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Reading and Writing 6-8 / Week 10 / Press Day
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Week 10 · Argument Writing

Press Day

Press Day: Letters to the Block
// A claim, clear reasons, real evidence, and a fair word for the other side
⏱ about 20 min

Press Day: Letters to the Block

Saturday morning the porch smells of paper and pencil shavings. The folding table is out, and the string lights are on even though it is light.

"This issue has an opinion page," Rocket announces. "Four arguments. One of them is mine."

Raven hands him a stack to fold. "What do you notice about the order we put them in?"

"Claim first in every one," Rocket says. "Readers know what we think by the second line."

Nova hovers over the stack, her light counting copies. "And every one answers the other side," she says. "Fair paper."

A neighbor walks up with a dog on a leash and takes a copy. She reads the first line, then the second, and nods.

"That is the best review we have had," Raven says.

  1. A claim is one sentence a reader could disagree with.
  2. Reasons answer why. Evidence shows a reason is true and names its source.
  3. Relevant evidence fits its reason. Irrelevant evidence is true but about something else.
  4. A fair argument states the counterclaim and answers it with a transition such as However.
  5. A conclusion restates the claim in fresh words and says why it matters, without adding a new reason.
  6. Every sentence is complete, and every pronoun agrees with its noun.
◇ READ YOUR ARGUMENT ALOUD
Read your finished argument to someone at home. Read the claim twice so it lands.
Ask your listener to say the other side's best point in their own words. Did your answer cover it?
Ask for one compliment and one question. Write both in your Signal notebook.
If the question points at a weak spot, fix it before you fold the issue.
PRESS DAY CHECK
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Where does the claim go in an argument?
What makes a piece of evidence relevant?
What does a fair argument do with the other side?
FOLD THE OPINION PAGE IN ORDER
  • How does a reader move through an argument?
  • Tap the cards in order.
1First
2Next
3Then
4Last
Press Day reviewTrue or false?
A conclusion may introduce a brand new reason.?
"Each skater carries their own board" has a pronoun that agrees.?
Evidence from this week's Signal should say it came from The Signal.?
"However" can introduce your answer to the other side.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEThe quiet rules, agreement, sources and transitions, are what readers notice without knowing why.
Try it
Fold a sheet of paper in half to make a four-page booklet. Write your headline on the front.
Copy your claim onto page two and hand the booklet to someone to read.

Your argument is in print. Next week we read two poems and two stories about choices and hope, and compare how they say it.

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