Assignment Author
Jessica GoudeauPedagogical Goals of the Assignment
Help students understand types of argument outlined in Good Reasons by finding examples in The Devil's Highway.
Assignment Description
I had the class break up into four groups. Each group went through the worksheets on definition, causal, evaluation and narrative arguments, filling in the answer that went with the group number (group 1 did the questions for #1, etc.), and then did all of the page for narrative arguments. I had group one start with definition, group two with causal, group three with evaluation and group four with narrative so that I could go around and help each group (causal gave them the hardest time). This took up two class periods, so they answered three in one class period and the fourth in the second. Then they got in a circle and each person presented what their group had discussed. It helped them understand the types of arguments more fully because they saw how their class members responded and identified the varous types of arguments. It was a much richer in-class discussion than it would have been if I'd just lectured on the argument types; it's always fun to hear them reminding and instructing each other on the types of arguments, etc. I'm going to try to do the same with the remaining types of arguments in Good Reasons.