4 Steps to Writing Counterclaims in Middle School

When I teach literary analysis, I always give the example of a lawyer in a courtroom. A good lawyer can present their facts and make an argument. A great lawyer presents their case and has already prepared a rebuttal for each argument the opposing side is thinking. These great lawyers are masters of counterclaims.

Being a great lawyer or literary analysis writer means being able to step into the shoes of those who might argue against you, and present your analysis in a way that not only strengthens your argument, but squashes the nay-sayers. When we can get our students to master the art of the counterclaim, we can help them push their analysis skills to the next level.

There are four steps I use in my classroom to help my students master the art of the counterclaim.

STEP ONE: INTRODUCE THE COUNTERCLAIM

Start teaching counterclaims to your middle schoolers by explaining the definition of a counterclaim. A counterclaim is an opposing viewpoint than you have in your thesis. A counterclaim goes against your argument. 

Explain to students that good readers, speakers, and thinkers are able to consider that others may have a different interpretation or viewpoint. Students may think that by including opposing views, they may be weakening their argument, but the opposite is true. Help students to understand they already have a strong argument as long as their argument is supported by evidence. By considering other viewpoints, and explaining why you disagree with the opposing perspective, you can make your argument even stronger.

STEP TWO: MODEL AN EXAMPLE

Before students begin adding counterclaims to their arguments, first start with modeling and teaching counterclaims. Take out a literary analysis you have written or an example you have. Display your example in a way students can view what you are doing. This example can analyze the same text students are using, but I personally prefer if it is a different text. By using a different text, you are able to model and still leave full interpretation to students with their text.

Start by locating claims in the analysis and underlining them. Once you have found the claims, begin to weave in counterclaims. I like to do this by using sticky notes, but space in a margin works as well. Draw an arrow to where the counterclaim will do, and write down the counterclaim on the sticky note or margin. As you are writing these counterclaims, do some think-alouds. Let students see your thought process, and how you concluded that their counterclaims opposed your viewpoint.

STEP THREE: PRACTICE INDEPENDENTLY (WITH SUPPORTS)

Now, it’s time for students to begin writing their counterclaims. Just as you did in the example, students should start by underlining their claims and then returning to add counterclaims. You can support students by writing these instructions on the board or screen.

It’s likely that in the beginning, students will need lots of support. This can be a fairly complex skill to master. To guide students, you can provide them with guiding questions and sentence stems. This allows them to still have ownership over their analysis. Here are some guiding questions to help with counterclaim:

• What theme did I determine here? What theme might another reader interpret from these scenes?
• What did I determine as the purpose of the author’s craft? What purpose might another reader interpret from this craft?
• What symbolism did I determine here? What symbol might another reader interpret from the text?

These sentence stems can also help your students with creating counterclaim:

• While one might interpret this to mean ____, it’s clear that ____.
• Some would argue _____, but the evidence points to _____.
• Opponents would argue that ____, however it’s clear that ____.
• While one might interpret this to mean ____, it’s clear that ____.
• Some would argue _____, but the evidence points to _____.
• Opponents would argue that ____, however it’s clear that ____.

STEP FOUR: WRITING CONFERENCE GROUPS

Especially when first teaching counterclaims, you want to set aside time to sit down with students and address any struggles on a more personal level. Create groups of students and try to meet with one to two groups during your designated writing time.

If a student in your group is struggling with a counterclaim, start by walking them through the questions and sentence stems. If they are still stuck, have them ask another student in their group what original interpretations they have. This allows them to see other perspectives and then use that in their own writing.

Want to help your students master literary analysis and counterclaims? I have all of the resources you need to help your students create strong literary analysis essays.

In this literary analysis unit, we will explicitly be teaching counterclaims as well as explore topics such as theme, author’s craft, symbolism, and more. This unit comes with lessons plans, printables for students, and exemplars to model with students. It also contains in depth lesson plans for introducing counterclaims with students. Grab the resource here.

Love digging deeper into literary analysis? Here are some other blog posts you might like:

• 5 Literary Analysis Teaching Strategies
• Teaching Effective Literary Analysis Essays
• Literature Analysis Using Mentor Texts