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Torri Huske asks Gretchen Walsh to join her on top of the podium in a sweet moment after winning gold

Team USA swimmer Torri Huske edged out teammate Gretchen Walsh for a gold medal in a thrilling 100-meter butterfly race, but she wanted to share the euphoria of the moment together.

Huske, 21, had a sweet moment of friendship with Walsh, 21, when she beckoned her teammate to join her at the top of the Olympic podium in Paris on July 28 after they finished 1-2 in the race.

They shared big smiles and draped an American flag over their backs together while the national anthem played. China's Zhang Yufei stood next to them after winning bronze .

They are the first two American women to finish 1-2 in the event since 1984, according to Team USA . Huske won the race in 55.63 seconds, while Walsh took the silver in 55.59.

The moment represented redemption for Huske, who just missed a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 by one-hundredth of a second.

“I feel like I’m in shock right now,” she said after the race. “I don’t even know how to process it, I feel like I’m going to cry, but I’m also smiling. It’s really surreal. Like you said, I just missed the podium last time by a hundredth, so I’m so thankful to be here and to do it with Gretchen is just amazing.”

Walsh entered as the strong favorite after clocking an Olympic record in the semifinals with a time of 55.38, finishing over a second before the next-best competitor. She’s also the world-record holder in the event with a time of 55.18.

“I was definitely nervous beforehand,” Walsh said afterward, according to Team USA. “I feel like there was a lot of pressure on me … I just wanted to try to execute the race as best as I could.

“I left it all out there in the pool and it might not have been the time that I was necessarily looking for, but to even medal at my first ever Olympics is something that I don’t think many people get to say and I’m honored, truly.”

Huske and Walsh now have two medals from Paris after racing on Team USA’s women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay, which won silver.

Huske and Walsh will be back in the pool on July 30 with the preliminary heats for the 100-meter freestyle. Both are also expected to be part of the 4x100 medley relay.

Maddie Ellis is a weekend editor at TODAY Digital.

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Pop culture.

10-Minute Writing Games to Play with Your Students

Jen Schneider Blog , Writing writing 1

Want some quick games to share with your students during transitions or as attention-getters. Play these fun games independently or with groups! Here are a few of my favorites 10-minute writing games to play with your students. This post uses some affiliate links. Purchases from these links result in a small commission to help sustain this site.

Word Association Game

Word association games are perfect for 10-minute writing games! Start by giving students a random word and ask them to write down the first word that comes to their mind when they hear it. Then, have them pass their paper to the person next to them and repeat the process with the new word. Set a timer for 10 minutes and see how far around the circle they can go, building off of each other’s words. This game is a blast for generating vocabulary words or words to use in future writing prompts or stories.

Writing Roulette

My students beg to play writing roulette! I give each student five different colored sticky notes (or use this FREE Jamboard template ).

Each sticky note has a different topic. For example, here are the literary elements I use for my students. You can change these up depending on your grade level.

• Yellow: character
• Blue: quotation
• Pink: setting
• Green: conflict
• Orange: theme

Have your students each generate one of the literary elements on each colored sticky note. Make sure they write only one idea per note. Mix up the sticky notes, then give the students five sticky notes (one on each topic) to generate their own story. We LOVE sharing these with the class. As a bonus, expand on the quick stories and create a published, polished piece.

Literary Jenga

Literally playing a game when writing is so much fun! Write creative writing prompts on the sides of Jenga blocks (such as “Write a story in which the main character is an animal” or “Describe a place you’ve never been”) and stack them up. Students take turns pulling a block and then writing for 2-3 minutes based on the prompt they see. The game continues until the tower falls, and then students can read aloud what they’ve written.

Finish the Story Writing Game

This game is also called story or paper pass. I remember playing this writing game in school. I loved it then as much as I love it as a teacher! First, give students the first line of a story and have them write for 2-3 minutes. Then, have them pass their paper to the person next to them and that person continues the story for 2-3 minutes. Continue this process until everyone has contributed, and see how the story turned out in the end.

Random Word Stories

Use this random word generator to pick a fun, unique word. Have your students write a story using that word as a focus. You can have each student select their own word or use a class word.

Descriptive Writing Game

Many ELA curriculums have descriptive writing as an assessment. Why not teach descriptive writing skills with a 10-minute writing game! First, ask students to close their eyes and imagine a scene you describe to them, such as a beach or a forest. Give them 10 minutes to write a detailed description of what they see in their mind’s eye. Encourage them to use sensory language and descriptive adjectives to really paint a picture with their words. Share the stories, and as a bonus, have students illustrate their writing. You can also adapt this and share a picture as a writing prompt starter. Show students a picture or image and give them 10 minutes to write a story or poem based on what they see. Encourage them to be creative and use their imagination to build a story around the picture.

Character Creation Game

Students love creating their own characters! Have students brainstorm a character by answering questions about them, such as their name, age, occupation, likes and dislikes, fears, etc. Then, set a timer for 10 minutes and have them write a short story or scene featuring that character. You can add to the fun by having two characters team up together to create a new story or have a conversation with one another based on their characters’ backgrounds.

Six-Word Stories

Challenge students to write a complete story in just six words, such as “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Set a timer for 10 minutes and see how many six-word stories they can create.

Mad Libs Game

The old Mad Libs games are so much fun! I remember having paper Mad Libs books that my siblings and I giggled over with delight. Online Mad Libs games let students work independently to create funny stories. I love using Mad Libs online !

Fan Fiction

My students absolutely love writing fan fiction. This gives them a chance to explore stories on a deeper level, and change the outcomes to what they really wanted to happen in the book! Have students choose a favorite book or movie character and write a short story featuring that character in a new adventure or scenario. Set a timer for 10 minutes and see how well they can capture the voice and personality of the character in their writing.

Story Cubes

Use storytelling dice or story cubes with pictures on each side, and have students roll the dice to create a story. Set a timer for 10 minutes and challenge students to create a story that includes all of the pictures they rolled. Share the stories in small groups or with the full class.

Writing Prompts

Using writing prompts in the classroom is an effective way to encourage a love for writing in students. Here are five ways to inspire and engage middle school students:

Daily writing prompts

Start the day with a short 10-minute writing exercise that covers various genres and themes. Use this list of 25 daily prompts to get started.

Structured writing prompts

Use prompts as a starting point for more structured writing assignments such as essays or research papers. This encourages students to think critically and provides specific guidelines for the writing task. Use this list of 10 structured prompts to get started.

Group brainstorming

Encourage students to work together in small groups to generate their own writing prompts. This fosters collaboration and creativity.

Writing prompt dares

Students can create their own writing prompt dares or use these 15 writing prompt dare examples to get started. These are great for group brainstorming prompts.

Try out this 52 writing prompt workbook . You even get an editable Canva link to add your own unique prompts!

Get ready for 10-minute writing games to use in your classroom! These games can be scaffolded and differentiated for all grade levels. What writing games do you use in your classroom!

Creative writing games: A great way to unleash your creative side @

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5 Enjoyable English Writing Games That Turn Practise Into Playtime

Step into a world of fun while improving your English writing skills. Fun writing games let you practise and learn at your own pace, making studying an enjoyable experience. In this article, discover 5 English writing games that are suitable for all learning levels, so you can improve your English writing skills while having a blast !

How games can help you learn English

Games for learning English are a fun and effective way to improve your language skills. English creative writing games can help learners like you explore different writing styles and experiment with language, ultimately helping to build your confidence.

Games are a great way to help you remember what you learn in English. They are enjoyable, and when you have fun, it’s easier to remember things for a long time.

Game #1: Story Starters

Story Starters is an English creative writing game that works best with a group of players. This game involves taking turns to write a story with each player adding a sentence within a set time limit.

How to play

To play Story Starters, gather a group of friends, some paper, pens, and a timer.

You will start with a pre-written sentence (if you Google “Story Starter sentences” you can find plenty). You must add a sentence to this story within 2 minutes set on the timer. Once you have written your sentence, pass the paper to the next person and let them repeat the process by adding a new sentence of their own.

This is a great game for letting your imagination run wild and getting your creative juices flowing !

Game #2: Scategories

Scategories is a quick and creative game where you think of words that start with a given letter and that fit into specific categories to earn points for answers that are unique.

A group of players is given a list of prompts such as “things babies need”. Then, a letter from the alphabet is picked at random (using a lettered die or an online letter generator). Once the letter has been chosen, the timer is set, and each player must quickly come up with a word starting with the chosen letter to answer each of the prompts.

To make things a bit trickier, you only get a point for your answer if nobody else has put the same answer. Playing this game challenges you to think fast to find the most creative and unique answers.

Game #3: Picture Prompts

Picture Prompts is a fun writing game that involves using pictures to create imaginative stories or descriptions. This game can be played by yourself or with a group of people.

Each player is given a picture or an image. Next, a timer is set for a specific amount of time – 5 to 10 minutes usually works well. The players must then write a creative story or description based on their picture. The goal is to be as imaginative as possible. Once the time is up, players take turns reading their descriptions or stories to the rest of the group.

Game #4: Consequences

In the game of Consequences, players take turns writing words or phrases on a piece of paper, then hiding what they have written to collaboratively create a funny and often silly story.

Each player takes a turn writing a word or phrase on a piece of paper, then folding the paper after each turn to hide what they’ve written. Then, it’s passed on to the next player, who adds their part before folding the paper and passing it on again. This continues until all players have contributed. Finally, unfold the paper and read out the funny story you created together.

Game #5: Rewrite The Ending

In this English writing game, players are encouraged to choose a favourite film or book and then rewrite the ending.

Rewrite The Ending is a game that does what it says on the tin . Quite simply, you get to rewrite the ending of your favourite book or film. You can change the story, add new characters, or create exciting twists. It’s a creative way to practise writing and using your imagination while having fun with stories that are already familiar to you.

Ready to take your English writing skills to the next level?

While games offer a fun and interactive way to practise and improve your writing skills, combining them with structured learning is even more powerful.

If you’re serious about mastering English, check out our English Online courses. Choose between group classes or private, one-to-one tutoring and experience expert-led learning and personalised guidance to help you perfect your English writing skills in no time at all.

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Funny Games: Don’t You Want to See How It Ends?

By Bilge Ebiri

May 14, 2019

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t all comes down to that first wink. About half an hour through Michael Haneke’s 1997 cause célèbre  Funny Games, Paul (Arno Frisch), one of the two politely psychotic young home invaders who’ve taken a family captive, leads one of his victims to the yard and plays a cruel game with her as she looks for the carcass of the family dog that he has just clubbed to death. It’s a harrowing moment—the first truly repulsive act in a film that will be filled with them. And right then, Paul turns to the camera with the hint of a devious smile, in full-on close-up, and gives us a playful little wink.

How to interpret that wink? It is, of course, part of Haneke’s stated mission, expressed clearly in plenty of interviews since, to reveal the audience’s complicity in images of violence. The wink jars us out of our passive reverie, making us aware of our position as spectators, and as consumers. And Haneke has never shied away from admitting that we—the viewers—were always his true targets. “It was intended to be for a public of violence consumers in the English-speaking world,” the Austrian filmmaker explained in Filmmaker Magazine in 2008, speaking of the original in light of his English-language remake—it’s just that not enough people saw the first one. “A film can do nothing, but in the best case it can provoke so that some viewer makes his own thoughts about his own part in this international game of consuming violence, because it’s a big business.”

Seen in that light, Paul’s little wink, along with his subsequent asides, could be understood as a confrontation—a horrific prelude to the picture’s dismantling of bloody spectacle. But watch closely and you’ll see that the gesture also soothes us, at least a little bit. Because for all our high-minded ruminating about meta­textuality and deconstruction, breaking the fourth wall is ultimately a device used by mainstream filmmakers as well as by postmodern provocateurs. (The works of Quentin Tarantino and Wes Craven, so popular around the time Haneke was making Funny Games, are replete with such self-aware tactics.) And like a true genre auteur, Haneke makes sure that Paul’s asides come almost always during, or right before, Funny Games ’ most objectionable developments. He pulls us out of the film at precisely the moments when it threatens to become too disturbing to bear. In so doing, he seems to reassure us that it’s all just a movie.

The next time Paul turns to the camera is right after he has informed the family—Georg (Ulrich Mühe), Anna (Susanne Lothar), and their young son, Georgie (Stefan Clapczynski)—that he and his pal Peter (Frank Giering) will kill them within twelve hours. Mother and father both look at their terrified little boy and tenderly caress his small hands. Surely Haneke will not break the cinematic rule that you must never harm a child? Especially one as fresh-faced and innocent as this—that would be unthinkable. (But then, so was the death of the dog, another no-no in the bible of contemporary popular filmmaking.) Right after he informs the family of his murderous plans, Paul turns to us again. This time, he speaks to the audience: “What do you think?” he asks, casually. “You’re on their side, aren’t you?”

Are we, though? True, in genre efforts, the victims are usually the ones to whom we’re supposed to relate. We see ourselves in the particulars of their lives, and then, as the suspense plot kicks into gear, we recognize their anguish, and mull over what we might do under similar circumstances. And  Funny Games  does begin in such fashion, showing us the daily life of this seemingly ordinary upper-middle-class family as they arrive at their vacation house. As the suspense slowly kicks into gear, the growing identification between the audience and the protagonists functions smoothly: When Peter comes to ask Anna for eggs, “accidentally” breaks them, and refuses to leave, we feel her frustration and suspicion. Our nervousness and discomfort gather as Paul joins Peter and the two of them corner Anna, feigning the utmost politeness but quickly insinuating themselves into the home. And when Paul proceeds to kneecap Georg with a golf club, we will ideally find ourselves scared and outraged.

But as much as we may imagine that we’re aligned with the victims,  Funny Games  dares to suggest that the opposite is true. Even as Paul asks us if we are on the family’s side, through the very act of addressing us—not to mention his cheerfully conversational manner—he makes us his secret sharers. After all, we have come to watch a thriller, and the villains of  Funny Games  are our shock troops, there to do the audience’s bidding with just enough plausible deniability to let us continue with the fan­tasy that we have nothing to do with the horrors on-screen.

“If it sounds like Haneke is trying to have it both ways here—exposing our complicity while coddling our sensibilities—that’s because he is.”

If it sounds like Haneke is trying to have it both ways here—exposing our complicity while coddling our sensibilities—that’s because he is. But that, too, is in the spirit of the genre he’s simultaneously targeting and perfecting: violent thrillers always go through the motions of putting us on the side of their protagonists, even as they ultimately deliver on our not-so-secret desire to see those same people victimized, sometimes even killed. 

When young Georgie is killed, Haneke again tips his hand in a way that lets us off the hook: this time, instead of a direct address to the camera, Paul wanders off into the kitchen while his sidekick, Peter, does the killing. We hear the offscreen shrieks while, on-screen, Paul casually makes himself a sandwich. While this moment does not technically break the fourth wall, it does function as something of an aside. And it’s one of the film’s most outrageous scenes—the nonchalance with which Paul prepares his sandwich is, in some ways, even more monstrous than what’s happening in the other room. But again, Haneke presents us with a stylistic indulgence that cuts both ways. For all its cruelty, this scene relieves us of actually witnessing the act itself.

Directors cutting away from graphic, disturbing images is, of course, nothing new, and Haneke is both following in and interrogating this tradition. He has cited directors like Tarantino and their savvy ability to edit around the violence, leaving everything to our imagination. To do it so openly, and brazenly, reveals the nature of the artifice, which is yet another way that  Funny Games  tickles and teases our most sadistic impulses. Because we are not shown the act, we are able to keep looking. Haneke wants to make an “unwatchable” film—one that disturbs us with its cruelty—but the only way to do that is to make a film that is supremely  watchable,  one that we cannot simply turn off, or leave. In this sense, the director is like a drug dealer who keeps plying us with just enough of his product to make us beg for more.

By stringing us along in this way, Haneke reveals the unnerving lie that governs the spectacle. For it is not the victims’ side that we are on but the perpetrators’. Without them, there is no suspense, there is no violence— there is no movie.  As much as we are horrified at what is happening—and, assuming we’re not actual monsters, we should be horrified—Paul’s gleeful asides constantly pull us back to the truth of the matter, to the bloodlust that drives so much of modern filmmaking.

But if that were all there was to  Funny Games,  there wouldn’t be much of a film to talk about. For all his bold framing devices and metafictional indulgences, Haneke is not a mere pop-culture scold, here to tell us all the ways in which we are bad viewers (though he sometimes seems content to play this part in interviews).  Funny Games  may be simple and sadistic in conception, but it is complex and humanistic in its particulars. That’s why it works so well. The director is unusually attuned to the nuances of behavior, to the subtle shifts in power and affection that people experience in desperate circumstances. (This is also why his 2007 shot-for-shot English-language remake of  Funny Games  doesn’t quite succeed: working with different actors and in English, Haneke is unable to conjure a realistic, compelling family; they remain two-dimensional, and thus the cruelties inflicted on them never quite resonate.) 

At the time that he broke out with the original  Funny Games —most of his subsequent work would be produced in France, with bigger stars—Haneke was still making films for television, the medium in which he had started his career. These TV features were often adaptations, and quite different tonally from the movies that would later define him as a director. Though we can see some of his stylistic flourishes and thematic preoccupations in embryonic form in these early efforts, there’s also an intimacy, an obsessive attention to emotional detail that runs through them.

In a number of these titles, we find Haneke breaking down the briefest, most offhand interactions and ruminating on the forces that shaped them. In 1976’s Ingeborg Bachmann adaptation  Three Paths to the Lake,  he presents the story of a middle-aged woman joining her father at his lake house, where each exchange and gesture seems to open up new narrative pathways into her memories and past experiences. Haneke’s powerful 1993 film of Joseph Roth’s post–World War I drama  The Rebellion  is a genuinely humanist portrayal of a loyal amputee veteran’s unraveling in a society with increasingly little use for him.

In these early dramas, the nihilism about the cruelty of the world is there, but so, too, is a certain sincerity—a kind of warmth toward his protagonists, a desire to imagine their lives in full. This foregrounding of the human has never entirely gone away. Indeed, perhaps because of his reputation as a provocateur, Haneke does not get enough credit for his masterly understanding of psychology. An obsessive attention to the minutiae of individuals’ emotional lives is what fuels the panoramic narrative of  Code Unknown  (2000), for example. And it is the deep reserves of tenderness toward his subjects that give  The Piano Teacher  (2001) and, certainly,  Amour  (2012) such power. 

You can see this in  Funny Games,  too, where the subtlety with which the family is drawn is overwhelmed and ultimately undone by the base, unreflective inner lives of the villains. The picture operates in two conflicting modes—the realistic and the generic. “I . . . try to build models in my films, but ones that are ‘filled with the world,’ where the effect is not just metaphorical but steeped in a verifiable reality,” Haneke told  Film Comment  in 2009, adding that “most film genres . . . offer prototypical modes of behavior that only interest me if I can reflect them as a filmmaker.” 

“By denying us catharsis, the movie finally betrays the assumed pact a thriller makes with its audience.”

That helps to explain the unsettling mood of  Funny Games,  in which the “verifiable reality” of the family meets the “prototypical mode” of the villains, about whom we know nothing, and learn nothing. Paul and Peter offer up bogus backstories, which they themselves jokingly dismiss as lies. They have no pasts, nor much in the way of identities. We’re not even entirely sure what their names are. They often interact with their victims through a series of games, which adds an extra layer of cruelty to the proceedings but which also, importantly, reduces everything to binaries—“it” and “not it,” “hot” and “cold,” “winner” and “loser.”

By contrast, the portrayal of the family is quite realistic. Anna’s reaction to the two invaders goes from politeness to suspicion quickly, but Georg, arriving late on the scene, initially fails to understand her alarm. In his actions, we see the familiar figure of a man eager to avoid conflict. To some extent, he continues in that vein even after Paul beats his leg in with a golf club. Throughout  Funny Games,  Georg remains curiously subdued. In part, it’s because he’s wounded. But we also sense that he perhaps thinks he may eventually be able to reason with these lunatics, or at least buy his family some time. Anna, though no match physically for the two men, is far more resistant. She seems to understand, better than anybody else, that they cannot be dealt with rationally. 

Part of the conflict in  Funny Games  is the subtle one between Anna and Georg, whose responses to this unprecedented and unexplainable attack on their lives differ sharply. But in each of their cases, we feel as if we’re watching a realistic response to a surrealistic problem. Mühe and Lothar’s performances convey real anguish, fear, indecision—an inner life shines behind their eyes. This attention to character detail may look like a waste, given what ultimately happens to these people, but it is, in fact, critical to Haneke’s project. Because the violence enacted on them is so absurd, the family itself has to be convincing. If we eventually see them only as objects, or as pawns, then Haneke will simply have achieved the very thing he’s trying to demolish—a movie that denies the complexity and value of human life. 

And there is one group whose psychology Haneke understands even better than his characters’—his audience’s. Because the director does follow a conventional thriller structure to give us one big, graphic, visceral moment. Anna, late in the picture, grabs a shotgun and blows a hole in Peter’s chest. It’s hard not to feel as if the whole movie has been building up to this. Now Haneke doesn’t skimp on the on-screen bloodshed: Peter is tossed against the wall from the impact of the shot, like a true heavy. This plays like a cathartic action-flick climax—the kind designed to elicit an audience response. (Viewers reportedly applauded the shooting during the premiere at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, that supposed temple of refined spectatorship.)

And this is when Haneke pulls out his most outrageous fourth-wall-breaking tactic. Paul, stunned at what has just transpired, finds the TV remote, pauses  Funny Games  itself as if it were a video, and then rewinds the film, so that he can safely remove the shotgun right as Anna reaches for it. This, it turns out, is  Funny Games ’ true climax. If the  it’s-only-a-movie -ness of it all was previously secretly reassuring, it now becomes enraging and tragic:  it’s only a movie, so we can rewind and redo this scene.

This is perhaps Haneke’s slyest attack on the audience. Throughout  Funny Games,  he has been giving us what we want: suspense mixed with just enough self-awareness to keep us riveted. Whenever things would threaten to get too cruel, he would pull back the curtain a little, reminding us of the artifice. And for all its provocations,  Funny Games  has still continued to function as a genre film—a particularly ruthless one, but a genre film nonetheless. But by denying us catharsis at this point—or rather, giving it to us and then promptly yanking it away—the movie finally betrays the assumed pact a thriller makes with its audience. And it does so in a way that’s unusually discomfiting: it might be tempting to say that by redoing this scene, Paul assumes the role of filmmaker, but actually, in grabbing the remote and rewinding, he looks more like a viewer—in other words, one of us.

After this notorious rewind moment, we see the final murder, as the two men calmly take Anna out on a boat and push her into the water with a minimum of fuss, suspense, or drama. (Even a small knife that was left on the boat in close-up early on, as if it might become a narrative device that would gain greater importance later, is tossed away ever so casually.)

And what are they talking about as they kill her? They’re talking about seeing a film. Paul and Peter, we understand, are not just perpetrators but spectators as well. Have they become the audience, or were they the audience all along? Does it even matter? The final close-up, of Paul staring and smiling into the camera again as he prepares to attack his next victims, is no longer a confrontation. It is a reflection. 

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Teaching Argumentation and Persuasion: 6 Engaging Activities Beyond the Argumentative Essay

There are many engaging activities to use when teaching argumentation and persuasion beyond the classic essay. While the argumentative essay can certainly be effective, try something new with one of these 6 engaging activities. Your students will be excited and eager to apply argumentation and persuasion in the classroom and beyond.

When it comes to teaching argumentation and persuasion, I’m like a kid on Christmas morning. I’m eager, excited, and full of energy. Yet, over the years, I’ve found that my students don’t always meet me with the same enthusiasm. Instead, they roll their figurative eyes at the thought of writing yet another essay.

I had to do something to save my favorite holiday– I mean unit– of the year.

I’ve spent more hours than I’d like to admit, wracking my brain for activities that would make teaching argumentation and persuasion, dare I say, fun! But the time and effort paid off. When I started implementing activities beyond the argumentative essays, my students were engaged and active participants. It was a win-win.

Lucky for you, I’ve done the work (and put in the time) so you don’t have to. Instead, simply keep reading to uncover some of my secret weapons for teaching argumentation and persuasion. The following activities can be used instead of or in conjunction with the classic argumentative essay. It’s totally up to you and what will best suit your students’ needs. Regardless, you don’t have to spend the hours brainstorming from square one. You can thank me later. In the meantime, read on, my teacher friends!

Laying the Foundation for Teaching Argumentation and Persuasion

Before jumping into one of the activities below, you need to set your students up for success. Therefore, be sure to teach the essential concepts for effective argumentation and persuasion. Afterall, both argumentation and persuasion are cornerstone communication skills in the 21st century.

So, not only do you want to do these topics justice for the sake of your classroom. But, they’re also some of the most transferable skills your students will use in the real world.

Note: if you’re just looking for the activities, no problem! Keep scrolling– I promise they’re there.

Understanding the Difference Between Argumentation and Persuasion

While these two topics are often taught together, it’s important for students to know that they aren’t exactly synonyms. Instead, you could argue (see what I did there) these two concepts act as compliments to one another. In many cases, persuasion can strengthen an argument, and vice versa. But again, they’re not exactly the same when it comes to speaking or writing. (However, I find it useful to remind students of one of the most important aspects they do share: there has to be at least two sides.) You can clarify the major differences between the two by looking at the main goal for each type of writing or speech:

• The goal of argumentative writing is to get the audience to acknowledge your stance on a topic. Moreover, a strong argument shows the reader your viewpoint is valid and deserves consideration. Therefore, argumentative writing is heavily rooted in logic and facts and addressed counterclaims.
• Goal of persuasive writing is to get the audience to agree with you and your stance on a particular topic or viewpoint. While logic most certainly strengthens persuasion, there is also a heavy emphasis on emotional elements as well.

The truth is, the two are often used hand in hand in the real world with everything from marketing and public service campaigns to politics and law. And, in most cases, persuasive writing is more personal and passionate for students. Therefore, I strive to teach the two together to increase student engagement and real word application. Talk about a dream duo for students and teachers alike!

Rhetoric and Rhetorical Appeals

I absolutely love comparing persuasion and argumentation to art. Why? Because it’s a true craft. Do I explain it that way to my students? Abso-freakin-lutely. Why? Because they need to understand that presenting a sound and persuasive argument is a skill. That these writing and speaking skills take time and effort to develop.

Enter: Rhetoric. I always begin this unit by defining argumentation, persuasion, and rhetoric, explaining how the latter literally means the art of persuasion. Then, I introduce the three main rhetorical appeals (shout out Aristotle). Rather than simply giving the students the definitions of ethos, pathos, and logos, I begin by asking questions to help reveal the definitions. Here are some of the questions I use– and that you can most certainly steal for your own classroom:

• To introduce ethos , I ask, “Who would you trust to give advice about toothpaste? Why?”
• To introduce logos , I might ask, “If you wanted to learn how to build a successful business, what is the benefit of a successful entrepreneur giving you step-by-step guidance?”
• To introduce pathos , I ask, “Think about a time where you got emotional during a commercial, song, or movie. What was it that made you so emotional?”

The Power of Words

Once students have an understanding of these essential definitions, it’s time to move on to a more abstract, yet highly significant, concept: the power of words. This is where I introduce the importance (and power) of diction. This is the perfect time to explain how words impact reader/audience experience.

One of the simplest examples to make a case for this claim is asking students to analyze the difference between the terms house and home. I’ve never had a class not come to the conclusion that a house is a structure and place of living, where a home is a place filled with love.

To round out the discussion on why and how words have an impact on the audience, introduce connotation and denotation. Spending a handful of minutes explaining the emotional meaning behind words (connotation) can be a game changer. It reminds students that there is, in fact, emotional power in the words we use. To drive the point home, you can ask them to compare times when they were upset vs. angry vs. furious.

A Fun and Engaging Warm-Up Activity for Teaching Argumentation and Persuasion

What tween or teen doesn’t like arguing with adults? (Trust me. They’re far and few between.) In other words, students will eat this activity up. Rather than focusing on deep and heavy topics that require a great deal of research and unpacking, this activity is a lighthearted warm-up. The goal is to get students to start thinking about what goes into a sound and persuasive argument.

• Arguing with “Adults”

Working independently or in small groups, students will pick a “silly” or lighthearted topic. Encourage them to think of things they’d like to convince their parents, teachers, or other adults. Since these topics are light hearted and often come from a place of passion, students will have no problem coming up with reasons why their curfew should be extended by an hour or two or why homework should be abolished. They’re excited to argue why their parents should buy them a car or why a puppy is a must-have addition to their family.

Next, allow students five minutes to choose a topic and brainstorm their argument. Then, give them 10-20 minutes to write their argument. (The timing of this activity is flexible, so you can adjust it based on the structure of your class.) After they write out their argument, it’s time to share– and let the discussion unfold. As each student (or group) shares their argument, have fun playing devil’s advocate. Challenge them to push their arguments and reasoning further.

While you might want to guide the students through the discussion, let them really come to terms with the idea of what makes a sound and persuasive argument. And if you really want to play up the fun? Challenge the other students to play that role! Have your students in the audience play the role of the adults to whom the argument is targeted. This will challenge students to find holes in the arguments, brainstorming ways to make an argument even stronger. Additionally, it challenges them to think about the importance of audience perspective , looking beyond their own interests, blind spots, and biases. The end result? Develop a list of student generated “check-points” for an argument that is both powerful and persuasive.

Engaging Activities for Teaching Argumentation and Persuasion

Watching TV. Driving down the highway. Scrolling through social media. The art of argumentation and persuasion are everywhere . So, why not bring some of those real-life examples to your classroom? Because the truth is, persuasion and argumentation comes in all shapes and sizes. Therefore, it might be time to look beyond the traditional argumentative essay. And with these activities, you can.

An oldie but a goodie. In fact, discussing teaching argumentation and persuasion wouldn’t feel right without some sort of debate. So, to begin this student-centered activity, select (or have students choose) a topic to argue. This can be a murder or crime– and you can even have fun with historical topics like the Salem witch trials if it’s around Halloween or you’re reading The Crucible . Alternatively, you can root your debate in an ethical dilemma or an essential question. Generally speaking, you can look toward real life events or literature for inspiration. You can even head to your state bar association website for mock trial resources and cases– like these from the state of NH . As long as there is evidence to be found and a case to make, you should be good to go.

Before really diving into the mock trial, spend time reviewing the basics of the justice system and trials. Then, once you choose your topic, divide students into teams of prosecution and defense. Once the teams are determined, students can dive into researching and crafting their arguments. However, be sure to emphasize the need for evidence based claims while also discussing the power of persuasion in the courtroom. (There are plenty of video clips you can show and analyze to see these two elements in action.) Each group, both the prosecution and defense, are responsible for crafting an opening statement, a claim, a rebuttal, and a closing statement. For smaller classes, you can serve as the judge and jury. For larger classes, you can run several trials, letting the other groups act as the jury if they’re not presenting. Either way, students will be far more eager to win the jury over with their evidence than they are to write a paper.

There’s no better way for students to show off their new persuasive skills and knowledge of ethos, logos, and pathos than to craft their own arguments. And a mock trial allows them to do so in a way other than the classic essay. But with a verdict on the line, there’s a lot at stake. Therefore, this activity amps up eager participation.

Mock Trial Teacher Tip. Mock trials make debating more exciting– especially if you really play up the trial theme. (Have an old graduation gown? Use it as the judge’s robe! A wig? Yes please! A gavel? A must.)  So, grab your gavel and give this engaging activity a try!

• Students Do Shark Tank

This activity brings the worlds of business, marketing, and advertisements into the conversation. Talk about real world connection! Most older students will be familiar with this show. However, it’s always fun to show a clip for an episode or two just in case. Plus. Who doesn’t love watching videos in class? (Teachers and students alike.) Shark Tank is all about the pitch. So, have fun replicating this idea in your classroom! And instead of presenting to the likes of Mark Cuban, students will present to you . If you’re able, try getting a few other guest sharks on the “show”.

Before diving into the project, in addition to watching a few clips of the show, take some time to analyze the world of advertising. Encourage students to find connections between argumentative and persuasive writing and real-life commercials, social media campaigns, and print advertisements. Then, put students in small groups and together they will create their own product. Alternatively, you can have them pick an existing product they’re passionate about. Then, the fun begins.

Using their new knowledge of persuasive language techniques and argumentation, students must convince the sharks to invest in their product! For a fun twist that gets everyone involved, let the audience in on the investments. Print out a set amount of “money” for each student. After all the presentations, allow them to “invest” in their favorite products. As for the presentations themselves, I like to require a visual advertisement– like a poster– and a written component– like an elevator pitch. Students can then display their visuals as they give their speech. Later, students can view all of the visuals as they decide where to “invest” their money.

Shark Tank Teacher Tip. Looking to beef up the argumentative writing side of things? You can have students submit a short research-based argumentative paper that supports the need for their product. Regardless of the specifics, students will be eager to dive into this activity with such real world application.

• Speech Remix

From Abraham Lincoln’s  “The Gettysburg Address” and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream,” history has its fair share of powerful speeches. And they’re great examples of argumentation and persuasion as well. So, begin this activity by analyzing a mentor text as a class. Then, turn it over to the students to showcase their knowledge on their own.

Have students choose a historical speech (you can refer to this bank of speeches here ) to analyze. They can turn in annotations or a short response analyzing the rhetoric of their chosen speech. Here’s the twist. After analyzing the speech, they then use it as a mentor text, implementing its sentence structure, tone and rhetorical techniques as they write their own speech. This is where student choice really kicks up a notch. Allow students to choose a topic, cause, or issue they feel passionate about. However, I always recommend having a list of potential topics on hand for students who need a little more guidance.

Additionally, it might be useful to encourage a backwards design approach. Have students select their topic first, and then find a speech that is a good match. For example, a social justice issue might pair well with Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. However, be sure students choosing unique and more modern topics are not dissuaded if they can’t find the perfect match. Regardless, in the end, this activity pays homage to great speeches of the past while allowing students to take ownership as they apply the argumentative and persuasive techniques to modern day.

Speech Remix Teacher Tip. Why limit yourself to the four walls of your classroom? This activity is a perfect opportunity for cross-curricular collaboration. Consider reaching out to the history teachers and focus your class study on a speech that lines up with the social studies curriculum. This will allow students to have a more in depth background knowledge, giving them more context for the speaker’s rhetorical approach. Similarly, a speech of this caliber might be less intimidating if they understand the context, allowing them to really focus on the rhetorical approach.

• #Influencer

In the age of social media, companies make a pretty penny using influencer campaigns. And it’s really quite fitting. Afterall, argumentation and persuasion is all about influence . So, to kick off this activity, spend some time looking at social media ads and influencer accounts. Be sure to analyze everything from photos to captions to hashtags.

After looking at real word examples, it’s time for students to take on the role of an “influencer” – they can be themselves or create an influencer persona. The next step is for them to choose which product of service they are “fit” to promote and, ideally, sell. Students should pick something they have experience with or knowledge about, from video games to make-up. Then, have students write a letter to the “company” (aka you) to convince them that they are capable of being an influencer. This is where they really need to tap into ethos. They should clearly explain why they are a reputable source and should be trusted to sell “your” product. If they’ve convinced you, then they can sign a “contract” (aka the assignment requirements) that outlines the agreement.

Here’s where the fun and creativity happens. While you can determine the specific requirements, students should create a portfolio of campaign materials to promote their chosen product. This is where you can determine how in depth or brief you want the assignment to be. The portfolio can include artifacts like a series of social media posts, youtube videos or scripts, an email funnel, or even blog posts– or a portfolio combining various types of artifacts.

#Influencer Teacher Tip. If you’re looking to amp up the requirements and turn this into a unit-long assignment or a full blown summative assessment, you totally can. Consider adjusting the assignment to be a multigenre project of sorts. Present students with a list and overview of various genres they can include as part of their project. Then, let them select the ones they wish to include in their multigenre portfolio.

• PSA – The Passion Project

The name alone screams engagement, right? Even better, this activity is engaging.  Instead of assigning a list of overused (and sometimes outdated) argumentative prompts, let students take the reins by choosing a topic that matters to them . So, after teaching your students about rhetorical appeals, the appropriate use of persuasion, and the basics of argumentative writing, let students showcase their newfound skills with the PSA Passion Project. In this project, rather than simply writing an essay for the sake of getting grades, students are diving into an issue of their choice in hopes of raising awareness.

Begin by having students select a social or environmental issue that is important to them. These can range from animal testing in the beauty industry to the impact of social media on mental health. In other words, there’s a wide variety of topics out there, so your students are bound to find something that matters to them. Then, they must plan, develop, and create a public service announcement campaign around the issue. This is where you can really drive home the idea of call to action with persuasion. The challenge with the PSA assignment is crafting an argument that is applicable and persuasive for a mass audience. Afterall, when it comes to wide-spread change, there is power in numbers. (This activity can serve as its own unit or work in conjunction with the study of classic essays like “On The Duty of Civil Disobedience” by Thoreau or “A Letter From Birmingham County Jail” by MLK Jr..

This activity has plenty of room for creativity and student choice. However, that doesn’t mean you have to give up a writing component. Instead, require students to complete a minimum of two items: a written piece and a visual or media element. The writing pieces can range from a more traditional argumentative essay to back up their media component. Alternatively, they can write a speech, persuasive letter, or educational blog post. Then, for the media components, they can create a poster, a video, a social media post, or an infographic– just to name a few. Now, if you’re really looking to diversify the elements of this project, consider turning the PSA Passion Project into a full blown multigenre project!

PSA Passion Project Teacher Tip. Despite your best efforts, some students will claim they can’t find a topic they’re passionate about. (Teenagers.) That’s why I always come prepared with a list of topics students can choose from. Even students eager to choose their own topic might like to see a list for inspiration. Save yourself some time by giving them ideas from this list of engaging argumentative writing prompts!

A Final Note on the Art of Teaching Argumentation and Persuasion

Remember, I’m not saying traditional essays are bad. But I think it’s worth looking beyond the traditions and asking ourselves, how can we make this better ? Better for the students. More reflective of and applicable to the world we live in. If there’s some fun to be had along the way, so be it! (In fact, I encourage it!)

So, as you go one to try any one (or all!) of these activities in your classroom, feel free to make adjustments as needed. And If you’re still looking for a more traditional essay to be your summative assessment, that’s A-OK too! In fact, the activities above can be shortened and adjusted to serve as a mini-lesson or formative assignments before writing a more traditional argumentative essay.

The bottom line is this…

Ever since I changed my approach to teaching argumentation and persuasion, it’s become something my students and I enjoy together . Imagine that!

1 thought on “Teaching Argumentation and Persuasion: 6 Engaging Activities Beyond the Argumentative Essay”

awesome advice and ideas. My semester just got a lot better!!!

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• Argumentation / Wide Open Learning

Fun Ways for Students to Learn Through Argument

by Megan Kelly · Published 04/25/2021 · Updated 04/25/2021

A MiddleWeb Blog

The authors write: “If you and your class enter into argumentation with the idea that everyone will learn from those whose positions differ, then your students will be willing to accept different points of view more gracefully – and perhaps even change their own” (129).

In our school, we do so much work in many subject areas to ensure that our students understand audience and perspective. I love that idea of shifting our goals of argumentation to include widening students’ perspectives, with the bonus of making them more open-minded people.

Arguing energetically

One of my favorite ways to build argumentation, research, and collaboration skills while increasing student comfort with public speaking is the Argument Protocol , which I learned almost a decade ago at the Columbia Teachers College Reading Institute. This activity produces frenetic, enthusiastic research and sharing of information. When it is time for students to line up and debate their partner, it is a high volume and high energy affair.

Because of this, students who are hesitant to speak up are more comfortable because it is clear that nobody but their partner can hear them! Even better, this activity can be repeated many times with different topics – and students do better with every iteration.

A winning argument

Superfight in action

I’m a huge proponent of using games in class , so I was excited to discover the board game, Superfight .

In this game, two players flip over two different decks of cards: the first deck offers characters (ex. Abraham Lincoln, a sumo wrestler) and the other deck has ability/attribute cards like “10 stories tall” or “throws bears.” After the giggles over who the fighters are, students need to persuade the judge(s) that they would win in a competition.

In the original rules for the game, it is a physical fight, but I modified the game for situations more suitable for the classroom . We reviewed argument techniques in advance, and after the game students discussed which argument strategies were most convincing.

The next step is to transfer these skills to their writing.

When the audience counts

Another board game that we played to grow their argument skills was Snake Oil , which has the premise of combining two words to create a product to pitch to a specific client. The company has generously posted an online version of the game for teachers , as well as suggestions for how to use it in class. We used the physical version of the game, and I made extra “client” cards with names of people in our community.

This is the perfect game to start a class that focuses on teaching students to pay attention to their audiences in their writing. Once students have developed the knack of pitching verbally to a specific audience, they should continue that practice with their writing topic. Verbally rehearsing their arguments with a partner is key to deepening their reasoning.

Beyond what Socrates could have imagined

If you’re looking for an assessment that ensures that all students are participating in the argument experience, I haven’t seen anything better than the Socratic Smackdown . I’ve used this game as an assessment in multiple content areas and grade levels, and it is a fair and organized way for students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.

I often have students do a practice Smackdown about an alternate topic before they begin their research; they learn the rules of the game and how best to optimize their argument and get the most points.

Yes, there are points! Students who are not actively debating in the Socratic ‘fishbowl’ are either reflecting on their own debate or scoring the students currently debating. All students are engaged in a task that will improve their performance the next time they debate.

Arguing with a purpose

When the goal is for students to argue to learn, the task becomes less competitive and more enriching. As Joseph Joubert wrote, “The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.” Imagine the progress we will make with a class of students who consider perspectives, acknowledge their audience, and argue knowledgeably.

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Tags: argumentation audience games knowledge Megan Kelly middle grades perspective Wide Open Learning

Megan Kelly

Megan Kelly has been teaching English and History internationally since 2003, most recently in Singapore. She has a Master of Arts in Teaching and is passionate about literacy and learning through play. She tweets at @33megan33 . See all her ELA and history teaching tips for MiddleWeb here .

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Thanks for this and for all the resources and links. It’s very helpful and the game activities seem engaging. I hope to try a few out this year. Kevin

Hi Kevin, Thanks for the comment! Enjoy the end of the year.

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Essay on Games

Games are an essential part of everyone’s childhood. Games are a fun way to keep kids entertained. They provide an interactive and engaging way to learn something new while considering themselves and others. They give children a break from daily study routines. Playing games improves kids’ immunity and helps them stay strong. BYJU’S essay on games allows the little ones to understand the difference between indoor and outdoor games and the importance of playing games.

Table of Contents

Indoor games, outdoor games, importance of playing games.

The essay on games is an article that explains why playing indoor games is vital for the development of kids in their early years. Indoor games are essential for kids who spend a lot of time indoors. There are many benefits to playing these games, like improving a child’s vision and developing memory skills. These skills help them in academics. While playing indoor games, kids can have a friendly competition.

The importance of indoor games is something that many people have probably not thought about. Indoor games can teach children how to move a coin, improve coordination, and use their imaginations. Examples of indoor games are carrom board, table tennis, chess, scrabble, charades, paper games, ludo, etc.

Outdoor games are essential to children’s health and development. Children who play outdoors experience nature, which is good for their physical, social, and mental health. Outdoor games are a fun way to get out of the house, meet new people, and take an opportunity to bond with new friends.

The little ones need to engage in physical activities to stay healthy. They help children develop problem-solving, teamwork, communication, cooperation, flexibility, and physical activity skills. Outdoor activities can be more beneficial than indoor activities because they provide more exposure to sunlight. Examples of outdoor games are kabaddi, cricket, football, kho kho , etc.

Playing games is an excellent way for kids to learn about the world and make new friends. Games improve kids’ learning experience and interest in studies, which helps them score better grades. Experts say playing games has cognitive benefits and can help increase social skills.

When playing games, kids’ brains grow stronger and wiser. Games teach children how to interact with others and think strategically while they are still young and learning new things. They also provide a safe place for kids to learn and explore without fear of judgement. You can also use games to teach your child how to communicate using a game board or cards.

To conclude, games are an essential part of early childhood, and an essay on games helps children understand the value of playing games. When kids soak in the sun while playing, they become strong, improving their vitamin D levels. In addition, playing games keep the kids engaged and entertained. For more kid-friendly activities, stories , GK questions and other games visit, BYJU’S website.

Frequently Asked Questions on Essay on Games

What are the benefits of playing indoor games.

Indoor games provide kids with a way to exercise their minds while playing. Solving puzzles or educational games help children learn new skills, strengthen maths skills and improve memory. Research is also being conducted to see how playing indoor board games can improve children’s literacy skills.

Why are outdoor games important for children?

Parents should encourage their children to participate in outdoor games to teach them the importance of teamwork and cooperation. Games like kabaddi, cricket, and hockey are fun ways for children to stay active during the summer. They also help children build their physical strength.

Why is BYJU’S essay on games vital for kids?

BYJU’S essay on games is essential for children because it explains the significance of playing and how games allow them to release stress, have fun, and learn valuable skills.

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ELA Activities and Resources

The Unique Argumentative Writing Group Game That Will Blow Up Your Class

Writing an argumentative essay can be a real challenge for students. Many times students find it difficult to understand how to write an argument, support their claims or craft a rebuttal. ARGUETROPIA , argumentative writing group game , is here to save the day!

Before getting down to writing that argumentative essay , start your students’ journey with ARGUETROPIA . It is a fun real life simulation of an imaginary city with reality inspired problems which the students have to solve in a competitive setting.

ARGUETROPIA is designed to be played with the entire class so no one is left behind. The students sharpen their argumentative and persuasion skills by finding solutions, writing arguments, constructing rebuttals and making motivated decisions.

How do you play it?

The students are split into 4 teams. Three of the teams are responsible for solving the problems presented on the task cards. One team decides which solution is the best for the city. The whole activity is packed with argument, rebuttal and motivation writing, offering a complete experience.

The teams receive an equal number of stars with the number of problem cards they will have to solve. If their solution is not voted by the Voters, they lose a star . If their solution is the voted one, they keep their current number of stars. The winner is the team that has the most stars after all problems are solved.

The game is easy to play and extremely flexible. You can choose from 20 possible problems and can fine tune the activity according to the needs of your students. The pack comes with ideas you can implement to modify the game in various manners.

ARGUETROPIA aids in cognitive and argumentative development in students. It increases the levels of engagement in class and it is an accessible tool for middle school and high school students.

Do you want to give it a go?

Over 200 teachers have already tried this engaging argumentative writing game and have reported amazing results. We gave away for free over 100 game packs and as we closed the promotional session, teachers wrote to us that they want more. So if you want to play ARGUETROPIA with your students in class today, we have a special discounted price only for you, our teacher friend.

Hurry up (because the game packs are selling like hot cakes) and get this engaging argumentative game now for your class!

Click on the picture below to download it from our TPT Store!

If you like it, please leave a quick review so that we know you had lots of fun learning argumentative writing in your class.

Stay in touch with us and get all the great resources you need for your ELA class!

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Breakout English

Fun writing activity: The consequences game

Are you struggling to make essay writing more engaging for B2 and C1 exam students with fun writing activities? Often, the challenge with teaching writing lies in making learning these skills enjoyable. That’s where creative writing activities like this one come into play. We’ve developed a dynamic activity called the consequences essay-writing game, designed to spark creativity and improve writing skills in a collaborative way. This game makes essay writing enjoyable and helps students construct well-linked arguments using common linking words.

Why should you do fun writing activities?

In both B2 and C1 levels for Cambridge exams, writing an essay is obligatory. It comes up in Trinity and IELTS exams too. When writing essays, you are expected to express your ideas clearly and logically, making good use of a range of vocabulary and grammatical structures. The essays should be well-organised, with clear introductions, development of ideas, and conclusions. Linking words make sure that the essay flows and that the ideas are coherent.

So how can you do this in a fun way? With the consequences game, the writing is collaborative. Each student takes turns to continue an essay that another student or group started. The twist is that they can’t read the whole essay to know what was written before. This is a common creative writing task used to write stories, but it can be easily adapted. Each section of the game starts with a different linking word, so students are exposed to the useful language while having fun at the same time.

This type of fun writing activity helps to break up the monotony of potentially uninspiring writing lessons. Students will engage more with the task and care about their writing more. As an added bonus, it’s best when done collaboratively, so students will be using their speaking skills throughout the duration of the task also.

How the consequences game works

The game begins with several different essay topics. Each topic comes with a unique introduction and linking words. Then follow these steps carefully:

• Read the introduction.
• Continue the essay by writing the first paragraph.
• After writing each section, fold down the previous section so that only the most recent section is visible.
• Pass the essays to the next person or group.
• Take turns writing sections of the essay, using the provided linking words to maintain cohesion.

As the game progresses, players build upon each other’s contributions, but without knowing how the essay started, it can lead to entertainingly disjointed essays. Encourage imagination and silliness for added fun.

After completing the essay, you can review and discuss the final product, analysing the effectiveness of their linking words and the cohesiveness of the essay.

The materials

This consequences game revolves around five topics, each with a set of linking words to guide students in creating compelling essays:

• Climate change : Starting with the introduction, “Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time, affecting every aspect of the planet’s ecosystems.”
• Social media : This topic begins with, “Social media has revolutionised the way we communicate, but its impact on society still needs further analysis.”
• The future of work : With the introduction, “As automation and artificial intelligence continue to advance, the future of work is going to experience significant transformations.”
• Education : Starting with “Educational methods, which play a crucial role in shaping individuals and societies, are continuously evolving.”
• Art and culture : Beginning with, “Art and culture are not only entertainment. They also influence the values and dynamics of entire societies.”

By incorporating these topics into the consequences game, students learn to express their ideas with typical topics found in advanced language exams.

For more insights on using linking words effectively in your essays, don’t forget to check out our other linking words post on Breakout English .

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130 New Prompts for Argumentative Writing

Questions on everything from mental health and sports to video games and dating. Which ones inspire you to take a stand?

By The Learning Network

Note: We have an updated version of this list, with 300 new argumentative writing prompts .

What issues do you care most about? What topics do you find yourself discussing passionately, whether online, at the dinner table, in the classroom or with your friends?

In Unit 5 of our free yearlong writing curriculum and related Student Editorial Contest , we invite students to research and write about the issues that matter to them, whether that’s Shakespeare , health care , standardized testing or being messy .

But with so many possibilities, where does one even begin? Try our student writing prompts.

In 2017, we compiled a list of 401 argumentative writing prompts , all drawn from our daily Student Opinion column . Now, we’re rounding up 130 more we’ve published since then ( available here as a PDF ). Each prompt links to a free Times article as well as additional subquestions that can help you think more deeply about it.

You might use this list to inspire your own writing and to find links to reliable resources about the issues that intrigue you. But even if you’re not participating in our contest, you can use these prompts to practice the kind of low-stakes writing that can help you hone your argumentation skills.

So scroll through the list below with questions on everything from sports and mental health to dating and video games and see which ones inspire you to take a stand.

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GAMES, BRRRAAAINS & A HEAD-BANGING LIFE

10 Quick Writing Games for Students and Teachers

Academic writing expert Lauren Bradshaw recently researched quick writing games for university or college students and teachers. These games do not require plenty of energy to set up and can be applied to students of all ages. Figuring them out is as easy as ordering answers for mymathlab .

The main goal is to improve the writing skills of students and according to Bradshaw, she said: “Substitute teachers who want to establish a connection with students or bring something fresh to the table can use writing games”. With the help of a professional essay writing service like  CustomWritings .

1.   Stretching sentences game

In this game, academic writing services or tutors can give students a group of words to work with or some short sentences. These can be passed around to a group of between 6 – 8 students and the rule is each person has to add or remove a word to make the sentence make sense or more appealing.

2.   Rebus writing game

The second quick writing game that tutors and students can play together is called the rebus writing game. It is known by many names like picture riddles or picture puzzles because of its concept of incorporating pictures and words to convey meaning. To emerge victorious in this game according to essay services, students have to take their time and look at everything carefully. Things like color, word placement, and size all play an important role in getting it right while playing this game. With rebus writing, there is no limitation on what types of sentences can be made; all that matters is that each picture is used appropriately to make a complete thought. Rebus writing offers players endless possibilities for creative wordplay and strengthens their understanding of types of sentences in the same enjoyable format.

3.   In the bag

This game is very much self-explanatory and is one of those that have been around for many years. It is played all across the world and to successfully implement it, objects are placed in a bag out of the view of the students. Once that is done, the tutors will ask their students to feel the objects in the bag with their hands and explain what it feels like. It is as simple as that plus it’s a very good way to teach students about adjectives according to professional writing services.

4.   Touch and tell

This game is similar in concept to the one above, the only difference is the object is not in a bag. To play this, college or university tutors will give their students an object that they will pass around to each other. When that is done, the students will be asked to write adjectives that perfectly describe the object being passed around.

Another very easy game to play, and the object could be anything the tutor wants as long as it is safe. The last thing any tutor wants is to bring something that causes injuries to the students. Careful consideration is needed when it comes to picking the object but for the most part, many tutors are wise and always pick objects they know are safe to be around students as no college or university wants lawsuits on their hands.

5.   Verb draw

This quick little writing game involves pictures being placed in a box by the college or university tutors. The idea of this game is for the students to pick a picture at random from the box and come up with action verbs for what they have picked. This picture could be of a particular object, a person, or even an animal. To spice things up a bit or make the game more exciting and challenging, on top of verbs, students can be asked to come up with adverbs and adjectives too.

6.   Hot seat

This game is a bit complicated to play but very fun nevertheless as long as it is explained to students properly. In the hot seat, tutors will read a phrase, which can be from a story, and ask students to listen attentively. They will stop reading the story at a certain point and then ask students to pick a character from the story that was being read to them and write about what the character was feeling, thinking, or doing. This game teaches students how to grasp information quickly which is a good quality to have when they eventually start working.

7.   Change one word – change the meaning

In this game, students will be asked to locate a word in a sentence and then alter it to see if it changes the meaning of the overall text. Once a word is changed, they will share their versions of the sentence with their tutors to see which part of the text was crucial when it comes to changing the overall meaning.

8.   Locate and classify

In the located and classifying game, tutors will read a paragraph to their students and give them red and blue cards. They can write nouns on the red cards and adjectives on the blue ones or vice versa whichever way a student prefers.  Students can also be asked to locate verbs and adverbs which they can also write down on cards of different colors like green and yellow. It is a great way to teach students about adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and nouns at the same time.

9.   Grammar toss and sentence making

To play this game, one student needs to toss a ball and then write down a sentence they want with the correct punctuation. The game will carry on until a particular group of students creates up to 20 sentences on their paper. After that, the students will run and sit down because the group that gets their work done the quickest and has twenty correct sentences written down is declared the winner.

10.  Toss and write

Before beginning this game, tutors and students need to prepare a cube. On each face of the cube, tasks need to be written which will require grammar knowledge from the students. For example, the task can be, to provide an adverb and a noun, provide two verbs, make a question, construct a sentence, provide two adjectives, and more. Students will then select a subject from the tin and throw the cube. Whichever side the cubes land on or face, they will have to do that task.

Final thoughts

There are so many quick writing games out there that can be played during the semester or term but these 10 in this article are some of the most popular. The whole idea of playing these games is not just to educate students, but to make writing fun while they still improve. During the holidays, students can get in touch with various online writing services. As long as an online essay service is reliable, they will be more than happy to play some games above with students so that they can polish up their writing skills to produce better essays. Writing is a skill that goes under the radar, but it is a very important skill that makes students attractive candidates for many employers once they graduate.

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Making persuasive writing fun to teach and learn.

• April 21, 2021

How do you make persuasive writing fun in the classroom?

Lots of the time, teachers and students alike don’t enjoy writing lessons. It can be a challenge getting ALL students motivated to put pencil to paper.

That is where we step in to help you change that with these 5 fun strategies you can start using tomorrow to make persuasive writing enjoyable in your classroom.

We want to begin by saying, children love learning through games, and as teachers, we have witnessed the benefits.

These tips include a range of games for individuals, pairs and, whole groups that will have your students excited when you tell them that writing is next up on the daily timetable.

1. Would you rather game

Build the field and get students talking with a Would You Rather game. Kids absolutely love playing this game, and it is an excellent way to get kids informally using persuasive language. An ‘Agree or Disagree’ game is another alternative you could play as a class (just make sure you include some funny or outrageous statements).

2. Spinner and dice games

We know that speaking and listening is vital when it comes to writing development. Spinner or dice games are an engaging and different way for students to work on specific language conventions and have fun at the same time. We like to set games up as fast finisher activities or send them home for students that need extra support.

3. Word wheels

These are a great alternative to word or vocabulary walls. You could have students make their own word wheels to use as a reference when writing or simply speaking before writing. They can be less overwhelming for students by presenting multiple options one by one.

We have actually seen a creative teacher make large word wheels and pin them to her persuasive writing display. The students had the structure to refer to, examples, and could also access the word wheels on the wall if they needed help when writing.

Find the UNO Games for Maths here. 

4. partner writing.

Don’t discount the learning opportunities that students obtain from working together on a piece of writing. Not only can they discuss and talk through their arguments but also mentor each other throughout the writing process. Peer or partner writing is another way to get reluctant writers engaged in the process.

5. Student choice and voice

Give students a bingo board or a range of topics for them to choose something they are passionate about or know about. As adults, we know it is easier to write about something we know, and kids are exactly the same. By giving students a choice it will allow them to feel confident in the content and, therefore, be able to focus more on the punctuation, language conventions, and spelling required of them when writing.

Create confident and enthusiastic writers with these persuasive writing activities and games. And remember, writing lessons don’t always require students to be sitting at a desk writing. Mix it up and make it fun!

Loved these ideas and want to remember them later? Pin the image below.

Need help when it comes to planning and preparing your persuasive writing lessons? Check out our ready-to-print resources for Grades 2-3 & Grades 4-6.

“Fabulous addition to a unit we’ve taught many times before. This resource brought new perspectives & tasks to help revamp what we do.” Kristy T

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Dennis Matthew is a Speech Pathologist by trade, but he doesn’t only work alongside teachers in schools, he is also an author, songwriter, poet and musician with purpose! Dennis travels around to schools all over USA sharing his passion for the underdog to feel seen and heard. 

We talk about a lot in the episode, including:

• What an in-school speech pathologist does and how do they support students and teachers
• Dennis’s mission is to help every child find their voice and how he does that through his work
• How it is our job as the adults in our students' lives to advocate for them and care for their wellbeing
• The power of music and storytelling to support SEL in the classroom
• How schools are a village that we all contribute to

Dennis is a blast and has so much to share. Towards the end of the interview I try to get him to choose his favourite book that he has written and he shares how each of them is close to his heart because they all contain a piece of his story. 

This month in Transform your First Years, we are diving into how Allied Health professionals, like Dennis, can help us support our students. Join us here. 

Rainbows ahead,

Ashleigh and Alisha

Resources mentioned in this episode

• Shop Dennis’s books here.
• Find Dennis on You Tube here.
• Connect with Dennis on Instagram .

This episode was brought to you by Transform your First Years, our membership that supports new teachers. Learn more here. 

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Your choice: Sadism or masochism?

Naomi Watts stars in “Funny Games.”

“Anyone who leaves the cinema doesn’t need the film, and anybody who stays does.” — Michael Haneke on his previous version of “Funny Games”

The new Hollywood edition of “Funny Games,” writer-director Michael Haneke’s clinical reenactment of his Austrian torture-comedy experiment from 10 years ago, is an attempt to replicate the earlier study under English-language conditions.

You (the lab rat) are placed in a Skinner box (the movie theater) and subjected to random negative stimuli (filmed violence, as a substitute for painful electrical jolts). Haneke, whose academic background is in psychology, philosophy and theater, assumes the role of empirical taskmaster. He hypothesizes that his box will shock you into a knee-jerk ethical dilemma. To pass the test, you must reject the false premise of the experiment itself (if only on the grounds of insufferable smugness) and walk out.

An even better response, theoretically, would be to storm the booth and rip the film out of the projector, thus symbolically declaring your refusal to swallow the force-fed medicinal doses of synthesized abuse the film is administering. And if you really wanted to ace the challenge, you would just not see the movie .

But if you liked those pictures from Abu Ghraib, you’ll love “Funny Games”! See the captors tighten a pillowcase over a young boy’s head, force Mom to strip (no actual nudity shown) by the TV, smash Dad’s leg with a golf club and play hide and seek with the body of the family dog they’ve just killed with the same driver! For the price of a ticket, you can choose the level and nature of your vicarious involvement with the sadism on the screen, and the masochism in your seat. Enjoy.

The game’s narrative parameters are as follows: A dubiously American bourgeois family — Ann ( Naomi Watts ), George ( Tim Roth ), their pre-teen son Georgie ( Devon Gearhart ) and their golden retriever — arrive at their vacation home on Long Island. They are upper-class ciphers who stock soy milk in the refrigerator, feed their dog expensive Wellness brand kibble and keep a Tivoli radio in the kitchen. The attention paid to the details of their conspicuous consumption may or may not express the film’s attitude: that these cardboard caricatures somehow deserve to be humiliated, tormented and killed for exhibiting Eurocentric yuppie tastes, including implicitly sinful predilections for golf, boating and classical music. Or maybe the movie is simply suggesting that you give yourself permission to feel that way.

Two symbolic young men, Paul ( Michael Pitt ) and Peter (Brady Corbett), show up at the screen door, dressed in shorts, canvas shoes, white sweaters and white gloves. They proceed, politely and methodically, to terrorize, torture and murder their hostages, offering a rigged “bet,” in the guise of “entertainment,” on behalf of the film: that all family members will be dead by a certain hour. Meanwhile, the victims are bludgeoned into submission and despair. The torturers are blandly passive-aggressive and genteel, their motiveless actions appearing alternately logical and irrational, inexorable and impulsive, cruel and — even more cruelly — kind. The movie’s running time is 1 hour and 52 minutes.

Every once in a while, Paul addresses the camera with a conspiratorial smile or a nudge-nudge, wink-wink joke. He guesses that “you [the audience] are probably on their [the victims’] side.” He and Peter represent the film’s side. What do you want to bet they will win the already-decided bet?

As an academic exercise in learned helplessness, the film flaunts the ultimate power to rewrite its own “rules” whenever it likes, including taking back anything that has already been shown. A movie with no restrictions holds no real suspense, and no surprises, so any revelation of plot details in, say, a review, is meaningless.

What makes “Funny Games” different than any other campy-scary horror movie that gets off on tormenting its characters and teasing its audience? Not much. It’s being pitched to the “Hostel” crowd (who are invited to laugh) and the art-house crowd (who are invited to feel ennobled as they shake their heads and lament the state of violence in movies).

Haneke (whose masterworks include “Code Unknown” and “Cache”) explains that his distinctively European film is “a reaction to … the way American cinema toys with human beings … [so that] violence is made consumable.” That’s true, and it’s what “Funny Games” sets out to do, but Haneke’s essay fails because he hasn’t a clue about what makes American movies tick. “Funny Games” doesn’t seduce you with conventional storytelling and character development and then turn them around on you — like, say, Alfred Hitchcock’s “ Rear Window ” and “Psycho.” Instead, as the press kit explains, it encourages its viewers “to see their own role through a series of emotional and analytical episodes.” In other words, this isn’t a movie, it’s a thesis.

“Funny Games” represents the laborious execution of an abstract notion. The concept is the movie, kind of like Andy Warhol’s ”Empire” (1964), an eight-hour stationary shot of the Empire State Building. You don’t have to sit through the whole thing to get the point, unless you really want to.

> > > >

Read more and participate in the discussion at Scanners here:

http://tinyurl.com/ynwyak

Jim Emerson

Jim Emerson is the founding editor of RogerEbert.com and has written lots of things in lots of places over lots of years. Mostly involving movies.

• Brady Corbet as Peter
• Naomi Watts as Ann
• Devon Gearhart as Georgie
• Tim Roth as George
• Michael Pitt as Paul

Written and directed by

• Michael Haneke

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10 fun writing activities for the reluctant writer

  10 FUN WRITING ACTIVITIES FOR THE RELUCTANT WRITER

No doubt about it – writing isn’t easy. It is no wonder that many of our students could be described as ‘reluctant writers’ at best. It has been estimated by the National Association of Educational Progress that only about 27% of 8th and 12th-grade students can write proficiently.

As educators, we know that regular practice would go a long way to helping our students correct this underachievement, and sometimes, writing prompts just aren’t enough to light the fire.

But how do we get students, who have long since been turned off writing, to put pen to paper and log the requisite time to develop their writing chops?

The answer is to make writing fun! In this article, we will look at some creative writing activities where we can inject a little enjoyment into the writing game.

25 Fun Daily Writing Tasks

Quick Write and JOURNAL Activities for ALL TEXT TYPES in DIGITAL & PDF PRINT to engage RELUCTANT WRITERS .

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1. Poetry Scavenger Hunt

The Purpose: This activity encourages students to see the poetry in the everyday language around them while helpfully reinforcing their understanding of some of the conventions of the genre.

The Process: Encourage students to ‘scavenge’ their school, home, and outside the community for snippets of language they can compile into a piece of poetry or a poetic collage. They may copy down or photograph words, phrases, and sentences from signs, magazines, leaflets or even snippets of conversations they overhear while out and about.

Examples of language they collect may range from the Keep Out sign on private property to the destination on the front of a local bus.

Once students have gathered their language together, they can work to build a poem out of the scraps, usually choosing a central theme to give the piece cohesion. They can even include corresponding artwork to enhance the visual appeal of their work, too, if they wish.

The Prize: If poetry serves one purpose, it is to encourage us to look at the world anew with the fresh eyes of a young child. This activity challenges our students to read new meanings into familiar things and put their own spin on the language they encounter in the world around them, reinforcing the student’s grasp on poetic conventions.

2. Story Chains  

The Purpose: Writing is often thought of as a solitary pursuit. For this reason alone, it can be seen as a particularly unattractive activity by many of our more gregarious students. This fun activity exercises students’ understanding of writing structures and engages them in fun, creative collaboration.

The Process: Each student starts with a blank paper and pen. The teacher writes a story prompt on the whiteboard. You’ll find some excellent narrative writing prompts here . For example, each student spends two minutes using the writing prompt to kick-start their writing.  

When they have completed this part of the task, they will then pass their piece of paper to the student next to them. Students then continue the story from where the previous student left off for a given number of words, paragraphs, or length of time.

If organized correctly, you can ensure students receive their own initial story back at the end for the writing of the story’s conclusion .

The Prize: This fun writing activity can be used effectively to reinforce student understanding of narrative writing structures, but it can also be fun to try with other writing genres.

Working collaboratively motivates students to engage with the task, as no one wants to be the ‘weak link’ in the finished piece. But, more than that, this activity encourages students to see writing as a communicative and creative task where there needn’t be a ‘right’ answer. This encourages students to be more willing to take creative risks in their work.

3. Acrostic Associations

The Purpose: This is another great way to get students to try writing poetry – a genre that many students find the most daunting.

The Process: Acrostics are simple poems whereby each letter of a word or phrase begins a new line in the poem. Younger students can start off with something very simple, like their own name or their favorite pet and write this vertically down the page.

Older students can take a word or phrase related to a topic they have been working on or have a particular interest in and write it down on the page before beginning to write.

The Prize: This activity has much in common with the old psychiatrist’s word association technique. Students should be encouraged to riff on ideas and themes generated by the focus word or phrase. They needn’t worry about rhyme and meter and such here, but the preset letter for each line will give them some structure to their meanderings and require them to impose some discipline on their wordsmithery, albeit in a fun and loose manner.

4. The What If Challenge

The Purpose: This challenge helps encourage students to see the link between posing interesting hypothetical questions and creating an entertaining piece of writing.

The Process: To begin this exercise, have the students come up with a single What If question, which they can then write down on a piece of paper. The more off-the-wall, the better!

For example, ‘What if everyone in the world knew what you were thinking?’ or ‘What if your pet dog could talk?’ Students fold up their questions and drop them into a hat. Each student picks one out of the hat before writing on that question for a suitable set amount of time.

Example What If Questions

• “What if you woke up one day and found out that you had the power to time travel?”
• “What if you were the last person on Earth? How would you spend your time?”
• “What if you were granted three wishes, but each one came with a terrible consequence?”
• “What if you discovered a secret portal to another world? Where would you go, and what would you do?”
• “What if you woke up one day with the ability to communicate with animals? How would your life change?”

The Prize: Students are most likely to face the terror of the dreaded Writer’s Block when they are faced with open-ended creative writing tasks.

This activity encourages the students to see the usefulness of posing hypothetical What If questions, even random off-the-wall ones, for kick-starting their writing motors.

Though students begin by answering the questions set for them by others, please encourage them to see how they can set these questions for themselves the next time they suffer from a stalled writing engine.

5. The Most Disgusting Sandwich in the World

The Purpose: Up until now, we have looked at activities encouraging our students to have fun with genres such as fiction and poetry. These genres being imaginative in nature, more easily lend themselves to being enjoyable than some of the nonfiction genres.

But what about descriptive writing activities? In this activity, we endeavor to bring that same level of enjoyment to instruction writing while also cleverly reinforcing the criteria of this genre.

The Process: Undoubtedly, when teaching instruction writing, you will at some point cover the specific criteria of the genre with your students.

These will include things like the use of a title, numbered or bulleted points, time connectives, imperatives, diagrams with captions etc. You will then want the students to produce their own piece of instruction writing or procedural text to display their understanding of how the genre works.

 But, why not try a fun topic such as How to Make the Most Disgusting Sandwich in the World rather than more obvious (and drier!) topics such as How to Tie Your Shoelaces or How to Make a Paper Airplane when choosing a topic for your students to practice their instruction writing chops?

Example of a Most Disgusting Sandwich Text

The Prize: As mentioned, with nonfiction genres, in particular, we tend to suggest more banal topics for our students to work on while internalizing the genre’s criteria. Enjoyment and acquiring practical writing skills need not be mutually exclusive.

Our students can just as quickly, if not more easily, absorb and internalize the necessary writing conventions while engaged in writing about whimsical and even nonsensical topics.

if your sandwich is entering the realm of horror, be sure to check our complete guide to writing a scary story here as well.

Daily Quick Writes For All Text Types

Our FUN DAILY QUICK WRITE TASKS will teach your students the fundamentals of CREATIVE WRITING across all text types. Packed with 52 ENGAGING ACTIVITIES

6. Diary Entry of a Future Self

The Purpose: This activity allows students to practice personal writing within diary/journal writing conventions. It also challenges them to consider what their world will be like in the future, perhaps stepping a foot into the realm of science fiction.

The Process: Straightforwardly, after working through some examples of diary or journal writing, and reviewing the various criteria of the genre, challenge the students to write an entry at a given milestone in the future.

This may be when they leave school, begin work, go to university, get married, have kids, retire, etc. You may even wish to get the students to write an entry for a series of future milestones as part of a more extended project.

Example of Message to Future Me Text

The Prize: Students will get a chance here to exercise their understanding of this type of writing , but more than that, they will also get an opportunity to exercise their imaginative muscles too. They will get to consider what shape their future world will take in this engaging thought experiment that will allow them to improve their writing too.

7. Comic Strip Script

The Purpose: Give your students the chance to improve their dialogue writing skills and work on their understanding of character development in this fun activity which combines writing with a series of visual elements.

The Process: There are two ways to do this activity. The first requires you to source or create a comic strip without the dialogue the characters are speaking. This may be as straightforward as using whiteout to erase the words in speech bubbles and making copies for your students to complete.

Alternatively, provide the students with photographs/pictures and strips of cards to form their action sequences . When students have their ‘mute’ strips, they can begin to write the dialogue/script to link the panels together.

The Prize: When it comes to writing, comic strips are probably one of the easier sells to reluctant students! This activity also allows students to write for speech. This will stand to them later when they come to produce sections of dialogue in their narrative writing or when producing play or film scripts.

They will also develop their visual literacy skills as they scan the pictures for clues of tone and context before they begin their writing.

Keep It Fun

Just as we should encourage our students to read for fun and wider educational benefits, we should also work to instil similar attitudes towards writing. To do this means we must work to avoid always framing writing in the context of a chore, that bitter pill that must be swallowed for the good of our health.

There is no getting away from the fact that writing can, at times, be laborious. It is time-consuming and, for most of us, difficult at the best of times. There is a certain, inescapable amount of work involved in becoming a competent writer.

That said, as we have seen in the activities above, with a bit of creative thought, we can inject fun into even the most practical of writing activities . All that is required is a dash of imagination and a sprinkling of effort.

8. Character Interviews

The Purpose: Character interviews as writing activities are excellent for students because they encourage creative thinking, character development, and empathy. The purpose of this activity is to help students delve deeper into the minds of the characters they are creating in their stories or reading about in literature. By conducting interviews with these characters, students gain a better understanding of their personalities, motivations, and perspectives.

The Process of character interviews involves students imagining themselves as interviewers and their characters as interviewees. They can either write out the questions and answers in a script-like format or write a narrative where the character responds to the questions in their own voice.

The Prize: Through character interviews, students learn several valuable skills:

• Character Development: By exploring various aspects of their characters’ lives, backgrounds, and experiences, students can develop more well-rounded and authentic characters in their stories. This helps make their fictional creations more relatable and engaging to readers.
• Empathy and Perspective: Conducting interviews requires students to put themselves in their characters’ shoes, considering their thoughts, emotions, and struggles. This cultivates empathy and a deeper understanding of human behavior, which can be applied to real-life situations as well.
• Voice and Dialogue: In crafting the character’s responses, students practice writing authentic dialogue and giving their characters unique voices. This skill is valuable for creating dynamic and believable interactions between characters in their stories.
• Creative Expression: Character interviews provide a creative outlet for students to let their imaginations run wild. They can explore scenarios that may not appear in the main story and discover new aspects of their characters they might not have considered before.
• Critical Thinking: Formulating questions for the interview requires students to think critically about their characters’ personalities and backgrounds. This exercise enhances their analytical skills and storytelling abilities.

Overall, character interviews are a dynamic and enjoyable way for students to delve deeper into the worlds they create or the literature they read. It nurtures creativity, empathy, and writing skills, empowering students to become more proficient and imaginative writers.

9. The Travel Journal

The Purpose: Travel journal writing tasks are excellent for students as they offer a unique and immersive way to foster creativity, cultural awareness, and descriptive writing skills. The purpose of this activity is to allow students to embark on a fictional or real travel adventure, exploring new places, cultures, and experiences through the eyes of a traveller.

The process of a travel journal writing task involves students assuming the role of a traveler and writing about their journey in a journal format. They can describe the sights, sounds, tastes, and emotions they encounter during their travels. This activity encourages students to use vivid language, sensory details, and expressive writing to bring their travel experiences to life.

The Prize: Through travel journal writing tasks, students will learn several valuable skills:

• Descriptive Writing: By describing their surroundings and experiences in detail, students enhance their descriptive writing skills, creating engaging and vivid narratives.
• Cultural Awareness: Travel journals encourage students to explore different cultures, customs, and traditions. This helps broaden their understanding and appreciation of diversity.
• Empathy and Perspective: Through writing from the perspective of a traveler, students develop empathy and gain insight into the lives of people from different backgrounds.
• Research Skills: For fictional travel journals, students might research specific locations or historical periods to make their narratives more authentic and accurate.
• Reflection and Self-Expression: Travel journals offer a space for students to reflect on their own emotions, thoughts, and personal growth as they encounter new experiences.
• Creativity and Imagination: For fictional travel adventures, students get to unleash their creativity and imagination, envisioning fantastical places and scenarios.
• Language and Vocabulary: Travel journal writing tasks allow students to expand their vocabulary and experiment with expressive language.

Overall, travel journal writing tasks inspire students to become more observant, empathetic, and skilled writers. They transport them to new worlds and foster a sense of wonder and curiosity about the world around them. Whether writing about real or imaginary journeys, students develop a deeper connection to the places they encounter, making this activity both educational and enjoyable.

10. The Fairy Tale Remix

The Purpose: A fairy tale remix writing activity is a fantastic creative exercise for students as it allows them to put a unique spin on classic fairy tales, fostering imagination, critical thinking, and storytelling skills. This activity encourages students to think outside the box, reinterpret well-known tales, and explore their creative potential by transforming traditional narratives into something entirely new and exciting.

The process of a fairy tale remix writing activity involves students selecting a familiar fairy tale and altering key elements such as characters, settings, plot twists, or outcomes. They can modernize the story, change the genre, or even mix different fairy tales together to create a wholly original piece.

The Prize: Through this activity, students will learn several valuable skills:

• Creative Thinking: Students exercise their creativity by brainstorming unique concepts and ideas to remix the fairy tales, encouraging them to think imaginatively.
• Critical Analysis: Analyzing the original fairy tale to identify essential elements to keep and areas to remix helps students develop critical thinking skills and understand storytelling structures.
• Writing Techniques: Crafting a remix requires students to use descriptive language, engaging dialogue, and well-developed characters, helping them hone their writing techniques.
• Perspective and Empathy: Remixing fairy tales allows students to explore different character perspectives, promoting empathy and understanding of diverse points of view.
• Genre Exploration: Remixing fairy tales can introduce students to various genres like science fiction, fantasy, or mystery, expanding their literary horizons.
• Originality: Creating their own narrative twists and unexpected plots encourages students to take ownership of their writing and develop a unique voice.
• Storytelling: Students learn the art of compelling storytelling as they weave together familiar elements with innovative ideas, captivating their readers.

By remixing fairy tales, students embark on a creative journey that empowers them to reimagine well-loved stories while honing their writing skills and imaginative prowess. It’s an engaging and enjoyable way for students to connect with literature, explore new possibilities, and showcase their storytelling talents.

Top 5 Tips for Teaching Engaging Creative Writing Lessons

Teaching creative writing can be a thrilling discovery journey for students and educators alike. To foster a love for storytelling and unleash the imaginative prowess of your students, here are five engaging tips for your creative writing lessons:

1. Embrace Playfulness : Encourage a spirit of playfulness and experimentation in your classroom. Encourage students to explore unconventional ideas, characters, and settings. Use fun writing prompts like “What if animals could talk?” or “Imagine a world where gravity is reversed.”

2. Incorporate Visual Stimuli : Visual aids can be powerful creative catalysts. Show intriguing images or short videos to spark students’ imaginations. Ask them to describe what they see, then guide them to weave stories around these visuals. This approach can lead to unexpected and captivating narratives.

3. Encourage Peer Collaboration : Foster community and collaboration among your students. Organize group writing activities where students can brainstorm, share ideas, and build upon each other’s stories. This not only enhances creativity but also promotes teamwork and communication skills.

4. Explore Different Genres : Introduce students to various writing genres—fantasy and science fiction to mystery and historical fiction. Let them experiment with different styles and find what resonates most with their interests. Exposing students to diverse genres can broaden their horizons and inspire fresh ideas.

5. Celebrate Individuality : Encourage students to infuse unique experiences and perspectives into their writing. Provide opportunities for them to write about topics that are meaningful to them. Celebrate their voices and help them discover the power of their narratives.

Remember, the key to teaching creative writing is to create a supportive and inspiring environment where students feel empowered to take risks and explore the limitless possibilities of storytelling. By embracing these tips, you can transform your classroom into a vibrant imagination and literary exploration hub. Happy writing!

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Thesis Statement Throwdown!

Every English teacher has experienced the frustration of introducing a writing skill, like how to write a thesis statement, over and over again without it “sticking.”

Three years ago, I began “flipping” my writing instruction, so students watch videos on my YouTube channel , take Cornell notes, then come prepared to class to do the actual writing. I love this approach to teaching writing! Students can watch my explanations as many times as they need to over the course of the year. Plus, I get to support them as they write in class. (See my post on synchronous editing ).

Alas, there are always students who need more practice. That said, I can only read so many essays in a year. Instead of feeling frustrated, I decided to design a fun activity to practice writing thesis statements. This is how thesis statement throwdown was born!

Thesis throwdown is a quirky combination of group collaboration, writing practice, funky music, and competition. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Write an essay prompt on the board. I vary my questions between informative and argumentative topics. KQED’s Do Now series is an excellent place to grab writing prompts!

Step 2: Put students into small groups and give them 5 minutes to construct a solid thesis statement in response to the essay question. The conversations that take place are incredible!

Step 3: Randomly select two groups to compete. I don’t tell them ahead of time who will compete in the actual throwdown because I want everyone to give it 100%.

Step 4: As each group writes their thesis statements on separate whiteboard, I play a fun but slightly random song. Our thesis throwdown music list has ranged from “Everybody Dance Now” to “Eye of the Tiger.” My philosophy is that the music keeps everyone interested and entertained while the two groups write their thesis statements on the board.

Step 5: Once both thesis statements are written on the board, I turn off the music and set to work! I edit each thesis statement and “think out loud” as I work, so students can hear what I am responding to in a positive way–strong vocabulary, parallel language, and clearly stated assertion–and what needs to be added, removed or edited. The more I let them into my process as an editor, the more likely they are to successfully edit their own work.

Finally, a winner is declared!

The entire activity takes 10 minutes from beginning to end. It’s hard to believe a writing activity can be so much fun, but this is really entertaining if you add the music and just have fun with it.

In the two weeks, we’ve done thesis statement throwdown, I am shocked by the improvement in the quality of the thesis statements. It’s worth a try if you are feeling like your students just aren’t delivering quality thesis statements. After all, the thesis is the most important sentence of an essay. We want students to leave our classes confident crafting a strong thesis statement!

48 Responses

Love it. I’ve actually been struggling with helping my GRE prep students with the essays. Can’t wait to try this out. I don’t use any music in my classes, so I’m sure turning it on will create a memorable moment they’ll associate with the theses for a long time:)

Jeremy http://stuartmillenglish.com

I hope they enjoy it, Jeremy! I’m sure the addition of music will make it interesting 😉

I read your page as a student at Heaton Middle School it helps understand your point of view.

[…] Thesis Statement Throwdown! Every English teacher has experienced the frustration of introducing a writing skill, like how to write a thesis statement, over and over again without it “sticking.” […]

[…] http://cluttered-record.flywheelsites.com/2015/02/thesis-statement-throwdown/ […]

Love it! What fabulousness do you do to help them write hooks that go beyond the BrainyQuote or “Do you have a hero? I have a hero. Let me tell you about my hero” hooks.

Pretend there’s a question mark on the end there… 🙂

No, I’ve only done this with thesis statements at this point. That said, I can imagine it would be fun for almost any type of writing review.

I teach seventh grade and I can’t wait to try this with my students.

As a wrter, editor, photojournalist & author for more than 67 years, I applaud this approach to an often-difficult task for novice writers. Way to go, Catlin. Wish I’d had teachers like you back in the 1940s when I was in hight school. – DigitalKen

[…] ideas either and sometimes it is a fine line with engagement as well. So, I modified this idea from Catlin Tucker who is just simply AMAZING and if you haven’t visited her site, you are REALLY missing […]

I think this is a winning idea for several reasons! First of all, I’m really intrigued by the idea of flipping the writing instruction so that students are doing more of their writing practice in the classroom where the support is available. I would imagine that this would lead to less student frustration and that students are finding themselves better equipped to tackle the roadblocks that occur during writing. I like the fact that this activity asks students to work collaboratively to create thesis statements and build off of each other’s ideas. Also, I really like the fact that the teacher models editing and thinking out loud. This is a great way to show students what you mean, rather than just telling them. Finally, making this activity fun with music and good-natured competition will most likely make for more engaged students. Love the fact that this idea can be adaptable to other mini writing lessons. Thanks for the great idea!

Thank you, Sara! Not only do the kids enjoy this activity, but their thesis statements have improved so much in such a short window of time. I also plan to use the same strategy for other mini writing lessons.

Take care. Catlin

Thank you, Catlin! This is a great way to practice thesis statements. I will try it this fall.

I love this idea. Getting students to write thesis statements and then support those statements with well-crafted topic sentences are the keys to building an argument. It’s a skill the students struggle with but is such a key skill to success in all subjects. A variation to this could be to get another group to edit the students’ thesis statements.

My students absolutely love this activity. It got amazing reviews at the end of the year. I’m trying to figure out how to use a similar strategy to analyze textual evidence.

I hope your kids enjoy it!

[…] #1 Thesis Statement Throwdown […]

Is there a place where writing prompts are put together without the instructor having to create them? If so, this would be a great help. My urban seventh graders need many, many practice prompts to become adept at creating introductory sentences and thesis statements.

I design many of my own writing prompts. I also grab topics from KQED Do Now ( http://ww2.kqed.org/education/category/do-now ) and the released SAT essay prompts ( https://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/prep/essay-prompts ). The KQED Do Now topics will be a better fit for your 7th-grade students than the SAT release questions. Many of the KQED Do Now questions lend themselves to argumentative writing.

Thank you, Catlin! I am a lazy curriculum author looking for an easy way to gather prompts. After thinking about my request, prompts without the context of the article would be kind of useless. I’m in Florida where we had argument tested last year. I have been concentrating on informative this year but have the kids ready for argument just in case. Since text-based writing is new to students, I developed a template for them to follow at the beginning of the year and find them now differentiating their writing from the template.

[…] learned about this activity from Catlin Tucker’s blog. I adapted it a bit, but the idea is the same. My students are in Lit Circles and competing to earn […]

[…] for each prompt. See my post about this step here. The idea was inspired by Catlin Tucker’s blog post. Check it […]

I did this lesson in my 9th grade classes today, and it went really well. One student requested I play Michael Jackson, and I discovered every single kid likes him, so I went with that. Thanks for the great idea!

I’m so glad it went well, Mindi! I will occasionally take requests too 😉

Sorry, but the nature of a good thesis depends to a great extent on the nature of the assignment–the kind of essay you’re being asked to write.

If the assignment is to write an argumentative or persuasive essay, the thesis should be a sentence that clearly states your position on the issue you’re writing about.

If you’re writing an extended definition, a one-sentence formal definition would be a good thesis: “A ____ is a ____ with _____.” (I. e. it should put the thing being defined in its class or category and distinguish it from other members of that class.)

If you’re writing a process analysis, the thesis should describe the process in one sentence–say whether it’s a simple process or a complex one, or mention the number of steps, or simply say in that one sentence what it does.

[…] Tucker’s “Thesis Statement Throwdown”, you can see the original lesson plan here. My mini-lesson is totally different from Tucker’s, but if you look hard into hers, you can […]

I might give this a try with my ESL students in China. Getting them to write thesis statements hasn’t been easy, even for the smartest ones. Solid idea. Thanks.

Since their first language is not English, I think I’ll probably give them more than 5 minutes to come up with their thesis statements though.

Love this and planning on trying it in class tomorrow! Should you see this before then – how do you go about choosing a winner? Do you “judge” the edited or unedited versions of the thesis statements?

Hi Shannon,

I judge the original versions since I make the edits.

Catlin –

Love the Thesis Statement Throwdown and would like to share it with our teachers as way to provide feedback. Would it be okay to link to your site in a document that we are sharing with our teachers? It will be in our curriculum repository that is only accessible to teachers in Fairfax County Public Schools. Thank you for your consideration.

Yes, you are more than welcome to link to my site! I hope it’s a useful resource for your teachers.

Thank you for sharing! I teach AP US History and the students struggle with developing thesis statements. I look forward in using this strategy with my AP kids.

[…] KQED’s Do Now series is an excellent place to grab writing prompts! […]

I did this with my juniors today and it was great. I chose really thought provoking prompts from the website you recommended. I did it three times and saw the thesis statements improve with each round. This was really engaging and the first time I’ve taught thesis statements in a fun way. Thank you for sharing.

I’m currently in my education clinicals (student teaching with one class), and I’ll be using this activity tomorrow with high school seniors. They struggled with thesis statements, so I’m hoping this will be a fun way to practice!

I love this idea, but after students show some improvement (or even at the beginning of the process), how can students be more in charge of their learning? In other words, I’d love for students to be the ones acting as the Editor and doing the judging. Maybe using a few strong writers of the group be a guest judge and let them lead by example? I don’t want to be gatekeeper forever, and I believe students will and can step up when given the chance. Love the idea. Going to try soon!

Absolutely, Jane! Once kids can hear you talk through correcting a few and have a better handle on what a strong thesis statement looks like, they should absolutely be able to give each other feedback!

Can any one give me a feedback about my thesis statement, thank you in advance

“Although most students have an awareness about basic academic integrity in their previous education; it is significant to students taking a class about academic integrity before they apply college or university because of the increasing number of cheating, plagiarism and academic dishonesty in the higher education”.

[…] a sample letter. Letter for Change Standard Met: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.1. Se connecter à Facebook. Thesis Statement Throwdown! Every English teacher has experienced the frustration of introducing a writing skill, like how to […]

This is amazing. Thank you! I’ve been looking for a fun activity to bring the point home with my students. This will definitely help!

Wonderful! I hope they enjoy it!

Catlin! I did this today with my Grade 10’s and was it ever valuable! I did the edits and each one was a learning opportunity for students. We had a quick discussion about each edit and moved on. The lesson flowed beautifully, and the music was a fun touch. I will definitely get students to do the editing after the first few Thursdays (our bellringer for the day) and have them talk through their edits as well. Great lesson! Thanks for sharing.

Yay! I’m so happy to hear that you used this strategy and you all enjoyed it, Wendy!

Just a heads up…your kids will get good at thesis statements FAST, so be prepared for your throwdown to evolve. We started doing analytical throwdowns with quotes after thesis statements and the “throwdown” format worked well for any type of writing practice. I also started taking song requests from the winning teams which they LOVED 😉

[…] Catlin Tucker: Thesis statement throwdown […]

[…] librarian does – I started researching. I came across the idea of the Thesis Throw Down from Catlin Tucker but decided to alter it a bit to put my own spin on it. I tried the lesson a couple of times last […]

I love how you explain it.

I like that you used this strategy.

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107 Video Game Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Video games have become a popular form of entertainment for people of all ages. From action-packed shooters to immersive role-playing games, there is a video game out there for everyone. With such a wide variety of games to choose from, it can be overwhelming to decide on a topic for an essay about video games. To help you get started, here are 107 video game essay topic ideas and examples to inspire your writing:

• The impact of violent video games on children's behavior
• The evolution of video game graphics over the years
• The rise of esports and its influence on the gaming industry
• The benefits of playing video games for cognitive development
• The representation of gender and race in video games
• The history of virtual reality gaming
• The psychology of loot boxes in video games
• The role of music in enhancing the gaming experience
• The ethics of video game journalism
• The impact of video game addiction on mental health
• The cultural significance of video game franchises like Mario and Pokemon
• The future of cloud gaming and streaming services
• The role of storytelling in video games
• The influence of video games on popular culture
• The relationship between video games and education
• The impact of video game censorship on creative expression
• The portrayal of mental health issues in video games
• The role of social media in video game marketing
• The history of video game consoles
• The impact of online multiplayer games on social interaction
• The evolution of game mechanics in the survival horror genre
• The representation of LGBTQ+ characters in video games
• The influence of Japanese culture on video game aesthetics
• The role of nostalgia in the popularity of retro gaming
• The impact of microtransactions on player experience
• The relationship between video games and violence in society
• The role of artificial intelligence in game development
• The impact of video game streaming platforms like Twitch
• The representation of disability in video games
• The influence of game design on player engagement
• The evolution of mobile gaming
• The role of virtual economies in online multiplayer games
• The impact of video game sound design on immersion
• The portrayal of mental illness in video games
• The influence of Eastern philosophy on game narratives
• The role of user-generated content in game communities
• The impact of fan culture on video game development
• The representation of indigenous cultures in video games
• The influence of literature on game storytelling
• The role of game difficulty in player satisfaction
• The impact of video game piracy on the industry
• The portrayal of war in military shooter games
• The relationship between video games and sports
• The influence of board games on video game design
• The role of player choice in game narratives
• The impact of virtual reality on therapy and rehabilitation
• The representation of historical events in video games
• The influence of film on game aesthetics
• The role of gender stereotypes in video game marketing
• The impact of game mods on player creativity
• The portrayal of mental health professionals in video games
• The influence of tabletop role-playing games on video game mechanics
• The role of game mechanics in promoting teamwork and cooperation
• The impact of game development crunch on industry workers
• The representation of animals in video games
• The influence of science fiction on game narratives
• The role of player agency in game storytelling
• The impact of game difficulty on player motivation
• The portrayal of addiction in video games
• The influence of mythology on game aesthetics
• The role of puzzles in game design
• The impact of game reviews on player purchasing decisions
• The representation of mental illness in horror games
• The influence of architecture on game environments
• The role of game soundtracks in enhancing the player experience
• The impact of game tutorials on player learning
• The portrayal of robots and AI in video games
• The influence of fashion on character design in games
• The role of humor in game narratives
• The impact of game localization on cultural representation
• The representation of environmental issues in video games
• The influence of psychology on game design
• The role of game narratives in exploring complex themes
• The impact of game communities on player engagement
• The portrayal of mental health struggles in indie games
• The influence of mythology on game storytelling
• The role of player feedback in game development
• The impact of game accessibility on player inclusivity
• The representation of gender identity in video games
• The influence of surrealism on game aesthetics
• The role of morality systems in game narratives
• The impact of game tutorials on player retention
• The portrayal of mental health professionals in horror games
• The influence of psychology on game narratives
• The role of player choice in shaping game outcomes
• The impact of game aesthetics on player immersion
• The representation of LGBTQ+ relationships in video games
• The role of environmental storytelling in game design
• The impact of game streaming on player engagement
• The portrayal of mental illness in puzzle games
• The role of player feedback in shaping game development
• The impact of game aesthetics on player perception
• The representation of LGBTQ+ characters in horror games
• The influence of film noir on game narratives
• The role of environmental storytelling in shaping game worlds
• The impact of game tutorials on player skill progression
• The portrayal of mental illness in narrative-driven games
• The influence of science fiction on game aesthetics
• The role of player choice in determining game endings
• The impact of game aesthetics on player emotional response
• The representation of LGBTQ+ relationships in indie games
• The influence of literature on game design
• The role of environmental storytelling in immersive game worlds
• The impact of game streaming on player community building
• The portrayal of mental health struggles in interactive fiction games

Whether you are writing a research paper, a critical analysis, or a personal reflection on video games, these topics provide a diverse range of ideas to explore. From examining the psychological effects of gaming to analyzing the cultural significance of game narratives, there is no shortage of fascinating topics to delve into. So, pick a topic that interests you and start exploring the world of video games through the lens of your essay. Happy writing!

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The Field of Dreams Approach: On Writing About Video Games

Tony Tulathimutte on the future of video game criticism

Every year, more and more great essays are published on literary sites concerning video games. In the past year I’ve especially loved entries like Janet Frishberg’s “On Playing Games, Productivity, and Right Livelihood,” Joseph Spece’s “A Harvest of Ice,” and Adam Fleming Petty’s “The Spatial Poetics of Nintendo: Architecture, Dennis Cooper, and Video Games.” But for each great essay there are a handful of others written like apologies, seemingly perennial pleas to take video games seriously as a form of meaningful narrative.

I hoped to have a conversation with a writer about games that went a little deeper. There were two main reasons I turned to the Whiting Award-winning writer Tony Tulathimutte. The first was because of his response in an interview with Playboy , in which he said that his interest in gaming probably “had something to do with my desire to bend or break formal conventions in fiction.” The second was his three thousand word essay about Clash of Clans , “Clash Rules Everything Around Me,” which was exactly the type of essay about gaming I wanted to see more of. Tulathimutte is the author of Private Citizens , which we listed as one of the 25 best novels of 2016 .

What I want is long-form literary criticism. But writers should just write what they want to read. The body of work will be there and the audience will follow it. The ‘ Field of Dreams’ approach.

Graham Oliver: Can we have this conversation without getting stuck trying to legitimize video games as a medium?

Tony Tulathimutte: “Are video games art?” “Have we had the video game Citizen Kane  yet?”

GO: That’s such a boring and overdone conversation. I think it’s more interesting to look at the ways in which video games actually do interact with literature, and not to hold the conversation just as a demonstration of our respect.

TT: Take the respect for granted and go from there. I thought about starting a literary magazine about video games a while back, but the discourse had by then become so toxic that, even with the most anodyne academic essay you could write, the best you could hope for was that it would be ignored. There needs to be more space for this kind of writing, but I just didn’t want to wade into it then. I feel a little better about it now, which is why I did the Clash of Clans  essay.

GO: What is the difference between video game-related essays showing up on a literary site, versus a site where the primary purpose is the intersection of video games and literature? What could that site do that can’t be done (or isn’t being done) otherwise?

TT: Part of it is just volume. You can’t have a general interest magazine like the New Yorker covering video games to the same depth or degree as it does film or music or even theater. Every big magazine at this point covers video games occasionally — I know the New Yorker has written about Minecraft and No Man’s Sky , for instance. New York Magazine just did a big essay on gaming more broadly.

But for some reason, there’s no video game editor at the New Yorker , no dedicated departments or verticals, except at newer places like VICE, Vox , The Verge . Unlike music or movies, video games aren’t equally distributed through the culture; it’s more compartmentalized. This owes in part to a marketing apparatus around games that caters to and fosters a specific audience, and because the audience for certain genres — responding to these pressures — became self-selecting, especially with respect to gender. Video games may be art, but they are also a STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics] industry, which makes them no different from any other STEM field in that regard.

GO: It’s a question of access. I was thinking about your Clash essay; you have this entire paragraph that has to explain this massively popular and mechanically fairly simple game. Does that automatically turn off an audience who are already proficient in those basics? In which case, are you only writing for people who don’t game? I suppose that’s another conundrum of coverage in a general interest publication…

TT: If you read an essay by Susan Sontag or Martin Amis about the great books, or by André Bazin about film, they can assume a certain level of knowledge about the text or film from their audience. I can write that way about games on my own time and my own dime, but there’s no presumed canon or general readership for games, because they’re not taught in schools and not regularly discussed in big publications. So you either write for the diehards — the equivalent of film buffs or bookworms — or for novices.

GO: Is that why we haven’t had novels which interact with video games the way David Foster Wallace did with tennis, or Ann Patchett with opera? Neither of their books included explanatory paragraphs; it’s so ingrained in our culture that it seems almost impossible to have grown up without some idea of what tennis or opera are.

TT: Most people have played a game, and the average gamer spends six hours a week playing them. I think it has less to do with the medium inherently than just the failure of writers who have approached the subject. I haven’t read everything on games, but so far, the fledgling efforts have been too literal or kind of corny. Some writers seem to think that you’re supposed to transpose the form of games into fiction — to provide this very lightly remediated experience of reading a book so that it feels like you’re playing a game.

The last thing you want to do is create a watered-down experience of gaming in a text. A book should still work as a book. It’s the usual difficulty of writing about other mediums; there’s that old chestnut that writing about music is like dancing about architecture. But there are special considerations for how to write about any form in a way that conveys deep presence and vividness comparable to the experience itself.

GO: When you’re writing about games in one form or another, do you find you prefer to write for someone who is like you — very interested in both writing and video games — or is your preference for someone in that liminal space somewhere between them?

TT: I approach it as I do with all my creative writing, which is to write for the audience of Tony. That frees to me to write things irrespective of their publishability. Right now I’m working on a long essay about Metal Gear Solid  — the whole series. That’s between ten and twenty games, depending on which ones you call canon. The dialogue alone stacks up to something like sixty thousand words each. And the companion synopsis is almost three thousand words. I’m just trying to make points about the series that haven’t been made before. Would Kill Screen or The New York Review of Books ever run that? Hell to the fuck no.

If writers keep doing this, eventually there will be a readership equipped to deal with it. For the longest time there have been really smart people playing video games and wondering where all the good criticism was. It’s a discoverability issue, to a certain extent. There’s so much good writing out there about games, but most games-writing outlets cater to fairly niche perspectives. Action Button is extremely good, irreverent creative criticism, probably my favorite. Five Out of Ten is academically oriented, Kill Screen is mainstream journalism. What I want is long-form literary criticism. But writers should just write what they want to read. The body of work will be there and the audience will follow it. The Field of Dreams approach.

GO: You said earlier (and you’ve also mentioned it in your Playboy interview) that the discourse around games is toxic and partisan. Are you talking about within or outside of the gaming community?

TT: All of it. Partisan lines have been drawn within it for purposes far beyond aesthetic disagreement. In part because so much of this discourse occurs in a medium where people are not held accountable for their words, i.e. on the internet.

GO: How does that compare to conversations within the literary community? You’ve written before, for instance, about the MFA vs. NYC debate .

TT: I want to do my part to de-estrange gaming discourse. Not de-stigmatize or demystify, but de-estrange. This cancerous shit happens everywhere — it just happens in a spectacularly aggressive and organized way in gaming.

GO: When you’re not actually writing about video games, what place do they hold in your life? Are they the stress relief at the end of the day, the reward after two hours of writing? Or something you try to avoid when you’re in the middle of a big project?

TT: I’ve played video games since I was three years old. I have loved video games a lot longer than I’ve loved literature — which is not to say more. Actually… yeah, probably more. It just so happens that I’m a writer. I don’t feel the guilt that some people do who, even if they enjoy gaming, approach it feeling as if it’s a waste of time, or a form of entertainment which takes them away from their “real life.” You wouldn’t condemn a cineaste or a lover of literature. But a fug of non-respectability still attends video games.

That said, the reward mechanisms in most games are designed to get you hooked in cognitive motivational ways that don’t apply to most literature. So it’s absolutely possible for games to displace other things that you would want to do just as much. I don’t struggle to fit them into my life, but I probably would, if my life consisted of much more than just teaching and writing.

GO: I suppose I was thinking more about the effect on your mental state. For instance, I have to save video games for the end of the day, because I have a hard time going from the almost meditative state of game-playing into writing. How does it fit in, not in the sense of time but in how it interacts with your ability to produce writing afterwards?

TT: If a visual narrative enters my head before I start writing, it’s enormously difficult to pull myself back into writing. A huge amount of psychic inertia has to be overcome to transition from consuming a narrative to assembling one. I have a lot of wacko bird theories as to why. Perhaps language is such an information-poor medium that it demands a sparseness of input, so that you can have room to envision or create new stuff in your head. Maybe the act of viewing, which puts you in the posture of evaluation and judgment, beefs up the inner critic that makes it hard to write. That’s all pure superstition, I have nothing to base that on.

GO: What about when it comes to the type of video game? You’ve mentioned playing DotA 2 in other interviews, which is very different from more narrative-heavy single player games. In the middle of a big writing project, do you find yourself drawn more to one type of game over another?

TT: With the caveat that writers are the worst self-appraisers, I’ll say that I have not noticed any influence from the type of games I’m playing on what I write. I think games engage an entirely different part of my brain, which might also account for the difficulty I have toggling between those two modes. That said, I think longer games can work like long books — immersively — where you have to pinch your nose and take a deep breath before plunging into the Neapolitan books and it just becomes the medium you swim in for months. Some games demand a higher or more frequent degree of engagement to get any kind of nuance at all. You can play a thousand hours of DotA 2 , without coming anywhere near understanding it.

GO: How does that compare to the relationship between reading and your own work? Do you avoid other people’s writing when working, or do you keep books on your desk for the sake of referencing them?

TT: I do. I try to keep a messy puddle of books around my work area, in case I want to steal something from somebody else. But I Google as much as I refer to other books. I don’t disconnect from the internet when I’m writing, like some writers who have this almost mystical anathema against technology. I generally find I benefit from my procrastination.

You can have a rom-com game, a campus game, an adultery game, or a boring-but-important game that will get taught in high schools circa 2110.

GO: You referred to language as being information-poor a minute ago, which reminds me of the AGNI essay you wrote on boredom. The thesis of that essay was basically that boredom in literature is okay. Can you also apply that idea to video games? Can there be meaningful or productive boredom while playing, through the act of repetition, for instance? I just played Her Story, which I know you enjoyed, and while it has a super interesting story you have to slog through a certain amount of repetition to get to it.

TT: The democratization of game creation is producing a wider range of games, like the Super 8 camera did with film. You can have vignette-style games like Nina Freeman’s —  Cibele , how do you Do It? , Freshman Year , etc. You can have “walking simulators” that are almost purely meditative, like Gone Home , Firewatch , or Dear Esther . I just saw a piece on a game based on Thoreau’s Walden .

The impulses and tendencies that make people want to create literature are present. It will happen more as people are able to do what they want to do, without enormous corporate financial support or even crowdfunding, which, to an extent, just moves the bottom line to having to be crowd-pleasing. Games can be plenty boring in spite of themselves, even if that’s not what they’re trying to do. It’s a cliché by now to point out that the most time investment-heavy games like World of Warcraft consist largely of “grinding.” Or, if you play something like DotA 2 , queuing for a game.

GO: For DotA 2 you also have to spend a lot of time reading up on viable builds. Work that’s not in actually playing the game.

TT: Yes, although I will say that that intellectual work doesn’t feel like tedious labor to me. I have fun looking up builds. The deep strategy and understanding are coextensive with the pleasure of playing the game.

Moments of boredom are built into games for reasons that range from comedy to suspense. I think a lot about the moment in Final Fantasy VI where you’re directed to just wait at the edge of a floating continent for a character to come along. On the one hand you’re sitting watching a clock tick down. On the other hand, it’s extremely tense.

Contrasting aesthetic effects in games to those in other media is not always productive, because it’s like playing Twenty Questions. Can games do X like books? Can games do Y like films? In the same way we should assume games are art, and that there’s an audience out there hungry to make something of them, we should assume that games can do anything. You can have a rom-com game, a campus game, an adultery game, or a boring-but-important game that will get taught in high schools circa 2110.

GO: I go to these academic conferences where a similar conversation is happening among professors who write in the field of gaming studies. Some bring in literary and film theory, and try to lay that on top of video games, while others reject that. The tools and the language are already there from other fields, so it seems easy. On the other hand, it can be kind of reductive, and perhaps prevents you from having the more meaningful conversation.

TT: Right, or even just the conversation you’re trying to have. There are also those efforts to create a language around game studies, partly I think try to legitimatize it in the eyes of the academy. You get people going on about the Ludologists versus the Narratologists, about ludonarrative dissonance, copping these quasi-academic terms. I can see the point of systematizing things, but my favorite criticism helps you not to just describe and understand, but to enjoy stuff more.

GO: How much do you worry about the effect that being an “out” gamer will have on your literary career?

TT: If I were bashful or coy about my love of video games I wouldn’t do this interview. The same goes for pornography or television. Even the language of being “out” implies a political and social pressure or an importance that just doesn’t exist. I’d hate to believe that being a writer means living in a constant state of deposition, publicizing everything you do, think, or feel. The fact that I like video games isn’t interesting. Video games are interesting. I love talking about them with smart people, both within and outside of gaming culture. But I’m also perfectly happy to be left alone with them.

GO: Do you hope there’s a day around the corner where a game developer decides to make a narrative-heavy game like Life is Strange , Her Story , or Kentucky Route Zero , and they look at a list of literary authors to figure out who should write it?

TT: Not at all. I believe that I can do a lot of things in writing, but I haven’t felt an urge to create a video game since the third grade. It’s always good to have some kind of interest that is totally pure, where you’re going to be an eternal fan, because sausage-making can disillusion you fast. If part of the charge of art comes from mystique or sheer baffled admiration, that’s something I want to preserve in at least a few departments of my life.

GO: As a writer, you’re expected to be both a creator and a thoughtful critic as well. It seems like once you publish a book, there is an expectation that you’ll be reviewing or blurbing for other books for the rest of your life. How does your approach to writing about literature differ from your essays on games?

TT: I review books as a practitioner; I know what goes into putting one together, so I can pan one that isn’t well-made. I write about games as an appreciator, in that I want to take something I like and enlarge people’s sense of pleasure or wonder at it. This doesn’t mean that I can’t be critical of a game. I have negative things to say about everything. But because I’m not highly qualified to trivialize or disparage a game on the level of craft — for instance, a sunbeam in a video game might look shitty and aliased because of technological or budgetary constraints that I’m not aware of — my main task is to study its narrative and to add value.

GO: You’ve been thinking about games critically for a long time. I read that you wrote your theses — both in undergrad and for your first master’s degree — on video game interaction. What were you looking at in those?

TT: I majored in something called Symbolic Systems, which would be called cognitive sciences anywhere else. They add linguistics and philosophy to the standard curriculum of formal logic, computer science, and cognitive psychology. I applied the extremely specific language of human-computer interaction studies to video games. So I wrote pretty dry literature surveys of game-writing and interaction theory, and how the latter could be applied to the former.

One was about game controller design, which ended up anticipating the Nintendo Wii controller by a couple of years. I talked about the potential for modular design and gestural input. The second thesis was about menus. They’re the basis of turn-based RPGs, and in games their definitional boundaries are weird. Take the Warp Zone Pipes in Super Mario Brothers . You go over a ceiling and drop into a room where you’re invited to select one of three pipes to go through. It is very clearly a menu, where you’re selecting one of three options, but it’s also a part of the action.

God, I sound so stoned when I talk about this.

GO: I hate to keep mentioning Her Story , but I just started it today. In that game, the user interface also has this blurry boundary. You read a ReadMe file to learn how to use the system, but that’s all part of the in-game computer you interact with as part of the story.

TT: Yeah, it’s brilliant. Any computer interaction can be extrapolated into a game premise. Here it’s basically Database Search: The Game, but it’s fun and well written. To analogize with literature, there are plenty of stories whose premise comes from its formal conceit. My favorite is “ Going for a Beer ” by Robert Coover. He takes a simple sentence gimmick — where two things that happen at different times are written as though they’re simultaneous — and it becomes the conceit of the story. The story is, “what if your life was composed of moments with endings and beginnings but no middles?”

GO: Form matching content. That happens in all types of art, right? There was a piece on Hamilton which pointed out that, as the first half progresses, the Marquis de Lafayette’s rhymes get denser and faster, coinciding with him being in America and increasingly speaking English. The music reflects the plot.

TT: Form generating content, I would say. It’s a classical idea. Sometimes it’s done very explicitly, like with Oulipo. It can be super corny, but it’s a dependable source of inspiration.

It’s Tristram Shandy-levels of batshit.

GO: Going back to your idea for a game-writing website, were you imagining a place that just collected the kind of long-form writing you want to see, or were you also imagining a community that would be built around it?

TT: I am not too concerned with building community. The idea was simply to get critical essays on games­ — not fiction, poetry, reviews, or personal essays, but literary analysis. Like the essay I’m working on about the Metal Gear Solid series… So many of the male characters lose their hands and are sterile and have daddy issues and misinterpret the will of one female character, The Boss. Aside from the glaring Freudian overtones, what’s that about? This is not stuff that figures into the plot as it plays out, but is something that I think screams out for conversation.

GO: I was a Nintendo kid and then jumped to PC gaming, so I never got into the Metal Gear  games.

TT: It’s like the Infinite Jest of games. As far as I know, it’s the longest continuous scripted narrative in games. You can make a strained case for things like Zelda or Metroid , but this is the most sustained vision from an auteurist figure, Hideo Kojima, and it’s just bonkers. It’s Tristram Shandy -levels of batshit.

GO: Well, that sells it. I now have to ask the big, speculative question, since you just called it the Infinite Jest of games. What do you think David Foster Wallace’s writing would have been like, had he been obsessed with video games rather than television?

TT: This question is so enormously counterfactual it might as well be a novel. The guy was hugely tech-avoidant. He typed with one finger on an old computer. But games seem very contiguous with his concerns in Infinite Jest . Though who’s to say Virginia Woolf wouldn’t have also gotten equally invested in games? Wallace is a gimme because of the technological overlap, but to me the more interesting speculative question is, What would a game written by P.G. Wodehouse be like? I want to see an essay on  that .

How to Have Fun Destroying Yourself: An Interview with Tony Tulathimutte, Author of Private Citizens

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How ‘Among Us’ Helps Students Master Argumentative Writing

In the popular online strategy game, students make claims, listen to counterclaims, and reach a conclusion—skills they need to write a strong argumentative essay.

Like many other teachers in the world, I have been tasked with the incredible challenge of teaching online to a sea of students who are used to being in a classroom learning, discussing, and connecting with their peers. In just a couple of days, I went from a loud, bustling classroom full of energetic 10th graders to an eerily quiet Zoom call full of black boxes and muted mics. Hearing and seeing my students became a thing of the past. When I began to notice my students struggling to understand argumentative writing, I knew I had to get creative.

In addition to teaching English, I run my school site’s gaming and e-sports clubs. Advising those club meetings was like night and day compared with teaching my English class; I could barely say a word during our meetings because my students were so excited to play games with each other.

It all clicked when my gaming students asked if they could play a game called Among Us . As my students worked together to find the imposter, I noticed them using all the skills I was teaching in my classes; I heard each of them formulate a claim using multiple pieces of evidence. I listened to them respectfully disagree, negotiate, and work together with their peers to analyze the claims they were hearing and ultimately decide as a team which claim was strongest. The best part? None of them even realized that what they were doing was academic. That’s when I knew I needed to bring it into my classroom.

What Is ‘Among Us’?

Among Us is a free-to-play social deduction game, in which you work together with a group of up to 10 people to figure out who is the imposter. You can download the Among Us app or purchase the game for your PC or Nintendo Switch. At the beginning of each game, you are deemed either a crewmate or an imposter. If you are a crewmate, you are assigned tasks to complete as fast as possible without getting killed by the imposter. The violence in the game is pretty cartoonish, and Common Sense Media rates the game as appropriate for kids 10 and older. To win, you must finish your tasks or work with your fellow crewmates to find the imposter(s). If you are an imposter, your job is to eliminate as many crewmates as possible and sabotage the game without getting caught.

When a crewmate finds a dead body, all players are forced into a discussion and voting time that allows them to report out what they saw and who they were with, and raise suspicion against other players. This means that no matter what role you are given at the beginning of the game, strong argumentative skills are key.

Prior to entering my class, most of my students were familiar with the basics of argumentative writing through the claim, evidence, and analysis (CEA) paragraph structure. After putting out our first writing assignment, though, I noticed that there was a disconnect between the claims they made and the evidence they chose. I found myself writing the same feedback over and over again, asking them, “How does this evidence support the argument you are trying to make?”

Integrating ‘Among Us’ in the ELA Classroom

One of the biggest differences between teaching online and in person is the lack of class discussion. Four-corner activities and casual debate warm-ups were no more, once we transitioned to distance learning, because no one felt comfortable unmuting their mics. I was struggling to show the students the connection between argumentative speaking and writing. The second I announced to my class that we were going to play Among Us , I couldn’t get them to stop talking. I even had a group of students stay through their 30-minute lunch break to keep playing with their classmates.

I began by walking through my Emergency Meeting Argumentative Speeches slides to set up the rules and game-play structure. The biggest change I made between the common game mode and my persuasive speech activity was the structured discussion time.

During the 90-second discussion period, all students must have their mics unmuted and participate so that everyone’s voice is heard. The first 30 seconds are reserved for each student to make a claim. I ask them to report out where they were, what/who they saw, who they believe the imposter is, and why. The next 30 seconds are for counterclaims where students can defend themselves or others. The last 30 seconds are for students to state whose claim they agree or disagree with and why. At the end of discussion time, they each have the option to vote for who they believe the imposter is or skip. This continues until the imposter is caught or the crewmates finish their tasks.

Connecting ‘Among Us’ to Argumentative Writing

Next came the task of connecting what they just did in their favorite game to the not-so-exciting article we were reading as a class. Using Pear Deck , I set up an interactive slideshow with claims from the article with a few pieces of direct evidence. Their goal on each slide was to find the “imposter,” or rather the piece of evidence that did not support the claim, and explain why. Everything finally clicked when I made that small shift in word choice for unrelated evidence, and my students’ writing became much more accurate.

After months of teaching into the abyss, bringing Among Us into my classroom gave my class a breath of fresh air it desperately needed. Not only did playing the game with my students help them refine their writing skills, but it built the classroom community that distance learning had taken away. If you’re struggling to teach writing remotely or looking for an activity to build community and get your students to unmute their mics, mention Among Us  and watch what happens.