Fun Analysis and Argument Writing Games For Middle School Students

Games Are A Great Way To Reinforce Writing Skills.

When teaching analysis and argument writing to middle school students, it can be helpful to use games to increase student engagement and help them practice their writing skills. Let’s look at two of my favorite writing games.

Evidence Search

Evidence Search is a game that can be used when teaching argument writing or analysis writing. It is a fun way to help students find relevant evidence for their topic sentences. Here’s how it works.

After reading an article or story together, break the students up into groups of three or four. Make sure that each group has a copy of the article. Then, write a topic sentence on the board. For example, if you have just read an article on the Nomura’s jellyfish, you could write something like, “The Nomura’s jellyfish can be extremely dangerous." Give the groups three to five minutes to look through the text and find the quote that they think is the best piece of evidence to support that topic sentence. Once the groups have selected their evidence, they can send one representative up to the front of the room to write their quote on the board. The representative will explain to the class why their group thought that this was the best piece of evidence. After all of the groups have had a chance to share, the teacher will award each group one point if their evidence was relevant to the topic sentence. They will award an additional point to the group that chose the best piece of evidence. After awarding points, start a new round by writing a different topic sentence on the board. The first group to get five points wins!

This game gets students working together to find relevant evidence and defend their choices. It also involves a bit of movement which is always fun for middle schoolers. 

Topic Sentence Showdown

Topic Sentence Showdown is another fun game that is designed to help students use a variety of sentence structures to create topic sentences. Again, break the students into groups of three or four. Write three quotes on the board, and give the students three to five minutes to read over the quotes and create a topic sentence that would work for a paragraph that contained those quotes. Once students have written their topic sentences, have one representative from each group share what they have come up with. The teacher will assign one point for each topic sentence that aligns with the quotes. They will also assign an additional point if the topic sentence uses a subordinating conjunction or an appositive. Once the points have been awarded, start a new round by writing three new quotes on the board. The first team to get five points wins!

This game challenges students to use more advanced sentence structures in their writing, and it allows them to work with their peers as they craft strong topic sentences.

Final Thoughts

Teaching argument and analysis writing doesn’t have to be dry. Group work and a little friendly competition is all you need to help your middle school students develop these essential writing skills.

If you’re looking for creative writing games, check out this post.

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