Are you here for an argument?
Hi, it’s Marypat from Just Add Students ready to argue with
you!
Well, not really. But I am here to give you a suggestion for
getting your students fired up about a writing assignment: Give them something to argue about!
There seems to be nothing middle school students like better
than arguing. And there are tons of
juicy topics your students can sink their argumentative teeth into – cell phone
usage in school, school uniforms, homework, video games as Olympic sports – the
list goes on.
This is the perfect time of year to have students write an
argument and then host a debate.
Step 1: Define what
an argument is.
This makes a great class
or small group discussion. For starters,
you may want to share the Monty Python video with your class: Are you here for an
argument?
As your students come up with the qualities of an argument, have
them create a class anchor chart that lists the elements of a good argument –
and a chart of the elements of a bad argument.
Step 2: Choose the
topic.
By this time in the school year,
you probably know some (or many!) of your students’ passions, pet peeves, and
tirades. If your students are like mine,
they share their feelings quite freely!
Tap into the topics they’re interested in. Focus on topics that are at their level. Political and broad social issues are
generally too complex for my students and often require research that would
extend writing time you may have for the assignment.
You may want to give your students their choice of what to
argue or you may want to assign the topic.
If students are going to choose their own topics, be sure to allow some
time to “prime the pump” by having students brainstorm. The topic “pet peeves” is a good place to
start.
An alternative to allowing students to choose their own
topic is to allow students to choose for a limited number of topics. That way, students can work in groups to
develop ideas and organize their logic.
Additionally, this makes it easy to hold a class debate after the students
have written their arguments.
Step 3: Choose sides.
While your students may not be in favor of
school uniforms or allowing video games to be an Olympic sport, it’s great critical-thinking
practice to ask them to take a side they don’t
personally agree with.
If you want to host a class debate after students have
written their arguments, be sure you have students working on both sides of an
issue.
Step 4: Prewrite,
argue, prewrite, argue, and prewrite some more!
 |
| Use an evidence graphic organizer. |
Before students even begin writing their argument, they need to figure
out what and how they are going to argue.
Use prewriting position and evidence graphic organizers to help your
students determine where they stand on the issue.
Once students have a basic foundation for their argument,
don’t let them start writing. Discuss
the phrase, “Does it hold water?” Students should use this adage as they work
with a partner to determine the validity of an argument.
Pair up students and have them argue their position. The job of the partner is to find holes in an argument. Once that is done, send students back to
their evidence and logic graphic organizers to strengthen their position.
Allow students to meet again with a different partner to argue their case. Again, the partner’s job is to determine if
the argument “holds water.”
Step 5: You might
decide that at this point your students are ready to hold a debate. A simple debate with teams of two works
great. Hosting a debate at this point in
the writing process really solidifies student understanding of the topic and
the logic of the argument.
Whether you choose to hold a debate now or after students
have finished writing their papers, you’ll find the debate is a blast! I’ll write more about how to host one in a
future post.
Step 6: Write the
argument! At this point, most students
will feel like the argument writes itself!
You can download the free evidence graphic organizer from myTpT store to help your students gather evidence.
Have fun “arguing”!
