The Missouri Reader Vol. 38, Issue 1 | Page 35

Connie Juel and colleagues (2010) suggested as our students move through adolescence and into adulthood, they will encounter an increasing number and range of texts designed to convince them to buy, vote, or think in a particular way. Students should be prepared to analyze these positions (arguments) to successfully navigate their daily lives. Change does not happen easily, but with a mission and clear efforts to help students work on understanding and generating greater amounts of informational text writing, we can, beginning with small steps, expand our repetoire of writing practices and the range of writing pieces created by students. Argumentation writing is an excellent starting place to begin making these changes.

References

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students to read like detectives: Comprehending, analyzing, and discussing text. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

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Graham, S., & Harris, K. (2013). Designing an

effective writing program. In S. Graham, C. A. MacArthur, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Best practicees in writing instruction (2nd ed.) (pp. 2-25). New York: Guilford Press.

Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2006). Writing next:

Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high school. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent in Education.

Juel, C., Hebard, H., Haubner, J. P., & Moran, M.

(2012). Reading through a disciplinary lens. Educational Leadership, 67(6), 12-17.

Moss, B. (2005). The information text gap:

The mismatch between non-narrative text types in basal readers and 2009 NAEP recommended guidelines. Journal of Literacy Research, 40(2), 201-219.

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Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common core state standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Authors.

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Write Source. (n.d.). Grades 4-5 student

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"It is critical at times to step back and reflect on our practices."

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