Friday

Four argument drafts lie in a row on the Signal Desk. Readers' page, shade tent, skate ramp, reading club.

Nova hovers above them, her light sliding from one to the next. "Review time," she says. "What do all four share?"

"A claim up top," Rocket says. "Reasons with evidence. The other side, answered. A conclusion."

"And what do you notice about the ones you trust most?" Raven asks.

Rocket reads the shade tent piece again. "The ones that say where the evidence came from. And the ones that are fair."

Nova dims her light to a soft glow. "Then you know what to check in your own draft tonight."

Rocket is already reading his aloud, pencil in hand.

This week's four Signal pieces share one shape. Claim first. Two or three reasons, each backed by evidence that fits and names its source. The other side stated fairly and answered. A conclusion that follows.

Underneath, the sentences are complete and the pronouns agree. Those are the quiet rules that make a reader trust you.

Raven thinks aloud over the four drafts: "The readers' page letter answers a worry about crowding. The tent piece answers a worry about the view. Each answer fits its worry exactly."

That is the test for your own counterclaim paragraph. Does the answer fit the worry, or does it change the subject?

Reading aloud is the fastest way to find a weak spot. Your ear hears a fragment before your eye sees it.

Rocket reads his draft to the corkboard. Where he stumbles, he marks the line. Where he rushes, he adds a transition. Where he doubts himself, he adds evidence.

Raven reads hers a different way. She reads the claim, then skips to the conclusion, and asks whether the two match.

Then she reads only the first sentence of each paragraph. If those sentences alone tell the whole argument, the shape is right.

Try both ways on your own draft. Rocket's way finds broken sentences. Raven's way finds a broken shape.

Your argument is ready to be read by someone else. Tomorrow is Press Day.