When planning any genre study, we can ponder:
How can the experience children have with this genre become more like the experience they can have with it in the world?
In doing so, we can draw from our own experience with writing. We can study the craft of other writers. We can peruse bookshelves. We can question the purpose the genre plays in life, for both writer and reader. We can embark upon a quest to uncover the ways authors in the world paint outside of the genre lines.
Beginning with the possibilities for what work within a genre can look like allows us to study the curriculum and create opportunities for children to make the kind of decisions authors get to make.
As with any genre, we can begin dreaming of ways to expand an opinion writing unit of study by looking at what opinion writing can become in the world.
Opinion writing can become lyrics to a song, like Xiuhtezcatl Martinez’s Light.
Opinion writing can become signs, like the ones held in the Youth Climate March.
Opinion writing can become speeches, like Autumn Peltier’s addressto the United Nation.
Opinion writing can become poetry, like Sara Abou Rashed’s “I Am America.”
Opinion writing can become letters, like this one, from Marley Dias.
Opinion writing can become reviews, like the video reviews created by Olivia Van Ledtje.
Opinion writing can become essays, like those featured in the New York Times Student Opinion Section.
Kelsey Sorum 