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Text Based Evidence and Argument - Building the Bridge: Connecting Social Studies and the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts

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Text Based Evidence and Argument - Building the Bridge: Connecting Social Studies and the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts

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Text Based Evidence and Argument - Building the Bridge: Connecting Social Studies and the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts

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This site was created by the Teaching with Primary Sources Midwest Region to Support the work of the Great Lakes, Midwest, Central, and South Central Comprehensive Centers. This website is not an official publication of the Library of Congress and does not represent official Library of Congress communication.

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Videos And Lesson Plans For Teachers: Teaching Channel

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Videos And Lesson Plans For Teachers: Teaching Channel

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AMLE - Association for Middle Level Education

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You ask the students, "What is the main idea of the passage?"

Joseph responds, "Always persevere," to which you reply, "Very good, Joseph."

In the average classroom, as much as 70% of instructional time consists of these kinds of verbal exchanges between you and students or among students: teacher initiation, student response, teacher evaluation of the response/feedback. Classroom discussion, dialogue, and discourse are the principal means of exchanging ideas, evaluating mastery, developing thinking processes, and reflecting on content and shared thoughts.

Engaging students in effective classroom talk begins by creating a discourse-rich classroom culture. Begin the year by discussing what rich discourse is, the rationale for it, and answering the What's In It for Me question by specifying ways students benefit.

Another key element of building a discourse-rich culture is embedding the spirit of collaboration versus competition. Classroom talk is not only a means of students supporting each other, but also of holding each other accountable by helping clarify, restate, and challenge ideas.

Students may not participate if their thoughts are ridiculed, devalued, or ignored. To that end, establishing norms of discourse helps develop safe spaces, establishes boundaries, and moves the discussion forward.

In my classroom, the norms included specifics on how to engage in active listening, address ideas versus individuals, and respectfully disagree/question. Role-playing appropriate and inappropriate actions can give students a better understanding of their expected role during classroom talk.

A third central element of developing a culture that fosters rich discourse is helping students appreciate the processes to get there versus simply the production of right answers. Make it clear that you value students strategically thinking about, discussing, clarifying, and elaborating on ideas rather than having someone simply state the correct answer in order to save time.

Complex Thinking Processes

Does most of your classroom talk consist of students recalling or reproducing facts? Or, do they often use complex thinking strategies such as making claims supported with evidence and reasoning, discerning the author's purpose and its effect on the interpretation of text, and applying models to tasks? As you begin to reshape and enrich your classroom discourse, planning for and assessing complex thinking processes is essential.

To begin to engage students in more complex thinking processes, be clear about the distinction between difficult and complex. I ask teachers in my professional learning sessions whether the task of spelling a word such as antidisestablishmentarianism is difficult or complex. Many say it's complex. However, if students have a good grasp of phonemic awareness (sounds that build words), spelling long words may be difficult, but not complex.

Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK) model (recall, skill/concept, strategic thinking, extended thinking) can be used to plan and assess the complexity of thinking as well as the presence of rigor. This tool may help you plan for the type of discourse that evokes deeper cognitive processes. You might use it to:

Prompt students to describe and analyze the characteristics of texts written during the modernism period.

Identify and explain misconceptions around the discovery of America.

Justify solutions for mathematical tasks involving equations with more than one solution.

Cite evidence and use reasoning to support the claim that an unknown liquid is a mixture.

Webb's DOK is a powerful tool that can help you evoke complex thinking processes during discourse. You'll find a comprehensive graphic at http://static.pdesas.org/content/documents/M1-Slide_19_DOK_Wheel_Slide.pdf

Engage Reluctant Students

You probably have a few students who need their mouths physically pried open before they will contribute. Some are fearful of being critiqued in the courtroom of classmate opinion and find solace in silence. Others are disinterested and prefer to think about everything else except what's going on in your room. Here are a few suggestions for bringing such reticent students into the fold of rich discourse:

Invite them to discuss a topic that is important to them. Interest inventories, heart maps, and informal conversation can help you uncover such topics.

Engage them in partner talk (e.g., pair-share, turn-and-talk) or small group before whole group. More students participate in whole-group talk if first allowed to articulate, clarify, and reorganize thoughts with a partner.

Appreciate wait-time. When you want to know how to repair that leaky faucet in your kitchen or where your favorite retailer is located, you want the best answer in the shortest amount of time. Similarly, in the classroom, you may be guilty of wanting the best answer in the shortest time, given the pressure of staying on target with the pacing guide. Hardly novel but wholly effective, wait-time has been shown to improve not only the proportion of students who respond but the quality of the responses as well.

Name the strategy after a student. For instance, when a student provides a substantive contribution, call it the Johnathan way, Maureen method, or Sharon technique.

Releasing the instructional reins to your students can make you uneasy. Fear of letting go may conjure thoughts of less learning taking place, increasing disorder, and the discomfort of not driving the wheels of learning. However, when students lead discourse, they clarify their own ideas and increase their levels of cognitive and behavioral engagement. It makes their thinking visible and helps you determine the most effective subsequent instructional moves.

To introduce student-led discourse, explicitly model the talk. Have them lead discourse about a topic many are passionate about, such as social media rights for young people, as a way to get them more comfortable and familiar with leading discourse.

Figure 1
Moving from Conventional Discourse to Rich Discourse

Conventional Classroom Discourse Rich Classroom Discourse

Convergent responses

Divergent responses

Known answer questions atypically posed

Multiple answers/explanations possible

Predominantly teacher-driven and led

Students co-construct, drive, and often lead discourse

Students rarely afforded latitude to build on peers' thoughts

Students build on, challenge, revoice, and share ideas with peers

Teacher relies on a few students to carry talk

Many students eagerly participate

Aim is to have correct answer given in shortest time

Goal is to have students articulate strategic thinking

Self-Checking Discourse Quality

A few questions may help you self-assess the quality of discourse in your class:

Is the emphasis on giving the right answers rather than processes and strategies?

Do the verbal interactions follow the teacher-dominated initiation-response-evaluation pattern?

Is discourse carried by the voices of a few where the others are reluctant to contribute?

Do you often provide opportunities for students to lead the discourse?

Do you model and insist wait-time be used as a key component of dialogue?

Do you send non-verbal signals to students based on your perception of their ability to give a quick or correct response?

Does your lack of comfort with content lead you to pose more close-ended questions?

When you create a classroom culture rife with intellectually safe spaces and emphases on processes of strategic thinking versus production of right answers, you invite instructional episodes of rich discourse. Student-led discourse is a powerful way to let students take ownership of their own learning.

Jelani Jabari is president of Pedagogical Solutions, LLC, in Detroit, Michigan. jabari@pdlsolutions.com

Published in AMLE Magazine, November 2014.

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You ask the students, “What is the main idea of the passage?” Joseph responds, “Always persevere,” to which you reply, “Very good, Joseph.” In the average classroom, as much as 70% of instructional time consists of these kinds of verbal exchanges between you and students or among students: teacher initiation, student response, teacher evaluation of the response/feedback.

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Course: ELA 10 Unit 8: Writing the Argument

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Course: ELA 10 Unit 8: Writing the Argument

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oakland schools online studies: log in to the site

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Oakland Schools Online Studies: Log in to the site

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Student/Teacher Friendly Languange of Standard

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Three Easy Steps to Teaching Your Students Through the CER Writing Process | In-Sight

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Three Easy Steps to Teaching Your Students Through the CER Writing Process | In-Sight

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Author: Shawna Wiebusch, Education Specialist, Secondary Science

What can you learn from a ShamWow commercial? As it turns out, a lot!

The ShamWow Commercial is the perfect "hook" to introduce your students to evidence based argumentation using the C-E-R Method: Claims - Evidence - Reasoning.

Many of our students, especially in middle school, come to us with a mindset that "Science is hard." Using a fun, lighthearted, science-lite infomercial to introduce a systematic way of scientific writing eases students into the process.

How does it work? (Not the ShamWow - CER!) Here's how I introduced it to my students:

1. Show this infomercial to your students and have them answer the question "What does Vince want to convince you is true?"

After the infomercial, solicit and record your students' answers. Then introduce the term " Claim. " Make the connection that what the announcer wants us to believe about the ShamWow is his claim.

2. Ask students: "What data does the announcer give to convince you that the ShamWow is as cool as he claims?"

For Example:

"Sham wow holds 20 times its weight in liquid"

Lasts 10 years and will be cheaper than paper towels over time

Will soak up 50% of wine, coffee, cola out of carpet without pressure

Introduce the term " Evidence " - the facts that are used to convince you that the claim is true.

3. The final part is to connect the Evidence back to the Claim.

Ask your students "WHY does the Sham wow hold up to 20 times its weight in liquid?" Tell them about microfibers and ask why something made with microfibers would absorb liquids better.

Ask your students WHY the ShamWow would be a better deal than paper towels over time.

Introduce the term " Reasoning " - the principle behind the evidence. HOW does the evidence support the claim? In our science classes, the students need to be able to explain the scientific principle behind the labs and activities they are doing. This is the reasoning!

These are the basic steps to writing a C-E-R. Go ahead and try it with your students! Teach them to argue effectively and with science! Want to know more and find other good ideas? Check out our Science Blog and the Region 13 Science page for updates!

Shamwow

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Three Easy Steps to Teaching Your Students Through the CER Writing Process | In-Sight

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What can you learn from a ShamWow commercial? As it turns out, a lot! The ShamWow Commercial is the perfect "hook" to introduce your students to evidence based argumentation using the C-E-R Method: Claims - Evidence - Reasoning. Many of our students, especially in middle school, come to us with a mindset that "Science is hard."

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oakland schools online studies: log in to the site

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Oakland Schools Online Studies: Log in to the site

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Posts about Argumentative Writing written by scottmpetri

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Evidence Based Argumentation « Boston Debate League

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Evidence Based Argumentation « Boston Debate League

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Introduction to Evidence-Based Argumentation and the Common Core Graduate Course
August 13 - 17, 2018, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm (2 graduate credits)
Registration open! Register here! Priority deadline of June 15, 2018.
The Boston Debate League is pleased to offer its "Evidence-Based Argumentation (EBA) 2-credit graduate course during the summer of 2018. It is open to teachers of any content area.
Course Information:
Dates: August 13 - 17, 2018

Hours: 9:00am to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday

Sections: Depending on enrollment, we will hold two separate sections (high school and middle school). We will also often break out into content specific groups (STEM, Humanities, and ESL/Spanish).
Fees:

EBA Partner School Teachers: $200 for course credit

BPS Teachers (Not in EBA Partner School): $500 for course credit,

Teachers Outside of BPS: $1,000 for course credit

Send a check payable to Boston Debate League to:

Boston Debate League, c/o Marisa Suescun

566 Columbus Ave.

Boston, MA 02118
What You Receive:
In addition to the 2 graduate credits if you choose to take for credit, the fee covers:

Binder of subject-specific EBA materials

Access to Dropbox and Google Drive of electronic resources across all subjects

Lunch every day

Credit Options:

2 graduate credits through Framingham State University - open to all

36 PDPs (Professional Development Points) - available for BPS teachers

Course Content:
Evidence-Based Argumentation (EBA) is a professional development program that supports teachers in all disciplines to create a classroom environment where students regularly practice the 21 st century skills of critical thinking, analysis, evaluation, questioning, and problem solving. Teachers guide students through a progression of skills as they work toward producing sustained, multifaceted arguments that draw on evidence from a range of sources and are organized around a central thesis.

EBA is not a prescribed curriculum organized around specific content modules. Rather, it gives teachers a set of tools that allow them to meaningfully involve student perspective in whatever content they were already planning to cover within their district or school curricular frameworks. From daily ten minute activities to full-period debates, EBA initiative can take many forms depending on content pacing requirements and students' developmental needs. All activities are especially designed to meaningfully engage all students in large classrooms. This formalized pedagogical framework helps teachers create the classroom environments needed for students to practice and master the skills outlined in their Common Core-focused curricula.
EBA and the Common Core State Standards
The Common Core State Standards place a new emphasis on teaching argumentation. Their guiding principle holds that students must master a set of core academic skills to be successful in and beyond high school. Chief among those skills is the ability to analyze multiple texts in order to discern and create arguments founded on solid evidence.

EBA instructional activities are geared toward developing student skills that are high priorities for college and career readiness according to the CCSS. Specifically, EBA instructional tools support student mastery of the following CCR Anchor Standards:

Writing 1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

Writing 4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

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

Reading 1. Read closely to determine what the texts says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

Reading 2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

Reading 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.

The Boston Debate League's EBA and the Common Core course earns high praise from participating teachers
With teachers inside and outside the BPS school district as well as from all subject areas, course participants unanimously agreed:

100% of teachers who took this course believed their students would be more engaged on days when they use EBA activities.

100% of teachers who took this course believed EBA is an effective way to help students understand class content and determine their level of understanding.

100% of teachers who took this course believed EBA is an effective way to improve oral language skills.

100% of teachers who took this course believed they would teach more effectively and enjoy teaching more by using EBA activities.

100% of teachers who took this course recommend it to other teachers in their school.

In their own words... "The combined lectures, text and practicing of EBA activities. Actually planning of full debate and experiencing full debate was extremely helpful. Working in small groups with fellow teachers sharing lesson plans and critiquing each other's work was so informative. This was the best professional development I have been a part of during my BPS career." (BPS ELL Teacher) "I have been involved in debate since my own high school years and I really thought I would know everything that this training had to offer. But this training showed me just how poorly I was teaching these skills, how confused I was, and now how to do it right." (BPS ELA Teacher) "I really enjoyed the PD. I found it extremely helpful and engaging. I really enjoyed doing the debates, and am excited to incorporate this into my classroom." (BPS Science Teacher) "Great course! Gave a structure, language, and clear template for how to proceed implementing EBA activities in the classroom." (Math Teacher) Register here! Priority deadline of June 15, 2018.

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Introduction to Evidence-Based Argumentation and the Common Core Graduate Course August 13 - 17, 2018, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm (2 graduate credits) Registration open! Register here! Priority deadline of June 15, 2018. The Boston Debate League is pleased to offer its "Evidence-Based Argumentation (EBA) 2-credit graduate course during the summer of 2018.

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Course: ELA - Foundations of Teaching Argument

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Course: ELA - Foundations of Teaching Argument

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oakland schools online studies: log in to the site

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Oakland Schools Online Studies: Log in to the site

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Interaction - Academic Language & Literacy

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Interaction - Academic Language & Literacy

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Conversation resources for argument i.e. 3D balance

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A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Argumentative Writing | Cult of Pedagogy

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A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Argumentative Writing | Cult of Pedagogy

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Listen to this post as a podcast:
For seven years, I was a writing teacher. Yes, I was certified to teach the full spectrum of English language arts-literature, grammar and usage, speech, drama, and so on-but my absolute favorite, the thing I loved doing the most, was teaching students how to write.

Most of the material on this site is directed at all teachers. I look for and put together resources that would appeal to any teacher who teaches any subject. That practice will continue for as long as I keep this up. But over the next year or so, I plan to also share more of what I know about teaching students to write. Although I know many of the people who visit here are not strictly English language arts teachers, my hope is that these posts will provide tons of value to those who are, and to those who teach all subjects, including writing.

So let's begin with argumentative writing, or persuasive writing, as many of us used to call it. This overview will be most helpful to those who are new to teaching writing, or teachers who have not gotten good results with the approach you have taken up to now. I don't claim to have the definitive answer on how to do this, but the method I share here worked pretty well for me, and it might do the same for you. If you are an experienced English language arts teacher, you probably already have a system for teaching this skill that you like. Then again, I'm always interested in how other people do the things I can already do; maybe you're curious like that, too.

Before I start, I should note that what I describe in this post is a fairly formulaic style of essay writing. It's not exactly the 5-paragraph essay, but it definitely builds on that model. I strongly believe students should be shown how to move past those kinds of structures into a style of writing that's more natural and fitting to the task and audience, but I also think they should start with something that's pretty clearly organized.

So here's how I teach argumentative essay writing.

One of the most effective ways to improve student writing is to show them mentor texts, examples of excellent writing within the genre students are about to attempt themselves. Ideally, this writing would come from real publications and not be fabricated by me in order to embody the form I'm looking for. (Although most experts on writing instruction employ some kind of mentor text study, the person I learned it from best was Katie Wood Ray in her book Study Driven). Since I want the writing to be high quality and the subject matter to be high interest, I might choose pieces like Jessica Lahey's Students Who Lose Recess Are the Ones Who Need it Most and David Bulley's School Suspensions Don't Work.

I would have students read these texts, compare them, and find places where the authors used evidence to back up their assertions. I would ask students which author they feel did the best job of influencing the reader, and what suggestions they would make to improve the writing. I would also ask them to notice things like stories, facts and statistics, and other things the authors use to develop their ideas. Later, as students work on their own pieces, I would likely return to these pieces to show students how to execute certain writing moves.

Although many students might need more practice in writing an effective argument, many of them are excellent at arguing in person. To help them make this connection, I would have them do some informal debate on easy, high-interest topics. An activity like This or That (one of the classroom icebreakers I talked about last year) would be perfect here: I read a statement like "Women have the same opportunities in life as men." Students who agree with the statement move to one side of the room, and those who disagree move to the other side. Then they take turns explaining why they are standing in that position. This ultimately looks a little bit like a debate, as students from either side tend to defend their position to those on the other side.

Every class of students I have ever had, from middle school to college, has loved loved LOVED this activity. It's so simple, it gets them out of their seats, and for a unit on argument, it's an easy way to get them thinking about how the art of argument is something they practice all the time.

Once students have argued without the support of any kind of research or text, I would set up a second debate; this time with more structure and more time to research ahead of time. I would pose a different question, supply students with a few articles that would provide ammunition for either side, then give them time to read the articles and find the evidence they need.

Next, we'd have a Philosophical Chairs debate (learn about this in my discussion strategies post), which is very similar to "This or That," except students use textual evidence to back up their points, and there are a few more rules. Here they are still doing verbal argument, but the experience should make them more likely to appreciate the value of evidence when trying to persuade.

Before leaving this step, I would have students transfer their thoughts from the discussion they just had into something that looks like the opening paragraph of a written argument: A statement of their point of view, plus three reasons to support that point of view. This lays the groundwork for what's to come.

Next I would show students their major assignment, the performance assessment that they will work on for the next few weeks. What does this look like? It's generally a written prompt that describes the task, plus the rubric I will use to score their final product.

Anytime I give students a major writing assignment, I let them see these documents very early on. In my experience, I've found that students appreciate having a clear picture of what's expected of them when beginning a writing assignment. At this time, I also show them a model of a piece of writing that meets the requirements of the assignment. Unlike the mentor texts we read on day 1, this sample would be something teacher-created (or an excellent student model from a previous year) to fit the parameters of the assignment.

Before letting students loose to start working on their essays, I make sure they have a solid plan for writing. I would devote at least one more class period to having students consider their topic for the essay, drafting a thesis statement, and planning the main points of their essay in a graphic organizer.

I would also begin writing my own essay on a different topic. This has been my number one strategy for teaching students how to become better writers. Using a document camera or overhead projector, I start from scratch, thinking out loud and scribbling down my thoughts as they come. When students see how messy the process can be, it becomes less intimidating for them. They begin to understand how to take the thoughts that are stirring around in your head and turn them into something that makes sense in writing.

For some students, this early stage might take a few more days, and that's fine: I would rather spend more time getting it right at the pre-writing stage than have a student go off willy-nilly, draft a full essay, then realize they need to start over. Meanwhile, students who have their plans in order will be allowed to move on to the next step.

The next seven to ten days would be spent in writer's workshop, where I would start class with a mini-lesson about a particular aspect of craft. I would show them how to choose credible, relevant evidence, how to skillfully weave evidence into an argument, how to consider the needs of an audience, and how to correctly cite sources. Once each mini-lesson was done, I would then give students the rest of the period to work independently on their writing. During this time, I would move around the room, helping students solve problems and offering feedback on whatever part of the piece they are working on. I would encourage students to share their work with peers and give feedback at all stages of the writing process.

If I wanted to make the unit even more student-centered, I would provide the mini-lessons in written or video format and let students work through them at their own pace, without me teaching them. (To learn more about this approach, read my post on self-paced learning).

As students begin to complete their essays, the mini-lessons would focus more on matters of style and usage. I almost never bother talking about spelling, punctuation, grammar, or usage until students have a draft that's pretty close to done. Only then do we start fixing the smaller mistakes.

Finally, the finished essays are handed in for a grade. At this point, I'm pretty familiar with each student's writing and have given them verbal (and sometimes written) feedback throughout the unit; that's why I make the writer's workshop phase last so long. I don't really want students handing in work until they are pretty sure they've met the requirements to the best of their ability. I also don't necessarily see "final copies" as final; if a student hands in an essay that's still really lacking in some key areas, I will arrange to have that student revise it and resubmit for a higher grade.

So that's it. If you haven't had a lot of success teaching students to write persuasively, and if the approach outlined here is different from what you've been doing, give it a try. And let's keep talking: Use the comments section below to share your techniques or ask questions about the most effective ways to teach argumentative writing.
Want this unit ready-made?
If you're a writing teacher in grades 7-12 and you'd like a classroom-ready unit like the one described above, including mini-lessons, sample essays, and a library of high-interest online articles to use for gathering evidence, take a look at my Argumentative Writing unit. Just click on the image below and you'll be taken to a page where you can read more and see a detailed preview of what's included.

Keep in touch.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. To thank you, I'll send you a free copy of my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, which has helped thousands of teachers spend less time grading!

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A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Argumentative Writing

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Listen to this post as a podcast: For seven years, I was a writing teacher. Yes, I was certified to teach the full spectrum of English language arts-literature, grammar and usage, speech, drama, and so on-but my absolute favorite, the thing I loved doing the most, was teaching students how to write.

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The Argumentation Toolkit – Helping teachers understand and teach scientific argumentation