“Oh, Rats”
Information & Persuasion

Overview

The sixth grade “Art of Argument” is structured using two of the Readers & Writers Workshop units – Information & Persuasive Writing and leverages Albert Marrin’s book “Oh, Rats! The Story of Rats & People as the anchor text for the unit. The unit begins with the writing workshop On-Demand pre-writing assessment for persuasive writing as the unit works towards students writing a persuasive piece on the argument of exterminating rats once and for all.  This unit is always a class favorite as we developing debating skills, persuasive writing skills, and work through collecting information via text annotation of Oh, Rats! and develop information organization skills. Students also learn the importance of domain specific vocabulary when reading and writing informational texts and the importance of collecting information that both supports and rebuts their individual stance on a topic.

Rationale

Arguments and arguing play a big role in our daily lives. We all experience moments and situations, when we have been really mad or deeply disappointed yet still want to get our point across in a coherent way which seems nearly impossible in the wake of strong emotions. This unit has been designed to help students become extraordinarily skilled at argument so that they can advocate for themselves – be convincing and compelling and have your voices heard. 

In this unit, students will participate in oral debates following the Argument Talk Protocol and write a persuasive piece that fosters development of logical thinking, teaches how to leverage collected information as supporting evidence for their position, and how to address counter arguments in an effort to develop an effective argument. 

Unit Goals & Essential Questions

• What are effective techniques of persuasive writing and speaking?
• How do writers use domain specific language to build a believable argument?
• How do we organize our thoughts to be more persuasive?
• How does understanding my audience help me to craft a strong and relatable argument?

Content

This unit is two-fold, covering both the art of persuasive writing and information reading and research.  Students will learn how to effectively express an argument verbally, and in writing through taking a position to either exterminate or protect rats. As a class and in small groups, we will read through Oh Rats, collecting information that both supports and contradicts our position on the argument and brainstorm various consequences of extermination. Students will also be provided with a variety of external resources  (news articles and videos) that we will analyze, discuss, and include in our debate to protect or exterminate rats once and for all. Students will be assessed on their preparation for and participation in oral debates, their research and organization of information collected about rats, and three drafts of a written persuasive piece including a bibliography.

Link the unit slides can be found below: