(Re)Designing Argumentation Writing Units for Grades 5-12

Writing plays a crucial part in all education disciplines, helping students to communicate their ideas to different audiences and extend their content knowledge. Developed for teachers, curriculum designers, and literacy coaches, this user-friendly guide offers practical recommendations, strategies, and tips for establishing argumentation units of instruction that empower students to artfully and logically present and convince others of their position.

Benefits

Examine the characteristic elements of an argument and the benefits of teaching students to work through how to structure an argument. Examine an argumentation unit map, its learning goals and guiding questions, and then develop cohesive units based in argumentation writing. Complete exercises throughout the book that will help to create consistent, engaging units that will prepare students to take on any writing challenge that asks them to exercise their persuasive-writing skills. Design a full lesson on argumentation, from establishing author s purpose, to supporting a thesis with evidence, to presenting counter-arguments. Download templates, checklists, rubrics, and student activities useful for designing an argumentation unit and guiding lessons. Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Preparing for Argumentation

Chapter 2: Building an Argumentation Unit Map

Chapter 3: Formulating a Pre- and Culminating Assessment and Establishing Criteria for Success

Chapter 4: Writing Engaging Introductions Using Gradual Release of Responsibility

Chapter 5: Designing Lessons

Epilogue

Appendix A: List of Figures and Tables

Appendix B: Professional and Student Resources

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