It occurred to me the other week:
Literature circles work so well because students thrive (and actually engage) when they are provided with ample choices.
So, what if we provided them a slew of choices/topics for argumentative-synthesis essays?
And this is what I've been mulling for the past few weeks - creating writing workshop videos for the following prompts:
Change My Mind: The Government Should Have Banned Vaping Already
Change My Mind: The NFL Is Rigged
Change My Mind: Pot Was Legalized to Keep You Stupid
Change My Mind: Today's Music Is Garbage
Change My Mind: Ban Cell Phones In Schools Already
Change My Mind: Tik Tok Kills Braincells
In each video, I "Bob Ross" my instruction and "paint" the entire essay right before your student's eyes (there are several model introductory paragraphs ... plus a number of body paragraphs that pull the strings of my syllogistic method heuristic).
The PowerPoint slides are available to download.
Happy New Year!
And happy teaching and happy writing!
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