Lesson 38: Argument Essay, Drafting and Refining a Claim

Prepare students to review the purpose of a defensible claim and connect prior learning to the Performance Task.

Turn and Talk

Say these Directions: In this unit, we’ve examined George Orwell’s Animal Farm. For this Performance Task, you will write an argument essay using the novel as your main source. A strong argument includes a clear, defensible claim supported by evidence and reasoning.

Remind students that they have discussed and written shorter versions of arguments with claims throughout the unit.

Direct students to turn and talk to respond to the following questions:

• Ask: What does a strong, defensible claim do in an argument essay?

  • A claim should answer the prompt. It should make your argument position clear and give a preview of why or how you will argue it within the essay.

Invite several volunteers to share a sample claim from earlier in the unit.

• The force that has the strongest influence on the animals is their ideals because they believe in their freedom unconditionally.

• I believe propaganda influences the animals the most because they trust the pigs and accept their explanations without questioning them.

• The executions in Chapter VII show the revolution betraying its ideal of justice when innocent animals are killed.

Point out or ask a volunteer to point out the use of words such as because or when in responses. Emphasize that these words preview the reasoning you will use in your argument and help clarify the relationships among claims, reasons, and evidence.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Today, you will prepare for your Performance Task by developing or revising a strong claim that clearly answers the prompt and is supported by evidence from Animal Farm.

Preparing for the Performance Task

Prepare students to unpack the Performance Task prompt and clarify expectations for their argument essay, including required evidence, reasoning, and claim development.

Display or provide students with the prompt for the Unit 2 Performance Task. Read the prompt aloud, pausing as needed to clarify.

Display the performance task prompt:

Write an essay arguing how Animal Farm shows that revolutions can either protect or corrupt ideals, or both.

Say these Directions: As we review the prompt, pay attention to what you will need to include in your essay.

You will support your claim with:

• evidence from the novel (key scenes, character actions, and symbols) and one other informational text from the unit

• at least one example of persuasive messaging (e.g., Old Major’s, Napoleon's, or Squealer’s speeches, slogans, the commandments, etc.)

• an explanation of how that messaging works to preserve or corrupt the ideals of the revolution, or both

• a counterclaim and rebuttal

• Say: Before you begin writing, you will:

  • Decide whether you think Animal Farm shows that revolutions preserve ideals, corrupt them, or both.

  • Trace evidence and reasoning in Animal Farm and identify how characters use words, actions, or symbols to justify actions.

  • Find evidence from one other informational text in the unit to support your ideas.

  • Find an example from Animal Farm of persuasive communication, one that people might reasonably view as helpful, harmful, or both.

  • Analyze what makes the message convincing. What reasoning or evidence does it use (or leave out)?

Provide students with a preview of the argument-writing process:

• Say: When you write your argument essay, you will:

  • State your claim and the ideals that are preserved, corrupted, or both.

  • Develop body paragraphs using textual evidence and reasoning to support your claim.

  • Include an example and explanation of persuasive messaging from the text that supports your claim.

  • Include a counterargument and rebuttal.

  • Revise for clarity and tone: Use formal language, transitions, and precise vocabulary to explain your reasoning.

• Say: Your claim must clearly state whether the revolution preserves ideals, corrupts them, or both, and preview the evidence and reasoning you will use to prove that position.

Turn and Talk

Have students briefly review the ideals from Animal Farm.

• Ask: What are the three ideals we have focused on in this unit?

  • equality, freedom, and justice

Reinforce that these are the ideals students will write about and argue if they have been preserved, corrupted, or both by the revolution in Animal Farm.

Say these Directions: Turn to a partner and briefly discuss your ideas for a claim. Be sure to include your position (ideals preserved, corrupted, or both), the ideal you think you will focus on (equality, freedom, or justice), and a preview of your reasoning (using a word like because, when, since, etc.). These are just starting ideas that you will develop more later.

Say these Directions: Remember that you have developed a claim in Lesson 26, but you can revise that claim now that we have finished the novel and are ready to draft the performance task.

• I think the revolution in Animal Farm shows that some ideals, such as freedom, can be preserved because the animals are still in charge of the farm in the end instead of the humans.

Part A: Gathering and Reviewing Evidence (W.8.5, W.8.9.a) (20 minutes)

Transition students into pairs. Prepare students to gather and evaluate evidence from Animal Farm to determine whether ideals are preserved, corrupted, or both, and to support the development of a defensible claim.

Think-Pair-Share

Say these Directions: Strong writers review and organize their evidence before finalizing a claim so they can decide what position their evidence supports. With your partner, discuss how to determine whether evidence is relevant and how it supports a claim.

• Ask: How do you know evidence is relevant to your claim? Provide an example and a non-example.

  • The evidence is relevant if it directly ties to my claim and helps support it. For example, if my claim is about the revolution, both preserving and corrupting ideals, I would need to include evidence about the animals holding on to their ideals but then eventually losing them to corruption. If my claim is about the revolution corrupting ideals, evidence about how the animals hold on to their ideals would not be relevant.

• Ask: What is logical reasoning? Provide an example and a non-example.

  • Example: If I can explain how my evidence directly supports my claim, then my reasoning is valid. If I cannot explain how my evidence supports my claim, then either my evidence is not relevant, or I am not clearly explaining my reasoning.

Say these Directions: Strong writers organize their ideas and evidence before writing a claim to ensure it can be supported. To help you finalize the position you will take in your claim and write your argument, you will need relevant evidence and valid reasoning about how ideals are preserved, corrupted, or both in Animal Farm.

Table Talk

Organize students into groups of four or five and have them create a two-column chart using the information displayed below.

Say these Directions: Use your notes and the text to record specific examples that show how ideals are preserved, corrupted, or both. Be prepared to explain how each piece of evidence supports a claim about Animal Farm.

Invite groups to share examples and record strong evidence for the class. Highlight evidence that clearly connects to a claim about how ideals are preserved or corrupted.

Check for Understanding

While students are working, circulate to check student understanding.

• Ensure comprehension of aspects of Animal Farm that signal the preservation or corruption of the revolution’s ideals.

• Confirm that the evidence is relevant and lends itself to a reasonable and defensible claim.

Part B: Finalizing a Claim (W.8.1.a) (10 minutes)

Explain that students will use the evidence they organized in Part A to determine their position and finalize a clear, defensible claim.

• Say: Use your evidence chart to decide whether the revolution in Animal Farm preserves ideals, corrupts them, or both. Then, write a clear, one-sentence claim that includes your position, one ideal, and a preview of your reasoning.

Display the evidence chart. Lead a discussion in which you model the development of a claim from the evidence. Model a claim for one position: The ideal of freedom is corrupted in Animal Farm because Napoleon turns the democracy into a dictatorship through fear and propaganda.

Think-Pair-Share

Transition students into working independently to draft their claim using the evidence in their charts to produce a claim from a different position than the one they wrote about in Lesson 26. Students can also keep their claim from Lesson 26 and strengthen it based on the previous evidence analysis.

Say these Directions: Work independently on drafting your claim based on the previous evidence analysis. You can revise your claim from Lesson 26 or strengthen it based on this lesson’s evidence analysis.

• Say: Turn to your partner and discuss a claim about the revolution, either preserving ideals or both preserving and corrupting them. Remember, discussing more than one position helps decide on a claim and includes a counterclaim in your argument.

  • At first, the ideal of equality is preserved in Animal Farm because they establish the Seven Commandments, but eventually, the rules are changed by the pigs, and the ideal of equality is corrupted.

  • The ideal of freedom is preserved in Animal Farm because Farmer Jones never comes back, and the animals are able to run the farm themselves.

After discussing evidence and a claim from each position, give students time to revisit their original claim from Lesson 26. Instruct students to draft in their journals the claim they are now considering for their argument essay.

Peer Feedback

Prepare students to review a peer’s claim and evaluate whether it is clearly stated and supported by evidence from the unit.

Say these Directions: Exchange your claim with a partner and read each other’s work. Discuss:

• Can this claim be supported by the textual analysis we have done throughout the unit?

• Is the claim clear and specific? What evidence could strengthen it?

• What is one suggestion to make this claim stronger?

  • Your claim is clear because it states that some ideals are corrupted over time. One piece of evidence you could use is how the pigs change the commandments. You could strengthen your claim by being more specific about which ideals are corrupted.

Then, give your partner brief, specific feedback to help improve their claim.

Instruct students to review the Unit 8.2 Performance Task prompt and their current claim. In their Journal, students should write a revised version of their claim or explain what they want to improve and identify at least one question they still have about their claim, evidence, or argument.