Selecting evidence to support an argument

This is a strategy lesson to teach students how to select evidence from a text to support an argument for an essay. It was designed to take two class periods and is comprised of three mini-lessons; these lessons include teacher modeling strategy to large group, student practice with strategy in small groups, and student practice with strategy individually on what will ultimately be the essay that they write.

A lesson plan for grade 11 English Language Arts

By Caroline Sain

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Learning outcomes

To teach students how to select several pieces of evidence, that, when used together, will adequately support the argument of their essay.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

2 Days

Materials/resources

• selection from “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” by Frederick Douglass
• Chief Seattle transparency and handouts with the full text of the “Speech of Chief Seattle” (from The Heath Anthology of American Literature, edited by Paul Lauter). Teacher will also need a transparency of this handout.
• write-up of interview with family member, including questions and answers

Technology resources

overhead projector

Pre-activities

Students will need to have read and become familiar with the texts covered in the first two lessons, as well as the text they will write about.

Students will also have completed interviews of a family member regarding a journey that s/he had taken or experienced.

Activities

Lesson One: Modeling

• What: Today you will learn to read a passage of information for pieces of evidence. These pieces of evidence should work together to support an argument that you choose to make from the given information. This strategy is called “Selecting Evidence to Support an Argument.”
• Why: Students often try to form the argument of an essay before considering how much, if any, evidence they can find to support that argument. This strategy will save time because it reminds you to consider the evidence before forming the argument so that the argument will be easier to support.
• How: Place the transparency of Chief Seattle’s speech on the overhead projector. There are eight ideas within the passage that are highlighted in bold print; focus on these ideas after you have read the passage. Choose the five that are interconnected, and can therefore be used together to support the argument of the passage. For the three unrelated ideas, explain how they contradict or weaken the argument. After selecting evidence ask students to consider the following questions:
  • What argument can you make from the evidence?
  • How does each piece of evidence support that argument?
  • How do the pieces of evidence relate to and support each other?
  • What is the strongest evidence? the weakest?

  As a class, articulate the connections among the pieces of evidence, and how each piece works to support the argument. Turn on overhead projector and refer to an overhead you have made of what you have just modeled, and allow students to quickly copy the process. We are going to repeat this strategy as a class, using passages from Douglass’s Narrative. For each passage, use the three steps of the “Selecting Evidence to Support an Argument” strategy: select evidence, consider the 4 questions, and use the evidence you chose to support an argument.

Lesson Two: Guided Practice

• What: Now we will practice the “Selecting Evidence to Support an Argument” strategy in small groups. Remember that the goal of this strategy is to select pieces of evidence from a text that can be used together to support an argument. These pieces of evidence must be interconnected, otherwise they will contradict and weaken the overall argument. Be sure to consider the 4 questions to identify these connections, which will be important for using the evidence to support an argument.
• Why: This activity sheet will allow you to practice the strategy with your classmates so that you can work together to learn to use it efficiently. Be sure to ask questions when you are confused and to actively participate because you will need to employ this strategy when writing your interview essay.
• How: Divide the students into groups of four (plan groups ahead of time to try and balance stronger and weaker writers; the idea is for the students to learn the strategy from one another at this point). When they are settled, pass out the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass handout (read before for this class). You will need to submit your answer in writing, as a group.

  Review the steps of the strategy:

  1. Select evidence from the passage that supports the writer’s argument.
  2. Do these pieces of evidence all say the same thing?
  3. Are any of them contradictory?
  4. Are they all interconnected?
  5. Can you easily support an argument from them?

  At this point they should have practice with all three steps in the strategy: 1. select evidence, 2. consider the 4 questions, and 3. use evidence to support an argument.

Lesson Three: Independent Practice

• What: Today you will read your findings from the interview you conducted with a family member regarding a journey that s/he had taken or experienced. From the interview you will choose five pieces of evidence that you can use to support the argument that you want to make about journeys, using the “Selecting Evidence to Support an Argument” strategy. Ask students to recall the class and group work from the day before, and allow any questions. Once more, review the three steps of the strategy: 1. select evidence, 2. consider the 4 questions, 3. use evidence to support an argument.
• Why: Remind students that this strategy will save time and make their writing easier because they will avoid arguments that they cannot adequately support with evidence.
• How: Return the interview questions and answers to students and allow them time in class to begin searching for evidence. They will have until the end of class to identify the five pieces of evidence (or more if they find them), and to suggest an argument for their essays given this support. I will evaluate their findings to determine whether or not they understand the strategy.

Assessment

Collect each group?s written evaluations of the evidence at the end of Lesson Two to evaluate the extent to which they are able to make connections among their pieces of evidence, and to the validity of their argument given these connections.

Collect individual evaluations of evidence from their interviews to evaluate how well students identify relevant evidence to support their argument.

Supplemental information

Comments

This lesson was created as part of a class I am taking for the MAT program. It is part of an integrated unit that I have designed with four of my classmates, and is intended for an 11th grade class. It can, however, be adapted to any grade level and/or material that you plan to have your students write about.