THE CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITY WRITING AND

INTRODUCTION TO ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING

(PART 2)

September 29th, 2014

Warm Up: Current Events/Vocab

Warm Up: Current EventsDate:_Monday, September 29th, 2014Prompt: Choose one of the options below:• Continue copying down the words and

vocabulary for lesson 4 of Vocabulary from Classical Roots, or if you are done,

• Respond to the prompt: What current events happened over the weekend around the world or in your life?

Today’s Agenda

Learning Target: Today I will begin brainstorming my topic for my argumentative writing.

Characteristics of Quality Writing (continued)

Issue Sort Brainstorm Summary- “A strong argument is…”

Characteristics of Quality Writing

We are taking notes now! Pull out your Circle Map from last week

(the one you used to jot down your initial ideas about quality writing).

What makes something “quality” writing?

In your notes, jot down the six traits you will see next.

http://www.imschools.org/images/files/menufiles/Overview6Traits.pdf

Six Traits

Ideas Go Green

Blue-Main ideas Pink-supporting details Green-specific supporting details

Organization Word Choice

Vocabulary Roots Sentence Fluency Voice Conventions

Grammar and Punctuation

Today

we w

ill

focus

our

energy here.

Introduction to Argumentative writing

Take a look at this quick video on argumentative writing. http://

www.shmoop.com/video/argument-essay

Argumentative Writing Showcase You will now take a look (or listen) to a

few examples of argumentative writing. Make notes outside your Circle Map of

the things you notice of quality argumentative writing.

Example 1: “Fitness Aparthied” from the Freakonomics Podcast (roughly 2 minutes’ worth) http://freakonomics.com/2014/09/25/fitness-apartheid-a-

new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

More Sample Argumentative Essays

http://achievethecore.org/content/upload/ArgumentOpinion_K-12WS.pdf

http://www.mesacc.edu/~paoih30491/ArgumentSampleEssays.html

Topic Sort

Look at the topics below. Create a tree map of the topics you find interesting (at least 5) and the ones you find uninteresting. Topic Choices

1. Is global climate change man-made?

2. Is the death penalty effective?

3. Is our election process fair?

4. 4. Do colleges put too much stock in standardized test scores?

5. Is torture ever acceptable?6. Should men get paternity leave from work?7. Is a lottery a good idea?8. Do we have a fair taxation system?9. Do curfews keep teens out of trouble?

10. Is cheating out of control?11. Are we too dependent on computers?12. Are parents clueless about child predators on the Internet?13. Should animals be used for research?14. Should cigarette smoking be banned?

Brainstorm your own ideas

Create TWO Circle Maps.

Take the rest of class to brainstorm on the two topics you found the most interesting.

TOPIC

Homework

Read for 30 minutes. Finish your Circle Map

brainstorming a possible topic. (If you want another topic, feel free to visit the blog for more ideas.

Study for Wednesday’s lesson 4 vocabulary quiz.

Flashcards are linked on today’s blog post.

Closing

A strong argument is… Finish the sentence stem in your

notes. Be sure to use SPECIFIC examples

and details.