Return to Unit Two:TR

Class Plan -- Unit Two, Day 19

• Analyze an argument
• Review key elements of the proposal

Activities:
Daily - Reading Quiz.

• What is a claim?
• What are the four types of claim?
• What is an appeal?
• What are the three types of appeals?

• A Claim is the statement of position on a debatable issue.
• The four types of claim are fact, cause-effect, value, policy.
• An appeal is what a writer uses to support or refute claims for a given audience.
• The three types of appeals are to character (the writer's good character), to reason (the logic and evidence the writer uses supports the claim), and to emotion (the writer's expression of feelings and/or evocation of feelings in the audience support the claim).

We also want to analyze arguments so we can better understand the writer's position and why we agree or disagree with that position and what perspective the writer's position fits into. This will allow us to evaluate perspectives to see what one we want to align with or which perspective our position fits with. And, of course, as we analyze an argument we can notice the techniques the writer uses and evaluate their effectiveness as we prepare to write our own arguments.

Analyzing an argument - Discuss whether we agree or disagree with the writer's position (claim) and why. Get students to speak in terms of claims, appeals, reasons, evidence, assumptions, etc.

Remember that what we are continuing to increase students' ability to evaluate perspectives. This step is designed to refine their thinking about what an argument or position consists of, how a position reflects a perspective, and what causes us to align with or reject a particular perspective. Expect students to experience some confusion as you work through this process as they often will when we make explicit something they already do unconsciously.

Discuss questions/concerns about the proposal - Design an activity which will help students review their own work so far while you review expectations for the finished proposal.

One suggestion is to have students review their own drafts as you review key aspects of the proposal.

For instance, you can have volunteers put their claim on the board. As a class, critique and revise the claims.

Be sure to review evaluating perspectives and distinguishing between perspectives and position (claim) because this is likely the area students will have the most difficulty with.

Design your activities to engage students in developing various aspects of their proposal cover sheet.