Overview

Lesson Procedure

55-65 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "A friend says, 'We should get a class pet. My cousin's class has a hamster, hamsters are cute, and I read that pets teach responsibility.' Which of your friend's three reasons would convince a principal? Which would not, and why?"

   Take several answers. Students usually see that "hamsters are cute" is an opinion, that the cousin's class shows only that one other class has a pet, and that "pets teach responsibility" is the closest to a real reason but needs support ("I read that" where?). Name what they just did: they separated the claim (we should get a class pet) from the reasons, and they judged each one. RI.8.8 asks students to do this with a whole text, and to notice when a writer slips in something that sounds like support but is not.

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   Teach the terms and leave them on the board:

   • Argument: a claim supported by reasons and evidence. Delineate: lay out the parts of the argument clearly, like drawing the lines of a map.
   • Claim: the main point the writer wants readers to believe or act on. A long text also makes smaller specific claims along the way.
   • Reason: a statement that explains why the claim should be accepted.
   • Evidence: facts, numbers, examples, observations or expert statements that back up a reason.
   • Relevant evidence actually supports the reason it is attached to. Irrelevant evidence may be true and interesting, but it supports nothing in the argument.
   • Sufficient evidence is enough, and of the right kind, to support the reason: one friend's opinion is rarely sufficient for a claim about a whole school.
   • Sound reasoning: the reasons really lead to the claim. Reasoning is unsound when a step does not follow, for example when one example is stretched into a rule for everyone.

   Show Diagram 1 and walk through its small example.

   Introduce the text. In the early 1900s, many kinds of American birds had been hunted or trapped until few were left, some for feathers on hats and some to be sold as pets. Groups called Audubon societies, named for the bird artist John James Audubon, worked to protect them, and they started Junior Audubon Classes, bird-study clubs for schoolchildren. In April 1913, Ohio's State Commissioner of Common Schools issued a manual for Arbor Day and Bird Day, and state law required it to be passed out to teachers. Passage 1 is its short article by Eugene Swope, who worked for the Audubon society in Ohio, written to school leaders. Words to know: Superintendent (the head of a school district), Commissioner (here, the head of Ohio's schools), Supervisors of Agriculture (officials in charge of teaching farming), elementary agriculture (beginning farming lessons), remnant (the small part that is left), gratifying (pleasing), develope (an old spelling of develop), originality (new ideas of one's own), composition work (writing assignments), correspond (write letters) and gratis (free). Read Passage 1 aloud.

   1The national movement for the study and protection of our wild birds is as well understood and supported by the teachers of Ohio as of any other State. The number of Junior Audubon Classes formed in the schools of Ohio last year was second only to New Jersey. That little State took the lead. Ohio ought to take the lead this year. With our Commissioner F. W. Miller giving his approval and encouragement, and our Supervisors of Agriculture recommending bird study as a necessary feature of elementary agriculture, Ohio ought to be able to report a large number of Bird Classes by the middle of May.

   2It is a rare thing to find a Superintendent or principal actually unfriendly toward bird study, but a very large percent hesitate to admit it into their schools because it is new and untried.

   3The claims of bird study upon Superintendents and principals is one that cannot much longer be overlooked. The National desire to know the wild birds and to save the remnant now left, is yearly becoming stronger. An ever-increasing number of homes are becoming active centers and parents are looking to the public schools for help, and children everywhere are eager for bird study.

   4There is no risk in introducing Junior Audubon Classes in a school. Some of our country's foremost educators have tried it with gratifying results, for they find that there is no better subject to develope the power of attention in children, there is no better subject to train children's memories, there is no better subject to awake originality of thought in young minds, and it is unquestionably the supreme subject for composition work. Any teacher who cares to give bird study a trial may correspond with me and receive gratis, the help now offered by the Ohio Audubon Society.

   • Delineate: find the claim and the reasons

     Swope writes to superintendents and principals that "The claims of bird study upon Superintendents and principals is one that cannot much longer be overlooked" (paragraph 3) and ends by inviting "Any teacher who cares to give bird study a trial" to write to him (paragraph 4). What is his claim, and what reasons does he give?

     Result: Claim: schools should start Junior Audubon Classes now. Reason 1 (paragraph 3): the public wants it, since the national desire to know and save birds is growing, parents look to the schools and children are eager. Reason 2 (paragraph 4): it is safe, "There is no risk." Reason 3 (paragraph 4): bird study builds attention, memory, original thinking and writing. Paragraph 2 sets up the problem: many leaders "hesitate to admit it into their schools because it is new and untried."

   • Sufficient? Vague evidence

     To support "There is no risk," Swope writes: "Some of our country's foremost educators have tried it with gratifying results" (paragraph 4). Is this evidence sufficient?

     Result: No. The evidence is relevant, since results from schools that tried bird study do bear on whether it is risky. But it is not sufficient: the "foremost educators" are not named, we are not told how many tried it or where, and "gratifying results" does not say what the results were. A principal could not check any of it. One named school with a description of what happened would be stronger.

   • Relevant? Evidence that supports nothing

     Swope opens with a fact: "The number of Junior Audubon Classes formed in the schools of Ohio last year was second only to New Jersey. That little State took the lead. Ohio ought to take the lead this year." Does this evidence support the claim that bird study is good for students?

     Result: No. Ohio's ranking against New Jersey says how many classes were formed, not whether they helped anyone. It appeals to state pride ("Ohio ought to take the lead"), a reason to compete, not a reason to believe bird study works. It is relevant only to the smaller claim that many Ohio schools already have classes. For the main claim, it is irrelevant evidence.

   • Sound? Does the reasoning follow?

     Swope says leaders hesitate "because it is new and untried," and answers in paragraph 4: "There is no risk in introducing Junior Audubon Classes in a school." Is this reasoning sound?

     Result: Only partly. Swope answers the right worry, and that is a strength. But the answer is an assertion: "There is no risk" is stated as a fact, and the only support is the vague report about "foremost educators." A new program can carry costs, such as time taken from other subjects, that Swope never discusses. The step from "some educators liked it" to "no risk in a school" does not follow.

   Map, then test. Model the routine with the examples: (1) write the claim in your own words; (2) list the reasons and draw each piece of evidence under the reason it supports; (3) test each link: relevant? sufficient? sound?; (4) put anything that supports no reason in the "irrelevant" box. Give students a frame: "The writer claims ___. The reason ___ is supported by ___, which is relevant / irrelevant because ___ and sufficient / insufficient because ___."

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Read Passage 2 aloud: an editorial for a school newspaper by an eighth grader, invented for this page. An editorial is an article that argues for an opinion. Students copy Diagram 2, the argument map, and fill it in with a partner, highlighting reasons in one color and evidence in the other. Then pairs answer the three questions below. Teacher notes:

   1Our school should add a twenty-minute silent reading period every day, right after lunch. Students would read any book they choose, and teachers would read too. I believe this one change would make us better readers and calmer students.

   2First, students want this. Last month I surveyed my English class, and 20 of the 28 students said they would read more if they had time for it at school. That is more than two thirds of the class.

   3Second, reading makes you smarter. The students with the best grades in my class are all big readers. If everyone read for twenty minutes a day, everyone's grades would go up.

   4Third, a reading period would calm the school down after lunch. Everyone knows the hallways are loud and wild at 12:30. When I read before math class, I always feel more focused. Everyone I asked at my lunch table agreed with me, too.

   5Reading has a long history. People have been writing books for thousands of years, and my favorite author writes every single morning and has published fourteen novels.

   6Some teachers say they cannot give up twenty minutes of class time. But twenty minutes is nothing. Over a 180-day school year, it adds up to only 60 hours, and we waste more time than that waiting for the bell.

   7The school board meets on March 12. Come and tell them: give us twenty minutes.

   8Maya Torres, Grade 8

   1. Map it. What is the claim, and what are the three reasons? Teacher note: claim, "Our school should add a twenty-minute silent reading period every day, right after lunch" (paragraph 1). The reasons are signaled by "First," "Second" and "Third": students want it (paragraph 2), reading makes you smarter (paragraph 3), and it would calm the school after lunch (paragraph 4).
   2. Test the survey. Maya writes that "20 of the 28 students said they would read more if they had time for it at school." Which reason does this support, and is it enough? Teacher note: it is relevant to reason 1, that students want a reading period, and the arithmetic is right (20 of 28 is about 71 percent, "more than two thirds"). It is not sufficient for the whole school: it is one English class, the author's own, and "would read more" is not the same as "want the school day changed." It says nothing about reasons 2 and 3.
   3. Find the irrelevant evidence. Which paragraph supports none of the reasons? Teacher note: paragraph 5. That people "have been writing books for thousands of years" and that Maya's favorite author "has published fourteen novels" may be true, but neither fact shows that a reading period would help students at this school. It belongs in the "irrelevant evidence" box of the map.
4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read Passage 3 on their own and fill in a fresh argument map before they answer the quiz. It comes from the same 1913 manual: a leaflet on the cardinal by William Dutcher, the president of the National Association of Audubon Societies. In Dutcher's time, wild cardinals were often trapped and sold as cage birds. Words to know: aviculturist (a person who raises birds in captivity), the cage bird fancy (the hobby of keeping birds in cages), bred (raised to have young), traffic (here, buying and selling), the Model Law (a sample bird-protection law that many states passed), unavailing (useless), cynic (someone who trusts no one), morose and crusty (gloomy and grumpy), antithesis (exact opposite), sylvan shades (shady woods), esthetic (having to do with beauty), husbandman (farmer), larvae (young insects) and rose-bugs (beetles that feed on roses). The quiz uses Passages 1-3.

   1Dr. Russ, the great German aviculturist, says, "Beloved in its home by both Americans and Germans, it is protected and caught only for the cage bird fancy. Had been bred in Holland a century and a half ago and later in England." It is true that until recently large numbers of Cardinals were caught or taken from the nest while young, for shipment to foreign countries by bird dealers. Owing to the efforts of the National Association, this traffic is a thing of the past. The Model Law, which is in force in all the States where the Cardinal is found, prohibits all traffic in these birds and forbids their being shipped from the State.

   2The Cardinal is too beautiful and valuable a bird to be confined within the narrow limits of a cage, where its splendid spirit is soon broken by its unavailing attempts to escape. Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller, in one of her charming pictures of bird life, says of a captive Cardinal, that, "He is a cynic, morose and crusty." Such a character cannot be attributed to the Cardinal when it is at liberty. Its wild, free song, its restless activity and its boldness are the antithesis of a depressed cage captive. Even when it receives the best care from its human jailer it is still a prisoner confined in a space so small that it never has an opportunity to stretch its wings in flight, nor can it ever bathe in the bright sunshine or view the blue skies above it. The whispering of the winds through the sylvan shades is lost to the captive forever. Is it strange that the nature of this wild free spirit changes?

   3The writer has seen many hundreds of these beautiful birds in cages ready to be shipped, each one doomed to a short existence, a prisoner and an exile. Fortunately, this condition is now changed; and, had the National Association accomplished no other good, the stopping of the cage-bird traffic would be a sufficient reason for its organization.

   [...]

   4In addition to its great esthetic value of song and plumage, the Cardinal has another important character which should endear it to the husbandman. Its food is various, consisting of wild fruits such as grapes, berries, mulberries, cedar berries, seeds of grasses and of many species of weeds, also large numbers of adult beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, flies, ants and their larvae; it is especially fond of rose-bugs. The Cardinal is from every point of view a bird of great interest and value, and any person who makes its intimate acquaintance will form a life-long friendship.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) In your own words, explain the difference between evidence that is irrelevant and evidence that is insufficient. (2) Write one sentence of irrelevant evidence that someone might add to an argument for a longer lunch period, and explain why it is irrelevant.

   Teacher note on the 1913 texts. Passages 1 and 3 are printed exactly as they appear in the manual, including Swope's spelling "develope" and his sentence "The claims of bird study ... is one," where today we would write "are." The texts reflect their time: Dutcher describes a cardinal couple's "domestic felicity" elsewhere in the leaflet, and both writers assume readers already love birds. The history is real. Audubon societies were among the groups campaigning in these years against the trade in wild birds, and today cardinals, like nearly all native songbirds in the United States, are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, so catching or keeping one as a pet is illegal. Olive Thorne Miller, quoted in Passage 3, was a popular American nature writer, and Dr. Russ was Karl Russ, a German writer on cage birds. Passages 2 and 4 are invented: Maya Torres, R. Delgado, the Maple Creek Bird Club and their numbers do not exist. The facts that Passage 4 reports about bird migration and "Lights Out" programs in Chicago and New York are real.

   For homework: students read Passage 4, an invented letter to the editor of a town newspaper, printed below. Words to know: migrate (travel with the seasons), artificial light (light made by people, not by the sun or moon), peak weeks (the weeks when the most birds are traveling), stunned (knocked senseless) and town council (the group that makes the town's rules).

   1To the Editor: Every spring and fall, huge numbers of birds fly over our state at night. Many songbirds migrate in the dark, and bright artificial light can pull them off course. Cities such as Chicago and New York already run "Lights Out" programs that ask building owners to turn off unneeded lights at night during migration. Our town should do its part by turning off half of its 1,200 streetlights from midnight to 5 a.m. during the peak weeks of the spring and fall migrations, about sixteen weeks in all.

   2The need is clear. Last fall, volunteers from the Maple Creek Bird Club walked around the glass office tower on Elm Street every morning and found 46 dead or stunned birds below its windows. Those birds did not have to die.

   3The plan would also save money. The town spends about $90,000 a year to power its streetlights. If we turn off half the lights, we will save half the birds and half the money.

   4Some people worry that darker streets would be less safe. But there has been no streetlight on my corner for two years, and nothing bad has happened.

   5My grandfather used to say that the stars were brighter when he was a boy, before all these lights. He loved birds, too, and he fed them every winter until he was ninety.

   6Please ask the town council to vote yes on Lights Out.

   7R. Delgado, Maple Creek

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Read: "Our town should build a skate park. Teenagers need a safe place to ride, and right now they skate in the grocery store parking lot." Which sentence states the claim?

   ATeenagers need a safe place to ride BRight now they skate in the grocery store parking lot COur town should build a skate park DSkateboarding is a sport that many teenagers in town enjoy

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A writer argues, "The city should add bike lanes on Oak Street." Which piece of evidence is irrelevant to this claim?

   ALast year, 14 cyclists were hit by cars on Oak Street, the most of any street BOak Street was named for the oak trees that once lined both of its sides CA city count found that 300 people ride bikes on Oak Street each weekday DOak Street is wide enough for bike lanes without removing any parking

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A student claims, "Our cafeteria should offer a vegetarian lunch every day." Which evidence would be most sufficient to support the claim that students would choose it?

   AMy two best friends are vegetarians and say they would buy it BVegetarian food is popular in many restaurants around the country CA cafeteria worker said she thinks some students might like the idea DA survey of all 640 students found that 212 would choose it at least weekly

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Swope writes that "parents are looking to the public schools for help, and children everywhere are eager for bird study" (Passage 1, paragraph 3). What is the problem with "children everywhere are eager"?

   AIt is a claim about all children that Swope supports with no evidence at all BIt is irrelevant, because children have nothing to do with school programs CIt is sound reasoning, because a claim about everyone covers every case DIt is an exact number that readers can check in the Ohio school records

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Swope says Ohio can succeed "With our Commissioner F. W. Miller giving his approval and encouragement" (Passage 1, paragraph 1). How relevant is the Commissioner's approval to the claim that bird study is good for students?

   AFully relevant, because an official's approval proves a program helps students BIrrelevant, because the Commissioner has nothing to do with Ohio's schools CPartly relevant: it shows schools are allowed and encouraged, not that it works DIrrelevant, because the approval is described in the first paragraph

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Swope writes that "our Supervisors of Agriculture recommending bird study as a necessary feature of elementary agriculture" (Passage 1, paragraph 1). Which is the best evaluation of this evidence?

   AIrrelevant, because farming has no connection to the study of wild birds BRelevant support from officials, but Swope does not say why they recommend it CSufficient on its own to prove every claim Swope makes in the article DUnsound reasoning, because the officials would never recommend bird study

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Swope writes that bird study "is unquestionably the supreme subject for composition work" (Passage 1, paragraph 4). What kind of statement is this?

   AA piece of evidence, because it names the subject where bird study helps BA reason that the passage supports with results from composition classes CA piece of irrelevant evidence, because composition is not a school subject DA claim stated as certain, with no evidence given to show it is true

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Maya writes, "The students with the best grades in my class are all big readers. If everyone read for twenty minutes a day, everyone's grades would go up" (Passage 2, paragraph 3). Why is this reasoning unsound?

   AIt gives a number about the class that is wrong when you check the math BIt assumes reading caused the good grades and would work for everyone CIt uses evidence from the right class, but it is written too informally DIt never mentions the twenty-minute reading period Maya is arguing for

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   To support her third reason, Maya adds, "Everyone I asked at my lunch table agreed with me, too" (Passage 2, paragraph 4). What is the main weakness of this evidence?

   AIt is irrelevant, because the lunch table has nothing to do with lunch BIt is too large a sample, since it includes every student in the school CIt is not sufficient: a few friends at one table are not a fair sample DIt is unsound because the people at her table disagreed with her

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Maya answers teachers who worry about losing class time: "But twenty minutes is nothing. Over a 180-day school year, it adds up to only 60 hours" (Passage 2, paragraph 6). Which is the best evaluation of this response?

    AHer math is right, but calling 60 hours "nothing" brushes the concern aside BHer math is wrong, because twenty minutes a day for 180 days is far more than 60 hours CHer response is irrelevant evidence, because teachers never worry about class time DHer response is sufficient, because any number of hours proves time is not lost

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which statement best delineates Dutcher's main claim in Passage 3?

    ACardinals were bred in Holland and later in England for the cage bird fancy BCardinals are the most beautiful birds in America and sing better than any other CWild cardinals should not be caged, and ending the trade in them was right DCardinals eat wild fruits, grass seeds and large numbers of insects

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Dutcher quotes Olive Thorne Miller, who said of a captive cardinal that "He is a cynic, morose and crusty" (Passage 3, paragraph 2). How strong is this as evidence that cages change a cardinal's nature?

    ASufficient, because a famous writer's opinion settles any question about birds BIrrelevant, because it describes the bird's feathers instead of its behavior CUnsound, because Miller was writing about a bird that lived in the wild DRelevant but not sufficient: it is one writer's impression of one caged bird

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Dutcher quotes Dr. Russ: "Had been bred in Holland a century and a half ago and later in England" (Passage 3, paragraph 1). How does this detail relate to Dutcher's claim that cardinals should not be caged?

    AIt supports nothing in his argument against cages BIt proves that cardinals are unhappy in a cage CIt is sufficient evidence that the cage trade has ended DIt shows that the Model Law protects cardinals in Europe

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Dutcher writes, "The writer has seen many hundreds of these beautiful birds in cages ready to be shipped, each one doomed to a short existence, a prisoner and an exile" (Passage 3, paragraph 3). Which evaluation is most accurate?

    AIrrelevant, because what Dutcher saw himself cannot count as evidence at all BFirst-hand and relevant to how large the trade was, but "doomed" is not shown CSufficient to prove every caged cardinal died young, since he saw hundreds DUnsound, because the birds in the cages were not cardinals but other birds

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Swope writes, "The National desire to know the wild birds and to save the remnant now left, is yearly becoming stronger" (Passage 1, paragraph 3). Does this reason support his claim that schools should start bird classes? Evaluate the reason and its evidence.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    For her third reason, Maya writes, "When I read before math class, I always feel more focused" (Passage 2, paragraph 4). Is this evidence relevant? Is it sufficient? Explain, and suggest better evidence.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Dutcher writes, "Even when it receives the best care from its human jailer it is still a prisoner confined in a space so small that it never has an opportunity to stretch its wings in flight" and then asks, "Is it strange that the nature of this wild free spirit changes?" (Passage 3, paragraph 2). Assess the reasoning. What does Dutcher show, and what does he leave the reader to accept?

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    In paragraph 4 of Passage 3, Dutcher lists the cardinal's food, including "large numbers of adult beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, flies, ants and their larvae." Which specific claim is this evidence for, and is it sufficient?

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Dutcher writes that "Owing to the efforts of the National Association, this traffic is a thing of the past," because "The Model Law, which is in force in all the States where the Cardinal is found, prohibits all traffic in these birds" (Passage 3, paragraph 1), and later that "had the National Association accomplished no other good, the stopping of the cage-bird traffic would be a sufficient reason for its organization" (paragraph 3). Evaluate this specific claim about the National Association and the evidence for it.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Both Swope (Passage 1) and Dutcher (Passage 3) write in 1913 to win support for protecting birds. Which argument is better supported? Delineate the main claim of each, and compare the relevance and sufficiency of their evidence, with at least one quotation from each passage.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RI.8.8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.