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Do you agree? Disagree? Is this writiing persuasive or argumentative?

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As an English teacher, I've had numerous conversations with college professors who lament the writing skills of their first year students. But not all writing. Most students are capable of solid expository writing. It's their skill with persuasive writing that's the problem. Specifically, they're weak at writing a thesis statement that can be argued.

I spend three years teaching my high school students how to write a persuasive essay. For many students, it takes that long. (And I'm lucky to have them that long in my school.)

Part of the problem is that our current school systems - and not just in Canada - aren't great at producing independent thinkers. Without this ability, it's hard to create a great thesis statement, anticipate the arguments against it, and then compose your own argument in light of what you understand about the pros and cons of an issue.

So for three years, I write for them, and with them. We talk about opening paragraphs, and they learn how to write them with their thesis statement either as the first or last sentence. (The latter requires more skill.) They learn to use transition words, embed quotations to support their argument, consider the advantages of active vs. passive voice, vary their sentences, and many other skills, all in the hope of creating a strong argument.

The truth is lately I've come to question the point of much of this. Does the average person, once they leave school, spend a lot of time composing academic essays? Is this the best way for our students to show their learning? In some places, the academic 5 paragraph essay is hailed as the Holy Grail of non-fiction writing achievement. Yet even if a student can become a great persuasive essay writer, they're still only semi-literate, at least according to the definition of 21st Century Literacies.

Blogging is a different beast

While traditional essay writing may not help alleviate this situation, I think blogging can. Here's the problem; Blogging is an entirely different beast. And one of the things I've learned about my students is that they don't necessarily transfer a skill they've learned in one area to another without difficulty, or even prompting.

For one, the paragraphing is different. The large, solid paragraphs of prose that can be found in a typical persuasive essay, can feel arduous and cumbersome to all but the most determined reader.

Instead, blog paragraphs tend to be shorter. It allows the piece to feel fluid and speeds up the rate at which your reader reads (often through the glare of a computer monitor or on a phone or tablet screen). And while the effective blogger still uses transition words, as many aren't necessary to provide the piece with a feeling of fluidity and coherence.

Sometimes a paragraph is one simple sentence, used for emphasis.

Another thing is the thesis statement. Its placement, in a blog, is up for grabs. Did you catch where mine is? Actually, I haven't written it yet. Huh?!

Double-dog daringly different

Blogging also requires a different voice. The way I blog isn't quite how I talk, but it's no where close to how I write a formal essay. Furthermore, the voice used in blogging needs to be rich, sharp and distinct, to gain an audience. And while some may argue that academic writing could stand to have a bit more colour and flair, I'm not sure that's currently the accepted norm (although I wish it was).

In a formal essay, I would never use a sentence fragment. Ever. In a blog, it provides emphasis. Nor would I use slang in an essay. But here? Yep. In one of my posts, I double-dog dared my readers. Could you imagine double-dog daring anyone in an academic essay? If you try it, let me know the result.

Another thing that changes is providing your reader with evidence to support your points. In teaching the typical formal essay, I show my students how to quote directly, indirectly, and using individual words. Blogs still use direct quotes, but an indirect quote can be as simple as a vague mention and a link.

We discover my thesis statement...

I think blogging is the new persuasive essay -my thesis, finally.

Truth is, I love writing essays. There's something satisfying about rendering the chaos of thoughts into an elegant form. But I love blogging more. It feels like playing.

I also find it more useful. While our students will need to know how to write essays to get through university, many won't use it after that, unless they remain in academia. I think writing and persuasive thinking skills are important. However, I question the current products we require of students as proof of their learning. Most of the essays written by our students likely end up in the garbage or the computer trash can. And most are for an audience of one.

Blogging has the potential to reach and influence many. Furthermore, it has greater potential for being a life-long skill. And isn't that our goal in education? People from all walks and professions blog for the purpose of teaching, creating, and informing. A number of my recent Masters courses didn't require papers; instead, they required blogging. Why?

Because blogging is the new persuasive essay.

If we're trying to prepare our students to think critically and argue well, they need to be able to blog. It allows for interaction. It allows for ideas to be tested. And the best posts anywhere in cyberspace tend to have a point that can be argued.

I think blogging across the curriculum, not just in Language Arts, allows for both formative and summative assessment. Blogs allow us to see the progression in the development of both thinking and writing. It may actually take more talent and skill to create an interesting persuasive post (or series of posts) on the French Revolution than a traditional essay.

We need to teach blogging as a skill

Students definitely need to understand how and why the mechanics (and style) of blogging are different.

The solution? Blogging needs to start earlier, much earlier. I read recently of a kindergarten teacher who blogs with her students. Great idea. There's a teacher in my division who does amazing things with her grade one class.

I'm not proposing that you need to do things radically different. Teach whatever you teach for Language Arts, or other subjects, but include a blog component. So if you're teaching sentence structure, teach your students to create complete sentences while blogging. Blogs, like traditional writing, need great structure. If you're focusing on capitalization or punctuation, transfer this skill to blog writing as well.

If you're teaching paragraph structure, teach students the paragraph structure required for traditional essays and that for blogs. They're different. Explain why. It's likely they won't be good at it at first. But there is merit to the quote, "Anything worth doing, is worth doing badly."

A middle years teacher at my school used to stress out when we talked about student writing. She wanted to know if she was teaching them enough. My reply: "All I need them to do is write solid paragraphs. If they can do that, I can teach them all kinds of things." Really, everything I teach is either an addition to, or a subtraction from, a solid paragraph. My work builds on her work. I don't need her to teach what I teach. That's my job. But without her previous work, mine becomes much more difficult.

The same is true with blogging. Starting from scratch with blogging in grade 10 isn't impossible. But we could do so much more if they already had the basics. In order to write well, you need to write a lot.

If you don't currently teach your students to blog, please start. Our students need you to. And if you already teach your students to blog, keep it up. Because blogging is an important 21st century skill. It's the new persuasive essay.

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As an English teacher, I've had numerous conversations with college professors who lament the writing skills of their first year students. But not all writing. Most students are capable of solid expository writing. It's their skill with persuasive writing that's the problem. Specifically, they're weak at writing a thesis statement that can be argued.

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From New York and

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One of my best friends from high school, Andrew, changed majors during his first semester at college. He and I had been fascinated by politics for years, sharing every news story we could find and participating in the Internet activism that was exploding into a new political force. Even though he was still passionate about politics, that was no longer enough. "I have to get practical," he messaged me one day, "think about getting a job after graduation. I mean, it's like my mom keeps asking me: What can you do with a degree in political science anyway?"

I heard the same question from my friend Jesse when students across campus were agonizing about which major was right for them. He wasn't quite sure what he wanted to study, but every time a field sparked his interest, his father would pepper him with questions about what jobs were available for people in that discipline. Before long, Jesse's dad had convinced him that the only way he could get a job and be successful after college was to major in pre-med.

My friends' experiences were not atypical.

Choosing a major is one of the most difficult things students face in college. There are two main factors that most students consider when making this decision. First is their desire to study what interests them. Second is the fear that a particular major will render them penniless after graduation and result in that dreaded postcollege possibility: moving back in with their parents.

All too often, the concern about a major's practical prospects are pushed upon students by well-intentioned parents. If our goal is to cultivate students who are happy and successful, both in college as well as in the job market, I have this piece of advice for parents: Stop asking, "What can you do with a degree in (fill in the blank)?" You're doing your children no favors by asking them to focus on the job prospects of different academic disciplines, rather than studying what interests them.

It is my experience, both through picking a major myself and witnessing many others endure the process, that there are three reasons why parents (and everyone else) should be encouraging students to focus on what they enjoy studying most, rather than questioning what jobs are supposedly available for different academic concentrations.

The first is psychological. For his first two years of college, Jesse followed his dad's wishes and remained a pre-med student. The only problem was that he hated it. With no passion for the subject, his grades slipped, hindering his chances of getting into medical school. As a result his employability, the supposed reason he was studying medicine in the first place, suffered.

The second reason to stop asking students what they can do with a major is that it perpetuates the false notion that certain majors don't prepare students for the workplace. The belief that technical majors such as computer science are more likely to lead to a job than a major such as sociology or English is certainly understandable. It's also questionable. "The problem," as my friend José explained to me, "is that even as a computer-science major, what I learned in the classroom was outdated by the time I hit the job market." He thought instead that the main benefit of his education, rather than learning specific skills, was gaining a better way of thinking about the challenges he faced. "What's more," he told me, "no amount of education could match the specific on-the-job training I've received working different positions."

Finally, it is counterproductive to demand that students justify their choice of study with potential job prospects because that ignores the lesson we were all taught in kindergarten (and shouldn't ignore the closer we get to employment): You can grow up to be whatever you want to be. The jobs people work at often fall within the realm of their studies, but they don't have to. One need look no further than some of the most prominent figures in our society to see illustrations. The TV chef Julia Child studied English in college. Author Michael Lewis, whose best sellers focus on sports and the financial industry, majored in art history. Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, got his degree in philosophy, as did the former Hewlett Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina. Jeff Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, focused on mathematics. Indeed, with the Department of Labor estimating that on average people switch careers (not just jobs) two or three times in their lives, relying on a college major as career preparation is misguided.

I'm not saying any applicant can get any job. Job seekers still need marketable skills if they hope to be hired. However, in a rapidly changing economy, which majors lead to what jobs is not so clear cut. Many employers look for applicants from a diverse background-including my friend who has a degree in biochemistry but was just hired at an investment consulting firm.

That doesn't mean that majors no longer matter. It is still an important decision, and students are right to seek outside counsel when figuring out what they want to study. But questioning how a particular major will affect their employability is not necessarily the best approach. Although parents' intentions may be pure-after all, who doesn't want to see their children succeed after graduation?-that question can hold tremendous power over impressionable freshmen. Far too many of my classmates let it steer them away from what they enjoyed studying to a major they believed would help them get a job after graduation.

One of those friends was Andrew. He opted against pursuing a degree in political science, choosing instead to study finance because "that's where the jobs are." Following graduation, Andrew landed at a consulting firm. I recently learned with little surprise that he hates his job and has no passion for the work.

Jesse, on the other hand, realized that if he stayed on the pre-med track, he would burn out before ever getting his degree. During his junior year he changed tracks and began to study engineering. Not only did Jesse's grades improve markedly, but his enthusiasm for the subject recently earned him a lucrative job offer and admission to a top engineering master's program.

Andrew and Jesse both got jobs. But who do you think feels more successful?

Scott Keyes is a 2009 graduate of Stanford University, where he majored in political science.

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One of my best friends from high school, Andrew, changed majors during his first semester at college. He and I had been fascinated by politics for years, sharing every news story we could find and participating in the Internet activism that was exploding into a new political force.

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Overview | How do writers analyze subjects and ideas to make a claim using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence? How does incorporating counterarguments in persuasive writing strengthen one's claims?

In this lesson, students analyze the work of winners of the Learning Network's 2014 Student Editorial Contest as well as professional models from the Times editorial pages to learn how writers effectively introduce and respond to counterarguments. Then they write their own position pieces, incorporating counterarguments to strengthen their claims. Finally, they are invited to submit their finished essays to this year's Student Editorial Contest by March 9, 2015.

Note: This lesson builds on, and thus works well as a companion to, this 2014 lesson on crafting evidence-based editorials.

Background The Common Core emphasizes writing arguments as essential to student success beyond the classroom, but, as the educator Grant Wiggins points out, the kind of writing those standards demand goes beyond what students typically see as argumentative. In his post, Mr. Wiggins quotes Gerald Graff, the author of "They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing":

Theorist and critic Neil Postman (1997) calls argument the soul of an education because argument forces a writer to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of multiple perspectives. When teachers ask students to consider two or more perspectives on a topic or issue, something far beyond surface knowledge is required: students must think critically and deeply, assess the validity of their own thinking, and anticipate counterclaims in opposition to their own assertions.

Indeed, some of the best editorials in last year's Learning Network Student Editorial Contest do exactly this by not only anticipating, but also effectively incorporating counterarguments into their pieces.

Materials | Computers with Internet access, Debatable Issues handout

Warm-Up | If your students have ever successfully negotiated anything with their parents, friends or teachers, chances are they already know something about counterarguments. Connect to student experience by opening your investigation with a role-play activity. Distribute the following scenarios to pairs of students. First, students should brainstorm possible arguments to be used by each side and use what they come up with to create a script of the ensuing conversation. Explain that to get what they want, each party needs to understand the other's position well so that they can use it to strengthen their own position.

Scenario 1: Two friends outside a movie theater. Each wants to see a different movie. (Feel free to come up with the selections!)

Scenario 2: A parent and a child. The child wants a later curfew to attend a party with friends.

Scenario 3: A student and a teacher. The student wants an extension on a paper.

Scenario 4: Two friends. One wants the other to let him or her copy his or her homework.

Scenario 5: A parent and a child. The family has planned a trip during school vacation. The child wants to do something with friends instead.

Scenario 6: A parent and a child. The child wants a smartphone. The parents feel he or she isn't old enough.

Scenario 7: A parent and a child. The parent wants the child to attend college close to home; the child wants to go across the country.

When students are ready, ask for several groups to perform. At the conclusion of each role-play, ask the audience which party had the more convincing argument and talk about why. How did the "winner" incorporate counterarguments? What role did counterarguments play in the victor's success? Explain that just as happened in these scenarios, writing an argument is really about completely understanding all aspects of an issue, so that you can take an educated, logical stance and anticipate rebuttals.
Activity Part 1
As a class, look at these excerpts from two of last year's Student Editorial Contest Winners: Stop 'I Spy' Game With Allies and The War on Drugs.

Excerpt 1: Editorial Contest Winner | Stop 'I Spy' Game With Allies

The N.S.A. is overreaching its duties. While President Obama and officials assured Americans that the N.S.A.'s only purpose for surveillance is to prevent another terrorist attack (despite a panel commissioned by Obama himself that flatly noted surveillance was not essential for the N.S.A.'s purpose), the N.S.A. also eavesdrops on diplomatic communications of friends for an advantage in negotiations and policy making which does not contribute to their dubious claims of protecting national security.

R. James Woolsey, a former director of the C.I.A., writes in his Wall Street Journal article, "Why We Spy on Allies," that we wouldn't need to spy on Europeans if they would reform their economic policies and stop bribing. Sure, it'd be nice for someone to police their unethical behavior to save themselves and possibly even out the competition for ourselves. But at a time when Americans are largely opposed to foreign interference (look at how people responded to military action in Syria), these actions taken by the N.S.A. are unwarranted and do not represent our interests.

Finally, the N.S.A.'s shrug-off excuse, "Everybody else does it, why can't we?", relies on the reasoning of Hammurabi's Code of an "eye for an eye." They're spying on us, so we're spying on them. However, an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. In this case, this constant back and forth spying is meaningless, derailing the N.S.A. from the primary goal to fight terrorism at the expense of resources and tax dollars.

Excerpt 2: Editorial Contest Winner | The War on Drugs

The drug war is failing for the same reason that prohibition did in the 1920s. Supply for alcohol was cut, while the demand still existed. This gave power to criminals who were willing to break the law to supply alcohol and make quick money. This is more true now than it was in the 1920s. Because of a more globalized economy, better-established and more easily accessible trade routes, smuggling drugs into the country is easier than ever for cartels. The flawed logic here is that the drug war is something that can be won: If enough shipments are confiscated, or enough dealers are busted, the supply will end and drug abuse will cease to exist. Even if tomorrow, the head of the largest cartel was taken into custody, it wouldn't make any difference. As long as demand exists from the United States for illegal drugs, there will always be someone willing to supply it.

Together, note on the board the strategies each writer uses to introduce counterarguments and then how they turn back to their own positions. You might create a two-column chart on the board, in the style of "They Say, I Say," in which you write down the exact words used to introduce the counterargument in the left-hand column ("So and so says....") and the language used to reassert the writers position in the right-hand one (for example, "The flawed logic here is...."). This gives students a template for how to finesse counterarguments in their own writing and gives them a framework for thinking in this way. Ask students: What difference does the presence of a counterargument make for you as a reader? Does it make the writer's position stronger? How?
Part 2
The Times editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, states that Times editorials, unlike those at other newspapers that do present an opposing argument, "if only to knock it down," "do not necessarily present or even take into account the opposing position." That said, our search reveals that plenty of counterarguments can be found in the Opinion pages, such as in this aptly named piece from Room for Debate on whether home-schooled students should be able to play for the local high school team. Turn students loose on The Times and ask them to find a professional editorial that, like this one, incorporates a counterargument effectively. Ask them to add to their list of language templates as they read and consider if and/or how the counterargument strengthens the writer's claim.

Here are a few editorials that contain counterarguments for analysis:

Before moving on to Part 3, reconvene as a class and add to students' counterargument "toolboxes" with the language students observed in the pieces they read. Phrases like "Some people argue...," "Others might argue...," "The flawed logic...," "Opponents of this position argue...," or "Skeptics might suggest...." turn up often and serve as terrific models for students.

Finally, have your students come up with ideas for their own editorials and generate arguments for and against their position, using the Debatable issues handout.

Students might take inspiration from last year's winners, from pressing issues in their own schools and communities, or from one of these 301 Prompts for Argumentative Writing.

As you proceed to writing editorials, the Learning Network offers a variety of resources. You might use the Times Room for Debate feature, which we featured in this lesson on constructing arguments in line with the Common Core. You could choose a topic there, have students do some background reading and hold a debate to help students see all sides of the issue they want to examine. They can then incorporate the counterarguments they hear into their writing. Use this reader idea to recreate Room for Debate in your classroom. As students brainstorm for writing, offer them our Debatable Issues handout to help them organize their ideas.

For step-by-step teaching tips on writing editorials, see "For the Sake of Argument: Writing Persuasively to Craft Short, Evidence-Based Editorials."

As students create their editorials, remind them of the templates they discovered in the models they looked at both independently and as a class. Harvard College's Writing Center offers these resources on working with counterarguments.

Demonstrate the power of counterarguments by finding an authentic audience for student work. Share finished editorials with the larger community in your school newspaper or on a class blog.

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I Don't Think So: Writing Effective Counterarguments

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Overview | How do writers analyze subjects and ideas to make a claim using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence? How does incorporating counterarguments in persuasive writing strengthen one's claims? In this lesson, students analyze the work of winners of the Learning Network's 2014 Student Editorial Contest as well as professional models from the Times editorial pages to learn how writers effectively introduce and respond to counterarguments.

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On this scoop.it site, which is similar to Pinterest, I've included all kinds of resources for teaching argument.

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Stop the bickering and start arguing with evidence and warrants!

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Attached is a college assignment that Grant Wiggins' son was giving. The assignment clarifies the kind of argument that the college student is expected to write.

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Working with NYC schools, Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project developed a learning progression chart that shows how argument writing grows over the grades. All of the work is based on Common Core State Standards.

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Teacher's College has written a unit for teaching argument writing based on research.

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On this padlet, you'll find links to debates and articles that might be used for academic arguments.

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This padlet contains texts that could be used as mentor text. Please feel free to add to it.