The Opinion Piece

Hi All,

Since the Opinion Piece is such a substantial part of the Grade 10 Literacy Test, I have decided to devote some significant time and resources to getting it done. It is very important to me that each and every student in the per. 2 and per. 4 class demonstrate that they can write an opinion piece without assistance.

To this end, we wrote a sample opinion piece in class which should be in every student's notes. I also asked them to write a practice opinion piece on the question: "Should In The Heat of The Night be required reading in high school?" Students should have written two paragraphs yesterday and two paragraphs today. At this point it is perfectly appropriate for them to be asking questions about how to write their opinion pieces. We will get into a computer lab next week so that students can post their opinion pieces to their blogs.

The final stage of opinion piece writing will be an in-class demonstration. Students will be asked to write an opinion piece in class, under circumstances similar to those of the literacy test (that is, without any help or guidance).

For students who have not yet completed their opinion pieces in class, a sample and instructions will be posted here.

As always, feel free to ask any comments you like by adding your comments below.

CP