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Final Assessment Essay English 9 What Makes A Good Mayor Essay Throughout this school year, we have read and discussed numerous texts that are about children and young adults who gained power, thus raising their status amongst others. In some of the texts, many of the characters were placed in an unexpected situation where higher status was obtained. Different characters reacted to this situation in many ways, with many of them not knowing what to do with their new power. People who are in positions of power usually have worked their way to get there. For example, you just dont become the President of the United States overnight. It takes years of hard work and experience. For this final essay, you must be able to respond to the follow situation: In 1986, 13 year old Brian Zimmerman was elected mayor of Crabb, Texas. The towns population of 226 people realized one day that they didnt have a mayor, so they decided to have an election. Out of the three candidates (two were senior citizens), Brian won 23 of the 30 votes. Your job is to write a paper (750-1000 words) ARGUING whether you think Brian Zimmerman would make a good mayor. Because you are arguing your stance, you must include CLAIMS that are backed up by EVIDENCE and WARRANT. Remember: you cannot just give your opinion; you need evidence to prove why there is merit to your claim. Your essay must: (YOU WILL BE GRADED ON EACH GUIDELINE) Satisfy the criteria and rules we created in class for a SUCCESSFUL JUDGMENT Have a personal extended definition of what makes a good mayor Present at least 4 claims that are adequately backed up by evidence and warrants that reinforce your judgment Include evidence and warrants that disproves common counter claims (opposite stances) Use evidence from at least 2 of the texts we have read and discussed in class Include evidence based on research from at least 2 OUTSIDE sources Present your claims in an orderly fashion (each claim should be followed by evidence and warrant) Paper must be 750-1000 words with 12 pt Times New Roman, double spaced with MLA format

Andrew Weber Arguments of Judgment Writing Assignment Essential Questions: How do you decide what to argue for? What are the rules and criteria for making a proper judgment in an argument? Why is finding support for an argument so important? How can opposition to our judgments affect our search for evidence? What is power? How does one obtain power? Objectives: SWBAT construct rules or criteria of making a successful judgment which explains the importance of evidence and explanation SWBAT recognize a situation where appropriate argumentative writing is necessary through use of a claim, evidence, and a warrant explaining their choices of evidence SWBAT develop and prepare definitions to help assess and analyze similar scenarios where defining concepts are necessary SWBAT explain their judgments by satisfying their self-made criteria and creating judgments that effectively responds to opposition. CCSS: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Plus CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1(A through E)

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning.

Timeline: Week 1: Deciding What to Argue For, How to Make a Proper Judgment SWBAT construct rules or criteria of making a successful judgment which explains the importance of evidence and explanation MONDAY-Discussion of what makes good judgments- What gives us the ability to choose self-made goals of ideals? Is there a difference between having good judgment and being judgmental? (MASCOT- Hillocks Activity) TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY-Activity-Students write and discuss a time when they have made a good decision o Introduction of evidence and warrant (explanation) into their personal decision o What made you come to this decision? o Did you do any research to come to this decision? o How did you use your judgment? o Students present their stories to the class THURSDAY-Examples of Unsuccessful Use of Evidence and Warrants (from Katz Article) o View Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet o Discussion of Judgment in relation to the television episode How could the main character use evidence for people to believe him? What type of judgments did he make? FRIDAY-Creating Extended Definition of a Successful Judgment o Practicing Use of Claims through use of evidence and warrants o Students will create a class-wide single definition of successful judgment

Week 2: Argumentative Writing through Successful Judgment and Introduction to Power SWBAT recognize a situation where appropriate argumentative writing is necessary through use of a claim, evidence, and a warrant explaining their choices of evidence MONDAY-Class designs a model for informal reasoning of a argumentative theme in one of the texts Students use texts from the previous units (listed below) to choose a topic or idea to argue about Argument can be based around decisions a character made and whether they agree with it or not (Must write 2 claims) o TUESDAY-Students create Claim, Evidence and Warrant graphs handout(Hillocks) in relation to the topic they chose

Students peer-review each other graphs and hand them in. WEDNESDAY-Students read and discuss Power article in connection to themes of the texts What is considered power? Experience vs. judgment How can someone obtain power? Do you have power? THURSDAY-Students create criteria for Power Classroom Discussion in which students create rules and criteria for Power Students view clips of The Social Network film Discuss the Rise to Power Narrative displayed in the film FRIDAY-Students research a person in power individually(Computer Lab) Research must respond to questions such as: Why is this person in power? What is their position? How did they obtain power? Did they use their power for good or bad? Did experience and good judgments lead to their power?

Week 3: Examining the Backing of Our Judgments SWBAT develop and prepare definitions to help assess and analyze similar scenarios where defining concepts are necessary o MONDAY-Evidence of Our Judgments Through Reasoning Activity where students must respond to scenarios using three different types of reasoning Scientific reasoning Social reasoning Political reasoning o Examples of each will be given in class o TUESDAY-Using their criteria for Power, students will respond to an opinionnaire (Hilocks) with scenarios where power was used Must respond to the scenario with the criteria they created (at least one criteria) Scenarios deal with power obtained through experience and power obtained through judgments o WEDNESDAY-The Tell-Tale Heart- Unreliable Narrators Use of Argument Students read the short story and highlight every time the narrator is arguing (usually arguing to persuade his audience that he is not insane)

THURSDAY-Continuation of Tell-Tale Heart Students create at least 2 claims (with EVIDENCE and warrant) arguing whether they believe the narrator is reliable Peer-Share and Discussions of Claims o FRIDAY- Arguing to Win vs. Arguing to Learn Ted Talk: Daniel Cohen: For arguments sake (Arguing to Win) Discussion of Arguing to Learn In what scenarios is arguing to learn more beneficial than arguing to win? What do you do more often: argue to learn or argue to learn? When you create claims, are you arguing to win or arguing to learn?
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Week 4: Creating an Effective Argument and Finding Evidence in response to Opposition SWBAT explain their judgments by satisfying their self-made criteria and creating judgments that effectively responds to opposition. MONDAY-View The Art of Debate Video Debate over common issue in the high school setting Choose a topic-divide in groups (one side arguing for the topic, one side against) How to develop rejoinders and counter-claims TUESDAY- Preparation for Mock Debate (Working together in groups, deciding positions) WEDNESDAY-Participate in mock debate where students must prepare evidence in response to opposing side Introduction to Assessment-Good Mayor Essay THURSDAY-Students will begin to work on final essay Discussion of 1st Person vs. 3rd Person Use for Essay Respond to the theme of power with final essay and discussion FRIDAY-Time for outside research and drafting (ESSAY NOT DUE)

Rubric Defintions/Rules Satisfy the criteria and rules we created in class for a SUCCESSFUL JUDGMENT Have a personal definition of what makes a good mayor Claims Present claims that are adequately backed up by evidence and warrants that reinforce your judgment 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0

Student used neither the criteria we created in class or had their own personal definition

Students may have used the criteria created in class but didnt have a personal definition, or vice versa

Student used most of the criteria and rules created in class and created their own personal definition

Student used all the criteria and rules created in class and had their own personal definition

1.0 Neither evidence or warrants are present with your claims

2.0 Most of the students claims are missing evidence OR warrants to back them up

3.0 Most of the students claims were backed up evidence and warrants

4.0 Every one of the students claim was backed up evidence and warrant crucial to the claim

Number of Claims Essay needs to have at least 4 claims Evidence Include evidence and warrants that disproves common counter claims (opposite stances) Warrant and Explanation

1.0 Essay has no claims 1.0 There is no evidence to disprove contrasting claims or opposing stances

2.0 Essay presents 2 claims or less 2.0 Some claims showcases how a counter-claim does not fit the criteria and definitions created for the essay 2.0

3.0 Essay only presents 3 claims 3.0 Most claims showcases how a counter-claim does not fit the criteria and definitions created for the essay 3.0

4.0 Essay has at least 4 claims 4.0 Each claim showcases how a counter-claim does not fit the criteria and definitions created for the essay 4.0

1.0

Use evidence from at least 2 of the texts we have read and discussed in class Include evidence based on research from at least 2 OUTSIDE sources Organization Present your claims in an orderly fashion (each claim should be followed by evidence and warrant) 750-1000 words with 12 pt Times New Roman, double spaced with MLA format

Students had neither 2 texts sources or 2 outside sources

Students had evidence but not the required amount (2 texts sources and 2 outside sources0

Students used 2 texts and 2 outside sources, but some evidence was not directly related to their claim

Students used 2 texts and 2 outside sources for evidence and were directly related to their claim

1.0 Paper had no organization and claims were not presented

2.0 Paper had major issues when it came to organization (claims werent followed)

3.0 Paper had some issues with organization (claims wasnt always followed by evidence and warrant)

4.0 Paper was well organized (claimevidencewarrant)

The format of the paper did not follow the guidelines

There was many mistakes in format of the paper

There was a few mistakes in the format of the paper

Paper was in MLA format and followed guidelines on handout

Final Grade (Average of Each Category) What I liked:

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

Goals for Next Time:

Rationale: I built the final assessment for this course (along with the unit overview) for a 9th Grade English classroom, preferably for my hometown high school (Iron Mountain High School). I didnt allow the community (predominately white, middle-class families) to influence how I created the unit. I focused on a common theme that most early high school students would face. The beginning of high school is a time for many students in which creation of personal opinions and ideas start to form. Popular texts at that age (Hunger Games, Harry Potter) deal with adolescents dealing with the notion of power and how they use it. The transition from innocence to power plays a great part in these novels, with the characters dealing with serious subject matter, usually because they are forced into these situations. This idea of power taking over innocence is also present in canonical texts such as Lord of the Flies and The Giver. In these texts, the characters must sacrifice their child-like behavior and instincts in order to gain power or be affected by it. These texts wont be solely dedicated to the unit, but will be used throughout the semester. I wanted to create the argumentative writing assignment around these texts because they offer an age-appropriate entrance into this theme of power and how people gain this concept. Creating an assessment around the use of argument can be very broad and challenging for some students. While argumentative writing is a frequent occurrence in the high school classroom, I felt that this unit should be focused on how to create and detect successful judgments. Hillocks describes in great detail about introducing complex arguments of judgment which allows students to create criteria for their arguments. By incorporating the search and discussion for evidence, argumentative writing becomes a process. Students must be able to understand the importance of evidence when it comes to argumentative writing and judgment. A judgment is meaningless if there is no evidence to why the judgment is made. Yet, criteria is crucial for evidence; students may pick and choose evidence that doesnt satisfy the criteria and only use the evidence for their own personal gain (For example: I dont like the color orange. Evidence: It is ugly). Criteria and warrants force students to reevaluate why they are using a certain type of evidence for their claim. Hillocks summarizes this type of evaluation with a two-step process: 1) Determine whether or not you can use this criterion to come to a judgment. 2) If you can use the criterion, provide the evidence, the warrant, and any backing or explanation to why the criterion applies (62). While this may seems relatively straight-forward, I plan to spend most of the unit perfecting these two steps. Students will be given numerous activities where Hillocks Claim-Evidence-Warrant graph is needed. The constant use of the graph is so that the students can develop their argumentative thinking by being presented with different scenarios and texts to create a fluent way of thinking. Plus, it is a great tool for students to begin to brainstorm the importance of evidence and warrants. These workshops are to allow students to feel like they are experts of judgments. Control of topic is essential in writing workshops because the writing student must feel that they have the most knowledge in the room about what they are writing (Berne 43).

Before delving into the theme of power in connection to the texts, the students must be able to understand the concept of argumentative writing. Like I said previously, I want to specify argumentative writing to the concept of using good judgment. This will require discussion about judgment in regards of making an argument. The first thing I would like to clarify is the difference between making a judgment and being judgmental. This is where the creation of extended definition occurs. By creating a definition, students will need to create criteria to satisfy their self-made definition. Having activities that compare the differences between various definitions of judgment would be useful as well. Discussion of argument isnt always one-sided. Smagorinsky discusses two different types of argument. The first is arguing to win, where the goal is to win the argumentthey see themselves as contestants. The second is arguing to learn where participants view discussions of opportunities to think through ideas and learn from the others involvedthere are not winners and losers (116). While Smagorinsky discusses about choosing only one to promote in the classroom, I believe that the exercising both and having discussion about the differences between the two would be very beneficial. The debate in the fourth week will provide students to decide which argumentative format would be most beneficial to prove their point. Various forms of media will be used in this unit. For the first week, the students will be viewing a Twilight Zone episode that deals with a delusional man trying to argue his sanity. The episode will hopefully allow students to develop ideas to why evidence is crucial in order to prove a claim. The film The Social Network can be perceived as being spiritually related to themes of power that are located in texts like Lord of Flies. The film tells the true story of the creation of Facebook, and how a young man used this newly-gained power to change social interactions forever, but also using it to ruin friendships and relationships. The film will give students a chance to reflect and critique a scenario where a young individuals inexperience with power caused him to make rash and underdeveloped decisions, which could be used as evidence for their final essay (which presents a similar scenario). The final assessment will connect the theme of power to a prompt in which they have to create very straightforward claims. The prompt I chose was to reflect the common theme of power in relation to the knowledge and experience of adolescence. By introducing the concept of evidence in response to opposition, the students must also prepare claims that combat an opposite claim through use of evidence and explanation. Burke discusses the idea of reading like a lawyer, but here I want the students to write like a lawyer, where anticipat(ing) the arguments they would have to make as writers and to think about themoves needed to frame their case and the evidence that would support their arguments (Burke 291). The discussion of whether a 13 year old would make a good mayor of a small town would seem relatively easy to make claims about. Yet, the importance here is not the claims, but the evidence they present to back up their claims. By using the theme of power, students can use the texts from the unit as warrant for their evidence. Even though these texts are fictional, the students need to justify why they can be used as evidence for their claim. Students must also conduct outside research that

supports their claims. I based my rubric in a similar fashion to Smagorinskys extended definition rubric (207-208), with criteria, evidence(examples), constrasting examples, and warrants having their own category for grading. I wanted a discussion with the class whether the essay should be written in first-person or third-person. Writing with first-person expresses the idea that the claims are based on their own personal judgments. On the other hand, first-person writing may show that their claims are merely opinions, and not built around evidence and warrants. Throughout my education, writing with I and you was generally frowned up. William Zinsser states that writing is an intimate transaction between two people, conducted on paperTherefore I urge people to write in first person: I and meThey put up a fight( 20). Argumentative writing is putting up a fight. Students need to take responsibility for their judgments, and the best way to teach that is to allow students to dissect and evaluate their decisions. I believe discussion with the students will provide them with reasoning to begin to reflect on how the form of writing is crucial for what audience you want. Narrative Text (Examples): Lord of the Flies (1954): Golding The Hunger Games (2008): Collins Persepolis (2000): Satrapi The Giver (1993): Lowry Various Other Texts (Novels Wont Be Read During This Unit) Relevant Text Used in the Unit: Using Evidence to Strength Your Argument (from Prof. Allison Peases Writing Center Workshop)- Professor Livia Katz (PDF Printout) Twilight Zone: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet Video (http://www.hulu.com/watch/440824) What Does Power Mean In The 21st Century- Jenna Gourdreau (Forbes Article) Clips from The Social Network The Social Network and the Rise to Power Narrative-John Perich (Overthinking It Article) The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe Ted Talk: Daniel H. Cohen: For Arguments Sake The Art of Debate: Never Lose An Argument Again Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LesGw274Kjo) Ted Talk: Daniel H. Cohen: For arguments sake

Works Cited Berne, Jennifer I. Teaching the writing process: Four constructs to consider. New England Reading Association Journal 40.1 (2004): 42-46. Angel. Web. Burke, Jim. The English Teachers Companion. 4th ed. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2013. Print. Hillocks, George, Jr. Teaching Argumentative Writing, Grades 6-12. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2011. Print. Smagorinsky, Peter. Teaching English By Design: How to Create and Carry Out Instructional Units. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2008. Print. Zinsser, William. On Writing Well 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. D2L PDF. Web.