Khadija Houston

Unit Plan for Argumentative writing

Class and Grade Level:
10th Grade English
Unit:
Exploring Writing as Political Action/Activism
Context: Students will have just concluded reading The Kite Runner. Before reading the Kite Runner
they will have read various texts that feature poetry and speeches about political activism, as well as
work by those who were infamous activist.
Unit Goals: Students will be able to construct a clear and concise argument using various texts and
methods, while still producing all of the argumentative writing elements within the work.
Final Assessment Prompt:
Throughout the unit, exploring writing as political (social) action/activism, we have explored several
different forms of genre in which the authors speak to some form of activism or political action. In
reading the novel of The Kite Runner think about acts of social action, political action, or activism in the
novel individually and as a whole.
In this essay, you must produce and argument on whether the book counts as a form of social
action/activism given the way we have discussed the terms throughout the unit? You may choose to
discuss the criteria of the elements that build upon social action, as well as use other texts from this unit
to support your ideal on what social (political) action or activism entails.
Requirements:
12 pt, Times New Roman(or like) font
Double spaced, 3-5 pages
Must use textual evidence
Clear and concise use of all the argumentative elements weve discussed
Must discuss the Kite Runner in comparison/contrast with another text from the unit
Terminology:
Students should have at little grounding in what thesis, claim and evidence are prior to the unit;
however I will re-introduce the terms as refreshers along with adding warrant.
I will use the word thesis to describe the overall statement of the argument, which will not be confused
with claim.
I will use the word claim as a way for students to present the various arguments that will come up
throughout the essay in order to support the thesis.
I will use the word evidence (sometimes referred to as support, or examples)
I will use the word warrant (sometimes referred to analysis, commentary or justification)
Common Core Standards:
W.9-10.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topic or texts, using valid
reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
W.9-10.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W.9-10.5: Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a
new approach.
W.9-10.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and
research.

Classroom Schedule:
Day One
Objective: Students will be able to attempt identification of the elements of argumentative writing
Teacher will be able to assess prior knowledge of students familiarity with elements of argumentative
writing
Students will collaborate with table teams and participate within a game of jeopardy. Before the games
starts students will only be prompted with the game discuses points of argumentative writing.
The questions will not have students:
give the words that match definitions of thesis, claims, evidence, and warrants;
Identify sentences to what part of argumentative writing they belong to,
identify pictures to what part of argumentative writing they belong to,
As well as point out good or bad examples of thesis, claims, evidence, and warrants.
(If I find that certain groups are constantly answering incorrectly the rest of the game will be scrapped
and we will use the rest of the game answers as a form of learning the declarative knowledge of
argumentative writing lecture-style.)
Homework (Assessment): Students will look up definitions for thesis, claims, evidence, and warrants.
The students will then create an example of each
Day Two
Objective: Students will be able to review the successes of the Jeopardy games
Students will be able to elaborate on vocabulary words from the previous night
Upon the beginning of the class I will select 5 students homework to use as models for the class
discussion of the day. We will begin with discovering are there any differences between the students
definitions of the terms. If student definitions vary for each, students will place a vote on which one
they agree with the most. I will then prompt students to give a reason behind their vote. I will then let
the students know which ones I think are the most accurate for the context of their argumentative
writing assignment.
Students will then be split into groups of four where they will further discuss what each element does in
an argument as well as what order they should be placed in during an essay
Group 4: Thesis
Group 3: Claim
Group 2: Evidence
Group 1: Warrants/justification
Students will then teach the class their individual element in a small lecture-like forum
Day Three
Objective: Students will be able to grapple with the definition of violence
Students will begin class with a free write in which they will have to come up with a working definition
of social action and activism. Along with a definition of social action and activism they will have to say

the pros and cons of using literature as a form of social action. (The students will be given 25-30 minutes
to write on the topic)
After finishing the free write, students will be given an opportunity to share out with the class and come
to a definition of social action and activism, as well as their listed pros and cons.
Day Four
Students will be given assigned two pictures (every 4 students will have the same images) that come
from Google image search on social action or activism and pictures of what media has portrayed as
social action. (The evidence will come from the strictly from the images.) Students will produce a thesis,
claim, evidence, and justification (warrant) for the two pictures. They will then come up with arguments
that someone who does not agree with them may say about the pictures. With those
counterarguments in my they will try to pull more valid evidence from the photos to support their thesis
and claims.
As we go through we will discuss the process in which they found their evidence in the photos. When
discussing the counterarguments we will discuss in what ways it was easy to poke holes in the argument
and how important a concise argument is. (I want the students to come to a realization that making
arguments based on one form of evidence will not suffice when trying to write a paper. I do want them
to be able to use evidence correctly, which is the initial reason behind the assignment.)
Day Five-Six (dialogic tool)
Students will begin debate preparation with the information they prepared in the previous lesson.
Students will partake in a debate about the photos. I will then explain the normal debate format that
will be used in two days and form groups. Two students will form the Con side, and two will form Pro
side. Students will choose their co-counselor based on who had the same claim, or the claim most like
theirs regarding the picture. Structured format: 2 minute opening statements, 1 minute rebuttals, 90
second final statements. Class votes on winners for each individual debate. Each team will produce an
opening statement in which they explicitly state their thesis and two of their claims. The teams will turn
in their written evidence and justification for the cross examination portion, which will serve as the
assessment. Each student will hand in a copy of their opening statement, cross examination questions,
and evidence.
This will help the students learn how to set up a solid argument verbally which can also be directed
towards writing argumentative essays.
Day Seven
After the debate has concluded we will have a debrief on how the debate influenced the ways that they
have learned about creating a detailed and concise argument. During the debrief we will also focus on
whether the claims, evidence, and warrants created were effective. Students will be able to give their
peers feedback during the debrief.
Students will conclude the class by doing a free-write.
Prompt: Does violence have a place within political activism? Feel free to include examples from
speeches, or poems we have read earlier within the unit.
Day Eight

Students will then receive two examples essays (one will be an essay that I write badly, the other will be
a sample literature analysis essay) in which they will go through and highlight the elements of an
argumentative essay. One essay will be an example that has all the elements, while the other will only
have a couple. After the successful identification of the elements the students will have to create the
missing portions based on the initial argument of the author.
This will help students know what to look for when the peer review each others final assessment, which
will be introduced the following day.
Day Nine
Students will be able to come up with a list of criteria for something to be considered of social (political)
action or activism. I will assist the class with what elements I believe should be included as well and see
if we come to a consensus. The class-generated criteria will be edited to the students liking and I will use
the criteria to assist in grading their unit assessment.
Day Ten
Introduction of the Kite Runner Argumentative Essay. We will review the prompt and guidelines for the
final assessment. Students will be able to ask questions and bounce ideas off of me and the other
students within the class. I will pass out the rubric so that students will see what they will be graded on.
Students will be able to go over there notes from the Kite Runner, and other small text from the
semester for the rest of the hour.
Day Eleven
Class will begin with students continuing to find evidence throughout texts to support their thesis for
their argumentative essays. Students will be able to begin the creation of a rough outline of their essay
towards the end of class. They may use a provided graphic organizer before beginning their written
outline.
Students will continue their outline for homework.
Day Twelve:
Students will have the first 15 minutes to make sure their outline is complete. They will then begin
drafting their essay during class time. I will be available for students to ask questions and run ideas past
me. Students will be required to complete a large chunk of their drafts (at least a 1 -2 pages) for
homework.
Day Thirteen:
Students will complete the rest of the draft as a classroom activity. They will be able to run sections of
the paper past me before they submit for peer review the following day.
Day Fourteen:
Students will share their most complete rough draft with a partner and complete a thorough peer
review using the rubric and; highlighting the elements of argumentative writing within their essay to
check that they are all there.
Day Fifteen:
Students will continue work-shopping their final drafts, there will be time for students to read each
others work, share their work with me, or continue writing the essay.
During the peer review students will use the second peer review season to ensure that the students
paper is concise, makes sense, discusses the class-made criteria for social action, grammar/mechanics,
and structure of essay.

For homework students will take into account all the edits and prepare their final draft for the due date!
Day Sixteen:
Final drafts of The Kite Runner Essay will be due. Along with the final draft, students must submit the
peer review draft and feedback.

Rubric:
Introduction
o Background information on The Kite Runner is clearly stated (________/10)
o Thesis clearly stated, and is not confused with student claims, or simply repeats what the claims say
(________10)
Body Paragraphs
o Claims are stated with clear and concise thought that branches from thesis statement (________/20)
o Evidence from The Kite Runner or other texts from unit, appropriately used (________/20)
o Warrants provide ample explanation of evidence and claims while aligning with thesis (________20)
Conclusion
o Appropriate (thought-provoking) restatement of argumentative elements (________/5)
Grammar/Mechanics (________5)
Includes class-generated criteria to produce argument (_________/10)
TOTAL: ________/100