Group Debate: Acknowledging and Responding to Counter-Arguments
Unit Targets: Students will produce an argumentative research paper that responds to
either a practical or a conceptual problem.
Materials/Resources Needed:
• You’ll need a list of issues on which students differ. You can use this exercise as a
review if you look for issues from readings where students have already
disagreed, or you could have a discussion with the students leading them to
develop the list of issues themselves, as homework or in class.
• Student’s Guide: 2.4.1 and 6
• TCC Topic Sheet 8, “Academic Language of Research: How to Position Your
Idea” http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/turabian/tcc/topicsheet8.pdf
• TCC Topic Sheet 13, “Academic Language of Research: Acknowledging and
Responding”
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/turabian/tcc/topicsheet13.pdf
Activities:
1. Have students declare their position in response to the issue. Group students
according to their position and assign each group to represent the position opposite their
own. (That way, to think of objections they only have to consider what they already
think.)
2. As homework, assign each student two tasks:
•
•
List three objections one might have against the position they have been assigned to
defend (in other words, three objections they themselves have against that
position).
Come up with three objections against the other group’s position (in other words,
objections to what they themselves think).
3. Have students e-mail their objections to you the night before class. Compile two
master lists, one for each group. (NB - Neither group should be allowed to see the
opposing group’s objections, only those raised by a group’s own members.)
This lesson was derived using Kate L. Turabian, Student’s Guide to Writing College Papers, 4th ed. (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2010), pp. 68-71, http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo8216201.html
4. Students meet in groups to discuss their lists and pick the five strongest objections
they think they can raise against other group, and the five strongest objections they
think the other group is most likely to raise against their own position.
5. Collect the new master lists, and reconvene the class to compare and discuss their
projected objections. Did the predicted objections each group proposed speak to the
concerns of the opposing group? As a class, come up with ways each group might
respond to the objections raised against their position. If the objections seemed
impossible to respond to, discuss how students might qualify or nuance their position
without reversing it entirely.
Alternative: If students need some extra motivation, you can conceal which objections
came from which students on the master list, and have each group vote on which
objections most closely represent their real concerns about the issue. Award a prize to
the student who is able to come up with the best objections to the opposing group’s
position (in other words, the best objections to what they themselves think).
Objective/Purpose: In this activity, students practice imagining alternatives and
objections. The exercise could also be either a good follow-up or a good lead-in to
“creative disagreements.”
Illinois Common Core ELA:
•
•
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1 (a-e) Write arguments to support claims in an
analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and
sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific
claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is
relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning.
NCTE Standards 3, 5, 7, and 11:
• Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate,
and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with
other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts,
their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features
(e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics). (3)
This lesson was derived using Kate L. Turabian, Student’s Guide to Writing College Papers, 4th ed. (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2010), pp. 68-71, http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo8216201.html
•
•
•
Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different
writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences
for a variety of purposes. (5)
Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and
questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data
from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to
communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience. (7)
Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members
of a variety of literacy communities. (11)
This lesson was derived using Kate L. Turabian, Student’s Guide to Writing College Papers, 4th ed. (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2010), pp. 68-71, http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo8216201.html