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To tame the essay! or how to teach argument building and discussion skills

 

This day and age it seems that public debate is a slippery slope, with little or no space for a polite exchange of valid arguments. What we are most often inundated with is a wave of hateful, loud remarks, offence and biting comments. 

Therefore, the art of arguing your case, clearly and persuasively,  is one that needs to be taught as early as possible, and revisited as often as possible, both orally and in writing,  built step by step, starting with the topic sentence, followed by evidence, through argument structure up to a full-fledged essay.

Is it an easy task, you may ask? 

No, it is not. But it is essential to develop and polish it.

How to do it, then? 

Have a look at the handout below I prepared (courtesy of Andrzej Kurtyka, the author of a splendid book- 'Prove your point'), years ago for my students, and then shared with other educators during teacher training sessions. 

It should lead you through a set of speaking and writing activities designed to help students learn argument building- there are thorough instructions for all the activities, which can be done both on-and-offline, with either scissors and glue, or the snipping tool:)

Prove your point handout

Once you do it with your students, and you are quite sure they can form a clear and valid argument as well as respond to one, take them a step further, to copy and paste the arguments used in the handout to  form an essay- opinion or for and against. Encourage students to choose and paste the arguments they found most convincing, support them with linking words; teach them how to form a thesis statement, how to write introduction and conclusion. 

You might like to use the templates in the handout linked above or create your own- the picture attached shows what you might end up with:) (BTW- thank you, Jagoda!)



If you are a fan of OneNote, just like me, you might want to do everything there- enjoy this link:Essay OneNote

Happy teaching!

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