Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Identifying Central Arguments and Reasoning

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.8

Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

Objective

Students will read an argument written by a classmates and then identify its central claim and supporting reasoning.

360° Learning Experience

Teachers choose a set of 360° videos and/or images and instruct students to choose the one they think best demonstrates a certain characteristic (e.g., beauty, innocence), feeling (e.g., happiness, sadness), or something else. Students are then allowed time to evaluate the 360° media. Next, the instructor asks students to compose a piece of writing that argues why a specific 360° video or image from the set best demonstrates the characteristic. Once they have finished writing their argument, students swap their arguments with a classmate, and the classmate reads the argument to identify the central claim and reasoning behind it. After they identify the claim and reasoning, the student reports back to their classmate who wrote the argument to determine if they were correct.

Teaching Strategy

Text-Based, Open-Ended Writing Prompt

Example Argument

Prompt: In preparation for our upcoming unit on poetry, we are going to study scenes of nature. For this activity, you are to first view this set of 360° videos that includes (1) Battle Branch Trail, (2) Gene Strowd Rose Garden Chapel Hill, and (3) Venus flytrap. Next, choose which video best represents nature and beauty and explain your reasoning for selecting it. Afterwards, you are going to share your writing with a classmate, and they will be charged with identifying your central arguments and reasoning.

Of the three videos, the most beautiful scene of nature is the Gene Strowd Rose Garden. First, the video of Battle Branch Trail shows a scene of nature that is raw. It brings on the sense of fall and the coming of winter. While there is a mystic and feel to that sense, it does not reflect the beauty, as it lacks warmth and color. Next, the Venus Flytrap does bring vibrant colors and warmth into the scene, and while some may see beauty in the plant consuming insects, it does not reflect the true beauty of nature because of the consumption. While that aspect is part of the lifecycle, something without consumption better portrays natural beauty. Therefore, the Gene Strowd Rose Garden is truly beautiful, as the colors in the roses create a warm, welcoming scene. Plus, the rose is a sign of beauty in and of itself. For these reasons, of the three videos, the Gene Strowd Rose Garden is clearly the most beautiful, natural scene.