Claim Evidence Commentary Providing Support for Our Beliefs We have learned from data that students do not know how to take evidence from the text and incorporate that evidence in writing to support their belief or claim. Not only is this a skill they can use across all four contents, it is a skill necessary for life. When we take a stand for or against an issue, we need to be able to back up our claim with evidence that supports that claim. Teaching this concept can be done in different ways. As a reading teacher, I might begin with the thinking and explain you are never going to talk about yourself without explaining. So let’s practice that with making a claim about yourself, giving some evidence and adding some commentary/reasoning. I’ll do it first and then you do it with each other. Then I would explain how that thinking overlays onto close reading and go with the power point. Or as a writing teacher, I might begin with the power point and end with asking them to write about themselves. But only if the reading teacher had not done this because I would not ask them to write about themselves if they had already done that. I would begin with this power point and model the lesson using Cinderella. I do. I would have another question/prompt ready but not answered, and we would do this one as a whole group. We do. With another unanswered question/prompt ready, I would ask students to complete with a partner. You do together. With one more question/prompt ready, I would ask students to complete it individually. You do.

Claim, Evidence, Commentary Claim: Answer to the question or prompt. Evidence: Quote or inference from the text to support the claim. Commentary: Explains the connection between the quote/inference to the claim. C-E-C – Claim – answer to question/prompt Evidence – quote or inference from text to support claim Commentary – connect quote or inference to claim and explains “So what?”

Claim, Evidence, Commentary In the classic Grimm’s fairy tale, Cinderella, what do we know about Cinderella’s relationship with her stepmother? Claim: Cinderella’s relationship with her stepmother was not a healthy relationship. Evidence: “The stepmother immediately began to make the girl’s once happy life a hard and miserable one.” Commentary: Cinderella and her stepmother did not have a healthy relationship because her stepmother began to do everything to make Cinderella’s life horrible and that does not indicate a good relationship. In teaching this skill, I would use a story with which students are familiar. I chose Cinderella because most students are acquainted with that story – there are versions in several cultures. Whatever story I choose, I would take time to read it aloud to ensure that all students have heard the story. Students highlight each part with a different color highlighter.

Using Claim Evidence Commentary Cinderella did not have a healthy relationship with her stepmother. When we see that her “stepmother began to make the girl’s once happy life a hard and miserable one,” we know that the stepmother is not interested in a loving relationship with Cinderella. Using Claim Evidence Commentary Claim: Cinderella’s relationship with her stepmother was not a healthy relationship. Evidence: “The stepmother immediately began to make the girl’s once happy life a hard and miserable one.” Commentary: Cinderella and her stepmother did not have a healthy relationship because her stepmother began to do everything to make Cinderella’s life horrible and that does not indicate a good relationship. We want students to know how to incorporate a quotation into a sentence.

English II Single Selection Score 3 In “The Custom of the Country”, Paul can be described as lonely, and rejected. He does not get to see his family much (“Paul never knew where they were going except when a telegram announced that they were going somewhere else”) and does not have a prevalent father figure in his life (“the father he had been most used to, and liked best, had abruptly disappeared from his life”).He finds the mansion isolating and lonely (“...the new hotel was big and strange, and his own room...seemed the loneliest spot in the house”). This is an example of a exemplary response in high school. I asked teachers to highlight the claim, the evidence, and the commentary. This would be a good strategy to use with students, too. Ask students to highlight CEC in each other’s answer.