Make Cycle 3: Compelling Arguments

Digital Learning Day Make Cycle 3: Compelling Arguments

For this make cycle, we invite participants to compose texts that attempt to persuade its intended audience to think, act, or believe in a particular way. Along with narrative and expository writing, persuasive writing (also called argument and opinion writing) is one of the three writing purposes identified in the California and Common Core standards documents. While we do not think any text is that tidy (rarely is a text only expository or argumentative or narrative) we can gain something by focusing in on the ways texts are composed and perhaps zooming in on components of texts more closely.

This cycle’s Mentor Texts:

• Children’s books can be used as great examples for teaching argument:
  • Click Clack Moo
  • The Day the Crayons Quit
  • I Wanna New Room
  • Have I Got a Book for You!
  • Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
• Example Op-Ed: Andrea Lunsford’s “Our Semi-Literate Youth? Not So Fast”
• Example educational blog: Kim Jaxon’s “No Shortcuts in Course Design”
• Example Opinion Youth Radio: “I’m a Cheerleader, Here’s Why I Take a Knee.”

Guiding questions for mentor texts to help us notice elements of arguments:

• What craft elements do you notice that the writer of the piece is employing? How can you imagine using those craft elements in your own writing?
• What text features do you notice? Consider elements like graphics, images and captions, and text size/color/placement. Analyze how these elements impact the effectiveness of the text and its message.
• What do you infer about the author’s point of view and purpose for writing the piece? Analyze the ways the author acknowledges and addresses other perspectives on the issue.
• What information does the text try to convey, and how well does it do so? Identify instances of bias and/or stereotyping within the text, and explain why the text might include it.
• Describe how compelling you find the arguments within the mentor text. Were you convinced? To what extent? Why? What worked best? What seemed weakest?

Because arguments are ubiquitous, a word which here means they're in pretty much everything you read, there are so many ways to play with argument. Some possibilities:

1. Advice Column: Write an advice column by creating a letter that asks for advice, and then the advice columnist's response that attempts to convince the letter-writer to do something specific. Advice columns often include resources and facts that will help the original letter-writer better understand the problem they have shared. Twist: Use a common, popular text as the basis for your advice column (maybe the farmer in Click Clack Moo is reaching out for help, or a Disney Princess needs some advice about dating, or Dany Targaryen wants some suggestions for making a good impression with the lords of the North, or ... ).
2. Protest/Warning/Save the/etc. Poster(s): Make a set of posters that attempt to convince the people who see the poster to act, think, or behave in a particular way. Often, these take the form of protests (e.g. "Fight for DACA"), warnings ("Don't Text and Drive"), or calls to action ("Save Public Education"). Choose a subject you care about, and create a poster or set of posters that make your point. Smore.com is a nice site for making posters.
3. Advertisement: Create a print, video, or audio advertisement for a product, practice, or idea about teaching. This could be a legitimate, real thing, or something that you're making up. It could be for a thing that every teacher should have in the classroom, or a technique that teachers could benefit from using, or a stance/mindset about learning that could help teachers be more successful/effective. Have I Got a Book for You! might help you think about the ways advertisements work. Twist: You could make your product be something comical, unrealistic, or outrageous.
4. Funding Pitch: Use the basic premise of the advertisement option above, but instead create a crowdfunding proposal (like those found on Kickstarter, or those presented on the TV show Shark Tank) for your brilliant product, practice, or idea. Piktochart has a crowd-funding infographic template that could work for this.
5. Letter Writing: Use the letter format to create an argument. This could be a letter to the editor about a current event or concern you'd like to weigh in on. Or it could be an exchange of letters back and forth between two (or more) made-up characters to provide perspectives on an issue. Use The Day the Crayons Quit, Click Clack Moo, and/or I Wanna New Room for inspiration. Feel free to twist this one as well, or course.
6. Educational Blog: Argue for a particular idea in education. Here’s an example blog that Kim Jaxon wrote for Digital Media & Learning (DMLCentral), but the DMLCentral site and Inside Higher Education overall are interesting examples of educational blogs that you could use for inspiration.
7. Children's Book: Write a children's book that shows kids how (or how not) to win an argument. Consider using Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus for this one, and maybe even explain a bit about ethos, pathos, and logos if you're feeling particularly clever. The Storyjumper site is a great resource for making your own digital book.
8. Family Guidelines: create a set of guidelines for your family that could help when you have arguments or challenging discussions. You might even turn those guidelines into a game. You could also turn the guidelines into an infographic using Piktochart.
9. If you have other ideas for creating compelling arguments, try it out!

Looking for more resources for teaching or learning about argument?

The Teaching Channel has curated many resources for educators who want to do a deep dive into teaching with argument. Find the link here.

The National Writing Project’s College, Career, and Community Writer’s Program also has a range of instructional resources. Link here.