Videos to the rescue

Today was a long day.  I attended an conference on using AP strategies for reading (the 5 S Strategy), which I really enjoyed.  I then went back to school to hear the report after our school's PED audit since we are a D school and to tutor until 5.  Then, it was off to the NEA rally, where we encouraged people to vote for education friendly politicians in the upcoming election.  Oh, and I managed to get a flu shot, vote, and run in there too.  Anyways, I wasn't up for heavy reading, so I decided to see what YouTube had to offer in the area of argument writing.  I ended up finding two resources that I thought were interesting. They aren't linking, so you would have to copy and paste, sorry!

One was this video by Shmoop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lzGy5gizKg

I like this video because it gives a brief overview of an argument essay, in student friendly terms, and using student friendly, real life examples.  However, it also uses terms that students need to know in writing an essay, such as: claim, support, and counterargument.  I also like that it ends with a brief review to recap the important points, and it’s short, since my students sometimes seem to have limited attention spans, even when watching a video.  One thing that I found interesting, especially since we've discussed it in class and I've seen it on other's blogs, is that the video seems to use argument and persuasion as synonyms, not as separate entities, a concept some of us in class seem to be grappling with still.

The other video is focused on writing an essay for an AP exam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNK2cH0d7cQ

I thought this video was interesting for different reasons.  I personally would not show it to my middle school students, but I guess it could be helpful for a teacher teaching an AP course that wanted a quickish (16 minute) overview on writing an argument essay for an AP exam.  What I did find interesting about the idea of the argument essay on the AP exam is that students are not given sources, rather they have to use information from the prompt, along with personal experiences and observations as their evidence.  We've discussed different formats of arguments, and perhaps this is one idea that could be useful, not just on an AP exam, but in class, where we can give students a prompt, and ask them to use personal experiences and observations as their evidence.  I thought this might help in two ways.  One, it would hopefully get students to express themselves, something a few of us have expressed wanting student to do more.  Two, it would be (possibly) be a shorter process, as it eliminates the time needed to research and synthesize outside resources.  Obviously this is not what we always want to do, but it might be an idea for at least one form of argument writing.  One last observation about this video, again along the blurred lines of argument versus persuasion.  The video uses a prompt from a 2008 AP English Language and Composition Exam as an example.  Part of the prompt reads, "Some people argue that corporate partnerships are a necessity for cash-strapped schools.  Others argue that schools should provide an environment free from ads and corporate influence.  Using appropriate evidence, write an essay in which you evaluate the pros and cons of corporate scholarship for schools and indicate why you find one position more persuasive than the other."  Within that prompt, both argument and persuasive are used, not sure if that is significant, but it does seem hard to distinguish one concept from the other still.