Knowledge and Skills Statement
Response skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student responds to an increasingly challenging variety of sources that are read, heard, or viewed.
Demonstrated Proficiency of ELA.8.6.I
During a class discussion of the ideas in a text, use rhetorical devices such as fallacy and commonplace assertions to pique student interest and encourage research to form new, evidence-based understandings. Then, through inquiry, research and collaboration, task students with reflecting on new ideas that may cause them to adjust their initial thinking about the text.
Further Explanation
This assessment requires students to understand how understanding of information can change and that they should allow for the opportunity to reinforce or adjust first impressions. As new evidence or information is gained, students should consider whether an interpretation remains true or changes. In response to the new information, students might add to a reflection, change parts of the reflection, or write a new reflection. Frequently provide structure and opportunities for students to respond to questions and to pause and reflect as new evidence is presented, either by speakers or text. Students should also have opportunities to share whether they wish to maintain or change their initial positions. It is important for students to develop response skills with all genres. This activity can be completed with multiple genres.
Supporting Information for ELA.8.6.I
Research
1. Klein, P. D., & Rose, M. A. (2010). Teaching argument and explanation to prepare junior students for writing to learn. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(4), 433–461. https://dx.doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.45.4.4
Summary: In this study, Klein and Rose examine how students respond to various writing tasks and assignments. The teachers used the process writing approach, which included creating an outline, drafts, and a final paper. The revision and edit process lends itself to implementing teacher and peer oral and written feedback. The study reveals that there are specific as well as varied means to teach the writing process to students. Students must use prior knowledge and have access to relevant external sources (i.e. internet).
2. VanDerHeide, J., & Juzwik, M. M. (2018). Argument as conversation: Students responding through writing to significant conversations across time and place. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 62(1), 67–77. doi:10.1002/jaal.754
Summary: In this article, the author presents an instructional model that reconnects to the why of writing. The model of information reasoning requires students to learn how to make a claim, provide supporting evidence of that claim, and create additional examples of the claim through the use of analogies and stories. Students were asked to write a letter in response to an ongoing conversation that was important to them. Personal experience helps to develop the students' ability to advocate for a position through writing. The approach requires scaffolding on argumentative writing instruction. This study includes multiple templates to guide the writing of the responses. This approach fosters the opportunity for students to participate in conversations that have a historical background. In doing so, students engage in topics of debate that have continued over time and in various spaces. Students are invited to participate in these discussions through their writing positions as arguing for or against a position.