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Argument Writing Introduction

Experiencing and Scaffolding the Cognitive Writing Demands in Module 9.4

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Session Objectives• By the end of this session, participants will

be able to: Describe the cognitive demands of and recursive

relationship between close reading and argumentative writing.

Explain how Module 9.4 supports adolescent development of argumentative writing.

Adapt lessons based on the analysis of sample student writing in Module 9.4.

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Materials in this Session• 9.4 Module Overview• Sugar Changed The World excerpt• 9.4.1 Lesson 14• 9.4.1 Lesson 16

You can download all of the modules on EngageNY.org:

http://www.engageny.org/english-language-arts

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Overview of Module 9.4: Design Considerations

• Students closely read the supplementary texts as examples of argument writing, learning the skills and components necessary for strong argument writing.

• Lessons build towards written performance tasks, providing students with the tools to evaluate and synthesize arguments, culminating in a student’s own argument.

• Instruction should respond to the immediate writing needs of students.

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Overview of Module 9.4: Focus• In Module 9.4, students read, analyze, and

evaluate informational and argument writing and build, through focused instruction, the skills required to craft strong and well-supported argument writing of their own.

• Through the study of a variety of texts, students learn to think of the products they use and consume everyday as part of a complex web of global production and trade that extends not only to distant lands but to the past as well.

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Overview of Module 9.4: Texts• Central Text:

Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom and Science

• Supplementary Texts: “Globalization: The Growing Integration of Economies

and Societies Around the World” (World Bank) “How Your Addiction to Fast Fashion Kills”

(law.fordham.edu) “Where Sweatshops Are a Dream” (The New York

Times) “Bangladesh Factory Collapse: Who Really Pays for

Our Cheap Clothes?” (CNN)

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Overview of Module 9.4: Mid-Unit Assessment

• Student complete an Argument Outline Tool in response to the following prompt: “Who bears the most responsibility for ensuring that clothes are ethically manufactured?”

• Students are assessed on their ability to introduce a precise central claim and clearly organize and develop a relationship between two supporting claims and counterclaims, including one piece of evidence to support each supporting claim and counterclaim.

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Overview of Module 9.4: Ongoing & End-of-Unit

Assessments

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Overview of Module 9.4: Module Performance

Assessment

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You Are Here

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Part 1: Experiencing the Cognitive Demands of Argumentative Writing

Part 2: Analyze How Module 9.4 Lessons Scaffold The Tools to Evaluate and Synthesize Arguments.

Part 3: Adapt Lessons Based on Student Writing Needs

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Reading to Support A Written Argument

Time: 15 minutes

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Task #1: Independently, read p. 70 from Sugar Changed the World and “How Your Addiction to Fashion Kills” to build an argument about how low cost fashion relies on harsh labor practices. Annotate the author’s claims and evidence. Use the Argument Outline Tool to organize your planning for an individual response.

Prompt: “Who bears the most responsibility for ensuring that clothes are ethically manufactured?”

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Quick Write• Jot down your reflections on completing this task.

What reading skills did you find yourself using? What did you find most challenging about the

thinking involved in the reading of these excerpts? What does your experience suggest about the

relationship between reading and writing?• Use the “Quick Write” section in your packet.

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Reading to Support A Written Argument

Time: 10 minutes

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Task #2: With a partner, discuss your argument, sharing your Argument Outline Tool. Use the following questions to guide the conversation:

What arguments does the author make about who bears the most responsibility for ensuring clothes are ethically manufactured?

What claims does the author use to support the argument?

What possible counter-claims could challenge the author’s point of view?

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“Bottlenecks”

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• Points where the learning of a significant number of students is interrupted (Anderson, 1996).

• The predictably complex phases of writing can be impediments to developing the desired close reading and argumentative writing skills.

• Can be seen as cognitive, affective, or motivational “obstacles” (Pace & Middendorf, 1994).

• Underscores the necessity of ongoing and authentic formative assessment.

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Deconstructing Our Literate Thinking

Time: 15 minutesEngageNY.org

Task #3: At your table, discuss how you closely read the two text excerpts and created your Argument Outline Tool. Use the Grade 9 standards (CCRA.R.9, RI.9-10.2, RI.9-10.3, RI.9-10-8, and W.9-10.1.a-e) and the following questions to guide the conversation:

How did your thinking with the text align to the Grade 9 writing standards?

What skills did you employ to closely read the text excerpts?

What questions about the topic did the text evoke? What “bottlenecks” did you encounter with the text and

how might these be similar or different than those “bottlenecks” experienced by your students?

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Bon Appétit

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Session Objectives• By the end of this session, participants will be

able to: Describe the cognitive demands of and recursive

relationship between close reading and argumentative writing.

Explain how Module 9.4 supports adolescent development of argumentative writing.

Adapt lessons based on the analysis of sample student writing in Module 9.4.

EngageNY.org

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You Are Here

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Part 1: Experiencing the Cognitive Demands of Argumentative Writing

Part 2: Analyze How Module 9.4 Lessons Scaffold The Tools to Evaluate and Synthesize Arguments.

Part 3: Adapt Lessons Based on Student Writing Needs

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Analyze the Scaffolding and Sequencing

of Module 9.4 Lessons 1-14

Time: 10 minutesEngageNY.org

Task #4: Annotate the Module/Unit at a Glance Calendar (p. 8-11). Use the following questions to guide your annotations and explore relationships between text excerpts, standards, tools, and the mid-unit assessment:

What text excerpts are used and how are they sequenced?

What writing and reading standards are addressed in lessons 1-13?

What tools are introduced and scaffolded for students in lessons 1-13?

How do the lessons prepare students for the mid-unit assessment?

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Meet Ani Rosario• 3rd year English teacher at Dansville High School• Teaches both 9th grade Honors English and 9th grade

regular English courses• Piloted ten lessons of Module 9.4 during April-May • Used Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, leading to Mid-

Unit Assessment• Had previously taught the Odell Close Reading Unit with

these same students• Has met with fellow English teaching colleagues (cross-

district) since September to unpack modules• Dansville High School: 575 students, rural, 65% low income• 83% of students at/above a “3” on State English

Accountability

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Analyze the Writing of Ani’s Students

Time: 15 minutes

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Task #5: You have been provided with writing samples for two of Ani’s students. For each student, you have been provided an initial quick write, a close reading annotation, and the mid-unit assessment. Annotate the student writing samples using the following standards:

CCRA.R.9 RI.9-10.2 RI.9-10.3 RI.9-10-8 W.9-10.1.a-e

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Comparison of Annotations

Time: 10 minutesEngageNY.org

• Join a set of partners who reviewed a different student’s writing.

• Share evidence of students meeting the standards.• Discuss evidence of standards not seen in the writing

standards. • Identify the top two/three writing needs of each

student using the standards below as a guide. CCRA.R.9 RI.9-10.2 RI.9-10.3 RI.9-10-8 W.9-10.1.a-e

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Looking Ahead: End-of-Unit Assessment

What skills must these spotlight students master in order to be successful on the End-of-Unit Assessment?

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Backward Design: Begin with the End in

MindStage 1: What do we want students to understand, know, and be able to do?

Stage 2: What will be the evidence that they have accomplished this?

Stage 3: What learning activities will lead to the desired outcomes?

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Stage 1 – Learning Goals• Common Core Standards, Content Standards,

and Other Established Goals• Transfer Goals (CCR)• Meaning Goals (Understandings and Essential

Questions)• Acquisition Goals (Knowledge and Skills)

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• Directly reflects goals identified in Stage 1 • Elicits evidence to validate that the targeted

learning has been achieved• Sharpens and focuses teaching • Performance tasks: Students apply learning to

a new and authentic situation to assess their understanding and ability to transfer their learning

• Other evidence: Assessments of discrete knowledge and skills

Stage 2 – Evidence

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• Instructional activities are designed after identifying desired knowledge, skills, and understanding, and determining acceptable evidence toward those goals.

• Formative assessment practices are part of lesson design to check for student understanding and progress toward desired goals.

• Activities are differentiated to ensure that all students will reach the desired outcomes.

Stage 3 – Instructional Activities

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Analyze the Writing of Ani’s Students

Time: 10 minutesEngageNY.org

Task #6: Choose one of the lessons (15-18) following the Mid-Unit Assessment. Annotate the lesson by identifying evidence of each stage of Backwards Design. Then, adapt the lesson according to the previously identified writing need of at least one spotlight student. Consider the following:

How might an additional standard need to be addressed in the lesson?

How might formative assessment provide a richer understanding of the writing growth and ongoing needs of students?

How might the planned activities be adapted to provide more focused and explicit writing instruction for the spotlight students?

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Closing Discussion• What “bottlenecks” did the spotlight students

encounter?• How do the current lessons in Module 9.4

account for these “bottlenecks?”• What adaptations could help address these

“bottlenecks?”• What do we want our fellow teachers to

understand about supporting adolescent argumentative writing in Module 9.4?

CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT CIRCULATE

Online Parking LotPlease go to http://

www.engageny.org/resource/network-team-institute-materials-may-13-16-2014

and select “Online Parking Lot” for any NYSED

related questions.

Thank You!

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