They Say/I Say

Students seem to struggle most with developing introductions, so I created a little mini-lesson on developing arguments by first establishing what "they" (the opposition) say before stating what "I" (the student) am arguing. This is based on the concept developed in the book by Cathy Birkenstein and Gerald Graff, and many of these sentence stems and student examples are readily found online. I compiled them together into a short writing assignment using NewsELA's Issue Overview (the Pro/Con section works, too). Enjoy this free resource to help your students develop their argumentation skills.

-Ms. K