Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

• W.7.1 – Closing and Assessment A: Students track progress on their ability to write an argument, focusing on including evidence to support points and writing an effective conclusion.
• In Work Time A, students independently write an argument essay for Part I of their End of Unit 2 Assessment, being sure to clearly introduce and support their claim with well-organized reasons and relevant evidence. Students also use transitional words and phrases to clarify relationships between ideas, maintain a formal style, and provide a conclusion that follows from the rest of the essay. (W.7.1, W.7.5, W.7.6, W.7.9b, W.7.10)
• Two lessons have been allocated for this assessment to ensure sufficient time for students to write an argument essay. If these are taught in two separate lessons rather than together as one block, revisit the learning targets and the task at the beginning of the second 45-minute lesson to remind students of the task and purpose.
• In this lesson, students focus on working to become effective learners and ethical people by practicing integrity and perseverance as they independently write an essay for the end of unit assessment. They will also practice taking responsibility as they track their progress on writing skills.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

• Encourage those students who finish the assessment early to begin tracking their progress and revising or adding to their essays to meet their argument writing goals.
• Invite students to trade assessments with a peer who is also done early and assess their peer’s essay using the checklist, providing stars and steps.
• Invite students to read their essays aloud, noticing where further editing and revisions are needed.
• Encourage students to go on a coordinate adjective hunt, finding examples of coordinate adjectives from texts in the classroom library or on the internet and creating a poster, presentation, or project of their choosing showing what they learned.

How It Builds on Previous Work

• In Unit 2, students have been closely examining articles about solutions for plastic pollution at different points in the plastic life cycle. This prepares students for this end of unit assessment, in which they write an argument essay defending their claim to address plastic pollution in the middle of the plastic life cycle. Over the past several lessons, students worked in pairs to refine the skills related to writing an argument essay, so they are prepared to independently write the essay in this lesson.

Support All Students

• Note there is a differentiated version of the Argument Writing Plan graphic organizer used in Work Time A in the separate Teacher's Guide for English Language Learners. ▲
• If students receive accommodations for assessments, communicate with the cooperating service providers regarding the practices of instruction in use during this study as well as the goals of the assessment. ▲
• Some students may require more than the time allotted to complete the assessment. ▲
• Continue to monitor students to determine if there are issues surfacing as a result of the content of this lesson that need to be discussed as a whole group, in smaller groups, or individually.

Assessment Guidance

• Assessment materials (student copy, annotated student exemplar, and teacher rubric) are included in the Assessment Overview and Resources.
• When assessing and providing feedback to students on this assessment, use the Grade 7 Argument Writing Rubric located on the Tools Page, and the annotated sample essay (see Assessment Overview and Resources) to help complete students’ Track Progress recording forms. Make notes in the appropriate column for each criterion in a different color from student responses. There is also space to respond to student comments. 
• In this assessment, students are tracking progress toward the following anchor standard:
• W.1: By the end of Grade 12 I will be able to: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

Down the Road

• In the next lesson, students will engage in a peer critique of each other’s essays, focusing on using phrases that modify ideas and commas between coordinate adjectives. Students will then have an opportunity to incorporate their peers’ feedback.