January Ideas and Activities for Persuasive and Argumentative Writing Practice

"Start Now!" Begin the school year with small increments of this type of writing; at least once a month. Great product to begin review or prep for State testing. Use the month of January to brush up on writing skills you have been teaching all year long. Activities are described for whole class,individual students, groups and pairs of students. Practice is key, along with using student sample activities. Product does not contain whistles and bells and gizmos. Product contains: Calendar for January's suggested daily work Student Check Up questions 5 persuasive prompts and 5 argumentative prompts Venn Diagram of comparisons and contrasts Posters for persuasive writing Three sample writings [one complete, 2 others partially developed] Template for practice work Chart for analyzing informational article It takes a variety of approaches to bring students to a level of mastery; practice and model pieces are just some of those approaches. Follow the daily ideas or pick and choose what works best for you. Last, the teacher can create art activities to go along with these activities. Whether the anchor charts students create are decorated or illustrated, or made into a story board, they will benefit from writing what they understand to be effect writing in and of itself from the variety of prompts given. Once these anchor charts have been created invite students to participate in a "gallery walk." Students should feel free to place post-it notes along side of these anchor charts with respectful remarks. Enjoy! PS. There is no need to stress out over grading. Instead, alternate scoring only an introduction for each piece that has been submitted, or only the 1st body paragraph, etc, or only the conclusion, or only the counterclaims, etc. An option to consider is: The most valuable experience is for students to work for an entire piece in a simulated timed setting. After 8 different pieces have been written within a month's time, invite the student to select a single ONE paper he/she wants fully scored. In this way, students still write on a regular basis, you the teacher assesses select aspects of their writing, a final piece is fully scored holistically, and the task becomes manageable. There are many, many ways to manage grading that at times can overwhelm language arts teachers; scoring a portion of a fully developed piece is one way to selectively assess papers. Visit February Ideas and Activities for Writing Practice A Related Product Visit Teacher Tools for Speculative Writing A Related Product Visit Teacher Tools for Persuasive Writing A Related Product Visit A Specific Guide for Argumentative vs Persuasive Writing A Related Product Visit Explanatory Writing Student Work Center A Related Product Visit Explanatory Writing A Related Product Visit Explanatory Writing made easy A Related Product Visit Narrative Writing Planning Sheets A Related Product Visit Persuasive Writing A Related Product Visit Persuasive Writing A Guide to writing for on demand testing A Related Product Visit Persuasive Writing in 5 Easy Chunks A Related Product Visit Persuasive Writing Points A Related Product Visit Picture Based Writing A Related Product Visit Problem Solution Writing A Related Product Visit Reference Cloud-Cards for Explanatory Writing A Related Product Visit Speculative Writing PowerPoint A Related Product Visit How to Write Smart Avoid Overuse of Details in the Introduction A Related Product Visit Techniques for Persuasive Writing A Related Product Visit The Writing Process Made easy Leads Closings Writing Styles A Related Product Visit Transitions! Transitions! A Related Product Visit Writers’ Correction Worksheet A Related Product Visit Writing Prompts for Persuasive Easy Guidelines A Related Product Visit Item Writing the Basic Five Paragraph Paper A Related Product Visit Free Item A Visual Structure of an Essay A Related Product