What's your Counterpoint? - Outlining Tools

This whole brain kit helps middle, secondary and college students to create outlines that double as a tool for writing opposing view essays.

Students are encouraged to think of an outline as an umbrella that blocks rainy interference from damaging your best ideas.

An example opposing view outline is included to show students how to support facts on two opposite sides of their essay topics.

They are guided to create outlines that enable their points and counterpoints to weave wonder together in ways that build curiosity for both sides of their essay topic.

They will use the included graphic organizer to brainstorm interesting supports on opposite sides of your topic.

They will earn points for support key Issues that engage readers’ opposite views related to their topic

Students will find sample parts of an opposing view outline, as well as charts where they will build their own outlines in a step-by-step manner.

The kit comes with opportunities for students to reflect after building this opposing view outline on:

1. What they learned on each side of their topic as they wrote their outline.

2. How will readers who hold views on each side of the topic learn more from the opposing views in their essays.

Finally there is a rubric guide that doubles as a guide for the outline creation and the assessment so that students see exactly what they need to do for top grades on their opposing view essays.

Common Core Standards Addressed:

English Language Arts Standards >> Writing >> Grades 9-10
Text Types and Purposes
1. Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
o Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

o Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying data and evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form and in a manner that anticipates the audience's knowledge level and concerns.

o 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) and counterclaims.

o Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.

o Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from or supports the argument presented.