Making Change: Speeches, Essays, and Articles (2020)

Lesson 1
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ELA

Unit 8

8th Grade

Lesson 1 of 11

Objective


Identify a speaker’s argument and the reasoning she uses to support that argument, and assess the relevance and sufficiency of her evidence. 

Readings and Materials


  • Video: “What Adults Can Learn from Kids” by Adora Svitak 

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Target Task


Writing Prompt

What argument does Svitak make about the benefits of listening to young people’s ideas? 

How does she support this argument? Provide specific evidence from the article to support your answer.

Explain whether this evidence is relevant to and sufficiently supports her argument. 

Key Questions


  • What argument does Svitak make about calling young people “childish”? How does she support this argument? Provide specific evidence from the article to support your answer. Explain whether this evidence is relevant to and sufficiently supports her argument. 

  • What argument does Svitak make about the way adults speak to and treat young people? How does she support this argument? Provide specific evidence from the article to support your answer. Explain whether this evidence is relevant to and sufficiently supports her argument.

  • Discussion: Svitak states: “As history points out, regimes become oppressive when they're fearful about keeping control.” How do the texts we have read so far this year illustrate this idea?  

Lesson Guidance


Notes

  • Play the video for students and have them follow along in the transcript. 

Homework

Standard and Literary Concepts

  • Effective readers are able to identify an author’s argument as well as the evidence they are using to support it. As 8th grade readers, we must also think critically about the quality of the evidence provided. Specifically, if the evidence is relevant and sufficient.
  • Relevant: Evidence directly relates to—and supports— the claim being made. If the author is making the claim that illegal immigration is detrimental to the American economy, relevant evidence would include statistics that demonstrate the economic impact of illegal immigration. Irrelevant evidence would be to list statistics about the benefits of illegal immigration in Canada.
  • Sufficient: Evidence provided is enough to support the claim. If an author is making the claim that illegal immigration is detrimental to the American economy, evidence that only showed the economic impact from one specific year would probably not be sufficient to support the argument overall. 

Common Core Standards


  • RI.8.8 — Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced.

Next

Determine the central idea of an article and explain how it is developed over the course of the text. 

Lesson 2
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