Increase the Writing Skills of Your Students:

Help Students Analyze, Support and Write Argument/Opinion Responses
(Grades 6-12)

Presented by Sarah Robinson
Outstanding Secondary Teacher and National Presenter

Specifically Designed for Grades 6-12 Classroom Teachers, English Language Arts Teachers, Content Area Teachers, Literacy Facilitators, Literacy Coaches, Title 1 Staff, and Administrators

Practical and effective ways to help your students meet and exceed the rigorous standard for argument/opinion and expository writing in grades 6-12
Ready to use materials focusing on increasing your students’ skills in argumentative and expository writing
Specific strategies to help students formulate written expository and argument/opinion responses to what they read and to on-demand writing prompts
Easy-to-implement expository and argument/opinion writing strategies that work for a range of learners in grades 6-12
Dozens of dynamic lessons that will help your students increase their ability to formulate an opinion writing piece utilizing written sources
Receive an extensive handbook filled with writing samples, rubrics, reproducible materials, lessons, and strategies to motivate any classroom … All materials are designed for the grades 6-12 classroom and meet the standards set forth for expository and argument/opinion writing

Practical Ideas and Strategies

This highly practical seminar has been designed for educators serving grades 6-12 to help strengthen and increase your students’ expository and argument/opinion writing skills. Most states require students to produce a coherent writing sample that outlines their opinion and supports their argument for or against a position based on supporting details from a written piece. This seminar is designed to give teachers a wealth of ideas and resources on how to help their students increase their writing skills.

Participants will leave with NEW, innovative and ready-to-use strategies for enhancing students’ writing skills through explicit mini-lessons, mentor texts, scaffolding, teacher modeling, and more! Sarah Robinson will share a wealth of expository, argument/opinion writing ideas and strategies that will engage all levels of writers. She will demonstrate and model mini-lessons you can use immediately in your classroom, complete with real student samples. Each participant will receive an extensive resource handbook filled with specific opinion/argument mini-lesson ideas, model materials and strategies ready to use in any 6-12 grade classroom.

Ten Key Benefits of Attending

Practical Strategies to Help Your Students Meet and Exceed the Rigorous Standards for Expository and Argument/Opinion Writing
Specific ideas for students’ skills in the “genres” of expository and argumentative writing … Enable your students to better analyze and produce expository and argumentative text and responses from writing sources
Teach Students to Write Organized Arguments and Explanations with Relevant and Sufficient Evidence
Specific, practical ideas to ensure students include sufficient evidence and support in their expository and argumentative writing
Classroom-Tested, Effective Strategies that Help Your Students Develop Claims and Organize Their Thoughts
Developing a claim is often a difficult part of the writing process, even when presented with a prompt … Help students deconstruct prompts and elicit claims from reluctant or blocked writers
Teacher-Proven Methods for Gathering Evidence and Evaluating the Evidence for Relevance
State writing standards require strong, relevant evidence in student writing, be it textual or from the student’s own experiences or knowledge … Learn highly effective ways to help students gather, evaluate and weave their evidence seamlessly into their writing to back up their claims and reasoning
Take Peer Conferencing to a Higher, More Effective Level
Go beyond the typical responses to peer reviews … Teach your students to respond critically to their classmates’ writing … Leave with check sheets and simple, easy-to-implement strategies that show students how to effectively and respectfully conference with their classmates
Develop Powerful Student Centered Rubrics
Learn ways to create better rubrics for expository and argumentative response that are student centered and maintain the rigor demanded by your state standards in writing for grades 6-12
Specific Strategies for Writing to a Content Area
Different content requires slightly different writing … Help students to write critically for your content by teaching students to use the “language of the discipline”
Discover How to Choose the Best Text and Information to Develop Expository and Argument/Opinion Response
Starting with excellent text, regardless of the genre, can be paramount for a strong written response … Find out what makes one text better than another and how to add to text you already use to make them more appropriate for expository and argumentative writing
Reduce Anxiety About Expository and Argument/Opinion Writing
Learn classroom friendly ways to reduce writing anxiety by creating a community of writers in your classroom while focusing on your state standards for expository and argument/opinion writing
Increase Student Involvement in Writing Practical and motivating ideas for getting students more involved with their writing … Discover a variety of strategies that will take the focus off of the teacher and onto our students, their writing, and the self-evaluation and ownership of their writing

Outstanding Strategies You Can Use Immediately

Practical, research-based strategies to help increase your students’ writing abilities
Proven methods for teaching expository and opinion/argument writing
Instructional strategies and techniques to significantly boost students’ skills and confidence in argument/opinion writing
Best techniques for using mentor texts and exemplary papers in your classroom
Numerous ideas, strategies and demonstrations to strengthen and enrich your current writing program
Ideas for motivating student writers through effective mini-lessons that meet the needs of all your students
Incorporate reading into writing through book titles that work well with opinion/argument writing
Strategies to help writers consider their audience and address counter arguments
Practical tips to prepare students for writing prompts and standardized tests
Powerful ways to elevate the quality of student writing with mini-lessons on the craft of writing defined in state standards for writing
Practical and manageable strategies to keep students engaged in writing
Strengthen your students’ understanding of the argument text type and the various genres within it
Prewriting strategies for expository and opinion/argument writing
Successful techniques to help students create strong thesis statements
Engaging ways to introduce your students to real-world genres of writing
Step-by-step techniques to help students express a claim and support it with relevant evidence
Tips for helping students rely on logical reasoning rather than emotional appeal to persuade their readers
Using author’s craft to strengthen argument writing
Writer’s notebook strategies that help students live and think like writers
Resources for finding mentor texts for expository and opinion/argument writing
Tips for assessing student writing and conferring with your students
Outstanding strategies to empower and inspire students to expand their writing skills
A bibliography of professional resources, websites and mentor texts perfect for taking your grades 6-12 writing instruction to the next level

A Message From Your Seminar Leader

Dear Colleague:

Argument writing is a big deal in state standards for writing. With so much emphasis placed on this text type and the various genres it encompasses, it would be wise for us to boost our knowledge of and strengthen our instruction in expository and argument/opinion writing. When we do, our students’ standardized test scores will improve. However, the benefits of teaching opinion/argument writing to our students reaches far beyond higher test scores. When we teach our students to write opinion and argument pieces, we teach them to think, to take a stand for something they believe in, and to defend it through logical reasoning. That is powerful stuff! During our day together I will share powerful, effective teaching strategies that will motivate your students to meet and exceed the rigorous demands of the state standards for argument writing. Some of the topics we will explore include:

Ideas for helping our students in their opinion and argument writing through highly engaging activities and protocols
Strategies for generating ideas for writing and for developing strong thesis statements that follow from this idea-generating
Ready-to-use mini-lessons for teaching students to provide logical reasons and sound evidence to support their claims
Using mentor texts and student exemplars to study the technique and craft of argument writers
Step-by-step instructions for helping students plan and logically organize sound arguments

Please join me for a day of ideas, strategies and lessons, all designed to help students meet the rigorous standards of argument/opinionwriting while taking some of the work off of the teacher and placing it in the capable hands of students.

It will be my honor to work with you to inspire our young people to raise their literacy and writing skills to new heights.

Sincerely,
Sarah E. Robinson

P.S. I promise you will leave with practical strategies you can use immediately to help your students increase their writing skills in grades 6-12.

Who Should Attend

Grades 6-12 Classroom Teachers, English Language Arts Teachers, Content Area Teachers, Literacy Facilitators, Literacy Coaches, Title 1 Staff, and Administrators.

Special Benefits of Attending

Extensive Resource Handbook
Each participant will receive an extensive resource handbook specifically designed for this seminar. The handbook includes:

Strategies, tips and methods to help students meet and exceed the rigorous standards for argument/opinion and expository writing
Ready-to-use materials ideal for grades 6-12 English/language arts teachers
Specific ways to help students formulate a critical response to what they read and support that response with details from the reading
Dynamic lessons specifically designed for grades 6-12

Meet and Share
This seminar provides a wonderful opportunity for participants to meet and share ideas with other educators interested in increasing students ’ ability to formulate strong opinion writing pieces and to enhance their programs.

Consultation Available
Sarah Robinson will be available at the seminar for consultation regarding your questions and the unique needs of your own program.

On-Site Training Guarantee

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