No doubt, teaching argument writing to middle school students can be tricky. Even the word “argumentative” is off-putting, bringing to mind pointless bickering. But once I came up with argument writing lessons that were both fun and effective, I quickly saw the value in it. And so did my students.
You see, we teachers have an ace up our sleeve. It’s a known fact that from ages 11-14, kids love nothing more than to fire up a good ole battle royale with just about anybody within spitting distance.
Yup. So we’re going to use their powers of contradiction to OUR advantage by showing them how to use our argument writing lessons to power up their real-life persuasion skills. Your students will be knocking each other over in the hall to get to the room first!
I usually plan on taking about three weeks on the entire argument writing workshop. However, there are years when I’ve had to cut it down to two, and that works fine too.
Here are the step-by-step lessons I use to teach argument writing. It might be helpful to teachers who are new to teaching the argument, or to teachers who want to get back to the basics. If it seems formulaic, that’s because it is. In my experience, that’s the best way to get middle school students started.
Prior to Starting the Writer’s Workshop
A couple of weeks prior to starting your unit, assign some quick-write journal topics. I pick one current event topic a day, and I ask students to express their opinion about the topic.
Quick-writes get the kids thinking about what is going on in the world and makes choosing a topic easier later on.
Define Argumentative Writing
I’ll never forget the feeling of panic I had in 7th grade when my teacher told us to start writing an expository essay on snowstorms. How could I write an expository essay if I don’t even know what expository MEANS, I whined to my middle school self.
We can’t assume our students know or remember what argumentative writing is, even if we think they should know. So we have to tell them. Also, define claim and issue while you’re at it.
Establish Purpose
I always tell my students that learning to write an effective argument is key to learning critical thinking skills and is an important part of school AND real-life writing.
We start with a fictional scenario every kid in the history of kids can relate to.
ISSUE: a kid wants to stay up late to go to a party vs. AUDIENCE: the strict mom who likes to say no.
The “party” kid writes his mom a letter that starts with a thesis and a claim: I should be permitted to stay out late to attend the part for several reasons.
By going through this totally relatable scenario using a modified argumentative framework, I’m able to demonstrate the difference between persuasion and argument, the importance of data and factual evidence, and the value of a counterclaim and rebuttal.
Students love to debate whether or not strict mom should allow party kid to attend the party. More importantly, it’s a great way to introduce the art of the argument, because kids can see how they can use the skills to their personal advantage.
Persuasive Writing Differs From Argument Writing
At the middle school level, students need to understand persuasive and argument writing in a concrete way. Therefore, I keep it simple by explaining that both types of writing involve a claim. However, in persuasive writing, the supporting details are based on opinions, feelings, and emotions, while in argument writing the supporting details are based on researching factual evidence.
I give kids a few examples to see if they can tell the difference between argumentation and persuasion before we move on.
Argumentative Essay Terminology
In order to write a complete argumentative essay, students need to be familiar with some key terminology. Some teachers name the parts differently, so I try to give them more than one word if necessary:
- argument
- persuasion
- claim
- audience
- thesis statement
- evidence
- bridge/warrant
- counterclaim/counterargument*
- turn-back/refutation
*If you follow Common Core Standards, the counterargument is not required for 6th-grade argument writing. All of the teachers in my school teach it anyway, and I’m thankful for that when the kids get to 7th grade.
Organizing the Argumentative Essay
I teach students how to write a step-by-step 5 paragraph argumentative essay consisting of the following:
- Introduction: Includes a lead/hook, background information about the topic, and a thesis statement that includes the claim.
- Body Paragraph #1: Introduces the first reason that the claim is valid. Supports that reason with facts, examples, and/or data.
- Body Paragraph #2: The second reason the claim is valid. Supporting evidence as above.
- Counterargument (Body Paragraph #3): Introduction of an opposing claim, then includes a turn-back to take the reader back to the original claim.
- Conclusion: Restates the thesis statement, summarizes the main idea, and contains a strong concluding statement that might be a call to action.
Mentor Texts
If we want students to write a certain way, we should provide high-quality mentor texts that are exact models of what we expect them to write.
I know a lot of teachers will use picture books or editorials that present arguments for this, and I can get behind that. But only if specific exemplary essays are also used, and this is why.
If I want to learn Italian cooking, I’m not going to just watch the Romanos enjoy a holiday feast on Everybody Loves Raymond. I need to slow it down and follow every little step my girl Lidia Bastianich makes.
The same goes for teaching argument writing. If we want students to write 5 paragraph essays, that’s what we should show them.
In fact, don’t just display those mentor texts like a museum piece. Dissect the heck out of those essays. Pull them apart like a Thanksgiving turkey. Disassemble the essay sentence by sentence and have the kids label the parts and reassemble them. This is how they will learn how to structure their own writing.
Also, encourage your detectives to evaluate the evidence. Ask students to make note of how the authors use anecdotes, statistics, and facts. Have them evaluate the evidence and whether or not the writer fully analyzes it and connects it to the claim.
This is absolutely the best way for kids to understand the purpose of each part of the essay.
Research Time
Most of my students are not very experienced with performing research when we do this unit, so I ease them into it. (Our “big” research unit comes later in the year with our feature article unit.)
I start them off by showing this short video on how to find reliable sources. We use data collection sheets and our school library’s database for research. There are also some awesome, kid-friendly research sites listed on the Ask a Tech Teacher Blog.
Step-By-Step Drafting
The bedrock of drafting is to start with a solid graphic organizer. I have to differentiate for my writers, and I’ve found they have the most success when I offer three types of graphic organizers.
1- Least Support: This is your standard graphic organizer. It labels each paragraph and has a dedicated section for each part of the paragraph.
2- Moderate Support: This one has labels and sections, but also includes sentence stems for each sentence in the paragraph.
3- Most Support: This one has labels and sections and also includes fill-in-the-blank sentence frames. It’s perfect for my emerging writers, and as I’ve mentioned previously, students do NOT need the frames for long and soon become competent and independent writers.
Writing the Introduction
The introduction has three parts and purposes.
First, it has a hook or lead. While it should be about the topic, it shouldn’t state the writer’s position on the topic. I encourage students to start with a quote by a famous person, an unusual detail, a statistic, or a fact.
Kids will often try to start with a question, but I discourage that unless their question also includes one of the other strategies. Otherwise, I end up with 100 essays that start with, “Do you like sharks?” Lol
Next, it’s time to introduce the issue. This is the background information that readers need in order to understand the controversy.
Last, students should state the claim in the thesis statement. I call it a promise to the reader that the essay will deliver by proving that the claim is valid.
Writing the Supporting Body Paragraphs
Each supporting body paragraph should start with a topic sentence that introduces the idea and states the reason why the claim is valid. The following sentences in the paragraph should support that reason with facts, examples, data, or expert opinions. The bridge is the sentence that connects that piece of evidence to the argument’s claim. The concluding sentence should restate the reason.
Writing the Counterclaim Paragraph
The counterclaim paragraph is a very important aspect of argument writing. It’s where we introduce an opposing argument and then confidently take the reader back to the original argument. I tell students that it’s necessary to “get in the head” of the person who might not agree with their claim, by predicting their objections.
It can be tough for kids to “flip the switch” on their own argument, so I like to practice this a bit. I give them several pairs of transitions that go together to form a counterclaim and rebuttal. I also switch up what I call this part so that they use the terminology interchangeably.
- It might seem that [counterargument. ]However, [turn-back.]
- Opponents may argue that [counterargument.] Nevertheless, [turn back.]
- A common argument against this position is [counterargument.] Yet, [turn-back.]
A great way for kids to practice this is to have them work with partners to write a few counterarguments together. I let them practice by giving them easy role-playing topics.
- Your cousins want to jump into a poison ivy grove for a TikTok challenge. Choose your position on this and write a counterargument and turn-back.
- Your friend wants to get a full-face tattoo of their boyfriend’s name. Choose your position on this and write a counterargument and turn-back.
This kind of practice makes the counterargument much more clear.
Conclusion
The concluding paragraph should remind the reader of what was argued in the essay and why it matters. It might also suggest solutions or further research that could be done on the topic. Or students can write a call to action that asks the reader to perform an action in regard to the information they’ve just learned.
My students write about local issues and then turn the essays into letters to our superintendent, school board, or state senators. It’s an amazing way to empower kids and to show them that their opinion matters. I’ve written about that here and I’ve included the sentence frames for the letters in my argumentative writing unit.
I hope this gives you a good overview of teaching argument writing. Please leave any questions below. Please also share your ideas, because we all need all the help we can give each other!
And one more thing. Don’t be surprised if parents start asking you to tone down the unit because it’s become harder to tell their kids why they can’t stay up late for parties. 🙂
Stay delicious!
