We did a "Reading Claim & Evidence" on the Declaration, itself. (It is an argumentative essay with a clear thesis, significant section of evidence, and a conclusion that re-clarifies the thesis.) Instead of our typical set-up with the 4 steps for a score, this time mark directly on the packet to id the 2-part thesis, find where the founders address a counter-argument, describe the TYPE of evidence (instead of writing out all the evidence itself), and identify the more specific telling of the thesis in the conclusion area -- label these things clearly. We then began an AV Claim & Evidence on "Crash Course: U.S. History #7 Who Won the American Revolution" -- this is a practice in terms of scoring to help us improve in this area, as there will be a 2nd AV C&E skill this unit for a score, AND the content of this video is critical to our Essential Questions! ; )
