Argument & Debate
Connecting to the Topic/Issue
Consider:
- What do I already know about this issue?
- What do I not know about this issue?
- Why is this issue important?
- Who is affected by this issue?
- How are they affected?
- If you could find it, what evidence would best support your argument?
Topics, Text Sets & Prompts
401 Prompts for Argument Writing from the NY Times
AllSides: Issues
C-Span Classroom Deliberations
Issue Lab Research
Middle Ground on Youtube
The New York Times Room for Debate
The New York Times Four Decades of Argument and Illustration: Op Ed
The Perspective
Pew Research Center: Topics
ProCon.org
ThinkAlong from CT Public Media
Stossel in the Classroom Both sides of the Issue
Youth Voices Discussions
AllSides: Issues
C-Span Classroom Deliberations
Issue Lab Research
Middle Ground on Youtube
The New York Times Room for Debate
The New York Times Four Decades of Argument and Illustration: Op Ed
The Perspective
Pew Research Center: Topics
ProCon.org
ThinkAlong from CT Public Media
Stossel in the Classroom Both sides of the Issue
Youth Voices Discussions
Video debates about topical issues
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Multimedia news stories that provide the facts with rich context from diverse viewpoints
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Tools
Debate/discussion platform.
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Tool for breaking down claikms.
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Instruction
- Debate Team Carousels: Developing Support for Different Sides of a Controversial Issue (Scroll down for activity) via Educational Leadership
- Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project "Nonfiction Research Across Text Sets Unit of Study"
- They Say, I Say Sentence Templates and Transitions
- Engage NY: Building Evidence Based Arguments
- ARE Intro Fill In: from Middle School Debates
- UNC Chapel Hill Argument Handout
- UNC Chapel Hill Evidence Handout Clearly defines different types of evidence and how to determine what makes good evidence
- UNC Chapel Hill Statistical Evidence Evaluation Handout
- Urban Debate Washington DC
- National Association fo Urban Debates: Teach Debate
- The 300 Word Guide to Pop Up Debate Dave Stuart
- How to Heal a Divided World: Argumentative Writing that Actually Listens to the Other Side Dave Stuart
- 6 Step Process for Teaching Argument Analysis Terry Heick
Resources designed to help teachers understand and teach scientific argumentation.
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From ICivics.
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Heterodox Academy
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Graphic Organizers
Central Question Diagram & Youtube Tutorial
Argument Essay Structure
Argument Writing Rubric
Debate Guide To Speaking and Listenting: from Middle School Debates
Costs Benefits Organizer: from Middle School Debates
Argument Essay Structure
Argument Writing Rubric
Debate Guide To Speaking and Listenting: from Middle School Debates
Costs Benefits Organizer: from Middle School Debates
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Argument Diagramming Open Ed Course from Carnegie Melon
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Logic & Rhetoric
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A playlist of debates in the movies.
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Analyzing Tone
Persuasive Tone Descriptors: confident, authoritative, exaggerated, hyberbolic, mitigated (cautious), judgmental, emotional investment, assumptive (not informed), false authority (cocky/arrogant), internal contradiction, shift in tone, more objective or more subjective.
General Thoughts
- Debate is a method for teaching and practicing argument.
- Trivial topics can't be argued well.
- Argument requires both creating evidence based claims and a supported opposition
- Students will naturally realize when they need information to back up a reason; if info is made up, it will be opposed by other side.
- Present argument to convince a particular authentic audience.
- Learn history through argument by analyzing history's real court cases.
- Release text strategically; lead kids down a path of critical thinking. "I think because" For ex: 1st text what did you see? 2nd text did you see anything else? Go back to 1st text any similarities? 3rd text anything that you saw in others? Read again: What do you see now that you didn't see the first time?
- Introduce technical terms. Define and have students look for evidence of term in text.
- Have students identify which clues of reliability are explicit vs. implicit
- Have students test assumptions using probing questions
- Have students compare/contrast texts for reliability
- When you can't find the perfect text, you may have to write it!
- Give students the opportunity to share an argument that they're having before teaching argument within content area.
- Students need to be aware of False Logic: makes assumptions, oversimplifies or reason doesn't match outcome
- Students often see nonfiction text as factual, difficult to see point of view and bias.
Professional Texts
- Birkenstein, Cathy. They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing.
- Fletcher, Jennifer. Teaching Argument
- Gladwell, Blink. Section on Mitigated Language
- Gladwell, Tipping Point. Sections on Blues Clues, Sesame St and Dora
- Hicks, Troy. Argument in the Real World Teaching Adolescents to Read and Write Digital Texts
- Kuhn, Deanna. Argue with Me
- Lunsford, Andrea A. and Ruszkiewicz, John J. Everything's an Argument
- Tatum, Alfred. Why Teach Argument
- Tufts, Paul. Grit
- Willhelm, Jeff. Oh, yeah. Discusses making curricula culturally relevant; includes many logic exercises