Chapter 10
Taking a Stand: Writing Opinion, Pro/Con, and Argumentative Essays
This chapter equips teachers to guide students in planning and writing effective argumentative essays by distinguishing between fact and opinion, selecting appropriate nouns and verbs, and properly integrating quotations with introductions and explanations. TWR outlines and sentence-level activities provide the scaffolding needed for students to craft compelling opinion, pro/con, and argumentative essays.
Content Example
Conjunctions to Present a Position- Level 1
Science I Weather Forecast
Content Example
Conjunctions to Present a Position- Level 2
Science I GMOs
Content Example
Pro/Con SPO
ELA I Zoos
Content Example
Pro/Con MPO
History I Theodore Roosevelt
Teaching Resource
Argumentative Nouns & Verbs
Exhibit 10.5
Discussion Questions
- Discuss the major differences among opinion, pro/con, and argumentative writing.
- What six important skills do students develop when writing opinion, pro/con, and argumentative pieces?
- How can sentence activities with because, but, and so help students learn to present contrasting points of view?
- Explain how transition words and phrases are useful in presenting a position or evidence.
- Choose a topic with two sides (e.g., banning books, keeping animals in zoos, lowering the voting age from 18 to 16) and create a sentence activity for it.
- Describe how learning to create separate SPOs for opposing points of view can help prepare students for the pro/con essay.
- Why should students place their strongest claim last when writing an argumentative essay?
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