Literally Speaking
Spring 2017
Why Argue?
people to suspend judgment, weigh evidence, consider multiple
perspectives, and speak up with wisdom and grace on behalf of
themselves and others,” says Mary Ehrenworth (Columbia University) in
this article in Educational Leadership. A key priority across subject
areas, she believes, is teaching debating skills – giving students
“structured opportunities to engage in deliberative exploration of
ideas, evidence, and argument.” The key skills of thinking, arguing,
and writing aren’t innate: students need to be explicitly taught to
use logic and reasoning to:
- State a specific claim;
- Support it with evidence;
- Correlate evidence to support different ideas;
- Cite authoritative sources to bolster the argument;
- Create questions to deepen their understanding and illuminate complexity;
- Revise their ideas and evidence to make a logical and compelling sequence;
- Lead their audience through their argument with a clear
introduction and sophisticated transitional phrases;
- Consider opponents’ strongest points so they can acknowledge or
refute counterarguments;
- Acknowledge nuance and conditionality.
Drawing on her work with the Teachers College Reading and Writing
Project, Ehrenworth shares some insights about developing students’
argumentation skills:
- Start with talk. One of the best ways to develop
spoken argument by having small groups of students engage in quick,
one-on-one “flash debates” (see below for suggested topics). As
students conduct these mini-arguments, the teacher circulates,
commenting on effective and less-effective approaches.
- Develop a strategic curriculum. Students need lots of
students have opportunities to hone their skills in English, social
studies, science, math, and other subjects as they move through the
grades. For example, a middle school could have students in ELA debate
the pros and cons of interscholastic sports, in social studies whether
the American Revolution radically changed conditions for many people,
and in science which forms of renewable energy citizens should adopt.
- Choose and prepare content. It’s important to get
not, for example, whether the Holocaust happened.
- Then it’s important to seek out or develop sets of relevant texts.
“You’ll save yourself frustration later if you make sure there are
good texts for your students’ age and reading levels before you commit
to a unit of study,” says Ehrenworth. “Gather texts that provide a
variety of perspectives, levels of nuance, and degrees of objectivity
or bias.” She and her colleagues have found that having students surf
the Internet is not a good use of valuable classroom time. Better for
students to be reading, critiquing, thinking, and writing with a
well-chosen set of texts with which the teacher is familiar. With
well-chosen material, even students in the primary grades can engage
in making claims, making logical arguments, and citing sources.
- Teach students how to apply their skills in new
strategies in an argument unit, student-made props with effective
strategies, teaching tools on specific small-group and conference
skills, mentor texts incorporating strategies, exemplar arguments, and
writing checklists. It’s also a good idea for teachers to share their
tools to coordinate between grades and avoid duplication.
-Educational Leadership, February 2017
PARCC Update
The PARCC released items are valuable instructional tools that will give teachers better insight into how students may demonstrate mastery of the standards and how they might be helped on their pathways to academic success. The test items offer insight into the kinds of questions students are seeing on the test, so the assessments aren’t a mystery.
Middle school PARCC testing will be May 1, 2 and 3 for ELA and May 8, 9 and 10 for Math.
2016 PARCC Released Items
Heads Up for Spring Writing Units
Well, Groundhog Day has come and gone, and that furry little critter is our reminder that it’s time to start thinking about/planning for our March/April writing units! You may want to start front-loading for the unit by reading related anchor texts in your reading block. Here are the grade-level units for early spring:
Grade 6 -- Personal Narrative (Unit 1 in the TC box)
Grade 7 -- Analyzing Complex Texts for Meaning, Craft, & Tone (If, Then … pages 113-120)
Grade 8 -- Information Position Paper (Unit 3 in the TC box)
Also, with standardized testing approaching in May, teachers may want to carve out some time for a brush-up of writing for specific analysis and narrative prompts, depending on the needs of each class.
Two Blogs: Lots of Tips & Tricks
Two Reflective Teachers
Two teachers from Simsbury, Connecticut, Melanie Swider & Melanie Meehan, created a helpful blog that was a result of emails and shared posts. With multiple years and a variety of educational experiences between them, they banded together to share their thoughts and experiences to help other teachers. They welcome questions from teachers around the country. They want their blog to be a place for educators to develop as teachers, leaders, and learners. (Two Reflective Teachers).
Swider and Meehan have shared a variety of tips and tricks on Workshop strategies, thoughts on other blogs, ideas for anchor charts, professional books, and bulletin board ideas.
Blog Address
Two Writing Teachers
Two Writing Teachers is also another helpful blog where teachers contribute their ideas and strategies. Eight teachers from around the country collaborate on this blog. They share their insight and experiences on teaching Language Arts. The blog is filled with plenty of resources and their popular Slice of Life section.
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