1. RI.9- 10.1: Cite strong and through evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
2. RI.9-10.10: By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
3. W.9-10.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Explore and inquire into areas of interest to formulate an argument.
4. Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
5. Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level and concerns.
6. Use words, phrases, and clauses to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s)

BIG IDEAS/ENDURING UNDERSTANDING:

1. Being able to read, synthesize, analyze, and evaluate informational texts can lead to a greater, more accurate understanding of a complex topic.
2. The effectiveness of argumentative writing relies on the strength of the claims and the supporting details and how effectively the author explains the evidence and establishes a link between the claim and the evidence.
3. Writers develop and present arguments and support their claims using evidence and explanation drawn from reliable sources.
4. The increasing use of new media by youth, such as smart phones, tablets, DS hand held devices and personal computers, has profound effects on individuals and society.
5. Despite common concerns to the contrary youth often use new media in meaningful and productive ways that are consistent with a healthy developmental process

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

1. What impact does being able to synthesize, analyze, and evaluate informational texts have on person’s understanding of a complex topic?
2. How do writers of informational texts use examples and evidence effectively to convince a reader of their claim?
3. How can I evaluate claims made in informational texts and reconcile competing claims from multiple sources?
4. How is new media technology used by youth?
5. What impact might the use of new media have on children’s behavioral, social and physiological development?

CONTENT:
Reading Informational Texts

1. Strategies for reading and comprehending expository argumentative texts
2. Strength of an author’s claim and the evidence and reasoning the author uses to support that claim

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Argument Writing

1. Components of Academic Argument
2. Evidence & Reasoning
3. Analysis
4. Conclusion
5. Adhering to the conventions of standard written English
6. Terms and relationship between claims and counterclaims

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New Media Technology

1. Argument in favor of and concerned with the increasing use of new media (especially by youth)
2. Media technology (types), including the Internet, web-based tools, matrix sites
3. Collaboration tools that allow producers to interact and collaborate with others
4. Media technology’s capacity to illustrate links to other information
5. Capacity to display information flexibly and dynamically.

SKILLS:

1. Determine the central idea of an informational text.
2. Formulate the claims that support a position.
3. Summarize an author’s argument clearly and coherently.
4. Evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of an author’s argument in a nonfiction text.
5. Identify and explain how the author has linked evidence directly to the claims
6. Identify limitations of evidence provided by the author to support the claims made.
7. Read complex text independently.

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1. Identify and create organized and complex text that contains all of the components of academic argument
2. Introduce the context and significance of an issue
3. State a position clearly.
4. Draw a distinction between  academic meaning of argument and the common definition of argument
5. Provide detailed support and inherent logic to bolster an argument
6. Gather and evaluate relevant primary and secondary sources.
7. Analyze and reflect on arguments presents in a text
8. Summarize stated position and draw conclusions
9. Use language to make clear connections and distinctions, and to transition between portions of the argument.

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1. Use data collected on personal survey and research to explain the impact of new technology usage on high school students
2. Produce and publish writing online using a media form aligned to intended audience (Extension Activity)
3. Compare the use of media technology over traditional formats on the intended audience’s connection with the ideas presented (Extension Activity)
4. Update and revise individual or shared writing products

KEY TERMS/VOCABULARY

1. Argumentative Writing
2. Evidence
3. Reading Strategies
4. Conclusion
5. New Media Technology
6. Claims
7. Counterclaims

FINAL PERFORMANCE TASK:

EXTENSION:

LEARNING PLAN & ACTIVITIES:

In addition to the below, please see Days 1-5 of the task for a series of lessons that build toward the final performance task.

• Students will practice summarizing and evaluating a text in order to identify an author’s argument and main points and to determining if they are convinced by the presented evidence.
• Provide students with a text that is split into 4-5 sections and a graphic organizer (e.g. a T-chart) that has 2 columns: one titled “The Gist” and the other “Talking Back”
• Students read the article until the designated stopping point and then fill in their graphic organizer, writing 1-2 sentences explaining what the author is saying in “The Gist” column and 1-2 sentences of analysis and reflection based on the text in the “Talking Back” column
• After finishing the entire article, students write a 3-4 sentence summary of the article in which they explain:
• the overall topic and why it is relevant
• the author’s position
• the type of evidence that the author used to support his/her claim
• students may also be asked to respond to the text and whether they either agree or disagree  with the claim either in writing or as a discussion based on evidence from the text

Challenging the text, determining counter claims

1. A good reader does not simply accept everything an author tells him or her. Students will use this activity to challenge the ideas in a text and to develop some of their own ideas about the topic.
2. Students read a text and list the argument and supporting points that the authors makes.
3. For each supporting point, students must write a logical counter claim.
4. Students then consider the two lists (claims and counter claims) and write a 1-2 paragraph response to the text in which they either agree or disagree with the author and explain why

The limits of evidence

1. Students will gain a clearer understanding of the strengths and limitations of specific evidence
2. Provide students with copies of a text and a graphic organizer that includes three columns (Source| Strengths| Limits)
3. As a class, brainstorm some example limitations of evidence (e.g. evidence only considers certain types of people, evidence is out dated, evidence  does not  take  into account certain important factors, etc.).
4. In groups students read and discuss the source: What position does the author put forward? What evidence does the author provide for thinking about the effects of media on youth and on society? What are the strengths of this type of evidence? What are the limits of this type of evidence?
5. As students discuss, they can also fill in their graphic organizer

Explicitly linking evidence to a claim

1. Students will learn that it is not sufficient to merely provide evidence to support a point, but that a writer must explain how evidence supports the point being made.
2. As a class, review sample expository texts and identify where and how the writer has explicitly linked evidence back to the point he/she is making.
3. Provide students with a short expository text in which the introduction and conclusion are completely intact, but where body paragraphs have been edited such that the topic sentence and evidence remain, but the explanation has been removed. Ask students to write the explanation of the evidence for each body paragraph. (Students can do this either independently or in small groups.)
4. Have a few students share their work on the same paragraph and then discuss the strengths of each response as a class.

RESOURCES:
Texts
Please see the lesson in the task for additional guidance on use of the texts below.
Background

• Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18- Year Olds. Kaiser Family Foundation (2010).

       http://www.kff.org/entmedia/8010.cfm

• Excerpts from an interview: A young Woman thinks out loud about her media use
• Students and technology, constant companions: Interviews with students about their media use.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/21/technology/20101121-brain-interactive.html?ref=technology

Does media limit or change how we think and what we can imagine?

• Carr, Nicholas, (2008). Is a Google making us stupid? What the internet is doing to our brains.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/

• Growing up digital, wired for distraction.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html

• Excerpt from Susan Maushart’s Winter of Our Disconnect

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41257971/ns/today-books/

Is media use improving individuals and the world?

• Cohen, Roger, (January 28, 2011). Revolutionary Arab Geeks: Ask the kids in Tunis and Cairo if the Web enslaves people. New York Times.
• Teenagers’ Internet Socializing Not a Bad Thing

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/us/20internet.html?scp=5&sq=macarthur+digital+media&st=nyt

• Teenage social media butterflies may not be such a bad idea

http://articles.latimes,com/2010/may/18/science/la-sci-socially-connected-kids-20100518

• A Tunisian on the role of social media.

http://gov20.govfresh.com/a-tunisian-on-the-role-of-social-media