This is the last in a series of eight resources on historical argumentation written especially for the Lesson Study Group at Mills College by educator Stan Pesick. These resources are designed to be used individually to help define inquiry questions for use in Lesson Study cycles or in sequence for background research in the Study phase of a cycle. An ordered list of the sequence can be found in part one.
Overview
Regardless of subject area, argumentative writing rubrics tend to focus on the same basic writing attributes. Below is a list of those attributes and five evaluative questions (taken from Argumentative Scoring Rubric – History Writing Task, Oakland Unified School District) that can provide a basis for how we might read and respond to student argumentative writing.
| Attribute | Evaluation Question |
| 1) Making a Claim | Does the student make a reasoned claim (thesis) that responds to the inquiry question they’ve been assigned or to one they’ve developed themselves? Does the student appropriately address opposing claims? |
| 2) Providing Evidence | Does the student use and cite historical sources in support of the claim/thesis? |
| 3) Analyzing and Elaborating Evidence | Does the student show logical reasoning? Does the student use information gathered from sourcing to analyze meaning, perspective, and reliability? Does the student appropriately address conflicting evidence? |
| 4) Contextualizing and Historical Content | Does the student use historical content to contextualize the evidence and argument, while using discipline and content specific language? |
| 5) Organizing |
Does the student write coherent…
a. Claim/Thesis b. Body Paragraphs c. Conclusion |
Samples of Argumentative Writing
As we move into considering the examination and evaluation of student writing, it is important for both students and teachers to consider the question “What does argumentative that incorporates and builds on the historical thinking and argumentation skills discussed in this set of resources actually look like?” Examples and commentary taken from several 8th grade student essays on whether John Brown is an “American hero” can provide one answer to this question.
Sample A
Applicable Evaluation Question:
- Does the student make a reasoned claim (thesis) that responds to the inquiry question?
| Excerpt | What’s Going on in the Paragraph? |
|
Intro Paragraph
Many people have not heard about John Brown, but he is a very important hero in the history of America. I believe that John Brown is a hero, because he devoted most of his adulthood to lead the fight to abolish slavery. A hero is a brave, selfless, courageous, and determined leader who fights to make his or her country a better nation. John Brown showed all the qualities of a hero through his actions. He was brave and courageous because he risked his family and his life to abolish slavery, he was selfless because he gave up his adulthood to fight for racial equality, and he was a determined leader who kept trying to change people’s thoughts about slavery. |
In this excerpt, the student’s claim that John Brown “is a very important hero in the history of America” is supported by reasoning appropriate for the inquiry question. The question asks students, in developing their claim, to make a criteria-based evaluation. It requires the student to first articulate a definition of what makes a hero in order to then decide whether John Brown meets that criteria.
This opening paragraph articulates that criteria, stating “a hero is a brave, selfless, courageous, and determined leader who fights to make his or her country a better nation.” The claim is supported by identifying the actions by John Brown that meet that criteria. The articulation of specific actions also sets up the essay’s argument and provides the reader a sense of what they will encounter in the text. An effective opening paragraph. |
Sample B
Applicable Evaluation Questions:
- Does the student make a reasoned claim (thesis) that responds to the inquiry question?
- Does the student appropriately address opposing claims?
| Excerpt | What’s Going on in the Paragraph? |
|
Intro Paragraph
John Brown is not an American hero. Although the topic is profoundly controversial the answer is clear. Brown was a determined man who acted upon his beliefs violently and cruelly to an unnecessary extent. He does not define a hero. People may argue that a hero makes small sacrifices for the greater good, which they believe John Brown did. John Brown might have did what he thought was right, but his sacrifices were far from small. In fact, Brown helped trigger the Civil War, one of the bloodiest in American history. |
This is another excerpt in which the student’s claim that John Brown “is a very important hero in the history of America” is supported by reasoning appropriate for the inquiry question. But in this case, the student supports his or her claim by taking on the opposing claim that the sacrifices that came out of John Brown’s actions were small in comparison to the sacrifices of lives that resulted from “the Civil War, one of the bloodiest in American history.”
This line of reasoning is appropriate, but a clearer statement on how the counterclaim at the center of the argument connects to the fight against slavery would have developed strengthen the position being argued. |
Sample C
Applicable Evaluation Question:
- Does the student use historical content to contextualize the evidence and argument, while using discipline and content specific language?
| Excerpt | What’s Going on in the Paragraph? |
|
Body Paragraph
John Brown’s early life, like most heroes, had been filled with sorrow. He grew up next to slavery, and could not understand it. How could one love God and the Bible so, but treat another different than you would treat yourselves? For example, John Brown says to the Virginia court: “The court acknowledges… the validity of the law of God… That teaches me that all things men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me further to “remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them.” Brown explains, in this quote, how the court acts against its own sayings, and its own religion. He describes that one should treat an other how you would treat yourself, which goes directly against the idea of slavery. |
In this excerpt the student provides background on John Brown’s early life to help contextualize and explain his later actions. “He grew up next to slavery, and could not understand it. How could one love God and the Bible so, but treat another different than you would treat yourselves?” The writing then provides a piece of evidence, an excerpt of John Brown’s testimony from his trial, to help answer the question being raised. The writer explains the importance of this quote to the argument being made by analyzing how supports the idea that John Brown is a hero.
This paragraph effectively introduces a relevant piece of evidence and then explains how it is being used to support the argued position. A good example of how a student writer turns an historical source into evidence that supports an argument, not just letting the source speak for itself. |
Sample D
Applicable Evaluation Question:
- Does the student use historical content to contextualize the evidence and argument?
| Excerpt | What’s Going on in the Paragraph? |
|
Body Paragraph
Many other abolitionists were passionate about ending slavery but refused to live near blacks. They might have spoken in speeches, but they still discriminated because of skin color. John Brown actually stayed with blacks, mentioned in Document C by Historian 4. Deborah Dandridge, in The Brown Quarterly wrote, “During the 1830s, he and his family took up residence in a mostly African American community where he earned a reputation for treating everyone as his (equals).” There was immense discrimination at this time, but John Brown didn’t participate. Unlike many other abolitionists, he took it a step further. He stayed with them and treated them equally because skin didn’t matter. They were still people in Brown’s eyes thus acquiring another trait of an American hero: justice and equality. |
This excerpt the illustrates how a good understanding of history can help a writer contextualize a source in support of an argument. In this case, the writer’s knowledge of how John Brown’s actions and beliefs differed from those of other abolitionists is used to support the argument that he was a hero. This piece of compare-and-contrast reasoning is appropriate and builds upon the quote from the historian Deborah Dandridge. |
Formative Evaluations
The above examples and commentary are a brief illustration, guided by criteria set up in rubrics and standards, of how we might read and evaluate student argumentative writing. They provide a brief glimpse of what the writing might look like.
For teachers, this work raises the instructional question of how the rubrics and standards guiding their evaluation of student work might be used by students to evaluate their own writing.
The following questions are designed for individual and groups of teachers to use with an assigned writing task and a preferred rubric. When reading and evaluating papers, consider:
- What do you want to see in the writing? Consider content, reasoning, and organization
- What specific challenges might the students face in meeting the thinking and literacy expectations identified in the rubric or that students used to evaluate these pieces?
- Are there any patterns of student misperceptions that you notice? What additional content knowledge and/or concepts would be helpful for students to know in order to write more successful essays?
- What patterns do you see regarding how students use evidence to support their argument?
- What else do you notice about the student writing (both strengths and weaknesses)?
Activities for Students
In the same way that it is important for students to understand what quality professional historical writing looks like, it is also important for them to understand how the writing they submit can meet the standards and evaluative criteria outlined in the rubric being used to guide the composition and evaluation of the writing. Below are some instructional activities designed to help achieve this goal.
- Have students score a set of sample papers using the rubric. This helps students become familiar with the rubric and sharpens their understanding of the difference between strong and weak papers.
- Have students work with the evidence portion of the rubric to analyze and revise a piece of writing assigned in class.
- Read a strong or weak model paper to the class and have a class discussion based on the rubric.
- Have students read a set of papers and use a rubric to color code the papers’ attributes. For example, students could color the thesis red, the use of evidence green, and analysis yellow. This might help them distinguish the different parts of the essay for their own writing.
- Have students use the rubric for a metacognitive activity. For example, a teacher asked her students after they developed an initial draft to explain one part of the rubric in their own words and to then to say, based on this explanation, what they would need to do to improve their own writing. One student wrote, “The rubric says that I’m supposed to be able understand the author point of view, purpose, and audience. I have to make connections between documents by grouping similar positions or contractions. And last I have to draw plausible inferences and conclusions. I really do not know what this means, but what I think it means is that I have to use more than one document.” As teachers, we know that a rubric means more than this, but it is helpful for us to get a peek into student thinking.
Discussion Questions
After reading this resource, it may be helpful to discuss the following questions as a team.
- What ideas about reading and responding to argumentative writing strike you as important to your setting?
- What are the most common comments you make on student argumentative writing and what do these comments reveal about the students’ strengths and weaknesses?
- What experiences have your students had in working with rubrics and model texts?
- How might an understanding of what counts for quality argumentative writing be developed as students move from one grade to another? Is there a developmental progression based on age and grade?
About the Author
Stan Pesick taught U.S. History and American Government/Economics in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) Oakland, CA, for eighteen years (1976 – 1994). Between 2001 and 2011, he co-directed OUSD’s history/social studies department and directed three federally funded Teaching American History (TAH) projects. Between 2011 and 2014 he co-directed the Oakland Unified School District/Mills College History-English Language Arts (ELA) Collaborative on Writing the Argumentative Essay. Since 2014 he’s worked as a curriculum consultant to the National Japanese American Historical Society and National Park Service. He currently works with both the Bay Area and National Writing Projects.
