DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

After reviewing my students' written pre-assessments, in which a counter argument was required but not scaffolded in any way, it was clear that the students were not comfortable with that writing skill. To improve this, I included in my planning a writing workshop to improve this specific writing skill. I first began with a direct teacher presentation to go over what a counter-argument is and why we use it. The students completed guided notes during this workshop so that they could refer to them when writing their final piece. I then modeled what an appropriate counter argument might look like, and then staged them in their groups to work together to form possible counter arguments. With their groups support as well as sentence starters for their final paragraph, the majority of students were able to write a critical counter argument to strengthen their overall essay and project. By including a writing workshop such as this into my planning, especially after collecting data on what my students' writing was most lacking, I was able to better both my students' skills in writing, but also my own comfort in the skill of leading specific workshops on a basic need in the classroom

 

To view the lesson plan on writing counter arguments, please select the following link: 25March2014.docx

 

To view the corresponding worksheets on creating a counter argument, please select the following link: CounterArgumentWorksheet.docx

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.