Hello, everybody, and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Miss Halladay, and I'll be teaching you for today.

I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into today's learning because we're going to be looking at how to really elevate our opinion writing by focusing on creating a really engaging opening and an equally impactful ending.

So we're looking today at how to structure your opinion writing for impact, and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Let's get started.

So today's lesson is called the structure of an opinion piece.

And by the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain how to create really engaging openings and impactful endings in an opinion piece of writing.

But first, here are some keywords that you'll need to understand in order to be able to unlock today's learning.

So let's start looking at these then.

We'll begin with the word impactful.

Now, impactful means really memorable and significant.

The second keyword is to imply, and that means to indicate the truth about something without explicitly saying it.

Now a person's viewpoint is their personal opinion or their perspective on something.

And in an opinion piece of writing, you are really looking to reinforce your viewpoint.

Now, to reinforce means to strengthen or to further support something.

So in this context of today's lesson, an idea or an opinion.

And finally, a conundrum is a confusing and difficult to answer problem or question.

And in an opinion piece of writing, as you'll see in today's lesson, it can be really impactful to leave your reader with some kind of moral conundrum to debate once you have gone or once they have finished reading your piece of writing.

So that can be a really impactful way to finish your piece of writing.

If you'd like to take a moment to pause the video while you jot down any of these key words, then please feel free to do so at your leisure.

Here's today's lesson outline.

We're going to start by looking at engaging openings before moving on to looking more specifically at how to end your piece by using mirroring to end with impact.

But let's start, first of all, looking at engaging openings.

Let's begin with a quick discussion.

I'd like you to consider would the people around you or in fact independently if you are working on your own well, why does the opening to your opinion piece matter? And what do you think that the aim of the opening in an opinion piece of writing actually is? So I'm gonna invite you now to pause the video while you consider that question with the people around you, or as I said, if you are working independently, just thinking about it on your own.

So pause the video and off you go.

I can't wait to share ideas.

Fantastic discussions and some really, really interesting and insightful suggestions there.

So as Lucas points out, "The aim of your opening in an opinion piece of writing is actually twofold.

You are looking to both engage the reader, but also to get them onside.

And you need to get them onside so that they're more likely to agree with and your opinion." "And it's really important," as Lucas points out, "to form a connection with your reader." So a massive well done if any of you said that, I definitely heard that from some people.

So really, really great start to the lesson there.

Continuing on with our discussions, well, how do we form connections to, or how do we engage with people in real-life conversation? What kind of tactics do people use in order to make friends? So again, I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider those questions.

Again, either independently if you're working on your own, or you can feel free to discuss them with the people around you, it's up to you.

So pause the video and discuss those questions by whichever means you would prefer now.

Again, some fantastic discussions and great to see so many of you being really respectful of each other's opinions and making some really useful suggestions there as to how we actually found connections with people.

So again, turning to our fantastic Oak pupil, Lucas, for his suggestions.

He says, "Well, I always try to find something in common with people and then I use that to form connections with them." And I think that is a common strategy that we do tend to use with new people.

We find some common ground and then we make conversation from there.

Andeep adds, "Well, I often use humour to engage people in conversations because making people laugh always makes them like you." And Andeep is so right.

Okay, we love to laugh, we love to smile.

So anybody who kind of brings that laughter out of us, we will naturally gravitate more towards and we'll probably like them more as well.

And finally, Alex adds, "Well, I often try to talk about topics that might be of common interest." So quite a similar idea there to Lucas.

However, it's that idea that you're kind of predicting something that they might like and trying to talk about that rather than actually asking them what it is they like and then using that to inform the conversation.

So it's kind of the idea and what comes through here is basically trying to get to know your reader, trying to think about what kind of person they might be, and then using that to form that connection to them.

So thank you to our Oak pupils for their suggestions and really well done to you for your fantastic discussions there.

So what we're gonna do now is we're gonna have a look at this in action, in an opinion piece of writing.

So we're going to read two alternative openings to the very same task.

Now, one of these openings uses humour to engage the reader, whereas the other one establishes common ground with the reader, but they're both very engaging openings and they'll show you how to engage and form that connection to your reader from the very first sentence of your writing.

So I'd like you to think as your reading these openings, well, how is it that the writer captures your attention and your interest? How does the writer form that connection to you as their reader? And where can we actually detect the writer's opinion or viewpoint coming through in the start of their writing? So those are the three questions that I would like you to bear in mind moving forward as we read these two model openings.

So here is one, I'm going to read it, and if you could be following along, that would be absolutely fantastic, thank you.

So make sure that as you are reading, you bear those three really important questions in mind.

So I'll read, you follow along.

"In a world where debates rage on about the appropriate age for children to partake in various potentially-health-jeopardizing activities, that adults rather hypocritically undertake all the time, one topic remains highly contested, horror films. It seems that adults just can't agree on what to do about our consumption of them.

What does this mean? I hear you ask.

Well, what it means is that it's time for us children to get involved and shed some light on this dark debate.

Let's begin by debunking one of the greatest myths of all time, we children are not angels, we are not delicate little flowers who need shielding from harsh weather or amateur gardeners with all the gear and no idea." So that's the beginning of one of our openings.

And you might already have started to think about, "Well, which one do I think this is? Do I think it's the one that uses humour or do I think it's the one that kind of uses that common ground to establish a connection to the reader?" So what I'd like you to do now is answer that question.

So is this response the one that uses humour or do you think it's the one that draws on that shared experience to connect to the reader? So what I'm going to invite you to do now is pause the video while you discuss that question, again, either with the people around you or thinking about it independently, if that's how you're working today.

So pause the video and off you go.

Brilliant discussions, and really well done because I think most people were able to really clearly identify that this response used humour to engage the reader.

There is a distinctly sarcastic tone here, and that creates that really strong sense of voice.

And I've actually highlighted some sections of this model answer that really exemplify that sarcastic tone and that humorous tone here for you.

So kind of this suggestion that adults rather hypocritically undertake them all the time.

This is clearly written by a child because they're clearly kind of almost firing shots at adults for their hypocrisy here.

And again, this idea of amateur gardeners with all the gear and no idea, again, that is using humour to engage the reader.

Okay, we love people that are funny, we like people who make us laugh and smile, and this writer is trying really hard to do that.

And it makes us like them and we automatically kind of internalise their viewpoint because of that.

So well done if you managed to identify that this opening is the one that uses humour.

Let's have a look at opening two then, which we know is the one that must use that shared experience.

So again, I'm going to read it.

If you could be following along, that would be brilliant, thank you.

Remembering to bear in mind those three questions of, well, what is it that the writer does to really engage us as a reader, and where can we kind of detect the writer's viewpoint coming through.

So here we go.

"You never forget your first horror film.

I certainly won't.

I'll never watching that immense shark with its rolling eyes open up its enormous grin to expose rows and rows of vicious bright white triangular teeth that seemed to guard the even more horrifying vast black void beyond.

Even though it wasn't me being swallowed, the black void still seemed to consume me.

I felt myself fixed to the sofa, the room spinning as I watched the last remnant of the unlucky diver in the opening sequence slide into the depths of that enormous dark hole.

Terrifying, utterly terrifying, but, of course, thrilling, so very thrilling." So there's opening two, same topic about horror films, two very different approaches there.

So what I'd like you to think now is how does this opening engage the reader? And it would be fantastic here if you could identify specific words and phrases that really grabbed your attention and made you kind of engage and care about this topic so much.

So I'm going invite you now to pause the video while you have a discussion with the people around you, or again, just thinking independently about exactly how the writer makes this such an engaging opening and really draws you into the topic.

So pause the video and have those discussions now.

Fantastic discussions, and it was great to see how many of you really love this opening and the descriptive element to it.

So I've really enjoyed seeing you enjoy this opening so much.

So I massive well done to those of you who identified correctly, and there were actually lots of you who identified this correctly that this response uses an anecdote to create a shared experience with the reader.

Having something in common or creating something in common through the use of an anecdote can be really persuasive because it creates that emotional connection between you, the reader, and the writer through those shared emotions that you've experienced.

So Weldon, if you managed to identify that that was in fact an anecdote, and it was great to see so many of you picking out specific words and phrases that you thought were really engaging.

Great to see your engagement in the lesson.

So as Andeep points out, "Both of these openings are engaging in different ways.

One similarity though is that neither of them explicitly states the writer's viewpoint, their opinion, or perspective, the viewpoint is implied." So it's almost said, without being said explicitly.

And Alex replies, "But surely, in opinion writing, your viewpoint needs to be clear right from the beginning." And Andeep replies, "But your viewpoint does have to be clear, but an implied viewpoint can still be clear.

It's just often more engaging to imply your viewpoint rather than starting with, I disagree with X because." And Alex says, "Well, I think I need to see an example." And I'm gonna throw that responsibility over to you.

And I would like you to find an example from each model opening where the writer's viewpoint is implied and not stated.

So where can we detect or infer the writer's viewpoint without them having to say, "I really love horror films," or, "I think horror films are brilliant," or, "I think children should be allowed to watch horror films." How do we know that the writer loves horror films? Okay, that's what you're looking for here.

So again, you can work in groups or you can work independently.

Whatever works for you today, that's absolutely fine.

But I'd like you to pause the video now while you go and find Alex some examples of where the writer's viewpoints are implied.

So pause the video and off you go to do just that now.

Brilliant.

Brilliant work and welcome back.

Let's share some ideas together.

So these are some of the ideas from model 1 that I heard that I thought were the best.

So first of all, this quotation here, "It seems that adults just can't agree on what to do about our consumption of them." And here, the fact that the writer says, "our consumption of them," and that inclusive pronoun, that our, shows that this piece is written by someone who really loves horror films and watches them all the time.

And this is exactly the kind of person who wouldn't want them restricted.

So that even though the writer hasn't said, "horror films shouldn't be banned," it's very obvious that they don't want them banned because clearly, they don't want something that they watch all the time to be banned.

So that's a really strong example there.

Now the second example that I heard somebody pick out and talk about was this one here, "We're not delicate little flowers who need shielding from harsh weather or amateur gardeners with all the gear and no idea." And here, the writer is stating that they don't need shielding or protecting from horror films, thereby implying their viewpoint that they think they should be able to watch horror films at their leisure, okay? So they're saying, "You know what? I don't need your protection.

I can make my own decisions.

And therefore, we don't need to get rid of horror films because if I watch one, I've chosen to watch one." So two really strong examples there from model 1.

Let's have a look at some examples from model 2.

Again, I've taken some of the suggestions that I heard from you guys that I really liked, starting with this one, "You never forget your first horror film," and a massive well done to the person who picked this out 'cause I think this is an absolutely fantastic example of the writer implying their viewpoint.

Because clearly, the fact that they never forget their horror film shows that their first horror film they ever watched was really life-changing and that was a key moment in the writer's life, thereby implying that his perspective or her perspective is that horror films should be readily available for all to watch because it's such a fun experience.

Now the second example that I heard that I loved was this one, "Terrifying, utterly terrifying, but of course thrilling, so very thrilling." And here, the phrase, of course, shows us that the writer cannot see any other way to perceive horror films because they enjoy them so much.

And again, the so very thrilling, implies the writer's viewpoint that they love horror films and they enjoy them instead of actively stating it.

So there, I'm hoping you can see how the writer doesn't need to say, "I love horror films. I think we should keep them," because it's just implied through their use of language and the way that they express their opinion.

So well done to the people who came up with those examples.

Brilliant work.

Let's check for understanding before we move on to our first task of the lesson.

So which statements imply the writer's viewpoint instead of saying it? I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you read the four statements and decide which imply the writer's viewpoint versus which just state it explicitly.

So pause the video and make your decision now.

Fantastic work if you selected A and D.

Here, this statement, "Some people get a chocolate advent calendar.

Me? I ask for a cheese one," clearly, this person loves cheese, okay? You wouldn't ask for a cheese advent calendar where you get 25 bits of cheese if you didn't like cheese.

So there, the writers of viewpoint is implied by their actions.

And secondly, answer D, "I always spend an eternity and a fortune at the cheese counter," again, implies that the writer love cheese, but they don't actually say I love cheese.

They haven't spelled out in that way.

But the fact that they spend ages looking at the cheeses and spending their money on cheeses implies that they really enjoy eating cheese and they're somewhat of a cheese connoisseur, okay? So there, again, the writer's viewpoint is very much implied but not stated explicitly.

So well done if you got that.

So onto our first task of the lesson.

Now our lovely Oak pupil, Laura, here is about to begin writing her very own opinion article and she's thinking about how to write a really engaging opening.

But unfortunately, she's not feeling very confident in how to create an engaging opening.

And what I thought would be really nice is if you could write three pieces of advice for Laura about how she can make her opening super, super engaging.

So I'd like you to consider when you're advising Laura, how did the models that we looked at capture our attention? How did the writers express their viewpoints? And I'd like you to give her three pieces of advice as to how she can really make her opening engaging.

So what I'm going to do now is invite you to pause the video while you have a go at giving Laura that advice and writing it down for her.

So pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic work.

And it was lovely to see Laura so appreciative and so receptive to all of your advice.

And she says, "Thank you for your advice." So what I'd like you to do now to check that you've advised Laura correctly is I'd like you to check your advice for the following words.

So we've got viewpoint, perspective, engage, connection, interest, imply, humour, tone, and persuade.

And if you use these words, then you very likely gave a really good set of advice to Laura.

If you didn't use these words, you might want to take a moment just to have another go at giving Laura some advice using some of the vocabulary on screen to guide you.

So I'm going to give you a moment to pause the video and reflect on the quality of the advice that you gave to Laura using the keywords that we have on screen.

Off you go.

Fantastic reflections and let's move on.

So let's have a look now at using mirroring to end with impact.

So again, we're gonna begin with a little bit of a discussion, and I'd like to think, well, what is the aim of the ending of an opinion article? What we're trying to achieve? What's the purpose of it? That kind of thing.

So I'm gonna invite you now to pause the video while either again, you discuss this with people around you or you just think about it independently.

Pause the video and off you go.

Brilliant discussions.

And again, great to see so many of you thinking about this idea of actually ending your article presents the very last opportunity to influence your reader and get them to adopt your viewpoint.

You really want to reinforce your opinion at this point because you want to leave them with a really strong and also very clear message that they can take forward.

And at the end of your opinion article, your reader or your audience should know exactly how to help or what to think or feel, okay? So you are instructing them as to how to feel.

That's what persuasive writing is all about.

So Andeep had this to say, and he said, "Well, I like to think of finishing an opinion piece as tying all the strings together and double knotting it to make it really secure." So his idea here of really reinforcing and repeating your message so that your reader is crystal clear on exactly what it is you want them to do or what it is that you want them to feel.

And Lucas adds, "Well, using mirroring is a really brilliant way of tying everything together and reinforcing your message, your viewpoint.

I'll show you." And that's really kind of Lucas to offer.

So let's go along with Lucas and he can show us how this can be done.

So here's the next section of opening one from earlier in the lesson, the one that used humour to engage the reader.

"Let's begin by debunking one of the greatest myths of all time, we children are not angels, we are not delicate little flowers who need shielding from harsh weather or amateur gardeners with all the gear and no idea.

We are rebels, isn't that the whole point of being a teenager? Something about that teen suffix just stirs the rebel in us.

It's an awakening, a rite of passage through a terrifying tunnel of answering back, questionable decision-making, and worst of all, disregarded curfews." So what I'd like you to discuss now is, well, which images or ideas from this paragraph do you think that the writer could return to at the end to reinforce their viewpoint? Because remember, mirroring is this idea of repeating images or ideas from the beginning of your piece of writing, again, at the end of your piece of writing.

So which ideas are we going to reflect at the end of our piece of writing from this paragraph? So again, this can be done in groups or you can think about it independently, but I'd like you to now pause the video while you have a think about which ideas you might take again and use at the end of your writing.

Off you go.

Fantastic work.

Really well done.

And here, the idea of children not needing protection from frightful things could easily be mirrored at the end.

Or, Lucas offers an alternative, and says, "Well, actually, the idea of teenagers being rebels, so banning teens from watching horror films will only make them watch more could also be mirrored too." 'cause that would be a really effective image to then take forward and return to at the end of the piece of writing, just to kind of, as Andeep says, "double not that perspective and that opinion and the viewpoint that you are trying to convey." That horror films should be allowed to be watched by anybody.

So well done if you got that in your discussion.

So Lucas obviously there provided us with two different ideas.

And actually, he says, "I liked the first image best," the one that I came up with first, "the idea of young people not being delicate flowers that need protection.

I'll show you how to mirror that in the ending now." So here's Lucas's suggestion as to how we could take that idea from the beginning of the piece and then use it again at the end.

"As I have illustrated, the big bad world is out there for us to see anyway at six o'clock on TV3.

We children aren't delicate little flowers, and actually, we don't want to be.

Ignorance is never bliss.

We children need to have an understanding of what actually goes on in the world, and until real-life war and violence ceases, and the 6:00 news can stop showing us real-life horror films, the odd Saturday night horror isn't going to hurt, at least that's fiction." What's a brilliant ending there from Lucas? So I'd like you to think now, well, using that ending, I'd like you to think, well, what is the effect of the mirroring here? How else does Lucas create a really impactful ending here? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you use Lucas's answer to discuss those questions and have a think about what it is that makes this ending so impactful.

Off you go.

Fantastic discussions.

And again, great to see so many of you talking so enthusiastically about this ending.

I agree.

I think it's really, really engaging.

So as Lucas points out, "You don't actually need to spend a lot of time revisiting the image or the idea, it can just be a quick nod back to the beginning, just to tie your piece together and really reinforce your viewpoint." And if you look at the model now, I've actually highlighted the nod back to the beginning in green for you.

And you'll notice it's only one sentence, and that's absolutely fine because it's just an acknowledgement of what you said at the beginning.

You're just returning to the same ideas.

And actually, you don't need to lecture on the idea because you've already said it all in the beginning.

You are just redirecting your reader back to con reconsider the ideas that you expressed in the beginning.

So actually, mirroring doesn't need to take a lot of time.

It can just be one quick sentence or even one quick word that kind of triggers your reader's memory back to the beginning of your piece of writing.

And equally, Lucas points out that many of you also notice the very last line, "at least that's fiction," and this is a really hard-hitting ending that really forces the reader to evaluate whether seeing fictional horror is worse than seeing news.

It can be really impactful to leave your reader with a moral conundrum.

And if you remember, a conundrum is that kind of difficult to answer question or that kind of moral debate that you're leaving them with at the end, okay? So this, "at least that's fiction," it kind of creates this debate that your reader will hopefully have of is actually the news any worse than a horror film.

Probably not because the news is real and horror film is fiction, okay? So it's a really effective ending that's been used by Lucas here.

So a massive round of applause goes out to Lucas for his fantastic modelling, and well done to you for your fantastic discussions.

So let's check for understanding now.

How can you create an impactful ending to your opinion piece? Now I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you read the four answer options and decide which of the following things you can do to create that really impactful ending to your opinion piece.

So pause the video and make your decision now.

Fantastic, and really well done if you selected B and C.

In order to create that impactful ending, you can absolutely return to an earlier image or idea from the beginning of your piece again at the end, and you can also leave your reader with that moral conundrum to consider as well.

To leave them something to kind of chew on and think about.

So a massive well done if you selected B and C.

You are going to absolutely master the ending of your opinion pieces now as you know exactly what to do.

So once our last task of the lesson, where you are going to write the final paragraph of the same opinion piece, but you're gonna use model 2 as inspiration for your mirroring.

So you will need this in front of you.

You'll need to identify an idea or image in model 2 that you want to mirror in your ending to reiterate your viewpoint.

Remember, it can just be a nod to your earlier image or you can make it a defining feature of your ending.

That is a creative choice that you need to make.

Secondly, you'll need to think of a similar moral conundrum to leave your reader with.

And thirdly, you'll write your ending, including mirroring and a moral conundrum for your reader.

So here's a sentence starter to help you get going.

As I have demonstrated, so now you're going to argue that horror films should be available to everybody, using one idea from the beginning of that opening too.

So I'm going to invite now to pause a video while you have a go practising using mirroring to create an ending that is super, super impactful.

I am so excited to see what you come up with for this 'cause I think you can be really creative with this.

So pause the video and give this your best effort.

You do this.

Off you go.

Fantastic work.

And it was great to see so many of you taking those really fantastic ideas from model 2 at the beginning and reusing them again at the end and being quite creative with your use of mirroring.

So what we're going to do now is have a go at some reflection.

So I'd like you to think, well, why did you choose the image or idea that you did to mirror it in your final paragraph? What was it that you were trying to reinforce for your reader? Secondly, how did you want your reader to feel and what did you want your reader to think when they read your final paragraph? And thirdly, how did you give the reader something to think about in the final line of your paragraph? So what I'm going to do now is invite you to pause the video while you have a go at that self-reflection now.

Fantastic reflections there, and it was great to see so many of you putting so much effort into this task.

Because actually, reflection is so important and it's how we improve for next time.

So really well done that.

I'm really impressed.

So to summarise the learning from today, well, first of all, you can create an engaging opening by using humour or creating a shared experience with your reader.

Secondly, in an opinion piece, your message is your opinion.

In an opinion piece, it's really important to get the reader onside so that they're more likely to internalise and/or agree with your message.

Furthermore, the ending of your opinion piece should bring together the threads of your argument and really reinforce your viewpoint.

And lastly, you can create a really impactful ending by using mirroring and/or leaving your reader with a moral conundrum to consider.

Thank you so much for coming to today's lesson.

It's been absolutely fantastic to have you all with me and to see how much your understanding of how to create a really effective and impactful opinion piece has come on throughout the lesson.

I look forward in due course to seeing how this influences your writing.

Thank you very much for your contributions and have a lovely rest of your day.

See you later.