Supplemental Readings

On Learning:

Garcia, Antero and Cindy O’Donnell-Allen. Pose, Wobble, Flow.

For many teachers, argument writing is new and often intimidating (sometimes reminiscent of a bad experience with college writing). Teaching argument writing is a significant departure from the teaching of literature as well. When we read Antero Garcia and Cindy O’Donnell-Allen’s Pose, Wobble, Flow, we immediately found the introduction of “wobble” to be helpful in reframing the sense of disequilibrium that many teachers experienced into a positive stage of learning. “Wobble” then reframes struggle as a routine stage of learning, rather than a deficit on the part of the teacher/learner.

Academic Writing as a Conversation

Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. New York: Norton, 2006.

They Say/I Say describes academic writing as a “conversation.” This idea was originally set forth by Kenneth Burke in his famous description of the never-ending parlour conversation (from The Philosophy of the Literary Form and cited in Graff and Birkenstein’s book).

We recommend reading Graff and Birkenstein’s clear description of the conversation of sources in academic writing found in the preface, the introduction, and chapter one.

Note: They Say/I Say has gone through many editions since 2006, even evolving into an anthology with readings that are designed for a college first-year writing course, so we are not giving exact page numbers.The three sections above have remained the same in all editions.

Turner, Kristen Hawley and Troy Hicks. Argument in the Real World. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 2016.

Turner and Hicks draw from real world texts and samples of student work to share a wealth of insights and practical strategies in teaching students the logic of argument. Whether arguments are streaming in through Twitter, Facebook, or links to other blogs or websites, Turner and Hicks will guide you—and your students—in how to engage with and create digital arguments.

Newell, George and David Bloome. Teaching and Learning Argument in High School English Language Arts Classrooms. New York: Routledge. 2015.

Newell and Bloome’s book is an excellent research study of argument writing instruction. The teachers were TCs from the Columbus Area Writing Project and the book is grounded in respect for teachers’ practice. Their understanding of argument is coherent with CRWP, though their approach does not focus as much on using nonfiction sources. NWP teacher-leaders will find this book very helpful for those who want to read more about argumentation.

Smith, Michael, Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, and James Fredericksen. Oh, Yeah?! Putting Argument to Work Both in School and Out. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 2012.

Smith, Wilhelm, and Fredericksen’s book is packed full of information on teaching argument. It is teacher-friendly and about learning and writing.

Fletcher, Jennifer. Teaching Arguments: Rhetorical Comprehension, Critique, and Response. Portland, ME: Stenhouse. 2015.

Fletcher’s book is another excellent professional book on teaching argument writing. Like Newell and Bloome, teacher-leaders who want to expand their understanding of argument writing will find Fletcher’s book helpful. Geared toward high school.

Lazere, Donald. Reading and Writing for Civic Literacy: The Critical Citizen’s Guide to Argumentative Rhetoric. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2006. Chapters 2 and 6.

Lazere’s book makes the case for writing arguments as a means of democratic participation. His chapters on counterarguments complement Harris’s nicely and influenced the “Coming to Terms with Opposing Viewpoints” mini-unit.

Hillocks, George, Jr. Teaching Argument Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2006. Chapters 3-6.

The classic professional text that helped teachers with argument writing. We like chapters 3-6 best.

Fisher, Douglas and Nancy Frye. Close Reading and Writing From Sources. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2104.

This book is focused on reading nonfiction and includes useful strategies for reading nonfiction.