If we teach
things
without
a clear why,
what we are
essentially
doing is
teaching
tasks.
For instance,
if we believe
we are teaching
opinion writing
to learn to write
an opinion then
writing an opinion
paper
is merely a task.
The goal isn’t
to write an opinion.
The goal is to
have an opinion,
to express an opinion
to share an opinion
to explain an opinion
to celebrate an opinion.
The goal is to give
our students a voice.
There is no use
learning
to write an opinion
unless students learn
how to have an opinion
that’s meaningful
to them.
If opinion writing
is more about checking off
boxes on a checklist
or using a rubric to
score the writing
then teaching students to
writing an opinion
paper
is nothing more than
teaching tasks.
Trevor (@trevorabryan)