Shiri Huber

Spring 17
Counterarguments lesson plan
Objective: students should understand why including counterarguments is
crucial to being persuasive, what makes for an effective counterargument,
and where counterarguments can be found in writing.
Materials: Slideshow with: statement to argue or support for purpose of
activity, summary of what a good counterargument includes
Link to my slideshow:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1E32lliWXknQ9FmMDqnIXO3f2t
3gRnvJkr0YVdvh7a9A/edit?usp=sharing
Time estimate: 16.5 minutes
Outline of lesson:
I. Ask class: why are counterarguments crucial in your writing? (2
minutes)
II. Activity: practice making counterarguments (10.5 minutes total)
a. Go to slide that says prompt: Should laptops be banned in the
classroom?
b. Give an explanation: get into groups of 3 or 4. One half of the
room is arguing yes, one half of the room is arguing no. In your
groups, anticipate three arguments that the other side would
make AND how you would respond (30 seconds to explain)
c. Give time for students to get into groups and make arguments (5
minutes)
d. Bring class back together. Go to each group and ask them to
share their best argument and counterargument (5 minutes)
III. Discussion: ask class what makes for a good counterargument, try to
ask each group (2 minutes)
IV. Go slide titled a good counterargument slide and review (2 minutes)
a. Take the other point of view seriously- dont rush through your
counterargument, or the audience will not be thoroughly
convinced that the opposing viewpoint is wrong
b. Make sure to overcome the opposing argument that you present:
rather than dismissing it as simply wrong, actually thoroughly
disprove it.
c. Disproving the opposing side can be more nuanced: you can
concede that it is correct, but only partially correct, or claim it is
both correct and incorrect
Reflection: Although I think I structured my lesson plan in a way that
achieved my objective of getting students to understand counterarguments,
I ran into some problems during implementation of the activity. First of all,
vaguely instructing students to get into groups of three or four resulted in
three big clumps of students, which resulted in only one team arguing on one
side of the debate and two on the other side. Most significantly, students
were confused with my instructions, and it took a few minutes for everyone
to figure out what they were actually debating. For example, one group was
debating for laptops in the classroom, but had to think of arguments against
their position. I had to walk around and clarify for confused students, and I
even confused myself in the moment. If I had to do this activity again, I
would simply have groups make arguments for their own point of view and
then anticipate the counterarguments. Otherwise, students were engaged in
the activity and also were responsive to my class questions.