As I plan for an upcoming author visit, I wanted to share suggestions for those who are thinking of inviting an author to your school. These suggestions are based on twenty-five years of experience being a visiting author in schools throughout the US, and internationally.

If you are considering bringing an author in, here are some questions to ask yourself:

“What’s my purpose?” In these days of high-stakes everything, it’s good to tie-in the visit to the writing curriculum of your school (It’s also an excellent way to get support and funding).

“What support do I have?” It’s possible to do all the planning and make all the arrangements yourself, but it’s advisable to solicit support from others. Ask your colleagues what type of program would be helpful to their students, share the academic connections with your administrators, involve the parent group in planning the event. The more you involve others, the more buy-in, which will translate into logistical help as well as funding support.

“Where will I get the money?” Explore options with your administrators (who you’ve already established the academic value of the program with) and your parent group. Brainstorm possibilities of raising money if you need more (don’t forget grants). Some visits can be funded through sales of books by the author. Consider everything.

“But wait, how will I know what it costs?” The best way to get a sense of this is to network with other schools who have had visiting authors. Not only can you find out costs, you can also learn about what the authors did and how effective it was. Other resources for getting author information include reading councils, publishers, on-line listings, and authors’ websites.

“What date works best for our school?” There are many good times to have authors visit. Some schools like the visit in the beginning of the year as a writing “kick-off.” Others prefer adding energy and writing challenges by having an author visit in the middle of the year. And then there are those who invite an author to help celebrate students’ writing at the end of the school year. Select the the time that works best for your school.

 

Coming up: Questions to ask prospective visiting authors

Argument Writing 

Common Core focus – “The ability to write logical arguments based on substantive claims, sound reasoning, and relevant evidence…with opinion writing—a basic form of argument—extending down into the earliest grades.” (Key Points in ELA, corestandards.org)

 

Argument is not the same as persuasive writing.

 

Key differences:

GOALS

Persuasive – convince the reader to agree with or do something the writer wants.

Argument – convince the reader to accept a viewpoint as valid and worthy of consideration.

STARTING POINTS

Persuasive – Select a topic and then choose a side.

Argument – Research a topic and then choose a side.

TECHNIQUES

Persuasive – Uses more emotion and opinion

Usually focused on one point of view (one side)

Argument –  Uses more reasoning and evidence

Includes more than one point of view (multiple sides)

 

“…persuasive writing will not suffice. For college and career one needs to know how to make an effective case to make a good argument.”

George Hillocks, English Journal, July, 2010

 

Argument vs. Persuasive

A selected Bibliography

 

Argument (make-a-case writing)

Bouchard, David.  If You’re Not from the Prairie…  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. A celebration of place, using descriptive details. Claim: If you’re not from the prairie you don’t know the wind…the sky…the snow, etc.*

Carlson, Nancy.  How to Lose All Your Friends.  New York: Viking, 1994.  Main character makes a claim – here’s how to lose all your friends – and lists the ways.

Jenkins, Martin.  Chameleons Are Cool.  Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 1997. Author makes a credible case for chameleons.

McCaughrean, Geraldine.  My Grandmother’s Clock.   New York: Clarion, 2002.  Grandma doesn’t need a clock, and makes a good case for it.

Morley, Jacqueline.  You Wouldn’t Want to Be an American Pioneer.  New York: Franklin Watts, 2002. Part of a series that makes a case for not living in various times of history.

Robinson, Sharon.  Testing the Ice.  New York: Scholastic, 2009.  Makes a case for Jackie Robinson as “the bravest man alive” but not for the reasons you may think.

Sakai, Komako.  Mad at Mommy.  New York: Scholastic, 2000.  A little rabbit makes a claim – “Mommy, I’m so mad at you!” – and gives reasons.

Sharmat, Majorie Weinman.  Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1980.  Humorous examples of claims not  being supported by evidence.

Stevenson, James.  Fun, No Fun.  New York: Greenwillow, 1994. A basic book of opinions about what is fun and what is not fun.

Stringer, Lauren.  Winter Is the Warmest Season.  New York: Harcourt, 2006. A claim—winter is the warmest season—supported by reasons.

Turner, Sandy.  Cool Cat, Hot Dog.  New York: Atheneum, 2005. Who’s better, the cat or the dog? Both make a case.

Viorst, Judith.  Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  New York: Atheneum, 1972. Alexander makes a credible case for his “bad day claim.

Winter, Jonah and Carrihlo, Andre.  You Never Heard Of Sandy Koufax?!  New York: Schwartz & Wade, 2009. Makes the case for Sandy Koufax as “the greatest lefty who ever pitched in the game of baseball.”

Van Dusen, Chris.  If I Built a Car.  New York: Dutton, 2005. Jack makes a claim he could build a “spectacular car” and provides imaginative evidence. 

Wisniewski, David.  The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups.  New York: HarperCollins, 1998. Also, The Second File, 2001. Creative, humorous, and convincing claims for typical everyday rules.

 

There are also series of books for upper elementary and middle school students that focus on controversies, issues, and mysteries:

BOTH SIDES (historic events).  Minneapolis, MN: Dillon Press, 1994-1996.

BOTH SIDES OF THE STORY (social and political issues).  New York: Rosen, 2012.

CONTROVERSY! (social and political issues).  New York: Cavendish, 2010.

CRIME AND PUZZLEMENT (mysteries).  Boston: David R. Godine, 1982-2003.

OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS (historical, social, and political issues).  Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven, 1998-Present.

TWO-MINUTE MYSTERIES (mysteries).  New York: Scholastic, 1959-1969.

VIEWPOINTS (social issues), New York: Watts, 1996-2004.

 

Persuasive (make-them-agree/do writing)

Aardema, Verna.  Who’s in Rabbit’s House?  New York: Dial, 1977. The Long One persuades animals to stay away form Rabbit’s house until he is tricked.

Child, Lauren.  I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato.  Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2003. Charlie uses his imagination to persuade his little sister to eat hated foods.

Cronin, Doreen.  Click, Clack, Moo.  New York, Atheneum, 2000. Farmer Brown’s cows take to the typewriter and make demands to convince him to improve living conditions on the farm.

Daywalt, Drew.  The Day the Crayons Quit.  New York: Philomel, 2013. Duncan’s crayons are mad and write letters to tell him what they want.

Geisel, Theodore.  Green Eggs and Ham.  New York: Random House, 1960. A classic tale of persuasion.

Hoose, Philip.  Hey, Little Ant.  Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press, 1998. An ant tries to convince a boy not to squish him, with a refreshing open-ended conclusion.

James, Simon.  Dear Mr. Blueberry.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. A series of short letter between Emily and her teacher, Mr. Blueberry, in which he tries to convince her that she really doesn’t have a whale in her backyard pool.

Layne, Steven.  My Brother Dan’s Delicious.  Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2003. Joe tries to convince an imaginary monster to eat his brother, not him.

LaRochelle, David.  The Best Pet of All.  New York: Dutton, 2004. David wants a dog, and he gets one in a round-about way.

Lester, Helen.  Tacky in Trouble.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Tacky the penguin tries to convince an elephant that Tacky really is a penguin.

Orloff, Karen.  I Wanna Iguana.  New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004. Alex uses persuasion to convince his mother to let him have an iguana.

Shannon, David.  No, David!  New York: Blue Sky Press, 1998. Good example of ineffective persuasion.

Teague, Mark.  Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters From Obedience School.  New York: Scholastic, 2002. Ike, the dog, writes humorous and endearing letters from obedience school to convince his owner to let him come home.

Viorst, Judith.  Earrings!  New York: Atheneum, 1990. A young girl uses her best techniques to try to persuade her parents to let her get her ears pierced.

Willems, Mo.  Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late.  New York: Hyperion, 2006. A pigeon’s attempts to stay up late using a variety of persuasive techniques.

Other Resources

Achieve the Core – Common Core tools and resources. www.achievethecore.org

CommonCoreState Standards – The nitty-gritty on Common Core Standards. www.corestandards.org

Debate – Participate in debates on a variety of issues. www.debate.org

Hillocks, George.  Teaching Argument Writing 6-12.   Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2011.

Historical Scene Investigation – Students act as “history detectives” to solve cases while using primary sources as evidence. http://web.wm.edu/hsi/index.html

LearnZillion – Teacher-created lessons that address Common Core standards.  www.learnzillion.com

readwritethink – A variety of opinion/persuasion/argument lesson plans. http://www.readwritethink.org

Susan Ohanian – An opposing viewpoint of Common Core Standards.  http://www.susanohanian.org

Writing Fix – And here’s more writing lessons. www.writingfix.com

Yong Zhao – Another Common Core voice. http://zhaolearning.com/

 

 

 

In the Argument Writing strand of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), “evidence” is not mentioned until grade six. However, students will be assessed using the Smarter Balanced Opinion Writing Rubric (Grades 3-5), which includes “Elaboration of Evidence” as a component.

What appears to be a disconnect between the Common Core Standards and the Smarter Balanced assessment rubric, may not really be one. According to Oregon Department of Education’s ELA assessment specialist Ken Hermens:

“The grade 3-5 Opinion Writing Rubric was designed to measure student performance on a performance task that includes writing and research components. Students will be provided with resource materials in order to develop their “opinion” essay and part of the evaluation will be how effectively they tapped into the resources to support their opinion. While the Common Core Standards in the area of writing (3.W.1, 4.W.1, etc.) address skills related to writing opinion pieces but do not specify the use of resources, if you look at the “Research to Build and Present Knowledge” section under the Writing Standards (3.W.7-8, 4.W.7-9, etc.), you see that they do actually talk about skills such as “Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic” and “gather information from print and digital sources.”  Even at these lower grades, then, there is an early emphasis on the investigation and use of resources in the CCSS.

My best guess to answer your question is that the element of evidence is introduced early because the Research claim (Claim #4 in the ELA tests) is being measured as well as the Writing claim (Claim #2).  Additionally, setting this expectation at the early grades should help students be more successful at later grades where the use of source material becomes more sophisticated and critical.”

 

So, there you have it. It’s my hope that the “evidence” connection will be better communicated to teachers than is currently contained in the documents.

 

Thank you to the hardworking and dedicated members of the Emerald Empire Reading Council for inviting me once more to share with their enthusiastic members. Exploring Argument Writing as one of the newest expectations for teachers at all levels was an interesting and insightful experience. I hope all (attendees and others) will check out the handouts under the Classes tab on this website. I will leave them up for a few weeks.

I invite everyone to contribute additional titles that exemplify either Argument or Persuasive writing so we can add to the bibliography and share with fellow educators. This is what professional learning communities are about.

 

Here’s a mentor text lesson for you. Please model it first by bringing in and talking about one of your special objects.

Book/Author: Wilifrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox

Publisher:  Kane Miller

ISBN:  0-916291-26-X

Summary:  Despite a difference in ages of decades, Wilifrid Gordon and Miss Nancy become great friends.  Together, they explore memories and the great value that everyday objects have in keeping us connected to our thoughts, hopes, and dreams.

What You Need:  Simple objects from students’ homes

What You Do:  Ask students to bring in a simple object that is special to them.  In small groups or with partners have students share the story behind the objects.  Why did the students choose these objects?  What are the details that makes them special?  Read the book aloud, and then ask students to write about meaning of their objects. Encourage them to include the details that make the objects special.