Subject: English

Learning Experience Plan

Grade level: 9th

Unit: Writing: Text Types and Purposes

(days/periods/minutes): 3 days

Length of LEP

Topic: Argumentative Writing

Content Standards: W.9-10.1 Write arguments to support claims in an
analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and
relevant and sufficient evidence. Explore and inquire into areas of
interest to formulate an argument.
Learning Experience Outcomes

Learning Experience Assessments

-Tug of War sponge activity
Students will: use the the provided
-Lecture Notes
instruction and necessary tools in order -Deconstructing the Essay activity
to write an argumentative essay.
-Exit slip
(knowledge/skills)

Students will play the role of a

controversialist, one who conducts
debates on controversial topics, and
debate their ideas and opinions in the
context of an argumentative essay.
Differentiation
Approaching

(What will you do to meet the needs of students at these different levels?)

On-level
Students who are on level
should be able to keep up
with the given work
provided, including the
presentation and
handouts.

Beyond
Gifted students would have
to complete an additional
assessment because of the
fact they will probably be
done before their peers. A
dialogue entry would be
assigned, in which students
will create a dialogue of an
argument on the topic on
which they wrote. Students
may work in pairs for this
activity, even if topics are
the same or in opposition.

Curriculum Integration (Does this lesson correlate with any other content area? Describe.)
This lesson may connect to history, science, math, or any sort of current events,
depending on the topics the students choose to write their essays on.

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Material
s
Pen/Penci
l
Workshe
ets
Prezi
Presentat
ion

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Day 1

(add additional days as needed)

Sponge Activity (activity that will be done as students enter the room to get them into the
mindset of the concept to be learned)
Tug of War Sponge Activity
- students will literally play tug of war
- the strategy goes like this:
1. Present a fair dilemma: Example: Should energy drinks be sold to
kids under the age of 18?
2. Identify the factors that pull at each side of the dilemma. These
are the two sides of the tug of war.
3. Ask students to think of tugs, or reasons why they support a
certain side of the dilemma.
4. Ask them to try to think of reasons on the other side of the
dilemma as well.
After this activity, students will be able to identify tug of war as an
argument of a debate and associate pulls as stances and tugs as
support to those stance and engage them into the learning process.

Anticipatory Set (focus question/s that will be used to get students thinking about the days
lesson)
Aim: How can argumentative writing resemble arguments we have on a
daily basis?
Activating Prior Knowledge (what information will be shared with/among students to
connect to prior knowledge/experience )
Who think theyre good at winning arguments?
Okay, today we are going to learn about some of the strategies that
we use when creating an argument on paper.
Focus Questions:
1. What are some of the strategies you use when you argue with
someone or debate over a topic?
2. Do you consider the opposing persons viewpoint when making your

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own?
I will then explain how when you have an argument with someone you
consider what they have to say and you back your position up with
facts. This strategy is very similar to the kind we use when writing
argumentative essays.
Direct Instruction (input, modeling, check for understanding)
Students will watch a power point slide and take notes while doing so.
I will walk around and make sure that they are correctly filling in the
notes and
following the instructions as stated on the worksheet.
Guided Practice (how students will demonstrate their grasp of new learning)

Independent Practice (what students will do to reinforce learning of the lesson)

Closure (action/statement by teacher designed to bring lesson presentation to an appropriate

close)

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Literacy Standards: (include only standards addressed in this LE

Direct Instruction
-I will handout a worksheet (#1) labeled Argumentative Writing - Lecture
Notes to each student.
-I will use an interactive Prezi powerpoint presentation in order to teach the
students about the four components of argumentative essays.
-As we watch the video, students will fill in their corresponding worksheet,
which they will use as their foundational notes throughout the learning
segment.
-I will check that they are correctly filling out their worksheets.
Guided Practice (how students will demonstrate their grasp of new
learning)
-I will handout a worksheet labeled Deconstruct the Essays. (#2)
- I will handout two different types of essay worksheets (#3 & #4), one
supporting the topic at hand (Should Energy Drinks Be Sold To Kids Under
the Age of 18?), and one against it. Therefore, there will be an equal
amount of students working on each in the classroom.
-In this activity, students will correctly identify and annotate the parts the
worksheet calls for within the given essays. This will check for their
understanding of the direct instruction.
-We will go over the activity and students will explain their answers.
Independent Practice (what students will do to reinforce learning of the
lesson)
- Students will explain the ways in which they deconstructed the given
essays and what they chose for their claim, reasons, evidence, counter
claims and transitional words and phrases.
-Students will use the two provided worksheets (a graphic organizer (#5) and
a list of possible essay topics (#6)) in order to begin research and
organization for their essay of choice.
Closure (action/statement by teacher designed to bring lesson presentation
to an appropriate close)

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- As a class, we will go over the four parts of an argumentative essay (claim,

reasons, evidence, counterclaim).
-I will give homework
Homework: Students will choose a topic on which they would like to
write, which could be the topic we spoke about in class, a topic from the list I
provided, or a topic of their choice. They will find two sources, one in support
of and one in opposition to the topic they choose. They must be ready to
debate tomorrow, with three reasons they come up with for the claim they
choose based on the two articles they read.
-Students should also review their lecture notes
-Exit Slip titled Check for Understanding (#7)
-This will ensure that students understood the lesson and allows me to
address any questions that they may have in the next class.

References: (e.g. Book, course packet, pg #, complete web address URL)

- https://prezi.com/4_rii2rzdcfb/argumentative-writing/?
utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

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