Activities

1. Identify ways in which two argumentative texts with the same subject matter approach the topic differently in terms of style, tone, evidence and author’s purpose.
   
   
2. Draw a map outlining how two nonfiction texts that use logical argument arrange their main points.
   
   
3. Compare how two personal narratives and/or memoirs craft and shape the author’s tone, style and persona.
   
   
4. Compare and summarize common diction, syntax, style and tone in two texts by the same author.
   
   
5. Evaluate and take a position on the arguments of two nonfiction texts that take positions on the same subject matter but draw different conclusions.
   
   
6. Investigate how two texts with controversial arguments frame their evidence in order to draw the audience to their conclusion.

Answer Key/Rubric

1. Students identify how texts grappling with the same subject matter take on different characteristics in terms of style, tone, use of evidence and author’s purpose. To extend the objective, have students draw a connection between how these different choices help support the different purposes of each piece.
   
   
2. Students see how logical arguments are constructed by mapping out how two logically-driven texts shape, build and convey their arguments. Students identify patterns in terms of evidence (strongest first to weakest, or weakest to strongest)—and to extend the objective—if there are causal arguments, deductive or inductive arguments.
   
   
3. Students read and compare two personal narrations and/or memoirs, looking to identify and compare how the different author’s express themselves through crafting a persona, and how their styles and tones help convey the subject matter.
   
   
4. Students begin to see how writing is a craft constructed through different approaches by examining common practices in two pieces by the same author. Students identify common diction, syntactical construction, styles and tones that writers develop to shape their voice.
   
   
5. Students evaluate and take a position on two texts that take positions on the same subject matter but draw different conclusions. Students should be able to explain and defend their position. Students may also draw nuanced answers, finding some strengths in both texts.
   
   
6. Students read and analyze two texts with controversial arguments to investigate how well the writers change their audience’s opinions. Students identify steps authors make in order to execute their purpose in writing about potentially charged subject matters.

Suggested Rubric:  This rubric may be used to assess a student’s overall mastery of the standard or eligible content.