Common Core R.CCR.8 Explained

R.CCR.8–that’s the eighth College/Career Readiness anchor standard within the Reading strand of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for ELA / Literacy–reads as follows:

Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

This is a fun one: picking apart arguments.

Time out: fun?

I’m not kidding; analyzing arguments can be fun for teachers and students. For some tips on how to create a positive, argumentative culture in your classroom, check out this post.

Finding arguments

All right, the first teacherly task within this standard is finding arguments for your students to read. These can be lengthy arguments (I read Tom Standage’s History of the World in Six Glasses with my world history freshmen last year; the entire book argues that world history can be adequately covered by way of studying the histories of six beverages), or they can be quite brief (I’ve mentioned Leonard Pitts Jr. elsewhere on Teaching the Core; any op-ed column will give teachers regular sources of argument covering all types of topics). I also use arguments that I write and arguments that students write. I use arguments that don’t work well and arguments that stun my students and I (for example, this article does a great job arguing that contemporary reality TV is a gladiatorial blood sport).

Once you’ve got arguments, you’re ready to evaluate and delineate them with your students.

4 key parts of an argument

There are a lot of models out there for evaluating arguments, but the four basic moves that I focus on with me students are as follows:

• The claim: this is the argument boiled down to a sentence or so. Thesis statements, those time-tested linchpins of formulaic essays, are claims.
• The evidence: this is what backs up your argument. Since all solid arguments rest on evidence, arguments are a great way to accomplish the text-based answers that the CCSS love so much.
• The warrant: this is the reasoning (see the language in R.CCR.8) that connects the data to the claim. For example, if you are trying to argue that obesity in the USA is a national crisis, as part of the economic prong of your argument you might cite evidence indicating how much heart disease costs the American taxpayer. To effectively use this evidence, you would need to clearly show that heart disease has a strong correlation to obesity.
• The rebuttal: a good argument somehow “names its naysayers” by addressing opponents. Effective rebuttals are respectful; they accurately depict the other side, and then they either disagree entirely or they make limited concessions.

Now, there are many other aspects of skilled argument (many of which I’m still learning!), but with these four basic building blocks you’re ready to rock.

Evaluating and delineating

Now that your students have a grasp of the basic parts of an argument, they are ready to delineate and evaluate those arguments you’ve collected for them.

To guide them in delineating an argument, I might ask these questions:

• What claim is the author making?
• What evidence does the author use to support his/her claim?
• What warrant does the author give for using this evidence?
• How does the author handle opposing views?

To guide them in evaluating an argument, here are some additional questions:

• Is the author’s claim clear?
• Does the author’s tone lend itself to credibility? How about fanaticism? How about boredom?
• Is the evidence used strong enough?
• Does the evidence really prove the author’s claim, or is he/she stretching?
• Does the author acknowledge naysayers? Is he/she respectful toward them? Does he/she accurately represent their side?

These steps should get you started on the path of implementing R.CCR.8. May you and your students enjoy the journey!

5 Ways to Make Rigorous Arguments Fun

“Argument,” mentions Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), “is the soul of an education” (p. 24).

Why?

According to Neil Postman, argument forces the arguer to consider the strengths and weaknesses of multiple perspectives (p. 24, CCSS Appendix A). In other words, arguing helps you see the complex nature of things; it gives you the habit of viewing things from many points of view.

The problem is, argumentation is boring. Right?

By the end of this last school year, my students got giddy when it came time to read, write, listen to, speak, or pick apart arguments. Okay, “giddy” might be strong when speaking about all of my students, but they genuinely did enjoy argumentation (some so much that they they came in and did it during lunch; see the clip below). I’m still scratching my head a little bit on why that is, but I’ve got some hunches that I’d like to recommend.

1. Read Gerald Graff

Last summer, I spent an afternoon with Gerald Graff’s Clueless in Academe. This beautiful book (which, by the way, is mentioned in Appendix A of the CCSS!) takes a serious look at postsecondary schooling, finds it disjointed and its students disoriented, and concludes that the only way for students to find sanity in academia is to see that it’s just one big argumentative culture.

In other words, Graff helped me see that a lab report in science and an essay in history and an analysis in psychology and an exposition in English… that all of these pieces of writing, when done well, are simply various types of arguments. They make a claim and they support that claim with reasoning and evidence.

And here’s why Graff is worth the read: if Graff is right (he is), then teaching kids the ins and outs of arguments–and simply the centrality of arguing in academia–is going to help them flourish outside of your classroom.

Students flourishing outside of my classroom? That had me pumped. When my 9th grade students met me in Fall ’11, it didn’t take long for them to figure out that they’d be doing a lot of arguing in my class.

In fact, I’ll never forget when, sometime during the first couple weeks of school, one of my large, confident males responded to one of my argumentative writing prompts for The Odyssey by calling out, “I was born to argue!”

Rock on, Caleb.

2. Explicitly teach the centrality of argumentation

The immanence of arguments doesn’t end with academia; all of life is pervaded with them. We are passive recipients of arguments (an advertisement argues that you need to buy something; teachers and parents argue about the makings of a good life) and eager participants in arguments (which video game system is the best? what was the best song of Summer 2012?). Some arguments are planned (asking the boss for a raise; advocating the change of a school policy), and many are spontaneous (do you think it will rain today? what did you think about the Miami Heat winning the title?).

When students start to see arguments in their daily lives, they’ll have more buy-in the next time you bring up arguments in the classroom.

3. Explicitly teach the parts of an argument

Here’s how I explain arguments to my kids:

An argument begins with a claim. The claim is then explained using reasoning (or a warrant), and it is supported using evidence (or data). It’s also important to know that an effective argument acknowledges and deals with its naysayers.

When dealing with naysayers, it’s imperative to use respect. This is the final piece of an effective argument. I didn’t explicitly teach this at the start of last year; my students and I learned it by evaluating the effectiveness of arguments that did not respectfully treat the other side.

I’ll teach and reteach these things (and the many complexities inherent in them) over the course of the year. They begin to take on meaning when students start both making arguments and examining those of others (this latter task ties nicely into R.CCR.8).

4. Share student examples

Early on in the school year, I begin sharing examples of arguments created by students. By projecting a paragraph or two onto the screen, I can get students to see specific skills or struggles that I want them to focus on.

This is a great way to focus in on written arguments, but there is perhaps no better way to share student examples than one simple strategy…

(Drum roll, please.)

5. Debate your faces off

Perhaps no form of argumentation so perfectly lends itself to teachable moments than the debate. There are endless variations on the types of debates you can hold; I’ve had in-class success with formats no more complex than Lincoln-Douglas and as simple as back-and-forth between two teams. Also, don’t be afraid to create a rubric for debates, and definitely don’t be afraid to find ways for every student to participate in the actual arguing.

The key with holding effective debates in class is simply getting started. Having debates is the only way to learn how to make them as lean and mean as they can be in your classroom.

I plan to do a post on the types of debates I used in my classroom during this past school year, but a few encouraging comments below can make that happen sooner rather than later 🙂

Have a great day!