Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively

E X A M P L E   2.3.

A writing and reading activity for synthesizing multiple texts 

A social studies teacher provides students with two texts on European immigration 

in the 20th century, one from a blogger and the other from the BBC. Students read 

both pieces and work in pairs to make a list of the following:

• 

the argumentative claims and use of evidence

• 

the similarities and differences in tone and structure in the two pieces

After discussing their lists as a class, students research the claims made in each piece to evaluate 

the validity of the evidence presented. Then, each student uses the lists to make a descriptive 

summary of the two articles and the validity of their evidence.

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