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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
Overview
Essential Question: How can we compose compelling evidence-‐based arguments to inform and sway knowledgeable audiences on topics of political and social concern? As part of this work, how do we defend these through writing and speech? Bends in the Unit: • Bend I: Composing and Supporting First Drafts of Positions • Bend II: Honing Evidence to Strengthen Arguments • Bend III: Becoming More Nuanced -‐ Allowing for Complexity and Counterargument Anchor Texts and Materials • Should Child Soldiers Be Prosecuted for Their Crimes? • Victims, Perpetrators, or Heroes? Child Soldiers Before the Criminal Courts • Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah • Downloadable text set/bibliography attached as Appendix A • Resources from Model UN for simulations: http://www.unausa.org/global-‐ classrooms-‐model-‐un/for-‐educators/resources W 8.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence W 8. 8 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using research terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation W8.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research
CCSS/LS Standards Addressed in this Unit
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RI 8.1 RI 8.9 S&L 8.4
Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation. Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-‐ chosen details, use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
Welcome to the Unit love this unit of study for how it sets kids up for really ambitious work, and teaches We
them a toolkit of skills they can use from now through law school or when they are journalists or social activists. In this unit of study, eighth graders will learn to compose and defend positions on an issue of global concern, and they will take part in panel debates through a modified Model United Nations format. This unit builds on the simulation work of Model United Nations, and the TCRWP’s research on argument in a think tank with colleagues at ETS, as well as Deanna Kuhn’s work on teaching argument at Columbia University. One big focus of this research was if we could raise the level of kids’ argument writing by working on their talk -‐ their logic, their ability to call on evidence, their ability to respond to counterarguments. After a year-‐long think tank that focused on weaving debate into classroom structures, we can tell you that working on kids’ ability to defend arguments through debate really helps them with their writing. We center the unit on the current debate around the status of child soldiers. In international law courts at the United Nations and in Geneva, one of the most pressing topics over the last few years has been the issue of child soldiers, including how to protect them, how to make recruitment illegal, how to rescue them. The courts have also argued over whether child soldiers are accountable for their actions. That is, should they be treated as victims or as perpetrators? Is there an age at which their status should change? If they commit crimes at 18 but were recruited at 10, is the 18 year old accountable for crimes against humanity -‐ such as recruiting more child soldiers? There is no easy answer for these questions, which is why the topic has authenticity as a complex, highly current, relevant to teens, truly debated topic. That’s the kind of topic that will give authenticity and stir up engagement for this unit. We’ve mirrored the debate around the kind of debate that is being held at the UN and in various international courts. (Of course, you may choose a different argument. On our website you’ll find, under
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
digital text sets, a variety of nonfiction digital text sets around debatable topics, representing varied perspectives on nuclear power, on whaling, on bottled water, on the Japanese internment camps and so on -‐ debatable topics that are grounded in social studies and science, in case you want to make this unit an interdisciplinary one.)
Getting Ready prepare for this unit, you’ll want to figure out ahead of time the structure for your To
simulation, so that students have a clear sense of audience and purpose, and you can harness any colleagues, parents, and spaces that you may want to involve. We suggest a modified version of the Model United Nations format, which will allow for caucuses, debates, and panel presentations. Picture this: your eighth grade simulates a symposium that is being hosted at the UN, to debate the accountability of child soldiers through the voices of knowledgeable teens. The main discussion will center on the question of whether child soldiers should be treated overall as perpetrators or as victims (you’ll see this is much debate in international courts). Panels will present their positions to teams of delegates. The teams of delegates will include representatives of groups such as UNICEF, who rescues child soldiers, Amnesty International, who represents them in law courts, and national tribunals, who have occasionally tried to hold older teens accountable for crimes against humanity. These delegates, or the audience, will be teachers, parents, and students. Every student will be on a panel that presents, and they’ll also play roles in the audience. Students will need to know which group they are arguing to, so they can tailor their arguments accordingly. Meanwhile, if some of your students do additional research, smaller committees may meet to discuss related positions, such as the treatment of girls versus boys, the age at which children should be considered victims, and so on. Along the way, students will prepare for their panels by debating their positions often, working to improve their arguments and their delivery. You’ll also want to assemble starter sets of texts that will anchor the unit. We use the same texts to anchor this unit of study and the parallel reading unit on critical nonfiction research. We’ve included a downloadable text set at the end of the unit -‐ it is the same text set that anchors our concurrent reading unit in critical nonfiction research. A note about why we’ve narrowed the topic to one central one that the class is debating -‐ essentially, after a lot of piloting, we found that there was so much teaching about reading critically, angling evidence, seeking nuance, and that there was enough scope for kids to differentiate their claims and arguments, to justify an immersion study. Basically, kids start out with shared text sets, but not every kid will read every text, and the kids will gradually develop iterations of the central topic. It turned out that in order for teachers to actually teach the writing moves, it was important that they have read the texts that anchor the unit.
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
You might decide differently, of course. We did try first all kids on their own topics, then research clubs on different topics, and then we settled on a class immersion with lots of scope for taking the topic in different directions -‐ and that’s when we saw the clearest relationship between instruction and transference -‐ what kids actually did. Also, we didn’t want the unit to turn into an internet research unit. It’s a writing unit, and kids don’t have to read dozens of texts to compose compelling arguments. You may find that you need to rewrite some texts at an easier level, or provide some alternatives, for some students. We’ve included videos and websites as well as print texts. If you go with the topic of child soldiers, you might reach out to Invisiblechildren.com or other organizations that will come to your school and share film documentaries and social activism around this topic.
Assessment have a couple of ways that you might assess in order to prepare to teach, and assess to You monitor growth. We have a Performance Assessment for information reading and argument writing that is exactly matched to this unit on our website. You may decide to give that task which takes about one hour, before the unit and after, and invite students to compare their essays. The topic of the Performance Assessment is not the same as the topic of the unit, so you should see an increase that reflects their skill development. If you are doing a formal performance assessment, either before or after the unit of study you’ll find these Common Core aligned performance assessment tasks for information reading and argument writing, text sets, student exemplars, and rubrics, at http://www.readingandwritingproject.com under Performance Assessments.
Another choice would be to look at the on demand argument piece that we recommended you have students write at the start of the year, and evaluate students’ overall grasp of structure and craft. A quick on-‐demand of an argument essay will give you some insight into these skills.
A third choice that some teachers have made is to use the flash draft that students write the first week as their on demand. At the end of the unit, you and your students can compare this flashdraft to the one they write for their final piece, and should see remarkable growth.
The argument checklist, available to TCRWP schools, will also let your student self-‐assess and set writing goals across the unit of study. We weave this checklist across the unit -‐ and we encourage you to adapt and create checklists with students to help them develop a crystal clear vision of the work they are aiming for. Do not duplicate. For copies, visit our website: readingandwritingproject.com DRAFT 2013-2014 ©
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
Bend I: Composing and Supporting First Drafts of Positions Bend I, Session One: Writers investigate both sides of an issue We suggest you launch your simulation on the first day. You might say something like: Writers, we’ve just received this note from the principal:
Dear Eighth Graders, Recently there has been a lot of press about the status of child soldiers. It’s not that anyone is for child soldiers, but there has been a lot of debate over questions like: whether or not they should be held accountable for their actions, how responsible they are for what they do as children and as young adults, whether it’s safe to give them amnesty and put them in local schools. In fact, the United Nations and many international tribunals have been tackling this issue. Whether it is because we want to be better informed in order to inform others, or whether we decide to advocate for one side or the other through letters or other activism, or whether we want to be ready in case the opportunity comes to offer placements here to prior soldiers, it feels important for us to enter this argument. The most urgent debate centers on the question of child soldiers -‐ victims or perpetrators. We will hold a symposium here in five weeks. You will represent the sides of this argument, giving speeches and hosting panel discussions. I know that your work will honor this topic and the teens who are caught up in this trouble.
Sincerely,
Principal Granger
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
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With that introduction, you can move right into teaching students that one way writers begin to compose an argument is to suspend judgment -‐ to consider “Today I want to teach you the two basic sides of the issue, and collect some evidence for both that one way writers begin to sides. You might show students video clips or read aloud texts that compose an argument is to suspend judgment -‐ to show two different sides of a topic, taking notes as you go so they consider the two basic sides of can summarize the arguments, and then practice debating the issue, and collect some them. We recommend one excerpt from Long Way Gone that evidence for both sides.” shows some of the violence committed by these soldiers, and another excerpt or film interview that emphasizes how little choice child soldiers sometimes had over their actions. Basically, you want to offer up evidence for both sides, to demonstrate that it’s important to keep an open mind when beginning to frame an argument. Your teaching point in session one, therefore, might be: “Writers know that when we compose arguments we are composing claims supported by reasons and evidence. One way to begin this work is to suspend judgment, and research the sides of an issue and the evidence that supports both those sides.” Your demonstration teaching might sound like: “Today, we are going to encounter some texts about the topic we will study for the next couple of days, and we are going to figure out an issue hiding in this topic and the sides of that issue. As we do research, we want to gather notes in a manner that supports claims and evidence. Why don’t you take a moment to set up your notes in a system that will make sense to you? I know you’ll want to keep track of sides, and sort reasons, and reference your sources. What will you do to set up your notes?” You’ll probably want to model the kind of notes that move right to determining ideas and supporting evidence – so you might model jotting down boxes and bullets. For instance, if you are watching an interview with Ishmael Beah on his experience as a child soldier, you might jot: Child soldiers are victims: • Beah’s village was destroyed and he had no home but the fighters • Beah’s family was killed and he had no family but the fighters • Beah was made to commit violence through drugs and force Then you’ll want to read or show an opposing view and have students practice. So with a second video or article, you and students might jot: Child soldiers are perpetrators: • Some commit heinous acts of violence
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
• • •
When Unicef tries to rescue them, sometimes they won’t leave When rescued, they sometimes return to the fight and continue to kill As adults they sometimes recruit more child soldiers
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A note about note-‐taking: Later, you’ll want to show students how to sort and categorize their evidence. It’s often helpful if that evidence is on post-‐its, or can be sorted. In any case, figure out if you want to teach one note-‐taking system, or if you’ll encourage students to try their own systems, which they’ll evaluate and improve upon across the unit. If kids are taking notes digitally, a lot of teachers and students favor Evernote or Emodo. Chris Lehman’s Energize Research Reading and Writing (2012) is a helpful resource for tackling more idea driven (versus plagiarism driven) note-‐taking. You might finish your first session by inviting student to try out debating the different sides of the argument. If they’ve suspended judgment, they should have some evidence for both sides, and be able to muster a preliminary argument. Possible conferences might include coaching them already on body language, tone of voice, and confident speaking moves. Bend I, Session Two: Researchers continue to gather evidence, paying attention to logic and emotions. Your students have barely begun to scratch the surface of this issue, but they’ll already want to take sides. Here, then, you might teach them that researchers begin to commit to a certain side not just on logic or on emotion, but often on “Today I want to teach you that both. Researchers pay attention to the logic of arguments, which researchers begin to commit to a means they are weighing evidence, and not just persuaded by certain side not just on logic or rhetoric or preconceived ideas. Paying attention to how parts of an on emotion, but often on both. Researchers pay attention to the argument stir up our emotions also matters, as that emotional logic of arguments, which means response may mark a response to injustice or something that seems they are weighing evidence, and not just persuaded by rhetoric or terribly unfair. Today, invite each student to read at least one more preconceived ideas.” text, so that they’ve encountered three. If your minilesson focused their attention on continuing to research, and weighing their evidence for its logic and its emotional appeal, your midworkshop instruction might invite students to try defining their position as they stand currently, by flashdrafting a quick essay.
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Bend I, Session Three: Using Checklists to Set Goals and Strive to Meet Them In this session, you might bring out the argument checklist “Today I want to teach you that (available to TCRWP schools, or you can make one based on the writers often have in mind some CCSS), and teach students that writers often have in mind some crystal clear goals not just for their writing, but for themselves crystal clear goals not just for their writing, but for themselves as as writers. That is, they decide writers. That is, they decide how they want to outgrow how they want to outgrow themselves, and they set goals and strive to meet them. Put the themselves, and they set goals and strive to meet them.” checklist alongside their fastdrafts of the day before; invite your writers to self-‐assess. Then you might show them that some of their goals are long term, and others are quick fixes -‐ they can immediately, right now, make their draft better. You might invite them to share their writing goals, divide into centers around those goals, and set out immediately, by the end of the period, to have strengthened one part of their draft. The point of this work is that not every writing goal needs lots of instruction and time to reach towards. Some writing goals simply need focus and attention. Possible small group work on this day might focus on certain elements of the checklist. For example, you could list the time at which you’ll offer a small group on riveting introductions, and students might sign up for that group. Or you might offer a group on spinning evidence so it really supports your claim. Or you might offer a group on what counterclaim really means, and how writers begin to acknowledge a counter claim. Bend I, Session Four: Revising With Great Speeches In Mind Because your writers are preparing not only to write position “Today I want to teach you that papers, but to deliver them, you might introduce speeches as mentor often writers often try on some of texts already, teaching students that often writers often try on some the writerly moves that other speech writers have made, to of the writerly moves that other speech writers have made, to begin begin to improve their own to improve their own powers of persuasion. The might watch some powers of persuasion.” of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speeches, and/or great moments from films. You might have some clips from the film The Great Debaters. You might have some speeches printed out for them, from JKF and Dr. King, from Patrick Henry and Soujorner Truth. By now, your students should know how to study a mentor text, annotate it, talk about it, try to name some of the writerly moves, and then try to duplicate some. In small groups or conferences, you might either demonstrate how you might mentor yourself to one of these authors, or you might do some guided writing with students, co-‐ authoring some sections of their position papers together, in the spirit of the mentor text
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
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you choose. That kind of guided writing could be useful for more reluctant writers, and for strong writers, depending on the complexity of the mentor text. For your share, you might invite students to deliver their revised fast drafts as speeches, in small groups, and give props to each other for particularly effective parts.
Bend II: Honing Evidence to Strengthen Arguments
In this bend, you’ll help your students improve their skills at choosing, sorting, integrating, and analyzing text evidence in support of their position. They’ll have done some of this work before, and it continues to be important, as the texts they read become more nuanced, as they strive to match their evidence to the parts of their arguments, as their arguments become more complex. Bend II, Session One: Writers Sort Evidence and Organize it to Match Their Main Points There are two main ways that argument writers often organize “Today I want to teach you that writers often try developing their their central points. One way is to come up with main talking main points and matching points, and then assemble evidence into those points. Another way evidence by jotting their main is to gather evidence, and then sort that evidence into categories, points and then moving the related evidence under those or talking points. We suggest that you model both methods. You points, or by a different method, might teach your students, then, that “writers often try developing which is to sort their main their main points and matching evidence by jotting their main evidence, and see if it falls into some central ideas, or points.” points and then moving the related evidence under those points, or by a different method, which is to sort their main evidence, and see if it falls into some central ideas, or points.” In terms of organization, many students find it helpful to transfer summaries of their main evidence onto some post -‐its so they can sort it more easily (some will already have post-‐its as notes). Otherwise they can print pages of their notes, or Xerox them, and cut them up. Sorting is one of the more analytical thinking moves, as there are a variety of ways to sort evidence, from most to least relevant, into categories, into reliability, into how well-‐ crafted it is, and so on. You might pull a small group of advanced writers to show them that they can already be evaluating their evidence for its craft/persuasiveness as well as its content. You may also need to pull some small groups of students to help them sort out reasons/ways as parts of their argument, and how their evidence matches each part. The argument for child soldiers earning a victim status, for instance, might argue based on the different reasons they are victims, or the different ways they are victims. Don’t overstress
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
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about students’ structure or how they name each part, as they are sure to revise it once they do more research, or begin to acknowledge the counterargument. Every student should be able to draft a plan of his or her main points, attach the most salient evidence underneath each point, compare their work with a partner, and finish by talking out at least one main point in detail, as rehearsal for a speech. Bend II, Session Two: Appropriating Arguments From Other Authors Whenever we join a debate, discussion, or argument, usually “Today I want to teach you that others before us have taken part in this argument. That means we writers often share the stance of often can join a side that already exists, and study up on what that some of their sources, and they appropriate some of their side tends to say when defending their position. Today, therefore, evidence and language.” To do you might teach your students that “Writers often share the stance this work, writers often revisit of some of their sources, and they appropriate some of their the texts of sources they admire, finding particular, specific parts evidence and language.” To do this work, writers often revisit the they want to quote.” texts of sources they admire, finding particular, specific parts they want to quote. As a possible midworkshop, you might revisit how writers embed their evidence by phrases such as ‘according to noted UN negotiator...’ or ‘in the video of the child-‐activist group, Invisible Children.’ They’ll already know how to use phrases that refer to the text, but you might add on phrases that refer to particular authors. Bend II, Session Three: Noting When Sources Use Powerful Language, and Quoting It When experienced writers quote sources, they know to not only “Today I want to teach you that quote juicy facts, they also lean on the carefully worded quotation -‐ writers are alert for those phrases or parts that are so powerfully the language that says it better than we ever could. Today, you worded that you want to include might teach your students that writers are alert for those phrases the exact language in your own or parts that are so powerfully worded that you want to include the argument.” exact language in your own argument. You might find that some students need support in the actual act of transcribing quotes -‐ which is where it’s helpful if you know some of the texts well. Last year, we were surprised how many eighth graders quoted inaccurately, or struggled with systems for annotations. You might pull a small group and say, “Today I want to teach you that another way to make our argument stronger is, as we research, we collect compelling quotes. Sometimes we find the exact words an author said moving, or compelling, or upsetting and we know we’ll want to include them in our writing just as they are. When we come across a sentence or two that strikes us that way, we copy the words and the source down in our
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
notebooks, making sure to put quotation marks around it and jot down who said it and where it came from. Then we jot about why this quote matters and how it connects to the debates in this issue, which side it supports and how. We might write, “This quote matters because…” “It shows that…” If we’re taking notes digitally, then we need to develop a system for annotating. Other students might need support in embedding quotes in their own arguments. Some tend to quote long passages, and might need reminders of how to exert the juiciest bit, and of the sentence starters that come after a quote, such as ‘this makes it clear that...’ ‘so and so demonstrates that...’. Bend II, Session Four: Writers Don’t Just Plop in Evidence, They Work at Analyzing Evidence and Spinning It One of the trickier aspects of composing compelling arguments is weaving in and analyzing text evidence so that it props up the author’s position, and doesn’t just become a long list of details. Frankly, we haven’t solved the question of teaching eighth graders to do this work incredibly gracefully. Sentence starters for leading into and out of text evidence definitely help a lot of writers, and you might teach students that, “writers recall phrases that are part of the genre of analytic writing that many writers employ when analyzing evidence.” A helpful chart might look like: Leading into text evidence
Leading out of it
According to...
So and so shows...
In the article/documentary/interview...
This source makes it clear...
One of the most significant pieces of evidence that supports...
This evidence demonstrates that...
For example, also, in addition
All of this evidence adds up to show that...
You might begin a chart like this, and add to it as helpful phrases come to you and your writers.
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
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A possible midworkshop might turn to another technique that helps lead young writers to more analytical stances. That is to consider the verbs writers use to describe their sources. Consider this list: Suggests Supports the idea that Illustrates Demonstrates Serves as an example of Reveals Makes clear Makes evident Argues Proves
“Today I want to teach you that writers consider whether a particular piece of evidence is an example that suggests a point, or proves a point, can really help them analyze more closely how specific, relevant, and valid their evidence is for each point.
Teaching students that writers consider whether a particular piece of evidence is an example that suggests a point, or proves a point, can really help them analyze more closely how specific, relevant, and valid their evidence is for each point. Bend II, Session Five: Inquiry With Mentor Speakers, Trying Out Our Speeches and Getting Feedback In this session, you might begin by doing an inquiry with some mentor speakers, where students watch some speeches and jot notes on effective writerly moves and effective speaking moves. (Youtube has great videos of JFK, Dr. King, clips from The Great Debators, Toni Morrison doing Soujourner Truth...) The question they want to ask themselves is: When is this speech especially compelling, and what makes the speech so compelling at that point? Coach them to pick up details such as writing craft and also speaking craft -‐ eye contact, hand and body language, tone of voice, and so on. Then you might teach your students that writers find it’s often helpful “Today I want to teach you to try out their speeches along the way, and get feedback from a that writers find it’s often knowledgeable audience. With the ‘qualities of effective speeches,’ helpful to try out their notes in hand, have them partner up or work in small groups, and give speeches along the way, and get feedback from a each other feedback on what they are doing well -‐ when they are knowledgeable audience.” doing some of the things that they noted in their mentor texts. It’s usually more helpful for kids to hear from each other what they’re doing well. On their own, they might choose something from this list that they want to improve at.
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
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If there’s time, student might also assess their speeches using the argument checklist, to see how they’re doing with the work they set out to do. A lot of them may note that they haven’t done much counter-‐argument work yet -‐ that can be a segue into your next bend of the unit. Bend II, Session Six: Writers flashdraft to get a sense of how their position paper is coming along, and to make their claims more nuanced if needed. Your students will have drafts now that have begun to change a lot “Today I want to teach you that from their first one, and they’ll have all sorts of notes and jottings writers flashdraft to get a sense of and ideas for making their position paper, and even their position, how their position paper is coming different. We suggest that you have them put aside their first draft, along, to make their claims more nuanced if needed, and to bring a pull all their stuff alongside them, and write a fresh more fluent voice to all the flashdraft. You’ll teach them, then, that writers flashdraft to get a revisions and elaborations they’ve sense of how their position paper is coming along, to make their incorporated.” claims more nuanced if needed, and to bring a more fluent voice to all the revisions and elaborations they’ve incorporated. By now, you’ll notice that a lot of your writers have varied their claim, or become interested in related side issues -‐ which means they may turn to more texts in the text set you provided, or they may want to seek some fresh texts. Keep an eye on how they are framing their research, to help them make claims they can find out enough about. Bend II, Session Seven: Writers sometimes pause to remind themselves of why their argument matters. On this day, we suggest that you might do something different, which is to teach your writers that when you’ve been gathering a “Today I want to teach you that writers sometimes pause to lot of information, and drafting your ideas, you can get caught up in remind themselves of why their all the details, and sometimes lose sight of the bigger implications argument matters. Often, then, of the issue you are researching -‐ the human impact. Teach your they’ll turn to the stories of success, or tales of activism, that writers, therefore, that writers sometimes pause to remind stir up their imagination and themselves of why their argument matters. Often, then, they’ll turn energy, to refuel themselves.” to the stories of success, or tales of activism, that stir up their imagination and energy, to refuel themselves. You might watch some of the videos put out by Invisible Children, such as ‘I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier,” which gives a great sense of hope around this topic. Or you might read some of Ishmael Beah aloud again. Or your kids might make some suggestions about what to watch or read that will help them feel it is all worthwhile.
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
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Bend III: Becoming More Nuanced -‐ Allowing for Complexity and Counterargument
Bend III, Session One: Writers Use Debate to Imagine and Begin to Refute the Counter-‐ argument We’ve found that it’s really helpful to teach students that one way “Today I want to teach you that writers can hone their arguments is to turn to formal debate one way writers can hone their arguments is to turn to formal structures, which can really help writers begin to imagine the debate structures, which can counter-‐arguments for their positions. To help students do this really help writers begin to work, have them divide up by sides, or positions. (If you have a imagine the counter-‐arguments for their positions.” student who is already diverging into a more nuanced topic, pair that student up with someone who feels he or she could counter their position somewhat. If you have uneven numbers, ask if a couple could try arguing the other side). This time, give students a few minutes to caucus with like-‐minded writers, to rehearse their positions quickly -‐ essentially, have them make sure every individual is ready to argue. Then, set up each student with an opponent from the other side. Give each a minute or two to make their main points, supporting them with evidence. When they’re done, have opponents say back what they thought their opponent’s strongest point was -‐ what really gave them pause? Then, send writers back to their own teams to caucus on possible rebuttals to these points. At the end of the period, writers should try writing a counterargument paragraph, while their thinking is fresh. So they will write down a starter such as ‘some might say...’ and then refute it with ‘nevertheless...’ You might decide that a midworkshop would be helpful, that supports the language of counterargument. If so, you might say, “Writers/debaters often call on sentence starters to help us imagine the other side, especially when we feel pretty clear about our own side of an argument but less so about the opposite side. We can push our thinking by trying out some of these prompts:” • “They might want…because…” • “They might think…because…” • “They might want others to feel…because…” • “They might worry…because…” • “They might be angered by…because…” • “They might benefit by…because…” • “They might lose out if…because…” • “On the other hand, there is research to show…such as…” Do not duplicate. For copies, visit our website: readingandwritingproject.com DRAFT 2013-2014 ©
Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
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Bend III, Session Two: Writers Revise Their Positions to Be More Nuanced By now, a lot of your writers have probably begun to revise their original positions. So they may be describing conditions under which their positions hold true (Child soldiers should be held accountable for their actions after they are 18, but not before that), or they may be acknowledging the complexity of the topic (There’s no real way for an outsider to judge what makes a child soldier commit acts of violence. Nevertheless, these acts need to be stopped, and judged), or they may be veering toward an iteration of the topic they find fascinating (While the fate of child soldiers as victim or perpetrator is important, a topic that is hidden in that is what about the girls -‐ are they children or mothers now? What has happened to them? ) This is a good time to teach your writers that debate not only lets “Today I want to teach you that writers hone their arguments, it also helps them revise their debate not only lets writers hone positions to be more nuanced, especially when they really spend their arguments, it also helps them revise their positions to be some time considering which evidence is the most relevant, most more nuanced, especially when compelling, most suggestive. You might say: “Debate lets us try they really spend some time out our claims, adjust them, and refine our reasoning and considering which evidence is the most relevant, most compelling, evidence. Collaborators in argument writing often practice most suggestive.” debating sides of an issue, so that they can better defend a convincing claim. To get ready for debate, writers organize and categorize our notes. You might want to create categories like “reasons why this stance is right” or categories like “compelling information” and “information that we may want to refute.” We organize our notes into one type of categories then reorganize them in multiple ways to really know the information we have gathered and be ready to use it to argue for our assigned stance. After we argue, we make sure we capture our ideas in writing.” Circulate as students prepare for debate and as they argue. For a possible mid-‐workshop you might say: “To be skilled at arguing, you need to be able to imagine the other side – which means sometimes we actually switch sides in practice, and we marshal all the evidence we have to convince someone else of the opposite claim. Remember, a debate is an intellectual argument. We leave our own opinions and passions out and consider only the research we can use to show that our argument is valid. Switching back and forth lets us see which side of an argument we have more convincing and compelling evidence for.” At the end of the period, you may want to gather students again and suggest that, “After debating, writers often write fast and furious to capture some of the most compelling moments of their argument, so they can use that language and stance in their essay. We try to review in our heads all that was said, and get those words down on paper.”
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
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Bend III, Session Three: Siding with sources Sometimes students get fraught over the originality of their claim -‐ when in fact, lots of activists side with others -‐ they set out to support a claim that others have made before, or they join a side of sources they admire. Today, therefore, you might teach your students that as researchers compose and rehearse a claim, they may find “Today I want to teach you that as researchers compose and themselves siding clearly with other authors, and sharing a rehearse a claim, they may find claim they uncovered in their research. Other times they find themselves siding clearly with themselves making a claim that is slightly different than the ones other authors, and sharing a claim they uncovered in their they have seen in their research. Either way they seek the research. Other times they find clearest language for their claim by writing it different themselves making a claim that ways. For your demonstration teaching, you might is slightly different than the ones they have seen in their research. say: “Writers, as we develop our own claim, we sometimes find Either way they seek the clearest ourselves clearly siding with some of the authors or activists we language for their claim by have researched. When we do this, we’ll use many of the same writing it different ways.” reasons and evidence that they do – but we still look to sort and extend our evidence by thinking about which evidence is the most compelling, and how we may want to combine or spin evidence. As a small group, you might pull students whose claims are close to, but not just the same as their source. You might say, “Writers, other times we find that our own claim is slightly different than those of the authors and activists we research, and we’ll use only some of the same evidence, seeking evidence as well in other places, or spinning evidence differently. For instance, my claim is beginning to be that child soldiers are both victims and perpetrators of violence, and I want to use evidence from sources who have argued both sides of that issue. So I’ve been writing my claim several times, and trying out different language, to make sure I get to the clearest claim possible. You might want to try that too.” For a midworkshop, you may want to remind students how to tuck in references in their notes and drafts to the specific authors they are referring to. You might say: “Researchers not only record evidence, we pay attention to the source, or author of that evidence. That means that we jot down not only ‘child soldiers took drugs sometimes before killing.’ We instead jot: ‘In Long Way Gone, on p. 125 Ishmael Beah describes how he and other child soldiers took drugs before and after killing.’ See how we not only paraphrase the information, but also pay attention to the source. Ishmael Beah was a child soldier, and so he is an authority on the subject – he has an insider perspective that is worth noticing and recording, and using in my essay.”
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
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For a share, gather kids together and have them revisit their claims. You might begin by saying, “Writers often write out our claim as a statement, practicing making their language as clear as possible and watching that we are not wishy-‐washy. For instance, rather than saying that child soldiers are sort of victims and sort of perpetrators, my claim will state: Even though child soldiers do perpetrate violence, overall they are more victims than perpetrators.” Then give students a chance to try out their claims a couple of different ways with a partner. Bend III, Session Four: Continuing to weigh evidence The most challenging part of this work, we’ve found, turns out not to be collecting evidence, it turns out to be weighing and evaluating it. For this next lesson, we suggest two teaching points -‐ depending on the skills of your writers, and the depths “Today I want to teach you that of their research, you might make one a teaching point and the researchers review and weigh their other a small group, or you could reverse them. Your evidence, evaluating whether they overarching teaching aims to convince them that researchers have gathered compelling and convincing evidence, from reliable review and weigh their evidence, evaluating whether they have sources. They may do this by gathered compelling and convincing evidence, from reliable looking at the amount of evidence, or they may consider how reliable sources. They may do this by looking at the amount of their source is.” evidence, or they may consider how reliable their source is. If your main teaching point tackles the question of the amount of evidence, you might then say: “Writers, we know that as we develop our argument, we need to gather and marshal all the evidence that will help us support what we are saying. One way to make sure we can support our stance is by asking ourselves: do I have at least 2-‐3 reasons and supporting bits of evidence to support my argument? If not, we need to go back and adjust our stance, or we need to turn to our research partners and texts to gather more evidence. We write to capture, extend, and adjust our thinking.” If your main teaching point tackles the question of analyzing sources for their reliability, you might say: “Researchers often return to our evidence and sort through not only how compelling it is, but also how reliable our sources are. For instance, this digital text was produced by a CNN war correspondent who was embedded in the fighting in Sierra Leone. That feels pretty reliable. In the same way, Ishmael Beah was himself a child soldier – so his evidence is first-‐hand. On the other hand, he might be biased, as he remembers events from the perspective of one of these soldiers, and not of their victims. Nuanced researchers and writers will refer to these details in our essays, not only quoting but evaluating our sources.”
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
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As your students reconsider their evidence, remember that sorting and ordering is one of the most analytical thinking acts. For a possible mid-‐workshop instruction, then, you might say: “Today I want to remind you that the order we present our evidence in for our argument matters. There are certain predictable ways to logically order our evidence so that we can write the most convincing essay possible. One way is by ordering from least to most compelling. Another is from most common to most surprising. Another is from the least to the most reliable. We can play around with our order of reasons and evidence, trying out in our notebook and with our partner, to see what is most compelling.” Sometimes kids begin to get more evidence for their counter-‐argument than their argument -‐ they get confused as they resort their evidence. For a share, therefore, you might gather them and say, “I want to remind you that one way to strengthen our own argument is by refuting the counter argument, the argument against us. We can think of the evidence against us and how we might show that evidence is not telling the full story or is overlooking something else or is not as strong.” Bend III, Session Five: Building a cohesive draft Now’s the time for kids to pull their final draft together. Chances are they don’t have to rewrite a lot of their material, so much as make sure they’ve got all the parts in the right places, with strong transitions. We suggest you teach that as writers finalize their drafts they strive for cohesion. One way to “Today I want to teach you that do this is to to rehearse our essay by ‘writing in the air’ or as writers finalize their drafts they strive for cohesion. One ‘speaking an essay’ with a partner -‐ emphasizing how each part way to do this is to rehearse our connects, trying out transitions, listening for how it all fits. essay by ‘writing in the air’ or ‘speaking an essay’ with a partner -‐ emphasizing how each For your demonstration you might say, “Today I want to teach part connects, trying out you that one of the most important things we can do as argument transitions, listening for how it essay writers is create a cohesive draft, one that is clear and flows all fits. smoothly. We want our reader to understand exactly what we are saying. One way to build a cohesive draft is to rehearse before we write by writing our essay in the air with a partner. We say our claim, and then we often try to say our major reasons, which will be our categories of information. For instance, I might say… “Even though child soldiers are perpetrators of violence, overall they are victims. They are, overall, victims, because usually violence was forced on them, they didn’t have choice, and they weren’t able to control their actions.” Then as I keep rehearsing, I might give some evidence that shows how child soldiers had violence forced on them when their own homes were massacred, how they didn’t have choice because the armed forces became their only family, and how they couldn’t control their actions because they were drugged, and they were younger and weaker than their leaders.
Do not duplicate. For copies, visit our website: readingandwritingproject.com DRAFT 2013-2014 ©
Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
Have your writers say out their essays, then compare what they’ve said to what they have written, listening and looking hard for where their spoken words had more cohesion than what they’ve written. Some kids will really benefit from using their smartphones or iPads (or yours) to video and playback what they said, so they can transcribe parts. For a mid-‐workshop, you might turn writers’ attention to their drafts of their introductions, saying: “Writers, argument writers make certain moves to raise our introductions to new levels. One move we make is to give a little background about the issue at hand to orient the reader and we also might address our reader directly. As we do this, we are careful to try to keep our claim strong and clear, and then explain a bit that a reader might want to know. For instance, in my essay, it might go something like: Even though child soldiers are perpetrators of violence, overall they are victims. They are, overall, victims, because usually violence was forced on them, and they didn’t have choice, or control over their actions. Child soldiers have become increasingly prevalent all over the world, but particularly in the war torn regions of Africa, where boys as young as eight and nine are given guns and taught to kill. Bend III, Session Five-‐Seven: Your students will need time to prepare their position papers, to rehearse them, to get ready for their panels. Some possible instruction might include: • “When writers compose arguments, they know that it’s often worth it to include a variety of kinds of evidence in their writing, and evidence from more than one source. This variety shows the depths of our research and makes our argument more persuasive. One way you “Today I want to teach you that can do this is by going back to incorporate facts, when writers compose arguments, they know that it’s statistics, quotes from experts, anecdotes, examples. often worth it to include a variety of kinds of evidence in • Today I want to teach you that when we incorporate their writing, and evidence from more than one source. This quotes, there are moves that argument writers make to variety shows the depths of our help readers understand these quotes and make them research and makes our harder to argue against. One move we make is to discuss argument more persuasive. One way you can do this is by going where the quote came from and what type of credibility back to incorporate facts, it has. Another move we make is to acknowledge the statistics, quotes from experts, stance of the author who wrote this piece of anecdotes, examples.” research. Or we might use language that shows that we don’t even sympathize with this view, but feel compelled
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
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to include it. We might use phrases like “in an article sympathetic to…”, or “Sadly, the research does suggest that…” or “in Ishmael Beah’s award-‐winning memoir, he describes…” •
“Writers, another way to bring out the relationship between your evidence and argument is to explain your evidence to our reader. You might do this by restating the evidence in your own words or comparing the evidence to something else the reader might understand more. Writers can start, “that’s like…” or “imagine, for example…” And then they may make a comparison to an experience the audience would understand, or they suggest a kind of invented anecdote, like ‘Picture, for example, that your own home were attacked, your family massacred, and shortly after, someone put a weapon in your hand and said you could exact revenge. That’s what it’s often like for child soldiers…’
“Today I want to teach you that another way to bring out the relationship between your evidence and argument is to explain your evidence to our reader. You might do this by restating the evidence in your own words or comparing the evidence to something else the reader might understand more. Writers can start, “that’s like…” or “imagine, for example…” And then they may make a comparison to an experience the audience would understand, or they suggest a kind of invented anecdote.”
Celebration: The UN Debates/Panel Presentations/Symposium As your kids get ready for their debates, you’ll want to focus on their powers of speech as well as writing. This would be a good time to watch some film clips of famous speeches, looking for how these speakers use their voice and body language, how they stir up emotion as well as convince with evidence. You might teach students that writers focus on their audience as they bring their speech to publication, thinking of the particular language and examples they want to “Today I want to teach you that writers focus on their audience as emphasize. You might say, “You may want to extend your they bring their speech to counter argument for instance, so your audience will feel publication, thinking of the heard. Or you may want to consider your vocabulary, and what particular language and examples they want to emphasize.” expert terms you want to define. Or perhaps you need to give more background information and context. These are the kinds of decisions we make as we consider our audience.” Model United Nations provides conference nametags and other speaking tools online, if you want to formalize your debates and presentation -‐ and you should! Have kids dress up, perhaps do it someplace special, invite parents, and film so that you can capture great exemplars for next year.
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
Appendix
Text Set Child Soldiers -‐ Victims, Perpetrators Should Child Soldiers Be Prosecuted for Their Crimes? http://www.irinnews.org/printreport.aspx?reportid=93900 Victims, Perpetrators, or Heroes? Child Soldiers Before the Criminal Courts http://www.redress.org/downloads/publications/childsoldiers.pdf Child Soldiers, More Than Tin Soldiers -‐ Victims & Perpetrators http://kabiza.com/Childsoldiers.htm Child Soldiers: Victims or Perpetrators http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/jjuvl29&div=7&g_sent=1&collectio n=journals Upfront Magazine (April 20, 2009) “Armed and Underage” http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/upfront/features/index.asp?article =f042009_Armed Invisible Children Resources: http://www.invisiblechildren.com http://www.invisiblechildren.com/videos/3765452 ‘I got soul but I’m not a soldier’ A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah http://www.alongwaygone.com/long_way_gone.html Ishmael Beah on CBS News with Katie Couric http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozsOLdgp_y0 Ishmael Beah interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K4yhPSQEzo UN Statistics on Child Soldiers http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/soldiers/soldiers.pdf The UN Involvement on the issues of child soldiers www.childsoldierscasestufy.blogspot.com
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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Writing Curricular Calendar, Eighth Grade, 2013-2014 Unit Three – Position Papers and Speeches
"The Kony 2012 Scam And Why You Should STOP Supporting ‘Invisible Children’." 8 March 2012. http://keepittrill.com/online/2012/03/kony-‐2012-‐scam-‐stop-‐supporting-‐invisible-‐ children/ Child Soldier Ishmael Beah on TheHOUR CBC. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 June 2012. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nx37eVo23Zw Peace talks in Uganda offer some hope for child soldiers Time: World (August 2006) "Hope for Uganda's Childhood Soldiers?" http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1226297,00.htm
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