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Kelsi Long

Dr. Cook

English 3580

March 23, 2017

Reflection #3: Argument Writing

Over the course of the past few weeks, I have been able to dig into argument writing an

inch wide and a mile deep, learning not only new methods for writing it, but also how to

effectively teach argument writing to my future secondary English students. To begin this unit, I

realized that there are infinitely more genres of argument writing than I had ever considered

before; for example, book reviews, movie trailers, ads, essays, and novels, just to name a few,

can be written as argumentative, or persuasive, pieces. After learning more about the various

genres and methods of argument/persuasive writing, I believe it possible to turn almost any genre

into argument writing. (Far more genres than are exposed to students in the classroom setting, for

sure.) As a teacher of argument writing, I hope to expose my students to more than merely the

argumentative five-paragraph essay. As Tom Romano states, Writing is a big world mural, not a

snapshot. Writing is book reviews, email messages, poems, journal entries, news stories, love

notes, editorials, technical instructions (88-89, Teaching the Neglected R). When students

are exposed to these choices, they are released from the confinement of the traditional essay, and

their creativity can run wild.

Perhaps the most important element of argument writing to stress to students is valid

evidence, also known as a warrant. The Toulmin model that was presented to us in class

discussion is an excellent depiction of this fool-proof argumentative writing method.

Furthermore, in the mini lessons that were presented by my peers in this unit, I had the
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opportunity to practice several exercises in which we were given a template to state our claim

and then back it up with a warrant. What I learned from this mini lesson and the Toulmin model,

and what I will also teach to my future students, is that claims are weak and unstable without

valid evidence to back them up. In order for students to have strong persuasive papers, it is my

responsibility as their teacher to give them exercises (such as the fill-in-the-blank templates) to

learn how to effectively back up their claims until it becomes second nature to make a claim and

then expand upon it.

I will also stress the value of debunking counter-arguments in persuasive writing. In

class, I was introduced to the website called procon.org, where we were directed to choose a

controversial topic and then fill out another template that forced us to bury counter-arguments to

our claim. For example, my groups topic was Razor scooters: are they a good source of

transportation? and our sentence went something like this: While some may believe Razor

scooters to be a fuel-efficient method of transportation, the life-threatening risk of being hit by an

oncoming car is far too dangerous, rendering Razor scooters a poor source of transportation.

With this short, simple exercise, I was able to learn an argumentative writing skill that proves

useful for a lifetime. As a teacher, I will definitely do this mini-lesson with my students because

it is a quick, simple, and well-organized method of teaching a foundational argumentative

writing skill.

Yet another method that I learned in this unit for teaching argument writing to secondary

students is hosting debates as an opener to the unit to get students passionate about what they

will soon be writing about. In one of my annotated bibliography articles this week, the teacher

that the article was written about used this method with her science class and she noticed

instantaneous positive results in her students argument writing. She noticed passion for what
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they were arguing for and against. One debate I would be curious to have in my own English

classroom is, what alternate ending for (insert book title) works best? then have my students

choose one of two endings and argue their point of view. In another one of my annotated

bibliography articles, another teacher used ethos, logos, and pathos to get her students to

recognize solid persuasive writing; then she had them examine famous works of argument

writing, like Martin Luther King Jr.s I Have a Dream speech. This goes back to my earlier

point about exposing students to other genres besides the typical five-paragraph essay. By

exposing the I Have a Dream speech to students as a piece of argument writing, they can better

see that argument writing is all around them in everyday life.

As Gallagher states in Teaching Adolescent Writers, If we want our students to

understand the value that writing can play in their lives, maybe we should consider shifting

instruction away from strict adherence to the traditional discourses and begin having our students

explore the reasons real writers write (122). Gallagher continues on in that chapter from this

units reading to argue the importance of being able to identify an authors purpose. There is

always a purpose in writing. Always. I hope to help my students see that, and to communicate to

them that their writing does matter; their beliefs do matter, and what they argue is valuable,

especially if done the right way- using the methods mentioned above that I will one day teach

them.
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Works Cited

Gallagher, Kelly. Teaching Adolescent Writers. N.p.: Stenhouse Publishers, 2006. Print.

Kent, Richard, and Thomas Newkirk. Teaching the neglected "R": rethinking writing instruction

in secondary classrooms. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2007. Print.