Title of the Lesson: Chivalry is Dead? Grade Level: 12 (Academic & Honors) Length of Lesson: Up to one class period (1.5 hours) Overview of the Lesson: Students have previous knowledge of argument (including claim, data, and warrant) and chivalry/courtly love during the Middle Ages. In order to continue building argumentative skills and relate our study of the Canterbury Tales to their own experiences, students will read NY Times Room for Debate articles about chivalry today and generate their own arguments. Essential Learning Outcomes Questions: Students have previous knowledge of argument (including claim, data, and warrant) and chivalry/courtly love during the Middle Ages. In order to continue to build their argument skills and relate our study of the Canterbury Tales to their own experiences, students will read NY Times Room for Debate articles about chivalry today. By the end of the lesson students will be able to annotate in order to find an author s claim, data, and warrant. Students will be able to reflect on their own experiences and read other s opinions in order to generate an argument including claim, data, warrant, and counterclaim (honors/academic challenge). Students will be able to identify chivalrous behavior and their own personal code of ehtics. Students will learn a new digital tool by using the website http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate. By the end of the lesson students will be able to appreciate the different opinions within an argument, pick a side, and create their own opinion on the issue. NC Common Core Standards Being Addressed: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.2 Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.1a Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. Materials Needed: Bell Ringer journal question, computer for each student, Can Chivalry Be Brought Back to Life? Room for Debate NYTimes.com: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/07/30/can- chivalry- be- brought- back- to- life, printer access, Microsoft Word, colored pencils, Chivalry is Dead? assignment sheet, Claim, Data, Warrant Practice, and chivalry journal question. How the Lesson Will Flow: 1. Bell Ringer: Students will have 12 minutes to quietly answer the journal question: As we have previously learned, chivalry was an important social code during the Middle Ages.
Reference your notes on chivalry and courtly love and reflect on chivalry in today s society. While we are not knights in shining armor, can chivalry still exist today in a different form? What are considered chivalrous acts in today s society? Do you par-take in these acts? Why or not why? What social codes are prevalent today? 2. Review prior lessons on chivalry and courtly love during the Middle Ages. How was the code of chivalry important during the Middle Ages? How does Chaucer satirize this social code with his character the Knight in Canterbury Tales? 3. Class discussion: Have students share Bell Ringer responses. This will generate a discussion on if chivalry still exists today as it did during the Middle Ages. To keep discussion moving ask questions such as: Is chivalry different today than it was for a knight during Chaucer s time? What kinds of chivalrous acts do we have today? 4. Hand out Claim, Data, Warrant (CDW) Practice sheet (see below) 5. In pairs students should complete CDW and then review quickly as a class. 6. Hand out Chivalry is Dead? assignment (see below) and go over with the class before heading into the computer lab. 7. Move to the computer lab. Students should bring Bell Ringer journal entry, CDW practice, and assignment. 8. Follow assignment sheet Assessment: Informal Assessments: Bell Ringer class discussion, brief chivalry review class discussion, CDW practice Formal Assessments: Students will turn in annotated articles from NY Times Debate where they correctly identified the author s claim, data, and warrant. Student s argument paragraphs will be based on a rubric (attached to assignment sheet). Honors students are expected to generate a counterclaim, while academic students may do this as an academic challenge (extra credit). Sources for the Lesson: I created this lesson almost entirely on my own. The lesson plan idea and assignment sheet are original; however, I referenced Purdue Owl and other sites for more clarification on argument writing. I found the article on Room for Debate early in the year and thought it would be perfect to tie into my Canterbury Tales unit. Common Core is constantly pushing argument and non-fiction reading, and I thought this was the perfect blend of both for one class period. NY Times Room for Debate article: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/07/30/can-chivalry-be-brought-back-to-life. The explanations for claim, data, and warrant were taken from http://www.vanderbilt.edu/ans/english/mwollaeger/cdw.htm. Claim, Data, Warrant practice was found online and created by C. Rumfelt.
Claim, Data, Warrant (CDW) Practice The warrant explains why the data or evidence proves the claim. Your warrant must be reasonable and believable or your reader won t accept it. 1. Don t eat that mushroom it s poisonous. Don t eat that mushroom. Data: That mushroom is poisonous. Eating poisonous things is dangerous. 2. We shouldn t elect Fred as class president because he s too bossy. We should not elect Fred class president. Data: Fred is way too bossy. Bossy people don t make good class presidents. 3. I should not be forced to share a room with my sister because she is miserable to live with. Sharing a room with my sister is unbearable. Data: She thinks everything in the room is hers. She has filthy habits. She constantly exhibits immature behavior. Neat people should not be forced to share their space with slobs. The fourth example may look like a good argument at first, but the warrant is silly and unconvincing. 4. Grades in high school should be abolished because I don t like them. Grades in high school should be abolished. Data: I don t like grades. What I don t like should be abolished. Directions: Read the sentences below and identify the claim, the data (or reason), and the warrant and write it in the space provided. Decide whether the warrant is believable. 1. Buy this stereo system because it has a powerful amplifier. 2. Drugs should not be legalized because legalization would greatly increase the number of drug addicts.
3. If you practice the piano regularly, it will make you a more disciplined person. 4. We d better stop for gas because the gas gauge has been on empty for the last 30 miles. 5. As a growing teenager, you need at least 8 hours of sleep per night because your brain is still developing.
CHIVALRY IS DEAD? RESERECTING CHIVALRY INTRODUCTION of chivalric knight Sir Lancelot and his lover, Queen Guinevere. Lebrecht Music & Arts/Corbis An illustration When married politicians are sexting and some college kids are less interested in courtship, it s easy to believe that chivalry is dead. Even pop star Miley Cyrus has proclaimed it so. A 2010 Harris poll found that 80 percent of Americans think that women are treated with less chivalry today than in the past. Is it time for the once-romantic and noble concept to peter out, or should it evolve to be more inclusive for our liberated and cynical age? (http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/07/30/can-chivalry-be-brought-back-to-life) Directions: 1. Go to the website above and read through the different Debaters articles. 2. Choose an article in which you agree with and print it out. 3. Read the article and find the author s claim, data, and warrant. Underline the author s claim (opinion) in red, data (reasons) in blue, and warrant (explanation why the data or evidence proves the claim), in green. 4. Honors/Academic Challenge: Print a second article that counterclaims your first article and repeat steps in #3. 5. Based on the articles you have read, create your own argument in which you argue if chivalry is still present in today s society or if chivalry is a dead notion. You will construct a short claim/data/warrant essay (no more than 2 paragraphs) based on this
prompt. Make your claim, use data and reasons to support your claim, and state a warrant that supports your claim and makes it believable. Your argument should include: READ ME!!!!! Creating Your Argument A claim states your position on the issue you have chosen to write about (aka the thesis). In this case your claim is if you believe chivalry is dead or if chivalry still exists today. Data: The evidence which you cite to support your claim. Like a lawyer presenting evidence to a jury, you must support your claim with facts; an unsupported claim is merely an assertion. In this case our data is the expert opinions from the NY Times Room for Debate discussion and our personal anecdotes based on our Bell Ringer journal writing and class discussion. The warrant interprets the data and shows how it supports your claim. The warrant, in other words, explains why the data proves the claim. Honors/Academic Challenge: Your argument should also include: Counterargument: One way to strengthen your argument and show that you have a deep understanding of the issue you are discussing is to anticipate and address counterarguments or objections. By considering what someone who disagrees with your position might have to say about your argument, you show that you have thought things through, and you dispose of some of the reasons your audience might have for not accepting your argument. In this case you will use a second article from the discussion that disagrees with your claim and show how you are aware of the opposing side of the argument. Respond to this opposing side within your own argument.
Name: Rubric Total Points: /40 I can develop an argument using relevant and sufficient evidence. I can organize and develop my writing so that it is clear and appropriate for the task, purpose, and audience. 4 ( 20 points) 3 (15 points) 2 (10 points) 1 (5 points) I express a strong argument with clear reasons. I provide two direct quotations and thoroughly explain the quotations in my own words. I use four to five specific details from the documents or I use relevant anecdotes. I develop my argument thoughtfully and persuasively using strong topic sentence (claim), data, and warrant. Honors: Correctly includes a counterclaim. Proper MLA citations. I express a clear argument with reasons. I provide one direct quotation and thoroughly explain the quotation in my own words. I use at least three specific details from the documents and I use personal experiences. I develop my argument coherently using a topic sentence (claim), data, and warrant. Honors: Attempts to include a counterclaim. I include document numbers. I express an argument and mostly relevant reasons. I use some details from the documents or personal experiences. Personal experiences may not be relevant to my claim. I use a topic and/or conclusion sentence but it may be vague. My evidence is generally in the middle of the paragraph and is vaguely connected to the argument. Honors: Counterclaim is nonexistent or lacking. My argument and reasons are not entirely clear. I use only one to two details from a document and/or personal experiences. I lack a topic sentence. Organization may be difficult to follow.