Miss Alexis Smith’s Lesson Plans for Wednesday, October 24th, 2018

Standard: ELAGSE7RI8: Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text,
assessing whether the reasoning is sound, and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support
the claims.

Essential Questions (EQ): Why do people win/lose arguments? When is it crucial to win an
argument? What are the differences between an argument and a debate?

Learning Targets: Students can identify bias in an article. Students can provide strong hook
sentences in their introduction paragraphs. Students can argue why the Earth is round/flat.
Students can construct a thorough argumentative essay support their claims.

Materials: The materials needed for this lesson plan are as follows:

o Google Slides presentation with instructions

o Paper and pencils for students who need them
o Printable fish outlines (cut out; one per student; attached)
o Printed biased article in support of the Earth being flat (one per student; attached)
o Printed examples of acceptable and unacceptable hook sentences (one per group;
attached)
o Projector
o 3-, 5-, 10-, 15-minute timers

Hook (≅ 5 mins.): Miss Smith will have the first slide of the Google Slides presentation visible
on the SmartBoard. The slide will have multiple memes in relation to arguments, and students
will be asked to read each meme and consider the recurring theme in the memes. Students will
establish that the recurring theme of the memes is arguments/argumentative writing.

Activity #1, Application, and Assessment (≅ 15 mins.): The desks will be formed in groups (4
groups of 4, 1 group of 5). On each group of desks will be an example of either an acceptable or
unacceptable hook sentence. Students will walk around to each group of desks and place a cut-
out fish on the hook sentence that sounds the most appealing to them. Miss Smith will review
which hook sentences have the most fish, and she will prompt students to answer why those
sentences are the most interesting.

Students will form groups and sit at the desk pods. Miss Smith will assign one side of the room
to argue the point that the Earth is round, and the other side of the room will argue that the Earth
is flat. Miss Smith will ask students to collaborate as a group to create acceptable hook
sentences. Once the hook sentences are created, students will read their sentences aloud to the
rest of the group. Miss Smith will then decide which groups have the best sentences by placing
cut-outs of fish down on their desks. If hook sentences are not up to par, Miss Smith will ask
other students to explain why said sentences might not be up to par.

To ensure students understand how to create interesting hook sentences, Miss Smith will ask
students to give her a thumbs-up if they understand hook sentences, a thumbs-in-the-middle if
they somewhat understand hook sentences, and a thumbs-down if they do not understand hook
sentences.

*Brain Break (≅ 2 mins.): Miss Smith will allow students to take a break to redirect
their focus on the assignment.

Activity #2, Application, and Assessment (≅ 25 mins.): Miss Smith will educate students on
what bias is and how to identify it in a text. She will also use the Google Slides presentation to
refresh students on what a formal paper requires (no slang, no contractions, third-person only,
factual, textual evidence). Once students grasp the concept of bias, they will use the article “Why
the Earth is actually 100% flat” and take turns reading the article in their groups. This will ensure
that all students are paying attention to the reading. Before reading, Miss Smith will tell students
to watch for bias. Once students finish reading, Miss Smith will tell students to begin
constructing a solid argumentative paragraph supporting their claim. She will express the
importance of citing textual evidence from the article in order to make their claims stronger.

Students will collaborate as a group and write an argumentative paragraph supporting their
claims with supporting evidence. Students will also include interesting hook sentences at the start
of their paragraphs. Students will be conscious of not including bias in their paragraphs, and they
will practice successfully writing in third-person. Students will also practice writing using formal
language. After they have developed their paragraphs, each group will share their paragraphs.
Miss Smith will question the groups who are listening if they are convinced the Earth is
flat/round. If the listening groups say they are not convinced, Miss Smith will ask those students
to verbally help the presenting group develop a better argument.

Miss Smith will ask for students to give her a thumbs-up if they understand argumentative
writing, a thumbs-in-the-middle if they somewhat understand argumentative writing, and a
thumbs-down if they do not understand argumentative writing.

*Brain Break (≅ 2 mins.): Miss Smith will allow students to take a break from writing
in order to redirect their focus on the assignment.

Closing and Assessment (≅ 5 mins.): Miss Smith will have students participate in a Four
Corners exercise similar to a Likert Scale where one corner of the room will represent Strongly
Agree, another will represent Agree, the next will represent Disagree, and the last corner will
represent Strongly Disagree. Students will move to the corner that best represents their responses
to whether they enjoyed the activity and if they better understand argumentative writing. Miss
Smith will then preface the next day’s lesson, which will include students writing argumentative
essays on whether Steve Harmon, a character from the novel Monster, is innocent or guilty.