Learning to write an argument – A fundamental skill

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Our students are not being taught the essay writing skills they need. Feedback from students I taught in Years 7 and 8 constantly refers to this. One reflects. “I don’t remember being taught essay writing in secondary school – but do remember getting top marks in NCEA papers because I used the expository writing method you taught us in Year 7. I didn’t realise that others had not been taught this method… Did I have an unfair advantage then?” Yet another, “I was told in Year 13 that my style was too simple, but achieved Scholarship for Bursary using the style you taught us. This skill was hugely beneficial when it came to the herculean task of writing up theses.”

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That this is not isolated is evidenced by the essay writing instruction many universities and other tertiary institutions now feel they have to give their incoming students to rectify the deficit.

Nor is this just for the elite. A teacher writes, “The Year 4-6 kids that I use this with are low decile, mainly Maori and they can get it! It is a simple scaffold that helps them organise their point of view/argument. It teaches them quite simply to state their point of view with three or four clear reasons/points which they then expand on in paragraphs….and then round up in a closing statement. I have also found it amazingly helpful in teaching the skill of paragraphing.”

The method referred to above and successfully practiced by three decades of my students, is simply expository essay writing closely aligned to inquiry learning. It is outlined below:

The First paragraph Search for ideas

The first or introductory paragraph is the engine that drives the finished essay. A brainstorm session starts the process and is aimed at providing many ideas so that even as the essay planning starts, there is opportunity to problem solve specifically by using the thinking skills of analysing, evaluating and finally, the creation of the thesis sentence. (see diagram below). By this process, relevant content is discovered.

Thesis sentence

The first activity is to write a simple sentence. That is, a sentence with only a simple subject (what is being talked about) and a simple predicate (what is being said about it.) This is called the thesis sentence. It is a condensed summary of the claim the essay is making, clearly indicating what the writer’s point of view is.

When initially teaching this process it is wise to use something familiar to all students regardless of their individual ability. Their view of their school is ideal for this. Thus:

St George’s is a good school.

The technical name for this is the thesis sentence.

Writing this thesis sentence is not as easy as it may appear. There may well be some unlearning needed – especially where the idea of stint and the importance of quantity is embedded. Quality not quantity is the requirement as is summed up in the KISS technique – keep it short and simple.

Analytical thesis sentence

Once this thesis sentence is constructed, a conjunction is added as the link between the thesis sentence, and the longer analytical thesis sentence, where a series of clauses outline the evidence to be used to prove the thinking is correct. Because is a good preposition to use especially when starting out.

Three or four clauses will be ample. This completed analytical thesis sentence would look like this.

St George’s is a good school because it provides for sport, it provides for cultural activities, it provides for up to date teaching techniques, and it provides a safe environment.

Note that this opening paragraph is just one sentence.Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 2.13.18 pm

It is still raw. Editorial proofreading is still needed. This means an improving of the writing, and includes everything from vocabulary and syntax to anything that adds to the calibre of the text. It is a creative proofread quite distinct from what I call and editorial proofread to make sure that grammar, spelling, and punctuation are technically correct.

An important aspect in this is a need for order. The order of importance is simply, what is it that the writer views as the most important to the least important or the other way round to arrive at the killer point? Where sequence is important, logical order is needed as in an instruction about how to do something like a recipe, painting a fence or describing the plot. Spatial order is where it is logical to follow the layout such as the geography of an area. Logical order is such as the sequence used in doing a science experiment, solving a math’s problem or recounting a plot sequence. Finally is random order, where there is no particular requirement for order at all.

This then becomes the order of the individual paragraphs in the completed essay.

Second is grammatical parallelism. Grammatical parallelism is repetition of the wording at the start of each of your phrases in order to stitch it together. In the example here it is already done, note the repetition it provides. Often this won’t happen with the first draft and will need to be consciously worked in after the sequencing/order is in place.

The process is simple, but moving it into long term memory and inducing a familiarity with the process requires rehearsal, and that means repetition. It is not a one off activity. Instead, in the first week after the introduction, as much as one opening paragraph a day need to be written. The teacher can assess this through on-going formative assessment – no marking and grading as such. Self- assessment can be incorporated too with the students self-selecting their work to go on the wall, or preferably in this digital age, the class blog or equivalent. Variety adds to engagement so a third assessment method can be used with collaborative assessment where either in pairs or in a small group, the students analyse and evaluate each other’s efforts seeking improvement. This is again using those higher level thinking skills.

It is important that what is going on here is lifted by the teacher to the consciousness level. The diagram illustrates this. The students need to know that they are indeed working at a higher level of thinking when they do this. At the end of the week, or at regular intervals, this thinking about their thinking (metacognitive reflection) needs to be formalised in their own words.

When this happens the students are working right at the top end of Maslow’s’ hierarchy: self-actualisation. Teachers need to be aware of this and likewise give themselves 5 to 15 minutes at the end of the week to do their own reflection: their own self-actualisation. Doing this is a crucial part of professional development, but is seldom done.

It has taken a while to get here, but the thinking processes and the time taken to get that organisation of the first paragraph exactly right provides an essential foundation to superior essay writing while at the same time incorporating problem solving techniques.

Writing the essay

Each of the main points is now used as the topic sentence of a paragraph following the order given in the opening paragraph. Whether a further brainstorm is required for each of these individual clauses will depend on circumstances, but in most cases the original brainstorm will prove sufficient.

Although a topic sentence can come anywhere in a paragraph, the advantage of it being the first sentence and clearly showing the paragraph’s main idea is by far the best. Keep each topic sentence simple and straight forward: the KISS technique. The topic sentence from the paragraph about sport could thus be:

St George’s provides for sport in many codes for all its pupils.

Some like to do all the topic sentences at this stage but others find that it is easier to do the full paragraph as they go, before considering the next. If differentiation is being practised a choice can be given.

Having got the topic sentence down the rest of the paragraph is about presenting evidence that the topic sentence statement is correct. Thus each of those sentences must support the topic sentence.

St George’s provides for sport in many codes for all its pupils.

In winter there are the usual team sports such as rugby, hockey and soccer for boys, and while netball, and hockey are the girls choices. In summer the choices are cricket and touch for both boys and girls. However, it does not stop with team sports as there are many who play individual sports like tennis, table tennis and swimming. That these sports are well coached and have a high standard is highlighted by tennis where many of the Wanganui rep teams within this age group have a majority of St George’s players. Other codes all have St George’s pupils in their rep teams too.

There is no need to write the full essay at his stage. By picking just one clause from their introductory paragraph students will get the practice they need. The same process as for

the first paragraph, formative assessment, self-assessment, and pair and group collaboration ensure assessment without the teacher being loaded down with marking. Publishing on the class blog or wall again gives purpose.

Conclusion

The final act is a concluding paragraph. This is one sentence, but much shorter than the analytical thesis sentence at the start: just a very brief summary.

The variety of activities highlighted above clearly shows that St George’s is a good school.

It’s all very well to have the ideas, but learning how to frame and argue these effectively is the key. Expository essays as detailed above provide this key.

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Alan Cooper


Alan Cooper is an educational consultant based in New Zealand. As a principal, he was known for his leadership role in thinking skills, including Habits of Mind, learning styles and multiple intelligences, information technology, and the development of the school as a learning community. Alan can be reached at: 82napawine@gmail.com