Argument Writing Units and other MAISA Units

Thursday, January 26, 2012Day TwoFacilitator: Pam Rickli, Allegan Area ESA

ELA Consultant

Introductions

• Please introduce yourself to a partner at your table

• With your partner, please share effective advice you’ve received or given about good writing

• Be ready to share one piece of advice with the group.

Agenda: Part 2

-Welcome and Grounding-Immersion-Model Lesson & Writing Invitation-Conferring: Notice and Name-Walk Through Lessons-Organize and Integrate

Outcomes: Part 1

Establish baseline knowledge of Common Core State Standard and text type of the units

Interact with a Michigan-created Argument Unit

Have awareness of upcoming Units

Anchor the Standard of Focus

Text Types and Purposes

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

2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

Production and distribution of Writing

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

5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.

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

Range of Writing

10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Opinion/Argument Writing

•K-5 Opinion•6-12 Argument

Reading like a Detective

& Writing like an Investigative

Reporter

It’s all about Evidence

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/argument/home

http://www.theopedproject.org/

Purposes of Argument• In contrast to the

traditional Western concept of argument as being about disputation or combat…

• … Communication theorists describe an invitational argument, the kind that aims not to defeat another person or group but to invite others to enter a space of mutual regard and exploration.

• (Everything is an Argument, p. 5)

Quote from CCSS Appendix A, p. 25

…The proper context for thinking about argument is one “in which the goal is not victory but a good decision, one in which all arguers are at risk of needing to alter their views, one in which a participant takes seriously and fairly the views different from his or her own”

Such capacities are broadly important for the literate, educated person living in the diverse, information-rich environment of the twenty first century.

Argument as Critical Thinking

• Argument is not simply a dispute, as when people disagree with one another or yell at each other.

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

Persuasive Writing vs. Argument…

• “‘In 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, 305)

• Argument, on the other hand, is mainly about logical appeals and involves claims, evidence, warrants, backing, and rebuttals.” (Hillocks, xvii)

• From Page 24 of Appendix A of ELA Common Core State Standards Document

Elements of Argument

Qualifications and rebuttals refute competing claims

A claim Based on evidence

A warrant explains how evidence supports the claim

Backing supports the warrants

ArgumentArgument

Toulmin’s concept

They Say … I Say Moves that matter in Academic Writing

BeginsBegins As a ResultAs a Result This PracticeThis Practice

Not with an act of assertion, but an act of listening,

of putting ourselves in the shoes of those who think differently from us.

We advise writers to begin not with what they themselves think about their subject (“I say”) but with what others think (“They say”)

Adds urgency to writing, helping it become more authentically motivated. (Graff & Berkenstein, xiii)

Immersion

Immersion Work:

It is recommended that immersion work take place during reading, a week or more prior to beginning the writing unit of focus. It is also suggested that text selection should include published reviews as well as student authored work.

Modeling Mini Lesson

What, Why, and How of Writing Through

Mini Lesson

What?

•Write through the mini lesson with two perspectives•Teacher eyes•Writer eyes

Why write through a mini lesson?

Teachers should write so they understand the process of writing from within.

Excerpt from Donald Murray,A Writer Teaches Writing 2003

Why?“Teachers should write, first of all, because it is fun. It is a satisfying activity that extends both the brain and the soul. It stimulates the intellect, deepens the experience of living, and is good therapy. Teachers should write so they understand the process of writing from within. They should know the territory intellectually and emotionally: how you have to think to write, how you feel when writing.

Teachers of writing do not have to be great writers, but they should have frequent and recent experience in writing. If you experience the despair, the joy, the failure, the success, the work, the fun, the drudgery, the surprise of writing you will be able to understand the composing experiences of your students and therefore help them understand how they are learning to write.”

Donald Murray,A Writer Teaches Writing 2003

Ink Your Think

Take a moment and write a notebook response to Donald Murray’s quote

Write through session 2

We’ll write through this session just as your students will

Please hold your “teacher” questions until after the mini lesson has been completely modeled.

Reflection

Turn to a partner and respond to these prompts:

What did you notice about this mini lesson as a writer? What did you notice about this mini lesson as a teacher?

Debrief the Architecture of a Mini Lesson

CONNECTION:Yesterday we were working on… Today I am going to teach you… Because…

TEACHING POINT:Let me show you how I… Hmmm…I’m thinking… Did you see how I…

ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT:Now you are going to have a try. You are going to…

LINK:Today and everyday when you are writing, you can…

CONNECTION:

TEACHING POINT:

ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT:

LINK:

Turn and Talk

•With an elbow partner, turn and talk about what you noticed regarding the flow of the minilesson segments.

•Be ready to share with the whole group.

Conferring

NoticeNameNudge

Notice

• Notice what the writer is doing that you taught or what works for you as a reader.

What are you trying to do as a writer in this piece?

What have you done so far?

• Listen!

Name

• Name something you noticed in a way that’s general so the writer can use this strategy in other situations.

I can see that you used. . . (name the strategy) that will be useful any time you…

This part where you . . . works for me as a reader. . . because....

Nudge• Nudge the writer to do some part of this work even better, maybe

reiterate a teaching point, maybe help him/her try another way to get to the same goal, another strategy related to the same skill.

There’s a strategy writers use that may be helpful to you as you are _______.

May I give you a tip?

• As the conference is coming to a close...

So, tell me what you are going to do now as a writer on this piece?

Teleprompter

Purpose of Teleprompter:

•Overview the entire unit

•Become familiar with the lesson plan format and translate the lesson into a teaching format

On Chart Paper:

•Write the session number • For the Teaching and Active

Engagement portions of your lesson:

•words, phrases• bulleted lists• sketches

Progression of K-5 Skills for Opinion Writing

Organize and Integrate

Road Map to the Next Level

Do-able Goals Start End Criteria for Success

Accountability

Goal #1

Goal #2

Goal #3

Making it Real

• With a partner, talk about your doable goals

• Write your goals

• Stand up and share your goals with an eye partner

Happy Writing and Teaching