If your students are anything like mine, they’re probably pretty good at finding evidence from a text for their essays but terrible at using it effectively once they’ve found it. They tend to drop it into a paragraph like a brick, occasionally introduced and perhaps cited correctly, but not explained. If you’re already nodding your head, I needn’t go much further describing the problem.<\/p>\n
I recently had that a-ha-lightbulb-not-quite-transcendental-but-close moment in class.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Before I describe the breakthrough, a little background. Trafalgar Castle School has been implementing a tailored-to-age version of the University of Chicago’s Little Red Schoolhouse (LRS) writing programme, and I recently settled on the wording for the 5 elements of effective argumentation that we discuss. (The elements themselves have been filtered through the LRS, based on Toulmin’s theory, augmented with\u00a0George Hillocks, Jr., and others, massaged and handed over to me by a wonderful former colleague, Theresa Fuller, who is now at Branksome Hall.) It’s the fourth element that’s relevant here. (The other questions are for another post at another time.)<\/p>\n
4. Have…?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
As in “Have you explained your thinking?”, which can be expanded to, “Have you explained how your evidence supports your reason and how your reason supports your claim?”\u00a0In order to show the importance of this question, I usually require\u00a0my Grade 12 students to write their first essay on a short piece, so they’re forced to deal with the same bits of evidence, no matter what they’re arguing.<\/p>\n