Don't Be An Evidence Plopper!

You know the story.  We all know the story.  You (teenager) want to sleep over your friend's house on a school night.  You know it's against the rules: no sleepovers on school nights, but you want to give it a try anyway and ask your mom.

Look at him.  Worrying that his parents will say no to a sleepover at his friend's.
Don't be this boy.  Be prepared!

You have two choices: A) Go into the conversation completely unprepared and spend the evening with your little brother watching cartoons again or B) Get mom to agree that a sleepover is just what you need. 

What is the best way to sway mom's decision??? Why, gather some well-founded, intriguing, strong evidence, of course!  

As you prepare your case, be sure to remember that you don't just want to slam mom with some fast facts and sit there nodding your head stubbornly.  "So, there!" will never get you far in life.  Your goal is to smoothly create a conversation, weaving your thoughts in with all the facts that say sleepovers are important for health, the environment, and academic success.  

To prepare you  for that all-important life skill of getting your parents to change their minds, let's give your providing evidence muscles a workout with this more common, everyday, just regular-old school assignment.  Who knows, maybe writing really will come in handy in the real-world some day.  

Don't just plop that evidence down.  Be smooth and take control of your writing.  Check out these two resources for extra help on how to smoothly incorporate text evidence into an argument:

Sentence Starters:  This sheet is gold!  Don't rely on the same old, same old, phrase to introduce your quotations.  Let this list of words and phrases help you to shake things up and avoid repetition.  Use it!  Learn it! 

Screencast: Journey with me as I show you exactly how to incorporate text evidence into a constructed response.  Walk through my thinking process as I reflect on why Malala Yousafzai deserved to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Use these resources as references to strengthen your writing and your skills at argument!  Never sleep at home on a Wednesday night again!