ED500+Final+assignments

= ED500 Final assignments = Post your final assignment here for ED500 by 9/1/13. Be sure to begin with a clear header that includes your name, subject area and grade level, and include links to any data sets or other materials referenced in your assignment.

Kalin Pierce English 1/ Honors 9th Grade

8th Grade


Kristi Kowalski Writing-GED Adult Basic Skills

Shirley Albertson Social Studies Sixth Grade

ED 500 Argument Writing Assignment

Shirley Albertson

August 30, 2013

Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain?

This is an outline of a brief unit introducing argument writing to sixth grade social studies students.

__Part 1 - Teaching a Model for Reasoning__

Introduce the getting to know you activity from the book //Teaching Students to Write Argument,// p. 6-10. Students will use sticky notes to select activities they very enthusiastic about and some they enjoy, helping them identify varying degrees of interest. The topics are: Family Time, computers/video games, sports, tv & movies, reading, and doing chores. After all the data has been collected on charts, they will be able to compare and draw some conclusions.

Some questions to ask: What is the most popular activity? What is the least popular activity? How do you know?

Explain how to figure percentages based on the category counts. In the example 22% of the class liked sports. The teacher asked the class how many people liked sports and everyone raised their hand, meaning 100% now say they like sports. Go through the process of helping them express what the results of the poll show and to draw conclusions. This could also be done with a variety of other topics such as favorite foods.

I would guide them in making statements, comparisons, and drawing conclusions by using sentence stems, then have them write their findings and conclusions to share with their group and/or the class.

We would also look at the example of arguing in favor or against something, as in the school mascot example to introduce them to using language to defend their choice.

__Part 2 – Teaching Students to Expand Their Arguments__

Next students would brainstorm characteristics of a hero and types of modern day heroes. We would gather a list of names students named, or place names of famous people into the category of “hero” or “famous.” I would include some names of well known athletes or celebrities. To help expedite this process it would be helpful to have brief bios on a number of well known people with information about their accomplishments. Students could write statements about why they chose their particular hero and present that to the class or their group.

__Part 3 – Considering Competing Points of View__

After they wrote their statements about why their person should be considered a hero, further information about less desirable things their person did could be shared, and they would have to consider the opposing point of view and decide which people they still considered heroes. Students could argue their ideas supporting their decision with reasons for their belief.

__Part 4 – Applying the Experience to Social Studies__

Students will be given several pieces of information including primary sources about Columbus and the task of deciding if he should still be considered a hero or a villain. Resources:


 * Excerpts from Columbus’s journals, telling about his voyage. []


 * A modified excerpt from the book //Lies My Teacher Told Me// by James W. Loewen.
 * Painting “Columbus Greeted by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella Upon His Return to Spain from the New World” []
 * Portrait and biographical information []
 * Columbus controversy – arguments for and against

Student Assignment: Each group will be given a set of resources to read and analyze to draw conclusions about Christopher Columbus. Some resources will have positive biographical information about Columbus as a hero; other resources will identify concerns about Columbus and his actions. Groups will produce a three paragraph essay. First they must write what their observations are after studying their documents. Explain what they discovered. Next they will interpret what they read or saw as to the impact of Columbus’s actions. The final paragraph is to state whether Columbus is a hero or a villain, based on what they discovered. Responses will be assessed using the following rubric:


 * ** Persuasive Essay : Argument writing ** ||
 * Teacher Name: **Shirley Albertson** ||||||||  ||
 * Student Name: ||||  ||
 * CATEGORY || 4 - Above Standards || 3 - Meets Standards || 2 - Approaching Standards || 1 - Below Standards || Score ||
 * Introduction/state your claim || Claim is introduced and clearly stated using convincing and specific language || Claim is clear and adequately stated || Claim is stated buy may be somewhat unclear and unfocused || Claim may be very brief and may be confusing or ambiguous ||  ||
 * Evidence to support claim || Claim is clearly and strongly backed up by supporting evidence and details from reliable sources || Claim is adequately supported || Claim is partially supported but evidence is weak || Minimal support for the claim or lacking evidence ||  ||
 * Language and vocabulary || The response clearly and effectively expresses ideas: use of academic vocabulary is clearly appropriate for the audience and purpose || The response adequately expresses ideas, employing a mix of precise with more general language || The response expresses ideas unevenly, using simplistic language. || The ideas expressed are vague, lack clarity, or are confusing ||  ||
 * conventions || The response demonstrates a strong command of conventions (punctuation, spelling, capitalization) || The response demonstrates an adequate use of conventions. Some errors may be present but does not interfere with understanding || The response demonstrates partial command of conventions: frequent errors may obscure meaning || The response demonstrates a lack of command of conventions. ||  ||
 * Date Created: **Aug 31, 2013 05:04 pm (CDT)** ||||||  ||
 * Student Name: ||||  ||
 * CATEGORY || 4 - Above Standards || 3 - Meets Standards || 2 - Approaching Standards || 1 - Below Standards || Score ||
 * Introduction/state your claim || Claim is introduced and clearly stated using convincing and specific language || Claim is clear and adequately stated || Claim is stated buy may be somewhat unclear and unfocused || Claim may be very brief and may be confusing or ambiguous ||  ||
 * Evidence to support claim || Claim is clearly and strongly backed up by supporting evidence and details from reliable sources || Claim is adequately supported || Claim is partially supported but evidence is weak || Minimal support for the claim or lacking evidence ||  ||
 * Language and vocabulary || The response clearly and effectively expresses ideas: use of academic vocabulary is clearly appropriate for the audience and purpose || The response adequately expresses ideas, employing a mix of precise with more general language || The response expresses ideas unevenly, using simplistic language. || The ideas expressed are vague, lack clarity, or are confusing ||  ||
 * conventions || The response demonstrates a strong command of conventions (punctuation, spelling, capitalization) || The response demonstrates an adequate use of conventions. Some errors may be present but does not interfere with understanding || The response demonstrates partial command of conventions: frequent errors may obscure meaning || The response demonstrates a lack of command of conventions. ||  ||
 * Date Created: **Aug 31, 2013 05:04 pm (CDT)** ||||||  ||
 * Date Created: **Aug 31, 2013 05:04 pm (CDT)** ||||||  ||
 * Date Created: **Aug 31, 2013 05:04 pm (CDT)** ||||||  ||