Teaching Argument Across the Curriculum
for CCSS and PARCC
Reading, Writing, Science, and Social Studies
www.hydeparkeducationgroup.com
Julianna Cucci
Elizabeth (Betsy) Kahn
Shirley Morikuni
jlcucci@uchicago.edu
ekahn@uchicago.edu
saho@uchicago.edu
www.hydeparkeducationgroup.com
“The federal government can make states, localities and
schools do things — but not necessarily do them well. Since
decades of research make it clear that what matters for
evaluating employees or turning around schools is how well you
do it — rather than whether you do it a certain way — it’s not
surprising that well-intentioned demands for “bold” federal
action on school improvement have a history of misfiring. They
stifle problem-solving, encourage bureaucratic blame avoidance
and often do more harm than good.”
Rick Hess and Linda Darling-Hammond
Workshop Agenda
Participants will
● examine how argument
writing skills are necessary
for success with CCSS and
PARCC.
● develop common vocabulary
for discussing the teaching of
writing effective arguments.
● explore research-based best
practices for teaching
argument well.
● apply argument writing to a
range of subject areas.
● look into lessons, formative
and summative assessments
for argument writing.
A VOLUPTUARY under
the horrors of Digestion
Argument Terms
Claim
Evidence
Reasoning
Major Claim
Sub-Claim
Argument of Fact
Argument of Definition
Argument of Policy
Formative Assessment Possibilities
• I have been invited to dinner with the Prince
Of Wales (The Voluptuary). Should I go?
• Will the Prince of Wales be a good King?
• What criticisms(s) does John Gillray’s etching
of the Prince of Wales (A Voluptuary Under the
Horrors of Digestion) level against the
prospective king?
Workshop Objective
Participants will leave here today with
ideas about how to revise or design
argument-driven instruction for their own
classrooms . . . and with a rationale for
using engaging activities as test prep.
From The Special Place of Argument in the Standards:
The Standards put particular emphasis on students’
ability to write sound arguments about substantive
topics and issues, as this ability is critical to college and
career readiness …
Taken from Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies,
Science, and Technical Subjects Appendix A: Research Supporting Key Elements of the Standards
Gerald Graff (2003) writes that “argument literacy” is
fundamental to being educated...
K–12 schools should “teach the conflicts” so that students
are adept at understanding and engaging in argument
(both oral and written) when they enter college.
Neil Postman (1997) calls argument the soul of an
education . . . When teachers ask students to consider
two or more perspectives on a topic or issue, something
far beyond surface knowledge is required: students
must think critically and deeply, assess the validity of
their own thinking, and anticipate counterclaims in
opposition to their own position.
PARCC 4th Grade Research Task:
Your class has been studying about the survival of
ponies on Assateague Island. Using information from
the articles and video, describe the roles that both the
horses and humans play in horses’ survival. Use
evidence from the articles and the video to support
you answer.
8th Grade Research Task:
Write an essay comparing the information presented in
the video with that presented in the article “Elephants
Can Lend a Helping Trunk” and the passage from
“Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk in a
Cooperative Task.”
Remember to use evidence from the video, the article,
and the passage to support your answer.
9th Grade Research Task
Write an essay that compares and contrasts a primary
argument in each text that you have read regarding the
decision to drop the atomic bomb. Your essay should
explain how effectively you think each argument
supported that claim with reasoning and/ or evidence.
Be sure to use evidence from the three texts to support
your ideas.
6th Grade Literary Analysis Task:
You have read the passage from Boy’s Life and
“Emancipation: A Life Fable.” Both texts develop the
theme of freedom. Write an essay that compares and
contrasts the approaches each text uses to develop
the theme of freedom.
8th Grade Literary Analysis Task:
In Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun, the narrators have points
of view different from those of the parents.
Write an essay analyzing how these differences in points
of view create tension in both stories. Remember to use
details from both texts to support your ideas.
Writing Strands
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.1
Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive
topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient
evidence.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey
complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through
the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the
development, organization, and style are appropriate to
task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.7
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects
based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding
of the subject under investigation.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.8
Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital
sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and
integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.9
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support
analysis, reflection, and research.
Forming
an argument
by examining data
vs.
analyzing the form
What do students need to know
and be able to do?
Skills of Argument
Questions to Ask
1. Take an overall position.
Overall, what do I think?
2. Generate claims.
What can I prove?
3. Select evidence.
How do I know?
4. Explain reasoning.
So what? or How does the evidence
prove my claim?
Skills of Argument
Questions to Ask
5. Imagine arguments from other
sides. (counter-argument)
Who would disagree and why?
6. Respond to counter-argument.
Why don’t their arguments convince
me?
Why is my evidence or reasoning better?
7. Analyze the arguments of others
in different formats, i.e., videos,
images, or written text.
What are the claims? Evidence?
Reasoning?
Pre-test
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Identify what skills students have.
Identify what skills students need to learn.
Fine tune instruction.
Provide a basis for demonstrating student growth
(post-test).
Teacher constructed.
PARCC samples (constructed response).
Slip or Trip?
A case of who dunnit
You are a member of the
investigative team ...
Accident or Murder?
After Margaret and her husband got into a fight,
she stormed out of the house and left him at home
alone. Margaret drove to her country club where a
party was going on. Everyone there complimented
Margaret on her dress and how well it fit her
slender figure, and this made her feel better.
Margaret left just before one in the morning and
invited a few friends to follow her home for one more
drink. She got home ten minutes before they arrived,
but when her friends rang the doorbell, Margaret ran
outside, saying, “Something terrible happened! Charles
slipped and fell on the stairs. He was coming down for
another drink—he still had the glass in his hand—and I
think he’s dead. Oh my God, what should I do?”
The police concluded that Charles died from a
wound on the head, and confirmed the fact that
he’d been drunk. What do you think happened?
Accident or Murder?
Directions: You are a member of the investigative
team. You must determine whether this was an
accident or murder. Analyze the evidence in
Margaret’s story and the picture, and look for clues
to how and why the incident occurred. Once you’ve
gathered the evidence, make your claim. Was it an
accident or a murder?
Slip or Trip?
Looking at the evidence for clues
Evidence pointing toward ACCIDENT
Evidence pointing toward MURDER
Learning what questions to ask ...
Claim:
What do you know?
Is Charles’ death murder or an
accident?
Evidence: Based on the picture,
how do you know?
Reasoning: Why is that important?
What does that mean?
The Write-Up...
Write up a report/ argument about Charles’ death in
which you have a claim, the two strongest pieces of
evidence, and reasoning for each piece of evidence.
You might start like this:
Dear Police Commissioner:
Without a doubt, Charles ___________________.
The most important evidence in this case . . .
As a rule ...
Slip or Trip
Incorporate multiple texts:
VISUAL and written data
Practice skills, with emphasis on
reasoning (linking evidence to claims)
Reinforcing Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning
Formative Assessment
1. CLAIM: The police should pull over that car.
EVIDENCE: It is swerving all over the road.
REASONING:
2. CLAIM: That man is brave.
EVIDENCE: He jumped into a pool of sharks.
REASONING:
.
3. CLAIM: Pablo is a good parent.
EVIDENCE: He buys his son whatever he wants.
REASONING:
4. CLAIM: Pablo is a bad parent.
EVIDENCE: He buys his son whatever he wants.
REASONING:
Sticky Notes Activity
From Teaching Students to Write Argument, 2011
Class-Generated Data
Sticky Notes
What kinds of things do you like to do in your
free time?
Class-Generated Data
Learn to use and apply basic statistics to argument
Sticky Notes
Simple class generated data, which students evaluate
Application to science labs
Can get to more complex data
Applying CCSS Argument to a NGSS Project
Research
and Design
Test
and collect data
Present a persuasive
argument
C
E
R
Big Question: Is the sea lamprey an
invasive species that could have a major
impact on the Great Lakes?
Claim: The sea
lamprey is a super
predator.
Evidence (Text and lab)
Reasoning
Eggs
How does the evidence prove
your claim? Be sure to
connect each piece of
evidence to a scientific
principle.
Lamprey
Trout
Mouth
Lamprey
Perch
How they feed (eat)
Gills
Movement
Digestive System
C E R Writing Sample
“The sea lamprey is a super predator because, first, it
produces a lot more eggs (60,000 - 100,000) than the
perch (1,000 - 15,000) causing there to be many more sea
lamprey to be a predator of the trout/ perch. The
scientific principle that supports this is that organisms in a
food web are related through producer/ consumer,
predator/ prey relationships. If there are more of a
predator, it will cause there to be less of the prey.”
Teacher-constructed Data
Carnegie Hero -- criteria provided, students
apply criteria
School Mascot -- complex problem, students
generate and apply criteria
Reparations (scenarios and case study) -- complex
problem, students generate and apply criteria
Scenarios
Reparations
Friendship
Courageous Action
Hero
Outcast
What is Liberty?
Justice?
Freedom of Speech?
American Dream?
Discrimination?
Scenarios Sample Student Discussion
Missy: The way she says “So there,” doesn’t sound like
she’s sorry. I don’t think that Stella is really sorry…
Ginger: Yeah, but how do you make her be sorry?
Bobby: You can’t make her be sorry, but she should at
least sound like she means it.
Teacher: OK, so you want at least for her to offer a
sincere apology, even if she might in her heart not
really be sincere?
Scenarios Sample Student Discussion
Bobby: Yeah, she has to give a sincere apology.
Suzy: But I don’t think that’s enough. She bit her
and hurt her. Doesn’t it say that she is still bruised
and sore? Stella has to do something nice to make
up for hurting her.
Teacher: So you want Stella to do something more?
What would that be?
Case Study/Role Play
Imagining arguments of others:
Reparations for Native Americans
Which makes the best school mascot?
The Lowland Gorillas
The Miners
The Lemurs
The Manatees
The Lowland Gorillas
From Teaching Students to Write Argument, 2011
Assessments: Prompts and Rubrics
Formative
Follow-up writing
Criteria-guided revision
Summative
Classroom
School wide
District wide
What do all these activities have in common?
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Authentic, engaging data
Complex problem(s)
Talking before writing
Internalize questions as
thought process
Process before form/product
C3 and Argument
“The disciplines that make up the social studies,
including the behavioral and social sciences, stress
the importance of arguments, and in particular, the
necessity of constructing them in ways that make
use of sources and data as evidence.”
(C3 Framework, 57)
NextGen Science and Argument
“The study of science and engineering should
produce a sense of the process of argument
necessary for advancing and defending a new idea or
an explanation of a phenomenon and the norms for
conducting such arguments. In that spirit, students
should argue for the explanations they construct,
defend their interpretations of the associated data,
and advocate for the designs they propose” (73).
Percolate
How might you apply these ideas to
your classroom?