Opinion Writing: E-books vs. Physical Books! Which Will Win!? Using Graphic Organizers to Plot Our Thoughts!

Following our Tug-of-War lesson (see previous post), where we debated between the use of electronic books and physical books, my students used their research to create graphic organizers detailing their opinions and three reasons why they came to these conclusions. The writing from their organizers will then be transferred to persuasive writing pieces. They will use the graphic organizers to help plan and type their five-paragraph essay into Google Docs. They will also use a rubric to guide them in opinion writing. The rubric is also useful for peers to provide constructive criticism.

Tug-of-War E-books vs. Physical Books

My students engaged in a Tug-of-War lesson. This is a thinking routine from Project Zero - Harvard Graduate School of Education. They started the lesson with a thinking question - What is an opinion? Then they turned to a neighbor (think-pair-share) and shared their answers before sharing with the class. We then watched a young adult YouTube blogger give his opinion on the debate between e-books and physical books. After this, we read an article from CBS News and highlighted the important information to support both sides of the debate. They recorded their "supported evidence" in both columns during both the video and using the article differentiated to their reading levels. The students then chose their "tug" (opinion) and placed one of their supporting evidence on a post it and picked a side. After reading other students' "tugs" on the opposite side, they reflected on whether their opinions had changed.