MAKING THE ARGUMENT FOR ARGUMENT AP Capstone Professional Development Facilitated by Abby Stotsenberg & Sara Overby.

MAKING THE ARGUMENT FOR ARGUMENTAP Capstone Professional Development

Facilitated by Abby Stotsenberg & Sara Overby

Why Teach

Argument

for Reading,

Writing, and

Discourse?

“Literacy education lies at the center of achieving our stated goals of fostering critical thought, critical dialogue, and a circumspect and vigilant American citizenry ... [and] has particular value and potential in a culture increasingly unable to distinguish fact from fiction, truth from lies.”

—Alsup et al. 2006, 281

“Silence is argument carried out by other means” –Che Guevara

WCPSS Academics

“Silence is argument carried out by other means” –Che Guevara

The Importance of Writing in All Disciplines

School, the workplace, and the community all call for some level of writing skill.

The knowledge

and skills

required for

higher education

and for

employment are

now considered

equivalent .

(ACT 2006, American

Diploma Project, 2004)

College instructors estimate that 50% of high school graduates are not prepared for college-level writing . (Achieve, Inc., 2005)

Writing in the school

setting is a skill that

draws on the use of

strategies to accomplish

a variety of goals, such

as writing a report or

expressing an opinion

with the support of

evidence.

Writing is a means of extending and deepening students’ knowledge ; it is

a tool for learning subject matter

Writing about a text improves comprehension,… it helps students make connections between what they read, know, understand, and think.(Carr, 2002; Writing to Read, 2010)

Most contexts of life (school, the workplace, and the community) call for some level of writing skill, and each context makes overlapping, but not identical, demands. Proficient writers can adapt their writing flexibly to the context in which it takes place.

In the school setting, writing plays two distinct but complementary roles. First, it is a skill that draws on the use of strategies (such as planning, evaluating, and revising text) to accomplish a variety of goals, such as writing a report or expressing an opinion with the support of evidence.

Second, writing is a means of extending and deepening students’ knowledge; it acts as a tool for learning subject matter.

Why Writing Is Important

Writing Types

Argumentative

Informative Narrative

Writing Process and

Skills

“Arguments are to be avoided: they are always vulgar and often convincing” – Oscar Wilde

Eleven Elements of Effective Adolescent Writing Instruction

From Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of

Adolescents in Middle and High School - A Report to

Carnegie Corporation of New York (Graham and Perin,

2006).

What Argument is NOT

I love argument, I love debate. I don’t expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me, that’s not their job.” –Margaret Thatcher

Monty Python at the

Hollywood Bowl,

November, 1982

Collective KnowledgeOpinion, Persuasion, Propaganda, Argument

Discuss differences and similarities

Create a visual representation that

shows your collective understanding

What is the definition of each?

What are the characteristics of each?

Where does one end and another begin?

When and why do we teach each to students?

Writing Standards

“The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress” – Joseph Joubert

Read and annotate the writing standards silently, noting the following: Additions Changes A-ha’s Concerns Questions

Read and annotate the QUEST standards in the AP Seminar Course and Exam Description, noting the following: Similarities to CC Writing Standard I Differences between CC Writing Standard I

Read and annotate the argument mathematical practice noting the following: Words and phrases from the writing standards Similarities Differences

Break

The History of Argument…in under 4 minutes

Toulmin’s Model

Locate pages xix-xxvi in the preface of the text

Divide the text into 4 or 5 sections.

Read your section and “notice and note” important features and factors.

After reading, explain your section to the table.

As you listen to each explanation, write down your most important take-aways.

Answers the question, “What makes you say

so?”

Answers the question, “So what?” Clearly explains

why the evidence leads to the claim.

Says, “Yes, but…” Provides

circumstances under which the claim is not true.

The starting point of the argument.

Must be clear, defensible,

and controversial.

What someone who disagrees

might say.Explains why the counter-argument does not overcome

the claim.

Toulmin’s Model

Congress should ban

animal research

1 million animals are killed in

cosmetic research every year in the

United States.

The well-being of animals is more important than profits. Cosmetic companies use animal testing to

save money.

The ban should not apply to life-saving medical research

Most animal testing serves some kind a

medical purpose.

The National Academy of Sciences

has stated that animal testing is not

a conclusive determinant of health risks to humans.

Toulmin’s Model

Slip or Trip

Lunch

Using Argument in Writing

Eleven Elements of Effective Adolescent Writing Instruction

Writing Strategies

“Teaching adolescents strategies for planning, revising, and editing their compositions has shown a dramatic effect on the quality of student’s writing.” ~Writing next, Graham & Perin

• Explicitly teaching steps• Modeling• Moving towards independence

A Growth Mindset

Collaborative Writing…

“…involves developing instructional arrangements whereby adolescents work together to plan, draft, revise, and edit their compositions.”

~Transforming talk into text, Thomas McCann

Specific Product Goals…

“involves assigning students specific, reachable goals for the writing they are to complete. It includes identifying the purpose of the assignment (e.g., to persuade) as well as characteristics of the final product.”

Writing Next (2007)

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/steps-to-success-28729255.jpg

Specific goals in the studies reviewed included• adding more ideas to a paper

when revising, or establishing a goal to write a specific kind of paper

• assigning goals for specific structural elements in a composition

Sentence Combining…

“Involves teaching students to construct more complex and sophisticated sentences through exercises in which two or more basic sentences are combined in a single sentence.”

Writing Next (2007)

http://writesolutions.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/jigsaw.jpg

Argument in Action

After researching the articles that provide perspectives on using biotech foods to cure world hunger, write a paragraph that argues the single most significant effect of using biotech food products as a means to end world hunger.

Step one: Read the assigned article and annotate as a group (one recorder will gather the ideas of the group on google draw)

Step two: Complete argument evaluation tool Step three: Fill out the sentence frame card Step four: (New group) Share the information

from your card and other highlights that are important. Write the paragraph as a group.

Build comprehensi

on and building

more complex

structures

Review a body

of evidence (data)

Collaborative Writing

“What can you do against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?” – George Orwell

Connecting to Text Complexity

• Put Aside Prejudice 10.3 FK• The Failure of Gene-Altered Crops

12.9 FK• A Green Revolution Done Right 14.7

FK• When Cheap Water and Oil Disappear

8.9 FK• The Third Way 11.3 FK• Declining Yields on the Horizon 8.7

FK“The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress” – Joseph Joubert

Reading and Annotating (20 minutes)

Creating an understanding of a topic and building the necessary knowledge is an essential component of a writing process.

Notice and Note: Claim? Evidence? Counterclaims? Counter-

evidence? Rationale? Logic? Appeals to emotion? Ethical author/speaker?“Why is marking up a book indispensable to reading? First, it keeps you awake.

(And I don't mean merely conscious; I mean wide awake.) In the second place, reading, if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The marked book is usually the thought-through book. Finally, writing helps you remember the thoughts you had, or the thoughts the author expressed.” ~Mortimer Adler

Argument Evaluation Tool (15 minutes)

3 Sentence Frames (10 minutes)

Break

Move and Share (20 minutes)

Please appoint a time-keeper. Each person will take no more than

3 minutes to share the key points from the article and the three sentences created from the frames.

Collaborative Writing (25 Minutes) After researching the articles that

provide perspectives on using biotech foods to cure world hunger, write a paragraph that argues the single most significant effect of using biotech food products as a means to end world hunger.

Create paragraph in your group’s Google Doc.

Include as many elements from Toulmin’s Model as possible: Claim Evidence/Data Warrant & Backing Counter-Claim or Qualification Counter-Evidence and Rationale

Debrief

• What do students gain when considering multiple perspectives?

• What challenges face our students as they complete an activity like this?

What’s worth arguing in my content?

• Think about the standards and objectives specific to your content area

• Identify objectives that you could focus argument discussions on in your classroom. Think critically about identifying the issues that cause dissention in the professional field.

For next time…

Use the objectives you have identified as a possible argument-focused discussion point in your PLT.

Design a lesson that infuses elements of argument in your classroom. Bring to next session to share.

As a team, create a five-step plan for making the teaching of argument part of “the way we do business at our school.”

“Advertising is the modern substitute for argument; its function is to make the worse appear the better” – George Santayana

Closure

Next Session: Argument Training, Part II: Thursday, February 19

Project Enlightenment, Room 311 501 S Boylan Ave, Raleigh, NC

8:30-3:30

Please complete this form before you leave.

Session Feedback—ABCs of Argument Training