An Argument With Ordered Reasons

1. Write the claim on the board: "Our school should turn the empty lot behind the gym into a vegetable garden."
2. Hand each pair four reason cards: (A) The lot is empty and turns to mud every spring. (B) A garden would cost very little: a packet of seeds costs about two dollars. (C) The cafeteria could serve lettuce and beans we grew ourselves. (D) Every grade studies plants, and a garden lets us watch a whole life cycle instead of a diagram.
3. Ask pairs to lay the cards out in three different orders in two minutes, then hold up the order they would send to the principal.
4. Ask: "Which order is most persuasive, and why?" Expect most pairs to keep A-B-C-D, the order they were dealt. Note that on the board: the first order anyone tries is the order they met the reasons in.

1. Name the reader before the order: "The principal will read this. What will she worry about first?" Fish for "cost" or "who will look after it."
2. Write the logic on the board before touching the cards: "Least to most important to the principal, because she needs the cost worry answered before she will listen to the benefits."
3. Order the cards by that logic and say each placement aloud: B first (it answers her first doubt), A second (it uses a problem she already has), C third (the whole school benefits), D last (learning is what a school is for, so it is the strongest).
4. Write the model paragraph for the last reason on the board: "Most important of all, a garden would help us learn. Every grade at our school studies plants in science, but we only see the life cycle as a diagram. In a garden, a bean seed planted in April would sprout, flower and make new seeds by June, so we would watch every stage happen. Consequently, the garden would be a science lesson that lasts all spring."
5. Underline the fact ("a bean seed planted in April would sprout, flower and make new seeds by June") and ask: "How could someone check this?" Expected answer: look at the seed packet or a gardening book. Then underline "Most important of all" and "Consequently" and say these words tell the reader where they are in the order.
6. Try a second logic on the same cards — problem to solution: A (the mud problem), B (cheap fix), C and D (what we gain). Read both opening sentences aloud and ask which suits the principal better. Either can win if the student can say why.
7. Finish with the conclusion: "A garden costs almost nothing, fixes the mud and feeds us, but the best reason is that it would teach us. Please let us start one this spring." Point out that it ends on the strongest reason because the order put it last.

“Before you move a single card, tell me your logic in one sentence. If you can't say why a reason is in that spot, it isn't an order, it's a list. The order is part of your argument: it tells the reader which reason you think matters most.”

1. Give a new claim: "Fifth graders should be allowed to bring a reusable water bottle to every lesson." Pairs brainstorm three or four reasons and write each on a sticky note.
2. Pairs choose one logic card and write the frame: "My order is ___ because ___."
3. Pairs swap with another pair, who must challenge one placement with the question "Why is this one here and not first?" The writers must answer using their logic sentence.
4. Each student drafts the paragraph for their strongest reason: a linking phrase, the reason, one checkable fact or detail, and a sentence explaining why it matters. Circulate and ask, "What is your fact, and how would I check it?"

“Your partner is going to point at one reason and say, "Why here?" Your answer has to use your logic sentence. "It just felt right" is not an answer.”

1. Students complete the opinion writing page: it gives a claim, reasons and a planning grid with a box for the ordering logic.
2. Remind them the logic box is filled in first. Check three students' logic boxes in the first two minutes.

1. Take two answers to: "What logic did you use, and which reason went last?" Push each for the "because."