Michael W. Smith, Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, James E. Frederickson: Oh, Yeah?! Putting Argument to Work Both in School and Out
True life confessions: this has been my least favorite book so far.
Here's the thing--Smith, Wilhelm, and Fredricksen do a wonderful job explaining the importance of teaching argument in the classroom. They have powerful moments discussing student voice, the necessity of learning to argue and express oneself in a democracy, and they offer very practical ways to get started teaching argument by using popular culture and students' own opinions.
I think I'm just very, very tired of reading-about-arguments after teaching Freshman English 101 and 102 for so many years; this book is a bit tedious and redundant for me, personally. (Obviously, it would not be redundant if I hadn't already been teaching, so I definitely see its value. I'm just taking a personal, metacognitive perspective on this week's reading--go with me on this.)
First, I'll get a bit confrontational.
Here's something I strongly disagreed with in one of the early chapters (chapter 2, I think):
"it's useful to think about the nature of oral argumentation to understand why it is that young people, who so effectively state their cases in conversation, have trouble doing so when they write" (Smith, et. al, 11).
WHAT?! Um, no. I could NOT disagree more. As a general rule, students canNOT state their cases in conversation -- that's why students who can are so delightful to encounter! It is not the norm. The students who CAN back themselves up in conversation can also, I have found, do it in writing. I know my experiences are not the only experiences, but I am honestly confounded and dismayed by what seems to me to be a ridiculous supposition. Have the authors taught outside of the 11th and 12th grade AP and honors system? Geesh.
Now, some positive reflection:
I loved the precise, focused discussions taking place in chapters 7 and 8 on teaching literary argument and focusing on form. The authors take some of the most challenging aspects of teaching argument and break them down into examples and specific explanations I can use in the classroom. Obviously, argument takes reader-response level opinions and challenges students to explain and defend them with logic and rationale. These are critical skills on so many levels. Chapter nine has some really solid ideas for assessment, and I liked that the authors included rubrics to help us make sure our assignments fit our essential question purposes.
Do:
There are a LOT of graphic organizers to help students organize their argumentative essays. A lot of them are sort of cheesy and styled in ways that I'm not sure would appeal to high school students. I love infographics, so I went on a quest to see if I could find a good one to use with my students. I found this one on a lifehack page and I love it. Click on the image to get more information:
Love the infographics as well--are you are a visual learner--love Pinterest perhaps? I appreciate your honest critique of the book--as a teacher of 101 from the 80's, believe me, I get it--I have now taught long enough to see what was new then become old and now is new again--the cyclical nature of teaching (and fashion for that matter). Did you take a look on BB at the article that Jessica and I wrote linking talk and argument to writing? I agree that students need to practice arguments through talk first--but we also discovered the power of listening int terms of constructing argument.
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