For me, personally, the biggest “golden line” from this book was the first line of the book. It says, “It’s clear to me from observing student writing in various contexts that although adolescents may intend to write an argument, they often see no need to present evidence or show why it is relevant; they merely express (usually vague) opinions.” This is spot on what my life is like in Internship 1 right now! My 9th grade Honors students were required to write an argumentative essay focusing on using text based evidence to support their argument. The students grasped the concept or arguing a point, but they struggled in using evidence to support everything that they were saying. One of my biggest goals with these students this year is to help them improve their argumentative writing because it is currently not enjoyable and seemingly useless in their minds.
However, I do love the concepts and the detailed explanation that Hilcocks gives in this book. He gives so many great examples of how to get students motivated in argumentative writing. The one that I can see my students most engaging in is the “Whodunit?” activity in the first chapter. I know that my students would have a lot of fun looking at a “murder mystery” type picture and trying to solve the problem together. I really want to try this entire activity with my students. I feel that it would motivate and, hopefully, make a lot more sense to them in terms of arguing in writing.
WriteToUKnight 
I too really loved the “whodunit” activity within chapter one. I think it’s a great way to get students interested in writing, one of my biggest take aways from this book is this misinterpretation that writing is ‘boring’. It doesn’t have to be! There are so many fun activities to incorporate in the classroom to get students excited to write!
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I agree mysteries would be a great way to start with kids! I think all teachers are struggling shifting kids for writing persuasively to argumentatively.
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That opening line is so true! I don’t know how many times I have tried to cram the idea into students’ heads this semester that proof is one of the most important elements of these essays. Did the book offer any ideas how to present to the students that argumentative writing is not useless or boring? Everyone seemed to like the who-dun-it activity.
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The context you gave from your internship really helps me see what students are thinking when it comes to argumentative writing! It’s funny that students find these techniques so uninteresting and seemingly worthless — there is nothing they will need more as they enter the real world! The whodunit strategy seems really does seem genius.
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I encountered the same problems with the students in my internship, or sometimes they would pick out evidence but not connect it to their argument. The who dunnit activity seemed like fun, maybe I’ll try that with my future students someday or another fun and creative way of presenting it to them because Julie is right. It will be very important to their future success that they master these skills.
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