The Art of Teaching Argumentevidence, reasoning, rebuttal & assessment

artofteachingargument.wikispaces.com

Delia DeCourcy Susan Wilson-GolabOakland Schools

ELA - Social Studies - Science

session 2

Schedule

9:00-9:20 Introduction

9:20-10:00 Evidence

10:00-10:45 Reasoning

10:45-11:00 Break

11:00-11:30 Reasoning

11:30-12:15 Lunch

12:15-12:30 Rebuttal

12:30-2:30 Assessment

2:30-3:00 Wrap Up

Today’s Goals

• to explore sub-skills & strategies of evidence gathering

• to consider how to help students develop more complex reasoning

• to explore elements of rebuttal

• to scrutinize aspects of the assessment of argument

Your Goal Today?

What’s your driving question today?

Share on a sticky note.

Freebody & Luke

Critical Literacy - reader practices

outside to inside -

inside: experiencing and affected by the text

inside/outside:understand, participate, use

outside: author’s meaning & motives

Key Tenets of Critical Literacy

1. involves having a critical perspective

2. students’ cultural knowledge & multimedia literacy should be used

3. the world is a socially constructed text to be read

4. texts are never neutral

5. texts position us in certain ways: interrogate their POV

6. our reading is never neutral: interrogate our own POV

7. understand sociopolitical systems: relationship between language & power

8. text design & production = opp for critique & transformation (authentic audience)

Code Switching with Texts

• Different media require students to code switch.

• Give them practice by using a variety of media.

• Scaffold this code switching when you introduce a new type of media

• multiple reads/viewing/listens

• strategies for each read/viewing

• specific strategies for each medium

Students must be able to analyze a task and determine, then use, strategies that will help them complete that task.

We must provide and model those strategies as the tasks increase in complexity.

SPIRALING SKILL COMPLEXITY

Tasks vs. Strategies

TASK

Write an essay in which you make an argument about the key causes of the Great Recession.

SCAFFOLDS/STRATEGIES

● Read a foundational article together (read / think aloud modeling)

● Students sort info into cause and effect categories

● A selection of articles provided

○ small group inquiry exercises used to read and analyze

● Argument talk protocol to practice/develop claim and evidence

the difference between assigning and teaching writing

Deep Engagement

The Appearance of Thinking

The Evolution of Thinking

Task Design & Scaffolding

• What’s the challenge point you want to work on?

• What can students already do in service to a task?

• What progression do you need to work through to prepare students for the summative task?

People experience flow when…..

1. they are faced with a task they have a chance of completing.

2. they are be able to concentrate on what they’re doing.

3. concentration is possible because the task has clear goals.

4. the experience allows them to exercise a sense of control over their actions.

Csikszentmihalyi’s Characteristics of Flow Experience Controlled by the Teacher

Designing for Flow Experience

Plan for Active Engagement & Flow

1. Choose activities that allow students some sense of competence and control.

2. Select/design tasks with clear goals and objectives.

3. Select/design tasks students can concentrate on because they are appropriately complex.

4. Select/design tasks that provide clear feedback.

5. Plan learning experiences students can complete in the time available.

-George Hillocks, Jr., Teaching Argument Writing

Where on the Task Trajectory?

CONSIDER

• the difficulty of the material students will grapple with

• where students are in their zone of proximal development with these skills

• differentiate as neededimage from: http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-development.html

Task Considerations

• number of texts• complexity of texts• selection of texts

Prescribed Bounded Guided

- Teacher selects text(s)- Teacher devises question

- Student selects texts- Student devises question

- Student selects text(s)- Teacher devises question

(or vice versa)

Selecting Evidence

task progressions

Reading Is Key

Argument is as much about ways of reading as it is about the process of developing an

argument in writing.

Your Table Task

Should Guns Be Controlled in America?

Using the infographics, make a brief (one paragraph) argument for why guns should or should not be controlled/regulated in America. Select the best evidence to support your argument.

Infographics:

• American Gun Facts (pro gun)

• If Guns Were as Regulated as Cars (anti gun)

• Gun Shy? A Look at American Public Opinion on Gun Ownership

Unpacking - Prescribed Task

Critical Literacy

• What would your students need to understand about the authors/publishers of these texts?

• What would they need to know to break the codes of these types of texts?

Enabling Knowledge + Subskills

• What might students need to already know about gun control and current events?

• What would students already need to know how to do to complete the task?

Task Progression - Sorting & Selecting Evidence

Task Progression - Developing a Written Argument

Subskills - Guided Task

Student selects textsStudent devises research question

Task Considerations

• number of texts• difficulty of texts• selection of texts

Prescribed Bounded Guided

- Teacher selects text(s)- Teacher devises question

- Student selects texts- Student devises question

- Teacher selects text(s)- Student devises question

increasing complexity

Reasoning

What Is Reasoning?

- also known as the “warrant” or “bridge”

- An explanation of why or how the evidence supports the claim, the underlying assumption that connects your evidence to your claim. (Purdue OWL)

Matt Damon vs. Reporter/Camera Man

Discuss

Who had stronger seasoning?

How do you know?

What Characterizes Strong Reasoning?

Table Turn & Talk

Post ideas to the Google Community - “Reasoning” Category

Strong Reasoning

● consistent thinking/logic - one point follows to the next

● lifts up/points out the strength of the evidence

● supports evidence that will be most convincing to the audience

● clear connection between evidence and reasoning

● strong connection between the reasoning and the claim

BREAK

Comparing Reasoning

Larry Pratt - Executive Director, Gun Owners of America

• PBS - host

• CNN - Piers Morgan

• Fox News - Glenn Beck

Viewing Questions

AUDIENCE

• Who is the audience for the show?

• Who is the host really speaking to?

• Who is Larry Pratt really speaking to?

REASONING

• Does the reasoning logically support the claims?

PBS - Audience & Claims

Gun Rights, Part 2 (video)--argument that control advocates have "blood on their hands"

Stop & Jot

• Pratt’s Claims?

• The host’s claims?

Post-viewing Analysis

Who was more persuasive in their reasoning?

Why? How?

CNN - Rebuttal, Response & Rhetoric

Turn & Talk

• What role does rebuttal play here?

• How does the rhetoric (pathos, ethos, logos) affect the reasoning?

Glenn Beck - Reasoning & Bias

Reasoning & Bias

• What’s the shared argument?

• Where do we see bias in the interview?

• How does this affect Pratt’s reasoning (or not)?

Comparison/Contrast

(Scaffold - graphic organizer)

• Similarities between interviews?

• Differences between interviews?

• How did Pratt’s reasoning remain the same or change?o When was his reasoning strongest?o To what do we attribute this?

Argument Task - Foundations

Did the Sandy Hook Shooting Prove the Need for More Gun Control?

Side A - Pro Gun ControlAudience: National Rifle Association

Side B - Pro Gun OwnershipAudience: Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

PROMPT: Craft a bulleted argument to your audience in support of your stance. Develop a line of reasoning and provide evidence that would be persuasive to this audience. Identify 2 anticipated counterclaims.

SOURCES: text set on the Art of Teaching Argument wiki

Process

• How will you select credible evidence?

• How will you develop your reasoning?

• How will your knowledge of the audience influence your reasoning across multiple subclaims?

• How will you identify counterarguments?

Complexifying Reasoning

-Use one of the strategies provided in the analytical tool box to deepen your line of reasoning.

-Post your claim/line of reasoning to the Google Community - category “gun control”

until 12:15

Rebuttal

addressing counterclaims

What is Rebuttal?

What someone who disagrees with any portion of the argument might say

Addressed by:

• adding a qualifier to the claim

• writing a response explaining why the counter-argument does not overcome the claim

The Wing$ Saga - Beth Srigley

1. The Wing$ video (3-4 times) + lyrics

2. NBA version of video - make a claim

3. Macklemore’s response to claim that he sold out

4. Critic’s rebuttal to Macklemore

5. Students wrote a claim about who they agreed with an why, pointing to strongest evidence

Assessment

tools & artifacts

Workshop Evaluation

Share your feedback at:

www.surveymonkey.com/s/litworkshopeval

Link is also on the wiki homepage.

Keep Sharing!

Please continue to share compelling visual & textual arguments, ideas, & resources to the Google Community.