Presenting an Opinion With Support

1. Write three sentences on the board in this order: (1) "So you should bring a reusable bottle." (2) "Plastic bottles take hundreds of years to break down." (3) "Our class threw away 140 plastic bottles last month."
2. Ask: "Which order makes the strongest case?" Fish for 3, 2, 1: the local fact first, then why it matters, then the request.
3. Ask what made the new order better. Expect: "Each one leads to the next" or "You know why before you're asked."

1. Hold up three cards and present them in a weak order, as research order. Card 1: "Recess before lunch means students come in hungry and eat more. In our class survey, 18 of 26 students said they rush lunch to get outside." Card 2: "I think recess should come before lunch." Card 3: "Lunch would be calmer. The lunch supervisor told me the cafeteria is loudest in the last five minutes, when students are waiting to be let out."
2. Ask a volunteer to restate the argument in one sentence. Expect a muddle, because the opinion arrived second.
3. Reorder aloud: opinion first; then the problem (rushing — 18 of 26 in our survey); then the consequence (the cafeteria is loudest when students are waiting to leave); then end with the opinion again: "So recess before lunch would mean calmer lunches and fuller students."
4. Ask the volunteer to restate again. Expect: "You want recess first because people rush lunch and it gets loud." Point out the points did not change, only the order.
5. Now remove the fact from card 3 and present it: "Lunch would be calmer." Ask: "Do you believe me?" Then add the supervisor's comment back. Ask what changed. Fish for: "Now we know who said so."
6. Present the whole talk with the timer running. Speak too fast once (about 30 seconds), then at the right pace (about 70 seconds). Ask which one they could restate. Agree on a rule: pause for one breath at the end of every card.

“Same three points, a different order, and now they add up. The order is not decoration. It is the argument.”

1. Students choose an opinion from the board list (longer recess; a class pet; school uniforms; a reading hour on Fridays) and write an opinion card plus three point cards, each with one fact and where it came from: our survey, an interview, a book or article.
2. They lay the cards on the desk and number them, then write one line on the back of the last card: "This order because ___."
3. Groups of three: the speaker presents for 60 to 90 seconds while one listener runs the timer.
4. The other listener restates the argument in one sentence. If the restatement misses a point, the speaker asks which card was lost, moves it and presents again.

“Listener, your job is to say back the argument in one sentence. If you can't, that is not your fault. It tells the speaker which card to move.”

1. Students complete the presenting page: they order given points, attach a fact to each, and write the sentence explaining their order.
2. The page plans the talk; it does not replace saying it aloud.

1. One student presents their last card only, with its fact. Ask the class: "Why does this one come last?"