Fact+or+Opinion

This is not an area where an exceptional number of our students have difficulty, but exercises surrounding it are still a good idea.

Some ideas:

Consider having students read a piece and use a T-chart to list facts and opinions that they have read. When they identify facts they could then expand what they know by finding a corroborating source for the facts that they find and a conflicting source for the opinions they identify. This is a essential critical thinking skill and important for those of us who do research.

As an assignment to accompany a reading or a quiz to follow one, have students write down a set number of facts that they learned from the reading and an opinion that they have about what they read.

Don't be afraid to discuss discrepancies about what is a fact and what is an opinion. Feel free to talk about the grey areas that come from writers using loaded words and biased expressions to describe things that are actually factual. It's muddy water, but they will learn a lot more by stepping in it than not.