Write TWO letters arguing a side of any current event that you have opinions on. You may address them to a current politician or public figure. Each of these letters should be approximately one page in length, have a coherent claim for the side you are arguing, and the use of rhetorical devices. You must highlight the claim in yellow, supporting evidence/elaboration in green and rhetorical devices in blue.

Explanation:

In this article we are going to explore the process of constructing a high quality discussion, or argumentative essay.  After reading this guide be sure to take a look at our top five essay writing tips and our essay writing tools for teachers and students.

DEVELOPING DISCUSSION IN THE CLASSROOM

The ability to craft a coherent argument and to express those arguments with others in a discussion are essential skills to encourage in our students. They help our students not only engage with the world, but also to process their thoughts and discover their opinions about things.

In this article we will use the terms’ ‘discussion’ and ‘argument’ interchangeably. But, it is worth noting that the real purpose of a discussion is to explore a variety of arguments to arrive at the truth, where possible.

Teaching our students the basics of argument and discussion is not about tooling them up to ‘win’. The processes of discussion are as much about the student discovering what they think as they are about persuading others to agree with them. As students mature and get more practiced in their discussions they will discover that often discussion is a necessary precursor to having an opinion on a given topic, no matter how basic or advanced that topic may be.

For students, discussion often bridges the gap between the speaking and listening learning areas and reading and writing ones. It is for this reason that we will look at some oral discussion activities, before examining how to approach the writing of discussion pieces in the classroom. These oral activities can serve as excellent pre-writing exercises for the students to prepare their thoughts and ideas before they sit down to write. They also work well as standalone oral activities that afford students the opportunity to practice their persuasive speaking skills and all that entails.

Transient

An argumentative essay also known as a discussion presents both sides of the argument on a specific topic so as the audience can form their own opinion.

The first task in writing a good argumentative essay is finding a suitable topic that has strong and valid opinions for both sides of the argument.  You will find some engaging writing prompts below.

a low four-wheeled open carriage of a kind formerly used in russia.