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English lesson plan · 12th grade (Year 13 in England) · 60 minutes

The Toulmin model: claim, grounds, warrant, backing, qualifier, rebuttal

Reading Comprehension

CCSS RI.11-12.8CCSS W.11-12.1.ACCSS W.11-12.1.BEngland: AP LanguageEngland: AP SeminarEngland: A-level Critical Thinking

Objective and success criteria

Students will: The Toulmin model: claim, grounds, warrant, backing, qualifier, rebuttal.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Counterclaims and rebuttals in arguments; Ethos, pathos or logos?; Evaluating arguments and reasoning

Leads to: Writing a concession and rebuttal; Is it an arguable thesis?

Materials: A short text or extract (one copy each), Highlighters, Question cards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 6 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Counterclaims and rebuttals in arguments; Ethos, pathos or logos?; Evaluating arguments and reasoning). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Is the proposed answer correct? Claim: "Libraries are still essential in the digital age." Counterclaim: "Everything is online now." Which is the best rebuttal? → Libraries are quiet. (yes, it is correct / no, it is not correct) → no, it is not correctPrompt: A counterclaim states the opposing view; a rebuttal answers it.
  2. Claim: "The school day should include 30 minutes of silent reading." Which sentence is the strongest REBUTTAL to the counterclaim that 'there isn't time in the timetable'? (Some students already read at home. / Timetables are made by teachers. / Taking just five minutes from each lesson would create the time without losing any subject. / Reading is fun.) → Taking just five minutes from each lesson would create the time without losing any subject.Prompt: A counterclaim states the opposing view; a rebuttal answers it.
  3. Is the proposed answer correct? Claim: "Exams should be replaced by coursework." Which sentence is a REBUTTAL? → Coursework lets students show their skills over time. (yes, it is correct / no, it is not correct) → no, it is not correctPrompt: A counterclaim states the opposing view; a rebuttal answers it.

Hook · 6 min

  • Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
  • Share the objective: The Toulmin model: claim, grounds, warrant, backing, qualifier, rebuttal. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 12 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: Which part of the Toulmin model matches this description? The position the arguer wants the audience to accept.
  • Step 1: Toulmin's model breaks an argument into a claim, the grounds that support it, the warrant connecting them, backing for the warrant, a qualifier limiting the claim and a rebuttal noting exceptions.
  • Step 2: claim: The position the arguer wants the audience to accept.
  • Step 3: So the answer is: claim
  • Answer: claim
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 12 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. Which part of the Toulmin model matches this description? The evidence or facts offered to support the claim. (qualifier / grounds / backing / warrant) → groundsPrompt: Ask what job each part does: state, prove, connect, support the connection, limit, or admit exceptions.
  2. Which part of a Toulmin argument is this sentence? For students in Years 12 and 13, at least, a four-day week is likely to help. (rebuttal / qualifier / claim / grounds) → qualifierPrompt: Is it the position itself, a piece of evidence, the link between them, support for that link, a limiting word like 'in most cases', or an 'unless'?

You do: independent practice · 17 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 7 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. Which part of a Toulmin argument is this sentence? Studies from cities in several countries show that protected lanes cut cycling injuries. (claim / backing / warrant / rebuttal) → backingPrompt: Is it the position itself, a piece of evidence, the link between them, support for that link, a limiting word like 'in most cases', or an 'unless'?
  2. Which part of the Toulmin model matches this description? Extra support for the warrant itself. (grounds / claim / backing / qualifier) → backingPrompt: Ask what job each part does: state, prove, connect, support the connection, limit, or admit exceptions.

Watch out for

  • Answering from memory or opinion instead of evidence in the text.
  • Copying a long quote without explaining what it shows.

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Counterclaims and rebuttals in arguments.
  • Use concrete materials: a short text or extract (one copy each).
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Move on to: Writing a concession and rebuttal; Is it an arguable thesis?.
  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-12.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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The Toulmin model: claim, grounds, warrant, backing, qualifier, rebuttal

Name

Date

Score/ 8

  1. Question 1

    Type the part of the Toulmin model (in English) that matches this description. The position the arguer wants the audience to accept.

    Answer

  2. Question 2

    Which part of a Toulmin argument is this sentence? This would not work if families had no childcare on the fifth day, so a supervised study day should be offered.

    • A. backing
    • B. grounds
    • C. rebuttal
    • D. warrant

The Gettysburg Address (Abraham Lincoln, 1863)

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

  1. Question 3

    Read "The Gettysburg Address (Abraham Lincoln, 1863)". Lincoln says the speakers 'can not' dedicate the ground. What claim does this support?

    • A. that the soldiers' actions matter more than any words, so the living must continue their work
    • B. that the war was not important
    • C. that the ceremony should be cancelled
    • D. that the battlefield should be sold

  1. Question 4

    Which part of the Toulmin model matches this description? Extra support for the warrant itself.

    • A. qualifier
    • B. grounds
    • C. rebuttal
    • D. backing

  2. Question 5

    Type the part of the Toulmin model (in English) that matches this description. Extra support for the warrant itself.

    Answer

  3. Question 6

    Which part of a Toulmin argument is this sentence? Better attendance is a sign that a timetable works for students.

    • A. grounds
    • B. backing
    • C. claim
    • D. warrant

  4. Question 7

    Which part of the Toulmin model matches this description? The conditions under which the claim might not hold, or the answer to an objection.

    • A. backing
    • B. grounds
    • C. warrant
    • D. rebuttal

  5. Question 8

    Type the part of the Toulmin model (in English) that matches this description. The assumption that links the evidence to the claim, often unstated.

    Answer

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Answer key: The Toulmin model: claim, grounds, warrant, backing, qualifier, rebuttal

  1. 1. claim

  2. 2. C. rebuttal

  3. 3. A. that the soldiers' actions matter more than any words, so the living must continue their work

  4. 4. D. backing

  5. 5. backing

  6. 6. D. warrant

  7. 7. D. rebuttal

  8. 8. warrant