The  Art  of  Teaching  Argument  arto1eachingargument.wikispaces.com/  

Delia  DeCourcy      Susan  Wilson-­‐Golab  Oakland  Schools  

ELA  -­‐  Social  Studies  -­‐  Science  

Today’s Workshop Goals

•  To review the foundational moves of argument.

•  To experience how to build a culture of argument in your classroom.

•  To explore a possible argument task progression for your students.

•  To experiment with effective argument task design.

Argument vs. Persuasion

Argument Argument is about making a case in support of a claim in everyday affairs – in science, policy making, in courtrooms, and so forth.

- George Hillocks, Jr., Teaching Argument Writing

logical appeals

Persuasion In a persuasive essay, you can select the most favorable evidence, appeal to emotions, and use style to persuade your readers. Your single purpose is to be convincing.

-- Kinneavy and Warriner 1993

advertising, propaganda

Argument in the CCSS

Reading Anchor Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

Writing Anchor Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.1 Write arguments to support claims in an

analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

History, Science & Technical Subjects: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.

Your Goals for Your Teaching Practice?

Identify an open-ended question or two about teaching argument writing that you would like to

explore during this 2-day workshop.

pair & share

post to the wall

Arguments Surround Us

Arguments Surround Us

arto1eachingargument.wikispaces.com/  

Unpack the Argument

INFORMAL WRITE 1. Select one visual argument from the page. 2.  Identify a possible argument that is implied

by this image/text. (claim) 3. Name evidence to support your claim.

(details from the image, anecdotal, etc.) 4. Explain your reasoning.

Share & Analyze

1. Share your flash draft with a partner. 2. Partner say back. What was the

•  claim •  evidence •  reasoning (connection between claim &

evidence)

Share & Analyze

HAVE A CONVERSATION: FEEDBACK •  What was the strongest part of the argument

and why? •  What could the writer add or subtract to

improve the argument?

Arguments in the Real World

Students’ Concept of Argument/Writing

What high schoolers sometimes come to us with (and what can get in the way of their college writing/thinking):

* a tendency to see writing and research as report rather than discovery; not seeing or believing that you can write to find and hone your ideas, and that some of this comes from the richly complex relationships that evolve between ideas that may take sentences and paragraphs (i.e., not just a "However") to explain and unpack; in conjunction with this, not always knowing or believing how thoughtful responses from readers (including themselves) can really help along a writer's process of discovery.

- MSU Writing Instructors

Foundational Concepts of Argument

•  Claim •  Evidence (standards and nature of evidence

differs by subject area) •  Reasoning/Analysis/Warrant - an

explanation of how the evidence supports the claim

•  Counterargument/Rebuttals - refute competing claims

•  Consideration of audience

Toulmin Model

Argument as a Habit of Mind

•  In your teaching •  In your students’

o  thinking o  discussion o  writing

•  Teach across the year •  Consistently use rhetorical language to build

students’ academic vocabulary

Instructional Strategies to Build Argument Culture & Habits of Mind

annotation •  talk to the text •  text in the middle informal writing •  first thoughts •  respond to a

prompt •  visual thinking

routines •  flash drafts

discourse •  Socratic seminar •  structured small

groups - test ideas •  talk protocol •  debates •  think alouds

BREAK Join the Art of Teaching Argument Community

•  Log in to your Google account •  Visit: plus.google.com/communities •  search for The Art of Teaching Argument •  Click Join Community •  We will accept your invitation •  Once you’re a member, click on the cog (settings) to

turn your notifications on. •  Share your current interests, curiosities, and challenges

with teaching argument writing.

BUILDING REASONING MUSCLES

ARGUMENT TALK PROTOCOL

LUNCH!

Coding Activity

Shifting Our Language

Curriculum and Assessment

List  of  Events                  Learning  Progression  

Working  at  the  “Edge”  of  Learning  

Progressions  invite  a  developmental  view  of  learning  because  they  lay  out  how  exper>se  develops  over  a  more  or  less  extended  period  of  >me,  beginning  with  rudimentary  forms  of  learning  and  moving  through  progressively  more  sophis>cated  states.    

-­‐Margaret  Heritage,  p.  37  Forma>ve  Assessment  in  Prac>ce    

What’s  a  Learning  Progression?  

   

Sequence  set  of  subskills  and  bodies  of  enabling  knowledge    Composed  of  step-­‐by-­‐step  building  blocks  needed  to  aMain  target  curricular  aim      

What  it  isn’t…  

Flawless    Un-­‐changing    One  size  fits  all        

Transforma)ve  Assessment,  W.  James  Popham  

What  it  is…  

Building Blocks of Argument

Enabling Knowledge •  claim •  evidence •  counterargument •  audience

Subskill •  reasoning •  analysis •  angling evidence

for audience

Example

What has our learning skill progression been today?

TURN & TALK

Today’s Task Progression

•  video analysis •  visual argument •  argument talk

protocol •  coding activity

Today’s Learning Progression

1.  video analysis: notice pattern of argument 2.  visual argument: make a claim, identify

argument traits and give feedback 3.  talk protocol: gather evidence, make a claim,

argue with an opponent, angle evidence for a particular audience

4.  coding activity: identify argument traits, norm across content areas

Thesis Statement

·∙  Parallel Topic Sentence #1

·∙  Parallel Topic Sentence #2

·∙  Parallel Topic Sentence #3

Concluding Statement

GRADES  3-­‐5  LUCY  CALKINS:    BOXES  &  BULLETS  

THESIS  PARAGRAPH    

Thesis  Statement  (Stance,  Position,  Claim)    May  require  sentence  order  or  sentence  #.    

BODY  PARAGRAPH  #1  

 Topic  Sentence  (Least  important  point  or  reason)    Include  evidence,  explanation,  and  concluding  sentence    

BODY  PARAGRAPH  #2  

Topic  Sentence  (2nd  most  important  point  or  reason)    Include  evidence,  explanation,  and  concluding  sentence    

BODY  PARAGRAPH  #3  Topic  Sentence  (Most  Important  Point  or  Reason)  

Include  evidence,  explanation,  and  concluding  sentence    

CONCLUDING  PARAGRAPH    

Restate  Thesis    Include  summary  and/or  comment  

KEYHOLE  ESSAY  

Thesis  Paragraph                  General:  Grabber  

               Specific:  Thesis  (Claim)  

 Body  Paragraph  #1  

Topic  Sentence  (Specific  Point)    Evidence,  explanaeon,  transieonal  conclusion  

   Body  Paragraph  #2  

Topic  Sentence  (Specific  Point)    Evidence,  explanaeon,  transieonal  conclusion  

   Body  Paragraph  #3  

Topic  Sentence  (Specific  Point)    Evidence,  explanaeon,  transieonal  conclusion    

 Concluding  Paragraph    Rephrase  Thesis  (Claim)  

Summarize  Points            

Students & Structures/Reasoning What high schoolers sometimes come to us with (and what can get in

the way of their college writing/thinking):

* a relentless search for / use of formulas (3- to 5-paragraph essays) and "rules" (i.e., Never use "I" in an essay; Never begin a sentence with "But," etc.) rather than focusing on audiences, purposes, contexts, etc. In other words, not recognizing, as a friend of mine says, that there are "different spokes for different folks," and that different contexts invite different kinds of writing.

- MSU Writing Instructors

Arguments: encouraging complexity

Teacher provided question/problem

Student generated response

Teacher provided topic

Student generated question/problem + response

COMPLEXITY consider alternatives, evaluate evidence, and think critically

WHO DECIDES? control of question/problem

control of data/evidence

Developing  Task  Trajectories    

Best  in  Show    

Nominaeons  

Wrieng  to  make  the  world  different(fixable  problem  in  community)  

Elevating the quality of argument: create a trajectory across a year and grade levels that develops cognitive complexity.

-Mary Ehrenworth

Developing  Task  Trajectories    

Social  issues  with  meaning  for  writer    

Research  items  having  a  direct  impact  on  writer  

TURN & TALK: How does each task layer more complexity than the previous task?

Task Trajectory - Brainstorm!

- pairs/trios - Google Community: Task Trajectories •  Subject •  Grade Level

- Question/problem for each task

1. Best in Show 2. Nominations 3. Writing to make the

world different (community problem)

4. Social issues with meaning for writing

5. Research on topic directly impacting writer

Designing Argument Tasks

More & Shorter Tasks •  Assign more writing tasks of shorter length or smaller

scope rather than fewer tasks of great length or large scope.

•  Students get more opportunity to practice basic skills and can refine their approach from assignment to assignment based on feedback they receive.

•  BENEFIT: frees you to think beyond the large paper and be more creative in the type of writing you assign

Big Picture

•  Place the task outcomes in the larger frame of the learning progression for the class:

o  How is this particular task a piece of the “big picture”

§  for the writing task

§  for the unit

§  for the your year-long class?

Purpose •  What do you want students to show you in this

assignment? •  What is the purpose of the task/assignment?

o  to find evidence? o  to develop a claim? o  to put forth an original ideas? o  to create a more nuanced argument? o  to synthesize research to examine a new

hypothesis?

•  Making the purpose(s) of the assignment explicit helps students complete the task and/or write the kind of paper you want.

Audience •  Who is the audience the writer is addressing?

o  classmates? o  an imagined audience? (the EPA, Congress, literary

experts, the NY Times Editorial Board) o  an authentic audience?

•  Specificity of audience affects

o  evidence selection o  evidence angling o  counterargument o  writing style

Learning Outcomes

Specify learning outcomes:

•  What should students learn from doing the assignment?

•  What should the experience of it DO for them?

•  Consider your task and skills progression here. Does the assignment build on what they learned previously and demand more of them?

Clarity of Process

•  Include expectations for process steps/activities:

o  Are there multiple steps?

o  How will you support the writing process?

o  At what point will you check in to formatively assess?

o  What intermediate steps and procedures would be useful for a longer piece?

Let’s Evaluate

•  Read and evaluate the tasks provided based on the the provided criteria

•  Discuss as a table - find consensus? •  Share scores with the larger group.

Design a Task

•  Works with your curriculum before March 11 based on where your students are on task trajectory

•  Can collect and share exemplar •  Consider where you are in the argument

learning progression o  preceding skill & content development o  where will you go after this task to continue to build

skills

Design a Task

o  Before March 11: Post to Google Community before March 11 §  Google Drive folder (Argument Writing

Tasks) o  On March 11: Bring student artifact -

exemplar

Share Your Task

•  Provide context •  Share thinking •  Discuss challenges & concerns with

implementation

Reflection on the Day

•  How has your thinking about teaching argument writing shifted today?

•  Reflect on the question you generated at the

beginning of the day.