Video: Viewpoint writing: What is it?

﻿Welcome to today's English lesson. I'm Mrs. Crompton. Our focus today is to look at viewpoint writing. You will need a pen and paper. Take a moment to make sure you've cleared any distractions away and have everything you need to hand. First of all, have a look at the image and the statement on the screen. Just start to think about your response. All sports should be fun, fair, and open to everyone. It's the taking part, not the winning that matters. How do you feel about that? Where would you want to be in that race. Let's have a look at it again. So, all sports should be fun, fair, and open to everyone. It's the taking part, not the winning that matters. Write an article for a magazine in which you present your viewpoint. And that's the focus for our learning today. So, this idea of a viewpoint and the idea of dealing with this statement. You don't have to address every single aspect of the statement. You don't have to work through and say, "This is what I think about sport being fun, about being fair, about being open, about not winning." It's about you responding generally to what the motivations of sport should be. And you are allowed to adopt your viewpoints and to shape your piece or writing to reflect that. So, what I'd like you to do now is to consider that a little bit further with the caveats, with those little explanations that I have given you that you don't have to unpick every single word in that title. What do you want to say about sports? What should it be about? Pause the video at this point and write down a few ideas. Resume when you're ready for the next step. Welcome back. So, what we're going to do now is to have a look at a student's response to that question. And what we're going to see is that the essay has been split into three sections. I'm going to give you some prompt questions along the way to help you activate some ideas and give you some little queries to think about. And as we go through, I would like you to jot down notes and responses on your lined paper. You will then pause. Okay, so I will instruct you to pause. And then, we'll switch over and I'll ask you to get a pen or a pencil so that you can review some of your ideas and also add in some additional ones. Are we ready? All right, let's begin. First of all, we're going to look at how the line of argument is established. So, this is all about setting up your introduction and thinking about what we're given at the beginning. And we're going to see how this particular student has decided to respond to that statement. It's okay to be second place. Everyone likes to win, whether it's through dumb luck or years of training. Nobody turns their nose up at first place, modest or not. The feeling of being better than someone else, although selfish, keeps the drive to continue strong. Who doesn't want to win? So, here the prompt questions are, what is the line or argument? And what is the tone like? And at the moment, we're getting this line of argument coming through that, well, everybody wants to win, don't they? We have got a title, "IT'S OKAY TO BE SECOND PLACE." Which seems to be contradictory so I'm going to make a note of that. And then the tone, is it a serious tone? Is it quite humorous? It's quite engaging. I'm feeling quite a direct conversational tone. So, I think the word I'm going to go for is a conversational tone is created. It's quite a familiar tone. And that suits the fact that it's a magazine. So, those are the sorts of notes that I would like you to take. So, I'm going to go back to the beginning and I'm going to hand it over to you to take control. Work through the slides, pausing at the end of each one so you can take your notes. And then, we will do the review together. I'll see you shortly. And welcome back. So, shall we look at the review together and this is the point where I want you to take a different coloured pen or maybe a pencil and now you can additional notes. You can see what you've got, you can improve on what you have and we can work our way through the rest of the response. So, to start with some of the points that I've mentioned here. The title shows an awareness of purpose and audience. It was a magazine so we have actually got the formality of introducing a title. And as I mentioned when I was modelling through, thinking about that opening, we've got a counterargument here. We haven't got the main argument. This idea of wanting to be a winner. That's what we all want, isn't it? That's actually not what this person believes because the title tells me differently. We've got an engaging opening. It wants to engage the reader by suggesting we want to win too, but we know that is not the truth of the matter. So, that's the opening section. Moving further in, we have got language like "conquest", "domination", "even violence". The phrase "Dodgeball" as a single sentence on its own. "The ones who crave it; victory - and blood!" "They hold the ball tightly to their chest, nose twitching with intent and then... the running start." So, out of the page of evidence, those are are few things that I have selected and my analysis of it is the "however" introduces a switch in the line of argument and now I'm really getting to see what this person believes and what I'm seeing is counterargument and then moving into the true argument. "I" is introduced within this section too. And we get the personal anecdote of the game of dodgeball. And the language choices are really emotive. We've got imagery of war going on with "conquest", "domination", "violence", "blood", "victory". And the sentences, they're varied for effect. With the punctuation adding to the meaning. Okay, next stage then. We're going to look at how the line of argument is developed. So, over to you. You get to work through this time following the prompts and jotting down your notes, just as we've seen in the review response. I'll see you shortly. And welcome back. So, let's have a little look at the review notes again. How is it broadening the line of argument? Well, the Olympics are introduced as an event that we all recognise. There's a new idea of negative behaviour gaining attention, so we have the examples of the Olympians who are sulking because they didn't come first, which links to the idea that sports aren't always fair. And we've also got an idea of ambition at the end of this section. And it's established here as a negative behaviour when it's excessive. So, that's quite a nice broadening of the scope. It's not just a straightforward argument, we're now starting to think more about behaviours and human nature. So, we're starting to touch on ideas of man versus man and man versus society and what's important in life. I'll just give you a moment if you'd like to take any notes from that section, pause there if you wish. When you're ready, resume. And now we're onto how is the argument concluded. So, over again to you. You are working through making your notes and then we will review again together. So, how is the argument concluded? And welcome back. So, let's have a look at our final notes that we've taken. The old proverb about falling down and getting back up is no longer in effect. And the next quotation that I've picked out from that section, "A failure to be human." The writer here is questioning what we believe as a society and we can see that we've really expanded the scope of this line of argument. We don't seem to allow failure, which is actually a part of being human. That's quite a sophisticated, complex idea that has been introduced. And let's have a look at some of the techniques that have been used. Sometimes we all struggle. Sometimes we all need to try again. And sometimes we all need someone else to help. That technique is called anaphora. And it's the repetition of a phrase, "Sometimes we all, sometimes we all, sometimes we all." Okay? So, what's the answer? We've got a rhetorical question. A direct address to the reader. So, we're getting that sense of the relationship reinforced all the way through the piece. And then finally, we've finally got the answers. Perseverance, resilience, kindness to others. Listed as a three, those are the qualities that make a true winner in the society according to this student. So, again, opportunity to pause here if you want to get some of those ideas down and some of those techniques down. Then, finally, most of all we need to understand that it's okay to fall down and not get back up for a while. It's okay to be bad at something, everyone is. It's not all about who gets to first place. And right at the end, the conclusion ties back up with the beginning and also links in with the title. So, if you noticed any of those things, well done. Those are the techniques that have very deliberately been chosen and it's part of that whole design choice of the student. Final reflections, then. I want you to go back over your notes that you've taken after having broken down this essay into three sections. And what I'd like you to do at this stage is to think about three learning points that you can identify from that model essay. It could be that you want to take some ideas in terms of content. It was really nicely developed as an essay and we talked in particular about how the scope of the argument was broadened. And we really started to tackle some more complex ideas. So, maybe that's something that you didn't have in your initial notes. It might be the actual organisation, the structure. You haven't thought ever of putting the counterargument first. Or maybe you liked the way that a certain technique was used. So, for organisation and techniques, those are also learning points that you might want to select. Please, pause the video whilst you complete this reflection exercise. So, thank you for your focus today. As we continue this sequence of learning around viewpoint writing, we're going to pick up with this title, so the notes that you've made today will be relevant and we're going to get an opportunity to examine some of the features that we've noticed in terms of generating a line of argument, planning the sequence, thinking about the use of techniques, and also methods of engaging your reader. Don't forget to complete your quiz to complete the learning for today. And enjoy the rest of your learning. I shall see you for the next session.

Exit Quiz: Viewpoint writing: What is it?

Completed: Viewpoint writing: What is it?

In this lesson we will begin to look at the features of viewpoint or discursive writing.  Today we will begin with a statement -  “All sports should be fun, fair and open to everyone. It is the taking part not the winning that matters.”  Then, we will have a look at a student response to see how someone else has tackled this statement and begin to understand the features of viewpoint writing.   At the end of the lesson, there will be a quiz to recap on our learning. 


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Viewpoint writing: What is it?

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