Seventh Grade Unit 03 - Research-based Argument...

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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project

Writing Curricular Calendar, Seventh Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Research-based Argument Essays

Unit Three – Research-‐based Argument Essays

Essential Question: How can we compose compelling evidence-‐based arguments to persuade audience about urgent issues that affect us and others? As part of this work, how do we learn to gather, weigh and evaluate, and incorporate evidence to logically support our arguments?

Overview

Bends in the Unit: • Bend I: Composing and Supporting Fast Draft Arguments • Bend II: Analyzing Evidence • Bend III: Acknowledging Counterargument and Nuance

Anchor Texts:

• “Listening to Wisdom From a 10-‐Year-‐Old Son About His Head Injury” (2009) from New York Times

• “Unique study explores cumulative effect of hits in high school football”(2011) from Sports Illustrated

• “Section V: Increasing Physical Activity” from White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report to the President (2010)

• “Are High School Sports Good For Kids? By Daniel Gould, Ph.D. http://www.educ.msu.edu/ysi/parents/FAQ/askexperts2.htm

• “What in the Name of High School Football?” By Hank Hill Literary Cavalcade, Nov/Dec2002, Vol. 55, Issue 3

• High School, College Football Comes With Risk By Jeffrey Perkel HealthDay Reporter – ABC News


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W 7.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence W 7. 8 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using

research terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation

W7.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research

RI 7.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

RI 7.9 Analyze how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentations of key information by emphasizing different evidence or advancing different interpretations of facts.

S&L7.4 Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-‐chosen details, use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.

We introduced this unit of study in the wake of the Common Core standards, and whatever happens nationally with those in the future, we’ll be glad that they pushed us to move kids into this ambitious work, teaching kids a toolkit of skills they can use from now through law school or when they are journalists or social activists -‐ or when they want to defend their ideas or needs as teens. In this unit of study, seventh graders will learn to compose and defend positions on an urgent teen social issue -‐ whether or not competitive sports, overall, are good for most kids. It’s a question that is much in the news, at the college, high school, and even little league level, as kids find themselves under tremendous pressure. This unit builds on the TCRWP’s research on argument in a think tank with colleagues at ETS, as well as Deanna Kuhn’s work on teaching argument at Columbia University. One big focus of this research was if we could raise the level of kids’ argument writing by working on their talk -‐ their logic, their ability to call on evidence, their ability to respond to counterarguments. After a year-‐long think tank that focused on weaving debate into classroom structures, we can tell you that working on kids’ ability to defend arguments through debate really helps them with their writing.

CCSS/LS Standards Addressed in this Unit

Welcome to the Unit


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We center the unit on the current debate around the issue of competitive sports. Should schools continue to put funding into these? Would intramurals be better? How are kids hurt and helped by these programs? What are the invisible side effects? These are some of the research questions you’ll pose, and students will pose, as they embark on this study. There is no easy answer for these questions, which is why the topic has authenticity as a complex, highly current, relevant to teens, truly debated topic. That’s the kind of topic that will give authenticity and stir up engagement for this unit. (Of course, you may choose a different argument. On our website you’ll find, under digital text sets, a variety of nonfiction digital text sets around debatable topics, representing varied perspectives on nuclear power, on whaling, on bottled water, on the Japanese internment camps and so on -‐ debatable topics that are grounded in social studies and science, in case you want to make this unit an interdisciplinary one.)

To prepare for this unit, you’ll want to figure out ahead of time the structure for your simulation, so that students have a clear sense of audience and purpose, and you can harness any colleagues, parents, and spaces that you may want to involve. We suggest panel presentations for committees of students, teachers, and parents. Having specific audiences really helps students hone their arguments. So you want to picture ahead of time how it will go, so you have clear dates and audiences lined up. Every student will be on a panel that presents, and they may also play roles in the audience. Students will need to know which group they are arguing to, so they can tailor their arguments accordingly. Meanwhile, if some of your students do additional research, smaller committees may meet to discuss related positions, such as the treatment of girls versus boys, the age at which children should be put in competitive sports, and so on. Along the way, students will prepare for their panels by debating their positions often, working to improve their arguments and their delivery. You’ll also want to assemble starter sets of texts that will anchor the unit. We use the same texts to anchor this unit of study and the parallel reading unit on critical nonfiction research. We’ve included a downloadable text set at the end of the unit -‐ it is the same text set that anchors our concurrent reading unit in critical nonfiction research. A note about why we’ve narrowed the topic to one central one that the class is debating -‐ essentially, after a lot of piloting, we found that there was so much teaching about reading critically, angling evidence, seeking nuance, and that there was enough scope for kids to differentiate their claims and arguments, to justify an immersion study. Basically, kids start out with shared text sets, but not every kid will read every text, and the kids will gradually develop

Getting Ready


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iterations of the central topic. It turned out that in order for teachers to actually teach the writing moves, it was important that they have read the texts that anchor the unit. You might decide differently, of course. We did try first all kids on their own topics, then research clubs on different topics, and then we settled on a class immersion with lots of scope for taking the topic in different directions -‐ and that’s when we saw the clearest relationship between instruction and transference -‐ what kids actually did. Also, we didn’t want the unit to turn into an internet research unit. It’s a writing unit, and kids don’t have to read dozens of texts to compose compelling arguments. You may find that you need to rewrite some texts at an easier level, or provide some alternatives, for some students. We’ve included videos and websites as well as print texts.

You have a couple of ways that you might assess in order to prepare to teach, and assess to monitor growth. We have a Performance Assessment for information reading and argument writing that is exactly matched to this unit on our website. You may decide to give that task which takes about one hour, before the unit and after, and invite students to compare their essays. The topic of the Performance Assessment is not the same as the topic of the unit, so you should see an increase that reflects their skill development. If you are doing a formal performance assessment, either before or after the unit of study you’ll find these Common Core aligned performance assessment tasks for information reading and argument writing, text sets, student exemplars, and rubrics, at http://www.readingandwritingproject.com under Performance Assessments. Another choice would be to look at the on demand argument piece that we recommended you have students write at the start of the year, and evaluate students’ overall grasp of structure and craft. A quick on-‐demand of an argument essay will give you some insight into these skills. A third choice that some teachers have made is to use the flash draft that students write the first week as their on demand. At the end of the unit, you and your students can compare this flashdraft to the one they write for their final piece, and should see remarkable growth. The argument checklist, available to TCRWP schools, will also let your student self-‐assess and set writing goals across the unit of study. We weave this checklist across the unit -‐ and we encourage you to adapt and create checklists with students to help them develop a crystal clear vision of the work they are aiming for.

Assessment


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Bend I, Session One: Writers investigate both sides of an issue To Bend I, Session One -‐ We suggest you launch your simulation on the first day. You might say something like: Writers, we’ve just received this note from the principal:

With that introduction, you can move right into teaching students that writers don’t just make up arguments -‐ they don’t just give their opinions. Rather, they do research, and one way writers begin to compose a research-‐based argument is to suspend judgment -‐ to consider the two basic sides of the issue, and collect some evidence for both sides. You might show students video clips or read aloud texts that show two different sides of a topic, taking notes as you go so they can summarize the arguments, and then practice debating them. We recommend showing one film clip or reading an excerpt of an article that is clearly pro sports first -‐ such as one that describes sports scholarships and one that describes sports injuries. Basically, you want to offer up evidence for both sides, to demonstrate that it’s

Bend I: Composing and Supporting Fast Drafts of Positions

Dear Seventh Graders,

Recently there has been a lot of press about the pros and cons of competitive sports in schools, and whether or not competitive sports are, overall, good for kids.

I’ve decided to put this matter to a parent and faculty committee, and I would like your input. Please let me know your thoughts by next week. I look forward to reading your letters.

Sincerely,

Principal Granger

“Today I want to teach you that writers don’t just make up arguments -‐ they don’t just give their opinions. Rather, they do research, and one way writers begin to compose a

research-‐based argument is to suspend judgment -‐ to

consider the two basic sides of the issue, and collect some evidence for both sides.”


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important to keep an open mind when beginning to frame an argument. Your demonstration in session one, therefore, might be: “Writers know that when we compose arguments we are composing claims supported by reasons and evidence. One way to begin this work is to suspend judgment, and research the sides of an issue and the evidence that supports both those sides. Today, we are going to encounter some texts about the topic we will study for the next couple of days, and we are going to figure out an issue hiding in this topic and the sides of that issue. As we do research, we want to gather notes in a manner that supports claims and evidence. Why don’t you take a moment to set up your notes in a system that will make sense to you. I know you’ll want to keep track of sides, and sort reasons, and reference your sources. What will you do to set up your notes?” You’ll probably want to model the kind of notes that move right to determining ideas and supporting evidence – so you might model jotting down boxes and bullets. For instance, if you are watching an interview about sports scholarships, you might jot: Competitive Sports are good because of scholarships to college

• a lot of kids can’t pay for college • their coaches will help them apply and get in • kids find out more about college through the teams

Then you’ll want to read or show an opposing view and have students practice. So with a second video or article, you and students might jot:

Competitive sports are bad because of pressure

• kids feel crazy pressure to play and perform -‐ it makes them anxious

• kids sometimes take drugs to deal with pain or increase performance

• other kids sometimes feel bullied by athletes, or feel pressured to play sports

A note about note-‐taking: Later, you’ll want to show students how to sort and categorize their evidence. It’s often helpful if that evidence is on post-‐its, or can be sorted. In any case, figure out if you want to teach one note-‐taking system, or if you’ll encourage students to try their own systems, which they’ll evaluate and improve upon across the unit. If kids are taking notes digitally, a lot of teachers and students favor Evernote or Emodo. Chris Lehman’s Energize Research Reading and Writing (2012) is a helpful resource for tackling more idea driven (versus plagiarism driven) note-‐taking.


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You might finish your first session by inviting student to try out debating the different sides of the argument. If they’ve suspended judgment, they should have some evidence for both sides, and be able to muster a preliminary argument. Possible conferences might include coaching them already on body language, tone of voice, and confident speaking moves. Bend I, Session Two: Researchers continue to gather evidence, paying attention to logic and emotions. Your students have barely begun to scratch the surface of this issue, but they’ll already want to take sides. Here, then, you might teach them that researchers begin to commit to a certain side not just on logic or on emotion, but often on both. Researchers pay attention to the logic of arguments, which means they are weighing evidence, and not just persuaded by rhetoric or preconceived ideas. Paying attention to how parts of an argument stir up our emotions also matters, as that emotional response may mark a response to injustice, or something that seems terribly unfair. Today, invite each student to read at least one more text, so that they’ve encountered three. If your minilesson focused their attention on continuing to research, and weighing their evidence for its logic and its emotional appeal, your mid-‐workshop instruction might invite students to try defining their position as they stand currently, by flashdrafting a quick essay. Bend One, Session Three: Using Checklists to Set Goals and Strive to Meet Them In this session, you might bring out the argument checklist (available to TCRWP schools, or you can make one based on the CCSS), and teach students that writers often have in mind some crystal clear goals not just for their writing, but for themselves as writers. That is, they decide how they want to outgrow themselves, and they set goals and strive to meet them. Putting the checklist alongside their fastdrafts of the day before, invite your writers to self-‐assess. Then you might show them that some of their goals are long term, and others are quick fixes -‐ they can immediately, right now, make their draft better. You might invite them to share their writing goals, divide into centers around those goals, and set out immediately, by the end of the period, to have strengthened one part of their draft. The point of this work is that not every writing goal needs lots of instruction and time to reach towards. Some writing goals simply need focus and attention.

“Today I want to teach you that researchers begin to commit to a certain side not just on logic or on emotion, but often on both. Researchers pay attention to the logic of

arguments, which means they are weighing evidence, and not just persuaded by rhetoric or

preconceived ideas.”

“Today I want to teach you that writers often have in mind

some crystal clear goals not just for their writing, but for

themselves as writers. That is, they decide how they want to outgrow themselves, and they set goals and strive to meet

them.”


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Possible small group work on this day might focus on certain elements of the checklist. For example, you could list the time at which you’ll offer a small group on riveting introductions, and students might sign up for that group. Or you might offer a group on spinning evidence so it really supports your claim. Or you might offer a group on what counterclaim really means, and how writers begin to acknowledge a counter claim. Bend One, Session Four: Revising With Great Speeches in Mind Because your writers are preparing not only to write position papers, but to deliver them, you might introduce speeches as mentor texts already, teaching students that often writers often try on some of the writerly moves that other speech writers have made, to begin to improve their own powers of persuasion. The might watch some of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speeches, and/or great moments from films. You might have some clips from the film The Great Debaters. You might have some speeches printed out for them, from JKF and Dr. King, from Patrick Henry and Sojourner Truth. By now, your students should know how to study a mentor text, annotate it, talk about it, try to name some of the writerly moves, and then try to duplicate some. In small groups or conferences, you might either demonstrate how you might mentor yourself to one of these authors, or you might do some guided writing with students, co-‐authoring some sections of their position papers together, in the spirit of the mentor text you choose. That kind of guided writing could be useful for more reluctant writers, and for strong writers, depending on the complexity of the mentor text. For your share, you might invite students to deliver their revised fast drafts as speeches, in small groups, and give props to each other for particularly effective parts.

In this bend, you’ll help your students improve their skills at choosing, sorting, integrating, and analyzing text evidence in support of their position. They’ll have done some of this work before, and it continues to be important, as the texts they read become more nuanced, as they strive to match their evidence to the parts of their arguments, as their arguments become more complex. We suggest that you launch this bend with another letter:

Bend II: Honing Evidence

“Today I want to teach you that often writers try some of the writerly moves that other

speech writers have made, to begin to improve their own powers of persuasion.”


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You’ll want to follow up this letter with a dramatic flourish, stirring kids up to do renewed research, and to prepare even stronger, more nuanced arguments, that they can hone for particular audiences. Bend II, Session One: Writers Sort Evidence and Organize it to Match Their Main Points Once you have students riled up to dive in with energy, you’ll probably want to have them figure out where they need more evidence -‐ which points are strong and which need more research? There are two main ways that argument writers often organize their central points. One way is to come up with main talking points, and then assemble evidence into those points. Another way is to gather evidence, and then sort that evidence into categories, or talking points. We suggest that you model both methods. You might teach your students, then, that “writers often try developing their main points and matching evidence by jotting their main points and then moving the related evidence under those points, or by a different method, which is to sort their main evidence, and see if it falls into some central ideas, or points.”

Dear Seventh Graders, Thank you for your letters, which I read with great interest. Clearly this topic is more complicated, and more important, than I had realized. Clearly it merits more research. We may be deciding funding issues, such as should we continue to fund competitive sports, or should we host intramurals only. I’ve decided that committees of parents, teachers, and students should have the opportunity to hear your arguments. Therefore, on December 20th, you’ll be hosting panel discussions for these committees. The question before you: Are competitive sports, overall, good for most children? We all look forward greatly to your panel presentations. Sincerely, Principal Granger

“Today I want to teach you that writers often try developing their main points and matching evidence by jotting their main points and then moving the related evidence under those points, or by a different

method, which is to sort their main evidence, and see if it falls into some

central ideas, or points.”


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In terms of organization, many students find it helpful to transfer summaries of their main evidence onto some post -‐it’s so they can sort it more easily (some will already have post-‐its as notes). Otherwise they can print pages of their notes, or photocopy them, and cut them up. Sorting is one of the more analytical thinking moves, as there are a variety of ways to sort evidence, from most to least relevant, into categories, into reliability, into how well-‐crafted it is, and so on. You might pull a small group of advanced writers to show them that they can already be evaluating their evidence for its craft/persuasiveness as well as its content. You may also need to pull some small groups of students to help them sort out reasons/ways as parts of their argument, and how their evidence matches each part. The argument for competitive sports being good for kids might include evidence that kids like to play -‐ that could match a reason that it builds morale, or a reason that it channels kids energy. Don’t overstress about students’ structure or how they name each part, as they are sure to revise it once they do more research, or begin to acknowledge the counterargument. Every student should be able to draft a plan of his or her main points, attach the most salient evidence underneath each point, compare their work with a partner, and finish by talking out at least one main point in detail, as rehearsal for a speech. Bend II, Session Two: Appropriating Arguments from Other Authors Whenever we join a debate, discussion, or argument, usually others before us have taken part in this argument. That means we often can join a side that already exists, and study up on what that side tends to say when defending their position. Today, therefore, you might teach your students that, “Writers often share the stance of some of their sources, and they appropriate some of their evidence and language.” To do this work, writers often revisit the texts of sources they admire, finding particular, specific parts they want to quote. As a possible mid-‐workshop, you might revisit how writers embed their evidence by phrases such as ‘according to noted sports psychologist...’ or ‘in the video put out by Fox News about sports injuries...’ They’ll already know how to use phrases that refer to the text, but you might add on phrases that refer to particular authors Bend II, Session Three: Noting When Sources Use Powerful Language, and Quoting It

“Today I want to teach you that writers often share the stance of some of their sources, and they

appropriate some of their evidence and language. To do this work, writers often revisit the texts of sources they admire, finding

particular, specific parts they want to quote.”


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When experienced writers quote sources, they know to not only quote juicy facts, they also lean on the carefully worded quotation -‐ the language that says it better than we ever could. Today, you might teach your students that writers are alert for those phrases or parts that are so powerfully worded that you want to include the exact language in your own argument. You might find that some students need support in the actual act of transcribing quotes -‐ which is where it’s helpful if you know some of the texts well. Last year, we were surprised how many eighth graders quoted inaccurately, or struggled with systems for annotations. You might pull a small group and say, “Today I want to teach you that another way to make our argument stronger is, as we research, we collect compelling quotes. Sometimes we find the exact words an author said moving, or compelling, or upsetting and we know we’ll want to include them in our writing just as they are. When we come across a sentence or two that strikes us that way, we copy the words and the source down in our notebooks, making sure to put quotation marks around it and jot down who said it and where it came from. Then we jot about why this quote matters and how it connects to the debates in this issue, which side it supports and how. We might write, “This quote matters because…” “It shows that…” If we’re taking notes digitally, then we need to develop a system for annotating. Other students might need support in embedding quotes in their own arguments. Some tend to quote long passages, and might need reminders of how to excert the juiciest bit, and of the sentence starters that come after a quote, such as ‘this makes it clear that...’ ‘so and so demonstrates that...’. Bend II, Session Four: Writers Don’t Just Plop in Evidence, They Work at Analyzing Evidence and Spinning It One of the trickier aspects of composing compelling arguments is weaving in and analyzing text evidence so that it props up the author’s position, and doesn’t just become a long list of details. Frankly, we haven’t solved the question of teaching eighth graders to do this work incredibly gracefully. Sentence starters for leading into and out of text evidence definitely help a lot of writers, and you might teach students that, “writers recall phrases that are part of the genre of analytic writing that many writers employ when analyzing evidence.” A helpful chart might look like: Leading into text evidence Leading out of it

According to... So and so shows...

In the article/documentary/interview... This source makes it clear...

“Today I want to teach you that writers are alert for those phrases or parts that are so powerfully worded that you want to include the exact language in your own argument.”


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One of the most significant pieces of evidence that supports...

This evidence demonstrates that...

For example, also, in addition All of this evidence adds up to show that... You might begin a chart like this, and add to it as helpful phrases come to you and your writers. A possible mid-‐workshop might turn to another technique that helps lead young writers to more analytical stances. That is to consider the verbs writers use to describe their sources. Consider this list: Suggests Supports the idea that Illustrates Demonstrates Serves as an example of Reveals Makes clear Makes evident Argues Proves Teaching students that writers consider whether a particular piece of evidence is an example that suggests a point, or proves a point, can really help them analyze more closely how specific, relevant, and valid their evidence is for each point. Bend II, Session Five: Inquiry with Mentor Speakers, Trying Out Our Speeches and Getting Feedback In this session, you might begin by doing an inquiry with some mentor speakers, where students watch some speeches and jot notes on effective writerly moves and effective speaking moves. (YouTube has great videos of JFK, Dr. King, clips from The Great Debaters, Toni Morrison doing Sojourner Truth...) The question they want to ask themselves is: When is this speech especially compelling, and what makes the speech so compelling at that point? Coach them to pick up details such as writing craft and also speaking craft -‐ eye contact, hand and body language, tone of voice, and so on.

“Today I want to teach you that writers consider whether a

particular piece of evidence is an example that suggests a point, or proves a point, can really help them analyze more closely how specific, relevant, and valid their evidence is

for each point.”


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Then you might teach your students that writers find it’s often helpful to try out their speeches along the way, and get feedback from a knowledgeable audience. With the ‘qualities of effective speeches,’ notes in hand, have them partner up or work in small groups, and give each other feedback on what they are doing well -‐ when they are doing some of the things that they noted in their mentor texts. It’s usually more helpful for kids to hear from each other what they’re doing well. On their own, they might choose something from this list that they want to improve at. If there’s time, student might also assess their speeches using the argument checklist, to see how they’re doing with the work they set out to do. A lot of them may note that they haven’t done much counter-‐argument work yet -‐ that can be a segue into your next bend of the unit. Bend II, Session Six: Writers flashdraft to get a sense of how their position paper is coming along, and to make their claims more nuanced if needed Your students will have drafts now that have begun to change a lot from their first one, and they’ll have all sorts of notes and jottings and ideas for making their position paper, and even their position, different. We suggest that you have them put aside their first draft, pull all their stuff alongside them, and write a fresh flashdraft. You’ll teach them, then, that writers flashdraft to get a sense of how their position paper is coming along, to make their claims more nuanced if needed, and to bring a more fluent voice to all the revisions and elaborations they’ve incorporated. By now, you’ll notice that a lot of your writers have varied their claim, or become interested in related side issues -‐ which means they may turn to more texts in the text set you provided, or they may want to seek some fresh texts. Keep an eye on how they are framing their research, to help them make claims they can find out enough about. Bend II, Session Seven: Writers sometimes pause to remind themselves of why their argument matters. On this day, we suggest that you might do something different, which is to teach your writers that when you’ve been gathering a lot of information, and drafting your ideas, you can get caught up in all the details, and sometimes lose sight of the bigger implications of the issue you are researching -‐ the human impact. Teach your writers, therefore, that writers sometimes

“Today I want to teach you that writers find it’s often helpful to try out their speeches along the way, and get feedback from a knowledgeable

audience.”

“Today I want to teach you that writers may flashdraft to get a sense of how their position paper is coming along, to make their claims more nuanced if needed, and to bring a

more fluent voice to all the revisions and elaborations they’ve

incorporated.”

“Today I want to teach you that writers sometimes pause to remind themselves of why their argument matters. Often, then, they’ll turn to the stories of success, or tales of

activism, that stir up their imagination and energy, to refuel

themselves.”


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pause to remind themselves of why their argument matters. Often, then, they’ll turn to the stories of success, or tales of activism, that stir up their imagination and energy, to refuel themselves. You might watch some of the video interviews with child athletes, or reread Athletocracy, which gives a great sense of hope around this topic. Or your kids might make some suggestions about what to watch or read that will help them feel it is all worthwhile.

Bend III, Session One: Essayists tailor their arguments for their specific audiences. On this day, you’ll want to let your students know, or help them choose, the specific audience they will present to. Will they speak to a small group of parents? Of kids? Of teachers? You might teach students that writers focus on their audience as they bring their speech to publication, thinking of the particular language and examples they want to emphasize, and tailoring it to their audience. You might say, “You may want to extend your counter argument for instance, so your audience will feel heard. Or you may want to consider your vocabulary, and what expert terms you want to define. Or you might hone specific examples. Or perhaps you need to give more background information and context. These are the kinds of decisions we make as we consider our audience.” You may want to give kids time to rethink their overall argument, and which reasons and examples will be most compelling, for which audiences. They might move around the room, pretending they are presenting to parents, then do it again and pretend they are presenting to kids. Coach them to tailor their examples and tone. Bend III, Session Two: Writers Use Debate to Imagine and Begin to Refute the Counter-‐argument We’ve found that it’s really helpful to teach students that one way writers can hone their arguments is to turn to formal debate structures, which can really help writers begin to imagine the counter-‐arguments for their positions. To help students do this work, have them divide up by sides, or positions. (If you have a student who is already diverging into a more nuanced

Bend III: Becoming More Nuanced – Allowing for Complexity in Counterargument, Tailoring for Audiences

“Today I want to teach you that writers focus on their audience as

they bring their speech to publication, thinking of the

particular language and examples they want to emphasize, and tailoring it to their audience.”

“Today I want to teach you that one way writers can hone their arguments is to turn to formal debate structures, which can really help writers begin to

imagine the counter-‐arguments for their positions.”


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topic, pair that student up with someone who feels he or she could counter their position somewhat. If you have uneven numbers, ask if a couple could try arguing the other side). This time, give students a few minutes to caucus with like-‐minded writers, to rehearse their positions quickly -‐ essentially, have them make sure every individual is ready to argue. Then, set up each student with an opponent from the other side. Give each a minute or two to make their main points, supporting them with evidence. When they’re done, have opponents say back what they thought their opponent’s strongest point was -‐ what really gave them pause? Then, send writers back to their own teams to caucus on possible rebuttals to these points. At the end of the period, writers should try writing a counterargument paragraph, while their thinking is fresh. So they will write down a starter such as ‘some might say...’ and then refute it with ‘nevertheless...’ You might decide that a mid-‐workshop would be helpful, that supports the language of counterargument. If so, you might say, “Writers/debaters often call on sentence starters to help us imagine the other side, especially when we feel pretty clear about our own side of an argument but less so about the opposite side. We can push our thinking by trying out some of these prompts:”

• “They might want…because…” • “They might think…because…” • “They might want others to feel…because…” • “They might worry…because…” • “They might be angered by…because…” • “They might benefit by…because…” • “They might lose out if…because…” • “On the other hand, there is research to show…such as…”

Bend Three, Session Two: Writers Revise Their Positions to Be More Nuanced By now, a lot of your writers have probably begun to revise their original positions. So they may be describing conditions under which their positions hold true (Competitive sports can be good for college athletes, but they can be too harmful for high school), or they may be acknowledging the complexity of the topic (While overall, a sports culture can be oppressive, research shows that kids who do sports tend to do better in school), or they may be veering toward an iteration of the topic they find fascinating (When we talk about competitive sports, we almost never talk about the kids who don’t do these sports, and what it does to them to go to school in a culture that only values sports.)


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This is a good time to teach your writers that debate not only lets writers hone their arguments, it also helps them revise their positions to be more nuanced, especially when they really spend some time considering which evidence is the most relevant, most compelling, most suggestive. You might say: “Debate lets us try out our claims, adjust them, and refine our reasoning and evidence. Collaborators in argument writing often practice debating sides of an issue, so that they can better defend a convincing claim. To get ready for debate, writers organize and categorize our notes. You might want to create categories like “reasons why this stance is right” or categories like “compelling information” and “information that we may want to refute.” We organize our notes into one type of categories then reorganize them in multiple ways to really know the information we have gathered and be ready to use it to argue for our assigned stance. After we argue, we make sure we capture our ideas in writing.” Circulate as students prepare for debate and as they argue. For a possible mid-‐workshop you might say: “To be skilled at arguing, you need to be able to imagine the other side – which means sometimes we actually switch sides in practice, and we marshal all the evidence we have to convince someone else of the opposite claim. Remember, a debate is an intellectual argument. We leave our own opinions and passions out and consider only the research we can use to show that our argument is valid. Switching back and forth lets us see which side of an argument we have more convincing and compelling evidence for.” At the end of the period, you may want to gather students again and suggest that, “After debating, writers often write fast and furious to capture some of the most compelling moments of their argument, so they can use that language and stance in their essay. We try to review in our heads all that was said, and get those words down on paper.” Bend III, Session Three: Siding with Sources Sometimes students get fraught over the originality of their claim -‐ when in fact, lots of activists side with others -‐ they set out to support a claim that others have made before, or they join a side of sources they admire. Today, therefore, you might teach your students that as researchers compose and rehearse a claim, they may find themselves siding clearly with other authors, and sharing a claim they uncovered in their research. Other times they find themselves making a claim that is slightly different than the ones they have seen in their research. Either way they seek the clearest

“Today I want to teach you that debate not only lets

writers hone their arguments, it also helps them revise their positions to be more nuanced, especially when they really spend some time considering which evidence is the most relevant, most compelling,

most suggestive.”

“Today I want to teach you that as researchers compose and rehearse a claim, they may find themselves siding clearly

with other authors, and sharing a claim they

uncovered in their research. Other times they find

themselves making a claim that is slightly different than the ones they have seen in their research. Either way they seek the clearest

language for their claim by writing it different ways.”


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language for their claim by writing it different ways. For your demonstration teaching, you might say: “Writers, as we develop our own claim, we sometimes find ourselves clearly siding with some of the authors or activists we have researched. When we do this, we’ll use many of the same reasons and evidence that they do – but we still look to sort and extend our evidence by thinking about which evidence is the most compelling, and how we may want to combine or spin evidence. As a small group, you might pull students whose claims are close to, but not just the same as their source. You might say, “Writers, other times we find that our own claim is slightly different than those of the authors and activists we research, and we’ll use only some of the same evidence, seeking evidence as well in other places, or spinning evidence differently. For instance, my claim is beginning to be that competitive sports can be a positive and negative force, and I want to use evidence from sources who have argued both sides of that issue -‐ but I want to come down on the side that overall it’s positive. So I’ve been writing my claim several times, and trying out different language, to make sure I get to the clearest claim possible. You might want to try that too.” For a mid-‐workshop, you may want to remind students how to tuck in references in their notes and drafts to the specific authors they are referring to. You might say: “Researchers not only record evidence, we pay attention to the source, or author of that evidence. That means that we jot down not only ‘young athletes sometimes take drugs.’ We instead jot: ‘In The Inside Story of Teen Drug Addiction, a reporter from Sports Illustrated describes how young athletes sometimes take drugs’ See how we not only paraphrase the information, but also pay attention to the source?” For a share, gather kids together and have them revisit their claims. You might begin by saying, “Writers often write out our claim as a statement, practicing making their language as clear as possible and watching that we are not wishy-‐washy. For instance, rather than saying that sports can be good or bad, my claim will state: ‘Even competitive sports can be good for some, overall, they’re not a force for good for most kids’”. Then give students a chance to try out their claims a couple of different ways with a partner. Bend III, Session Four: Continuing to Weigh Evidence The most challenging part of this work, we’ve found, turns out not to be collecting evidence, it turns out to be weighing and evaluating it. For this next lesson, we suggest two teaching points -‐ depending on the skills of your writers, and the depths of their research, you might make one a teaching point and the other a small group, or you could reverse them. Your

“Today I want to teach you that researchers review and

weigh their evidence, evaluating whether they have gathered compelling and convincing evidence from

reliable sources. They may do this by looking at the amount of evidence, or they may consider how reliable their

source is.”


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overarching teaching aims to convince them that researchers review and weigh their evidence, evaluating whether they have gathered compelling and convincing evidence from reliable sources. They may do this by looking at the amount of evidence, or they may consider how reliable their source is. If your main teaching point tackles the question of the amount of evidence, you might then say: “Writers, we know that as we develop our argument, we need to gather and marshal all the evidence that will help us support what we are saying. One way to make sure we can support our stance is by asking ourselves: do I have at least 2-‐3 reasons and supporting bits of evidence to support my argument? If not, we need to go back and adjust our stance, or we need to turn to our research partners and texts to gather more evidence. We write to capture, extend, and adjust our thinking.” If your main teaching point tackles the question of analyzing sources for their reliability, you might say: “Researchers often return to our evidence and sort through not only how compelling it is, but also how reliable our sources are. For instance, this digital text was produced by a sports psychologist who interviewed thousands of athletes. That feels pretty reliable. In the same way, this other source was himself a child athlete– so his evidence is first-‐hand. On the other hand, he might be biased, as he remembers events from the perspective of one of these athletes, and not of kids who didn’t do sports. Nuanced researchers and writers will refer to these details in our essays, not only quoting but evaluating our sources.” As your students reconsider their evidence, remember that sorting and ordering is one of the most analytical thinking acts. For a possible mid-‐workshop instruction, then, you might say: “Today I want to remind you that the order we present our evidence in for our argument matters. There are certain predictable ways to logically order our evidence so that we can write the most convincing essay possible. One way is by ordering from least to most compelling. Another is from most common to most surprising. Another is from the least to the most reliable. We can play around with our order of reasons and evidence, trying out in our notebook and with our partner, to see what is most compelling.” Sometimes kids begin to get more evidence for their counter-‐argument than their argument -‐ they get confused as they resort their evidence. For a share, therefore, you might gather them and say, “I want to remind you that one way to strengthen our own argument is by refuting the counter argument, the argument against us. We can think of the evidence against us and how we might show that evidence is not telling the full story or is overlooking something else or is not as strong.” Bend III, Session Five: Building a Cohesive Draft


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Now’s the time for kids to pull their final draft together. Chances are they don’t have to rewrite a lot of their material, so much as make sure they’ve got all the parts in the right places, with strong transitions. We suggest you teach that as writers finalize their drafts they strive for cohesion. One way to do this is to rehearse our essay by ‘writing in the air’ or ‘speaking an essay’ with a partner -‐ emphasizing how each part connects, trying out transitions, listening for how it all fits. For your demonstration you might say, “Today I want to teach you that one of the most important things we can do as argument essay writers is create a cohesive draft, one that is clear and flows smoothly. We want our reader to understand exactly what we are saying. One way to build a cohesive draft is to rehearse before we write by writing our essay in the air with a partner. We say our claim, and then we often try to say our major reasons, which will be our categories of information. Then as I keep rehearsing, I might give some evidence that supports each reason. Have your writers say out their essays, then compare what they’ve said to what they have written, listening and looking hard for where their spoken words had more cohesion than what they’ve written. Some kids will really benefit from using their smartphones or iPads (or yours) to video and playback what they said, so they can transcribe parts. For a mid-‐workshop, you might turn writers’ attention to their drafts of their introductions, saying: “Writers, argument writers make certain moves to raise our introductions to new levels. One move we make is to give a little background about the issue at hand to orient the reader and we also might address our reader directly. As we do this, we are careful to try to keep our claim strong and clear, and then explain a bit that a reader might want to know. Bend III, Session Five-‐Seven: Your students will need time to prepare their position papers, to rehearse them, to get ready for their panels. Some possible instruction might include:

• “When writers compose arguments, they know that it’s often worth it to include a variety of kinds of evidence in their writing, and evidence from more than one source. This variety shows the depths of

“Today I want to teach you that as writers finalize their drafts they strive for cohesion. One way to do this is to rehearse our essay by ‘writing in the air’ or ‘speaking an essay’ with a

partner -‐ emphasizing how each part connects, trying out transitions, listening for how it all fits.”

“Today I want to teach you that when writers compose arguments, they

know that it’s often worth it to include a variety of kinds of evidence in their writing, and evidence from more than one source. This variety shows the depths of our research and makes our argument more persuasive. One way you can do this is by going back to incorporate facts, statistics, quotes from experts, anecdotes, examples.”


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our research and makes our argument more persuasive. One way you can do this is by going back to incorporate facts, statistics, quotes from experts, anecdotes, examples.

• Today I want to teach you that when we incorporate quotes, there are moves that

argument writers make to help readers understand these quotes and make them harder to argue against. One move we make is to discuss where the quote came from and what type of credibility it has. Another move we make is to acknowledge the stance of the author who wrote this piece of research. Or we might use language that shows that we don’t even sympathize with this view, but feel compelled to include it. We might use phrases like “in an article sympathetic to…”, or “Sadly, the research does suggest that…” or “in Sports Illustrated award-‐winning expose, they describe…”

• “Writers, another way to bring out the relationship

between your evidence and argument is to explain your evidence to your reader. You might do this by restating the evidence in your own words or comparing the evidence to something else the reader might understand more. Writers can start, “That’s like…” or “Imagine, for example…” And then they may make a comparison to an experience the audience would understand, or they suggest a kind of invented anecdote, like ‘Picture, for example...”

Celebration -‐ The Panel Presentations As your kids get ready for their presentations, you’ll want to focus on their powers of speech as well as writing. This would be a good time to watch some film clips of famous speeches, looking for how these speakers use their voice and body language, how they stir up emotion as well as convince with evidence. Give kids time to practice, and have them give feedback on how they look at their audience, speak with emotion and clarity Have kids dress up, perhaps do it someplace special, invite parents, and film so that you can capture great exemplars for next year.

“Today I want to teach you that another way to bring out the relationship

between your evidence and argument is to explain your evidence to your reader.

You might do this by restating the evidence in your own words or

comparing the evidence to something else the reader might understand more. Writers can start, “That’s like…” or

“Imagine, for example…” And then they may make a comparison to an experience the audience would

understand, or they suggest a kind of invented anecdote, like ‘Picture, for

example...’.”


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Appendix A

Possible Text Set for Studying Sports Benefits and Dangers An article about a boy’s recovery from a snowboarding accident http://www.timeforkids.com/news/new-‐beginnings/9676 Upfront article: Have Youth Sports Become Too Intense? http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/upfront/debate/index.asp?article=d022111 A book about extreme sports Extreme Sports by Louise A. Gikow A video about the importance of sports safety http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3bIY_Hohc0&feature=relmfu Sports Illustrated report on high school concussion study http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/david_epstein/04/13/high.school.concussion/index.html PBS Frontline documentary and corresponding website: “Football High School” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/football-‐high/ Malcolm Gladwell article in the New York on NFL and brain injury: “Offensive Play” http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell Articles and reports from First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Campaign http://www.letsmove.gov/ White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report to the President (2010) http://www.letsmove.gov/sites/letsmove.gov/files/TaskForce_on_Childhood_Obesity_May2010_FullReport.pdf An article about athletes’ salaries (attached) “Do Athletes Deserve Millions?” adapted from an article by Sarah Rodriguez An article about whether or not athletes are good role models http://www.livestrong.com/article/402590-‐are-‐athletes-‐good-‐role-‐models-‐for-‐kids/

Appendix


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An article about chemistry and how it has impacted sports: “Racing Ahead With Chemistry” http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_SUPERARTICLE&node_id=1758&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=b9bbb526-‐349d-‐4cb4-‐8ec1-‐9f6ee721ff31 An article about taking the pressure off of sports competition http://kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/fit/pressure.html Impact of football injuries http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/sports/football/29cohen.html?pagewanted=print


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Appendix B What in the Name of High School Football? By Hank Hill Literary Cavalcade, Nov/Dec2002, Vol. 55, Issue 3

My high school is an athletocracy. Sports are well-‐celebrated. The arts and academics are simply tolerated. Football players are princes; artists are stepchildren. The hockey team walks on water. Musicians just walk. My yardstick is a glance at the amount of community recognition and resources dedicated to each.

Don’t get me wrong. Our high school has one of the strongest academic and arts programs. Our artists and musicians consistently win awards when matched against their greater statewide peers. Our scholars are many and perform admirably on a wide array of Advanced Placement courses and national tests. But you would hardly know it.

With Martha’s Vineyard Regional High (MVRHS) sports, win or lose, you cannot escape the news. The deaf can almost hear the cheers. The blind would tire at the week-‐afterweek, above-‐the-‐fold, page-‐one photos of ball-‐ catching/throwing/whacking. The local cable television channel repeats both the JV and Varsity football games a half dozen time a week. Ditto for field hockey and soccer. The advertising banners on that same channel flash accolades for sports teams from local businesses 24 hours a day.

Each Friday before football games, the school is decorated with banners and streamers and mug shots of football players. And on autumn Mondays, the heroes (as defined by catching a TD pass or two) are again up on the walls as icons. Winter and spring have a new cast of poster boys.

Yet only a few weeks ago, 16 MVRHS vocalists and instrumentalists auditioned for the competitive All Cape & Islands music festival. And the judges selected a remarkable 16 of 16. Unheard of success. And yet not a mention in the local papers. Not a word on the radio. Not a sentence in the principal’s address. Not a squeak on the morning announcements. Not a face on the wall.

The gift of music came wrapped in silence. The only recognition was a list of names taped to the music-‐room door and a story I

jammed in as editor of the school newspaper. Imagine the hoopla if the entire starting offense plus defensive backfield of the football team (that’s 16 give or take the particular defense) were selected as All-‐Cape League All-‐Stars. A parade down Main Street with fire engine sirens blaring would only begin the excess.

Again do not misunderstand me. I am not against athletics. The single greatest factor in preventing the nation’s number one killer – heart disease – is regular and vigorous exercise, and that gets my vote. In junior high school I played baseball and lacrosse and loved it. Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox’s baseball stadium, is among my favorite places on earth.


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I am against the unfair and lopsided allocation of community resources to varsity sports that benefit one select group of students over another. I believe colleges are even-‐handed when slicing the pie. Not MVRHS. Our school will shell out $26,000 this winter alone to pay for ice time for the hockey teams.

That’s before even a dollar is spent on coaches, insurance, transportation, and equipment. At the end of the season, that $26,000 will literally be water vapor. The drama department limps along without even a decent set of body microphones for productions which include 50 students at a time. Two Advanced Placement English seminars were compressed into one unwieldy class this year as a cost-‐cutting measure. And the hockey players skate on $26,000 that by March will evaporate into thin air.

The athletic program at MVRHS has become almost a religion. The administration openly concedes that our mostly sleep-‐deprived student body – many of whom catch a 6:20 a.m. school bus – is the result of a forced homage to sports. The school day must start that early so athletes who travel off the Vineyard for away games limit their missed classes. The result of this catering to sports is bleary-‐eyed students and an overall depression of academic performance for everyone. This is an accepted cost of athletics. Absurd.

Without even addressing the actual “value” of competitive athletics or the arts, consider just the numbers: Band, orchestra and jazz have a total of about 120 kids times three full seasons of participation in my school. Freshman chorus, mixed-‐chorus, and Minnesingers (vocal performing group) have at least an equal number times three seasons. Yet the music students have to fight for a group lesson while the sports training programs rival that of an NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Division I team.

Meanwhile, an educational crisis is looming. As more and more master teachers retire, MVRHS cannot find veteran replacements – the cost of buying a home here is unaffordable for most teachers. Last year, an advertised math position drew only a single applicant. Yet instead of taking the lead from our sister island, Nantucket, which has followed the example of the best private schools by building teacher housing on school property, MVRHS is poised to bulldoze the last, prized acres of undeveloped school land and expand the athletic fields even further at huge expense. Good teachers benefit all students. Varsity sports only benefit some.

I am not suggesting eliminating or even cutting down any MVRHS sports programs. Not at all. I am simply stating that to expand an already large athletic department is, by definition, at the expense of the arts and academics. It’s time the Martha’s Vineyard athletocracy take the perennial advice of all wrestling coaches: Time to go on a little diet.


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Appendix C High School, College Football Comes With Risk By Jeffrey Perkel HealthDay Reporter – ABC News THURSDAY, July 26 (HealthDay News) – With the school football season just around the corner, a new study is raising awareness of the risks associated with playing the game. Researchers found that college football players get injured more often than their high school counterparts, but high school athletes are more likely to end up severely injured. The new findings also point to "where the focus should be in terms of prevention," said Dr. Cynthia LaBella, medical director of the Institute for Sports Medicine at Children's Memorial Hospital, in Chicago. She was not involved in the study, which is published in the August issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine. A second report on youth sports injuries was also released Thursday, this time by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That study, published in this week's issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, found that boys aged 10 to 14 were most likely to end up in the nation's emergency departments with a traumatic brain injury, and that activities such as bicycling, horseback riding, football, basketball and use of all-‐terrain vehicles (ATVs) were most often to blame. The football study was led by R. Dawn Comstock, a primary investigator at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Her team collected injury reports for the 2005-‐2006 football season from 100 high schools and 55 colleges across the country via two Internetbased systems -‐-‐ the High School Reporting Information Online (RIO) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Injury Surveillance System, respectively. Based on almost 1,900 injury reports submitted to the RIO, the researcher’s estimate there were 517,726 football-‐related injuries during the 2005-‐2006 season at the high school level across the United States. The NCAA system logged more than 3,500 injuries in its database during the same period. Not unexpectedly, college players were about twice as likely to injure themselves as high school students, Comstock said, suffering 8.6 injuries per 1,000 "athlete-‐exposures" (a practice or competition), compared with high school athletes' 4.36 injuries/1,000.


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But the researcher said she was surprised to find that the distribution of injuries differed, with fractures, concussions, and season-‐ending injuries more common among high school athletes. For instance, injuries to the lower leg, ankle and foot were common at both the high school and college levels. But while the knee is the second most-‐injured site among high school players, hip and thigh injuries were more common in college athletes. The study comes on the heels of findings released in July that found a much higher rate of catastrophic head injury among high school football players compared to college players. LaBella noted that, if anything, this study is underestimating injuries at the high school level, because only schools with an athletic trainer on staff were included. It's possible that such schools have better resources and equipment than less well-‐funded schools, she said. According to Comstock, the impetus behind this study was the lack of any injury reporting system at the high school level to match the NCAA's, which has been in place for more than 20 years." We set out to replicate the NCAA system at the high school level," Comstock explained. "That's important, because right now, rules, protective equipment, and education at the high school level are largely based on information collected on college athletes, and high school athletes are not merely miniature versions of their collegiate counterparts." High school athletes are less physically mature and have less muscle mass than collegiate athletes, for instance. They also have incomplete growth plates, meaning their bones are still developing. Inexperienced athletic techniques can also exacerbate their risk of injury, Comstock said. But better coaching might help. For instance, Comstock noted that most injuries occurred during tackles, and that the most injured positions were running backs and linebackers. "So, at the high school level, especially with younger players, coaches can make sure the athletes are very well-‐coached in the technique of tackling and are physically able to perform a tackle before they are allowed to play." The CDC study showed that football is just one of many recreational activities in which young people can suffer serious harm. Poring over data from 2001-‐2005 from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-‐-‐All Injury Program, the researchers looked at the causes of almost 208,000 nonfatal sports and recreation-‐linked brain injuries. Kids aged 10 to 14 were at highest risk for these injuries, and males accounted for more than 70 percent of head trauma cases, the CDC report found. Activities linked to high rates of emergency department admissions for brain trauma included ATV use, use of mopeds/dirtbikes/minibikes, bicycling, golf and scooter use.


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So, sports and recreation can cause injury, the experts say, especially when safety equipment is lacking or safety rules are ignored. And yet Comstock also emphasized that parents should not use her team's study as an excuse to take their children out of football. "We have an epidemic of obesity in this country, and sports are one of the best ways for kids to incorporate exercise in their lives," she said. "Parents can help keep kids safe by making sure they wear all the appropriate protective equipment, and that their protective equipment fits properly and is in good repair. “LaBella added that parents can also help their children by ensuring that they maintain good physical conditioning year-‐round, are properly coached in techniques such as tackling and falling, and – perhaps most important – that they tell someone, whether a parent, coach, or athletic trainer, if they are injured, especially in the head. In the case of a concussion, the consequences of returning to the field before the injury has healed can range from post-‐concussive disorder (which includes chronic headaches, memory problems, sleep disturbances and depression) to, rarely, death, in the event of a secondary injury. "Encourage your child to let you know if they have pain or if they notice something different after a hit or a game," LaBella said. "It is not your job to know if something is important – let the medical professionals make that decision."

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