“As readers, writers and thinkers, it is natural for students to develop ideas, ask questions, and make claims regarding what they are reading. Citing textual evidence requires students to look back into the text for evidence to support an idea, answer a question or make a claim. Citing evidence requires students to think more deeply about the text, analyze the author, source etc. Students also need to practice finding strong evidence to support their ideas. Good evidence doesn’t require a lot of explanation to fit a claim. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. CCSS.ELALITERACY.CCRA.R.1 It is an important skill especially in a society where it is increasingly more important for students to be critical of what they read. It encourages students to use higher level thinking skills.”
Hillocks (2010) contends that argument is “at the heart of critical thinking and academic discourse, the kind of writing students need to know for success in college” [Hiilocks, G. (2010) Teaching argument for critical thinking and writing: An introduction. English Journal 99(6) p. 25]. He points out that “many teachers begin to teach some version of argument with the writing of a thesis statement, [but] in reality, good argument begins with looking at the data that are likely to become the evidence in an argument and that give rise to a thesis statement or major claim” (p. 26). Students need an understanding of the components of argument and the process through which careful examination of textual evidence becomes the beginnings of a claim about text.
These links to lesson plans demonstrate exactly how this can play out in a classroom.
Here are two great resources for teachers to use with students in a remote context on this topic.
Citing Textual Evidence -Tips and Resources
Constructing Evidence Based Explanations.pdf
As always, the resources listed above can help improve instruction for ALL students but the link below may really help with ideas for students with IEPs to use text based evidence to comprehend text:
in the NYS CR_SE document, it explicitly talks about having high expectations for students - using text evidence to support all responses is part of rigorous instruction - below is a quote from page 15:
High expectations and rigorous instruction prepare the community for rigor and independent learning. The environment is academically rigorousand intellectually challenging, while also considering the different ways students learn. Instruction includes opportunities to use critical reasoning, take academic risks, and leverage a growth mindset to learn from mistakes. Messages encourage positive self-image and empower others to succeed.
The Supportive Environment Framework states that "School leaders and staff effectively communicate expectations connected to a path to college and career readiness and successfully partner with families to support student progress toward those expectations." For our students to be ready for college and/or career, using text evidence is essential!