Making Civic Arguments by Eric Smith

Eric Smith (in blue) points to where his team has been with the C3WP as Jackie Frederick, Cole Marion, Lisa Gusewelle, and Deb Austin (l to r) look on

My first impression of the Making Civic Arguments mini unit led by Casey Olson and Carla Truttman was that students would choose a topic that involved the government, write a letter and send it off.  However, this was totally wrong!  OK, maybe not totally, but really close.  What I found out was that the students do choose a topic that involves the government (hence the title "Civic") and that is where my original thoughts pretty much went by the way side.  The process of writing for making a civic argument is VERY detail-oriented and time-consuming.

Students do make a list of issues of concern to them, narrow it down to about 3-4 and then narrow it down to one topic.  They then follow the C3WP process in argumentative writing by writing a claim and rewriting a claim and maybe re-rewriting a claim.  Next they would find their evidence.  Casey and Carla provided some very great tools and templates (along with student samples) of how to use and fill out the templates.  They also provided another template (with a student sample) of "Planning a Purposeful Argument" that organizes the students' basic evidence sources, topics of discussion and where the evidence will go in the essay.  All of the tools/templates, details and samples really allow the students to put together a well-researched and written piece of argumentative writing that shows the progressive growth of their writing abilities.

The final product doesn't necessarily end there.  Many students send their civic argument letters to the local newspaper, school administrators, school board members and possibly to state political representatives in order to make a positive change within their community.  Some students get to see their hard work put into civic action for the betterment of their community.  

My students have many great ideas about our community that they see as a need for change.  This mini-unit could be a way for them to not just learn about civic duty and responsibilities of a citizen, but to see an issue in our community and really do something for change.  Which is what C3WP is all about!