Write an Argument Essay: Draft Proof Paragraph 1 | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G7:M4:U2:L9

Write an Argument Essay: Draft Proof Paragraph 1

In this Lesson

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • RI.7.1, W.7.1b, L.7.1c

Supporting Standards: These are the standards that are incidental—no direct instruction in this lesson, but practice of these standards occurs as a result of addressing the focus standards.

  • RI.7.2, W.7.4, W.7.5, W.7.10, L.7.6
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can write Proof Paragraph 1 of my pair argument essay using logical reasoning and relevant evidence from the text to support my point. (W.7.1b)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 9 (L.7.1c)
  • Work Time A: Annotated, color-coded model argument essay Proof Paragraphs (W.7.1b)
  • Work Time B: Proof Paragraph 1 of Pair Argument Essay (RL.7.1, W.7.1b)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner – L.7.1c (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. The Painted Essay®: Sort and Color-Code Evidence from the Proof Paragraphs – W.7.1b (15 minutes)

B. Draft Proof Paragraph 1 – W.7.1b (20 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Share Best Evidence – RI.7.1 (5 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Coordinate Adjectives: Students review their learning about coordinate adjectives and add commas between adjectives to complete Homework: Coordinate Adjectives: Lesson 9.

B. Independent Research Reading: Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

  • L.7.1c – Opening A: On an entrance ticket, students identify and share the modifying phrases in their essays, correcting any dangling or misplaced phrases.
  • W.7.1b – Work Time A: Students use the Painted Essay® structure to more closely analyze a model Proof Paragraph to understand how it effectively develops the topic with logical reasoning and relevant evidence.
  • W.7.1b – Work Time B: Students work in pairs to draft their first Proof Paragraph, choosing the best evidence to support their point and using logical reasoning to explain how it does so.
  • RI.7.1 – Closing and Assessment A: Student pairs join with another pair to form groups of four in which they share their claim and the best evidence they found to support it.
  • In this lesson, students focus on working to become effective learners and collaborating with peers and persevering to write a Proof Paragraph.
  • The Think-Pair-Share protocol is used in this lesson. Protocols are an important feature of the EL Education curriculum because they are one of the best ways we know to engage students in discussion, inquiry, critical thinking, and sophisticated communication. A protocol consists of agreed-upon, detailed guidelines for reading, recording, discussing, or reporting that ensure equal participation and accountability in learning.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • Release those students who are ready to read and analyze the model Proof Paragraph 1 independently and then move on to drafting Proof Paragraph 1 to their practice essay with a partner rather than during modeling.
  • Invite students to form pairs. Using a set of argument Proof Paragraphs, have students choose a paragraph which they find particularly strong. Invite students to share their notices with a partner. Have students switch partners and share a few times.
  • An optional Mini Language Dive, intended for use after students analyze a Proof Paragraph from a model essay in Work Time A, is available in the Teacher’s Guide for English Language Learners. ▲

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In the previous lessons, students analyzed the structure of the model essay using the Painted Essay® template and wrote their introduction. They build on those foundations in this lesson.

Support All Students

  • In Lessons 7–11, students work with the same partner on a pair argument essay. Provide differentiated mentors by purposefully preselecting student partnerships. Meet with the mentors in advance to encourage them to share their thought process with their partner. ▲
  • In Work Time A, students should read the model essay paragraphs and paragraph sentence strips independently. However, if some or all students need more support, read the first few sentences aloud and then release students to read with their partner. Another option is for students to use technology such as a text-to-speech tool to read the paragraph aloud. ▲
  • In Work Time A, students may require additional support when sorting the evidence. If so, pair students heterogeneously for this activity, or group students who may need additional reading and organizing support together and guide them through the activity. ▲
  • In the Closing and Assessment A, students draft their first Proof Paragraph. Some students may need to talk through their paragraph before writing it. Others may dictate their paragraph and then have a teacher, student, or technology record their dictation. Some students may need a movement break, snack, or drink of water before beginning to write. ▲

Assessment Guidance

  • Use the Grade 7 Writing Process checklist to assess students’ writing abilities in Work Time B (see the Tools Page).

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will write the second Proof Paragraph of their essays, drawing on the planning work in this and the previous lessons.

In Advance

  • Ensure there is a copy of Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 9 at each student's workspace.
  • Provide differentiated mentors by strategically grouping students for work in Work Time A with at least one strong reader per pair.
  • Cut apart the Proof Paragraph strips, and organize them using envelopes or paperclips so that each pair will have one set. Or if desired, students can do this preparation at the start of the activity.
  • Determine pairs for work throughout the lesson, grouping students by writing or content proficiency.
  • Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • Continue to use the technology tools recommended throughout previous modules to create anchor charts to share with families; to record students as they participate in discussions and protocols to review with students later and to share with families; and for students to listen to and annotate text, record ideas on note-catchers, and word-process writing.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 7.I.A.1, 7.I.B.5, 7.I.B.6, 7.I.B.7, 7.I.B.8, 7.I.C.11, 7.I.C.12, 7.II.A.1, 7.II.A.2, 7.II.B.3, 7.II.B.4, 7.II.C.6, and 7.II.C.7.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson includes the use of manipulatives and whole class instruction to understand the key structures of Proof Paragraphs. Also, the collaboration of writing a pair essay supports students in expressing their ideas. 
  • ELLs may find it challenging to generate language for writing their Proof Paragraph. In addition to the supports below, encourage students to use the language structures from the Model Argument Essay to guide or as frames for their own writing. 

Vocabulary

  • evidence, logical, Proof Paragraph, reasoning, relevant (A)
  • coordinate adjectives (DS)

Key

(A): Academic Vocabulary

(DS): Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 4, Opening A)
  • Academic word wall (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Opening A)
  • Paint an Essay lesson plan (for teacher reference) (from Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 7, Closing and Assessment A)
  • Criteria of an Effective Argument Essay anchor chart (one for display; from Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 7, Work Time A)
  • Domain-specific word wall (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time B)
  • Pair argument essay (one per pair of students; begun in Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 7, Closing and Assessment A)
  • Vocabulary log (one per student; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening A)
  • The Painted Essay® template (one per student and one to display; from Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 7, Closing and Assessment A)
  • Model Argument Essay: “Reduce Plastic Pollution in the Beginning of Its Life Cycle”
  • (one per student and one for display; from Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 7, Work Time A)
  • Argument Writing Checklist (one per student; from Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 9, Closing and Assessment A)
  • Argument Writing Plan graphic organizer (one per student; from Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 7, Closing and Assessment A)
  • Argument Writing Plan graphic organizer ▲
  • Texts from Module 4, Units 1 and 2: A Plastic Ocean, Trash Vortex, “Five Weird Materials That Could Replace Plastic,” “Five Things You Can Do to End Plastic Pollution,” and “Boyan Slat: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Kid”
  • Independent reading journal (one per student; begun in Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 6, Work Time B)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Organize the Model: Proof Paragraph strips (answers for teacher reference)
  • Homework: Coordinate Adjectives: Lesson 9 (example for teacher reference) (see Homework Resources)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 9 (one per student)
  • Organize the Model: Proof Paragraph strips (one set per pair)
  • Yellow and blue construction paper (one piece of each color per pair of students)
  • Scissors (one per pair of students)
  • Lined paper (one piece per student)
  • Homework: Coordinate Adjectives: Lesson 9 (one per student; see Homework Resources)

Assessment

Each unit in the 6-8 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize students' understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Opening

Opening

A. Engage the Learner - L.7.1c (5 minutes)

  • Invite students to retrieve their pair argument essay and work with their partner on the Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 9.
  • Once students have completed their entrance tickets, use a total participation technique for students to share examples of modifying phrases from their entrance ticket work.
  • Repeated routine: Follow the same routine as with the previous lessons to review learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any learning targets that are similar or the same as in previous lessons.
  • As necessary, with students, use the vocabulary strategies on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart to review the words logical (resulting from clear thinking), reasoning (explanations of why a claim is true, including explanations of how the evidence given proves the claim), relevant (related to the claim being discussed), evidence (information such as examples, data, facts, quotes, etc., that support an idea), and Proof Paragraph (middle paragraphs of an essay that state a main point and provide evidence to explain or support that point). Record these words on the academic word wall with translations in home languages, where appropriate, and invite students to record words in their vocabulary logs.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. The Painted Essay®: Sort and Color-Code the Evidence from the Proof Paragraphs – W.7.1b (15 minutes)

  • Move students into predetermined pairs, and distribute Organize the Model: Proof Paragraph strips, yellow and blue construction paper, and scissors.
  • Invite students to refer to their Painted Essay® template to remember where Proof Paragraphs 1 and 2 fit in the structure of an argument essay. Review the opinion from the introduction of the Model Argument Essay: “Reduce Plastic Pollution in the Beginning of Its Life Cycle.” Then review Point 1: “We can invent and use new materials besides plastic” and Point 2: “We can ban plastic at the beginning of its life cycle.” 
  • Post and review the following directions:
    1. Cut apart the evidence strips.
    2. Read and organize the strips, putting the strips of evidence that support Point 1: “We can invent and use new materials besides plastic” on the yellow construction paper, and the strips of evidence that support Point 2: “We can ban plastic at the beginning of its life cycle” on the blue construction paper.
    3. Check your work against the displayed Model Argument Essay.
  • Answer clarifying questions.
  • Invite students to begin working, and circulate to support them in reading and sorting the strips, encouraging students to explain their placement to their partners. Support students with the Organize the Model: Proof Paragraph strips (answers for teacher reference) and the Paint an Essay lesson plan (for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Refocus whole group.
  • Have students chorally read the Proof Paragraphs and explain the main idea of each paragraph as well as the function of the sentences in the paragraphs. Invite students to help record specific criteria for the Proof Paragraphs on the Criteria of an Effective Argument Essay anchor chart. 
  • Point out that within each Proof Paragraph, the author chose the best evidence to support the points. Then the author elaborated on the evidence presented. This elaboration explains how the evidence chosen supports the main claim of the piece.
  • If productive, cue students with a challenge:

“What if the writer had not included the information on the strips that begins with ‘For example, there is already a company’ and ‘According to the documentary’? I’ll give you time to think and discuss with a partner.” (These give examples of the points the author is making. Without them, we might not believe that there was enough evidence related to the points.)

For Lighter Support

  • Once students have completed the evidence sorting in Work Time A, challenge them to find one additional piece of evidence from their Module 4 texts for each point in the Model Argument Essay. Extending the work ensures mastery of the skill of providing evidence to support points.
  • After Work Time A, invite students to participate in a Mini Language Dive in small groups to explore how a sentence within a Proof Paragraph of the model essay introduces relevant evidence to support a point. The sentence also helps students to address L.7.2a because it contains coordinate adjectives. In the Practice portion of the Mini Language Dive, students draft a sentence for a Proof Paragraph in their own essay.

For Heavier Support

  • In Work Time A, provide students with some of the evidence sentence strips already color-coded, so that students can have a model for sorting the sentences. 

B. Draft Proof Paragraph 1 - W.7.1b (20 minutes)

  • Review the appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

"I can write Proof Paragraph 1 of my pair argument essay using logical reasoning and relevant evidence from the text to support my point."

  • Tell students they are now ready to draft Proof Paragraph 1 of their argument on targeting pollution at the end of the plastic cycle. Explain that in this lesson, they are only drafting Proof Paragraph 1 and will draft Proof Paragraph 2 in the next lesson. Remind students that as they draft this Proof Paragraph, they should elaborate by using reasoning to explain how the evidence they have chosen supports their thinking about reducing plastic pollution.
  • Distribute paper and ask students to form their predetermined essay pairs. Invite students to retrieve the following materials:
    • Argument Writing checklist
    • Argument Writing Plan graphic organizer
    • Pair argument essay
    • Texts from Module 4, Units 1 and 2: A Plastic Ocean, Trash Vortex, "Five Weird Materials That Could Replace Plastic," "Five Things You Can Do to End Plastic Pollution," and "Boyan Slat: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Kid"
  • As necessary, guide students through writing their Proof Paragraph 1:

1. Discuss the following characteristics on the Argument Writing checklist, adding to the Characteristics of My Informative column as needed.

      • "W.7.1b: I support my claim with logical reasoning and relevant evidence."

2. Invite students to read their Argument Writing Plan graphic organizer and the introduction started in the previous lesson to remind them of their main claim and their first point.

3. Invite students to refer to the Model Argument Essay, the Criteria of an Effective Argument Essay anchor chart, the Argument Writing checklist, the academic word wall, and the domain-specific word wall to write Proof Paragraph 1.

4. Remind students that it is often helpful to orally rehearse the words they will use to explain the point and supporting evidence before writing. Invite students to begin rehearsing and composing Proof Paragraph 1 with their partner. Circulate to support students as they write and to identify common issues to use as whole group teaching points.

  • Invite students to record Y for yes and the date in the final column of their Argument Writing checklist if they feel the criteria marked on their checklists have been achieved in their writing in this lesson.
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.
  • N/A

Closing & Assessments

ClosingLevels of Support

A. Share Best Evidence - RI.7.1 (5 minutes)

  • Ask student pairs to join with another writing pair to form groups of four. Invite all students to Think-Pair-Share with their small group:

"What is one piece of best evidence you found and included in your Proof Paragraph 1? Why is it strong evidence? How did you use reasoning to elaborate on or explain the connection between the evidence and your main point?" (Responses will vary.)

  • As time allows, ask volunteers to share their responses with the class.
  • Before students leave class, ensure they have copies of the Homework: Coordinate Adjectives: Lesson 9. Also, make sure students remember their work with coordinate adjectives in Language Dives. As necessary, review the information at the top of the homework, and model completing the first item.
  • Invite students to reflect on the habits of character focus in this lesson, discussing what went well and what could be improved next time.

For Lighter Support

  • Challenge students to rephrase the W.7.1b criteria on the Argument Writing checklist into simpler language that their peers who need heavier support can understand. Rephrasing the criteria ensures that students comprehend the writing expectations.
  • Encourage students to model orally rehearsing their Proof Paragraph for classmates who need heavier support. Students can use the frames from the Model Argument Essay in their modeling:
    • In an article from
    • For example
    • According to
  • Modeling allows students to rehearse their ideas for writing as well as practice their speaking skills.

For Heavier Support

  • If students are literate in their home language, they can translate the W.7.1b criteria on the Argument Writing checklist that their peers who need lighter support rephrased. Translating or rephrasing the criteria ensures that students comprehend the writing expectations.
  • Encourage students to observe their classmates who need lighter support in their modeling of oral rehearsal and then attempt oral rehearsal as well, using the same frames their peers used. Students may rehearse and write in their home language if they choose. Oral rehearsal allows students to articulate their ideas before writing as well as improve their speaking skills. 

Homework

HomeworkLevels of Support

A. Coordinate Adjectives

  • Students review their learning about coordinate adjectives and add commas between adjectives to complete Homework: Coordinate Adjectives: Lesson 9.

B. Independent Research Reading

  • Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

For Lighter Support

  • Before students leave class, ask them to read the homework assignment and discuss it with a partner. Challenge students to read the introductory information at the top of the homework and discuss it, explaining coordinate adjectives to each other. Allow time for students to work with a partner to answer the first item together to make sure they can complete the homework independently.

For Heavier Support

  • Before students leave class, review the homework assignments and ensure that students understand that they will continue their independent research reading and complete a brief activity on commas between adjectives. Read aloud the introductory information at the top of the homework, pausing to ensure that students highlight and understand the definition and function of coordinate, adjective, and comma. Work together with students to complete the first item, then challenge them to complete the second item with a partner to make sure they can complete the homework independently.

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