to monitor whether or not the text conveys information clearly. For older students, begin with a root word and demonstrate how to add prefixes or suffixes to a new word.ĭemonstrate in-the-moment revision during shared writing as necessary to construct a strong draft. Have a small whiteboard available, for example, to demonstrate to students how to say a word slowly and write sounds heard into "sound boxes" (Clay, 2006) before writing a phonetically regular word into the text for them. Consider, for example, whether your students need to focus attention on paragraph structure, word choice, or sentence expansion.ĭuring the writing, model processes needed by your students. Write the entire text yourself in front of students (using chart paper or document viewer) while requesting input from students regarding aspects of the writing where they most need to expand their expertise. Students might write a letter to a local newspaper or write directions for a new game they have developed. Plan lessons for types of writing that present particular challenges to your students.įirst, develop and extend children's background and language knowledge on a topic or experience of interest.Įstablish a purpose for the writing and an intellectually engaging opportunity for students to apply new learning. Shared writing is taught to small groups or a whole class in briskly paced, 5- to 20-minute lessons.During shared writing, the teacher transcribes the entire text while engaging students in a rich discussion about how the text should be composed.
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