1. Argument Writing
Four Corners

2. Four Corners
Four corners can be used to help you assert and support your positions on controversial topics.
This activity can be used before you read or after you read as a transition to writing.
Four Corners also helps you listen to one another and consider other positions on a topic.

3. Standards
ELACC7RL1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
ELACC7W1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

4. Topic
In The Giver, Jonas was not assigned a job; he was selected. He was selected to be the next Receiver of Memory. The characteristics for a Receiver of Memory are intelligence, integrity, courage, wisdom, and the capacity to see beyond. When compared to the other job assignments, Jonas realizes that he has lost many pleasures due to his selection as the Receiver of Memory. Decide whether Jonas’s assignment is an honor or a punishment. Support your ideas with evidence from the text to show its effects on Jonas.

5. “Jonas’s assignment is an honor.”
On a Post-It note, write whether you
Strongly Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
Explain why you feel that way.
DO NOT discuss with a neighbor.

6. Move It! Move to the designated group based on your response.
Place your Post-It notes on the poster in the center of the table you selected.
Wait quietly. NO TALKING!!!

7. Discuss Discuss responses and positions with those in your group.
Select a recorder and a spokesperson for the group.
Recorder: Create a list of the top 3 reasons in your group. You may use the text if needed.

8. Present Spokesperson: Present each group’s position.
Listen quietly and respectfully.
Try to determine if you agree or disagree with others’ positions. You may change your initial position, and you can listen for a counterargument.

9. Question
You may pose questions to other groups or respectfully challenge their position.
The teacher will facilitate.

10. Stay or Go? Consider positions that you have heard from other groups.
You may stay in your original group, or if your position was swayed by another group’s argument, you may go to a new group.

11. Research
Pull 3 quotes from the text with page numbers that support your claim of Jonas’s selection as the next Receiver of Memory as an honor or a punishment.
Complete the C-E-R worksheet
C=Claim E=Evidence R=Reasoning

12. C-E-R
Claim: Honor or Punishment? Write a complete sentence to declare your view.
Evidence: 3 quotes that will back up your claim. Provide page numbers.
Reasoning: Explain how each quote backs up your claim.

13. Write!
Write a 2 page/500 word argumentative essay defending your claim.
Incorporate 2 of the quotes that you researched.
Use quotations correctly.
Correctly cite your source- The Giver novel.