What it is. Notes on an argument keep the claim and its support at different levels.
Why our test works. A child reading an argument records it as information and later repeats someone's position as though it were a fact — the commonest and most damaging note-taking failure there is. Separating the two at the moment of writing is the only reliable fix, because by the time they come to write, the distinction is invisible in their own notes.
Leans on. Grade 5 combined two sources. This reads one source critically.
Watch for. Note what is NOT offered. An argument with no evidence under a support is the most important thing on the page.
Map a claim and its support at the right levels. The worked example is the one you build on the board: Teacher reads a short argument and outlines it, putting the claim at level I and each supp The class reads Writing Book 6, p.51 — our own page, so a child who was absent can still get the lesson.
You open by saying where this sits — what it follows and what it is part of — in one sentence, and then you give them the reason it matters, in your own words, for about ten seconds.
Then you do one yourself, building it on the board and leaving it up: Teacher reads a short argument and outlines it, putting the claim at level I and each support at level A. The board copy is what they look back at when they stall, so it stays there for the whole lesson.
The We-do is the main whiteboard moment of the lesson — short answers, boards up on your signal, every child visible at once. Class marks the claim in a second argument before anything is written. If the answer is a whole sentence rather than a word, take it on their notebooks instead, because a sentence written on a whiteboard is written once and destroyed.
They open Writing Book 6 to page 51 and read it with you. Stop at the worked example and let them look at it.
Exit directions in full, standing still, before anyone moves. Then they work alone: Outline a short argument. The claim goes at level I.
You close on the exit direction — Read the line you marked as the claim. — taken from every child before anyone stands, and then the line you want them to still have tomorrow: A claim is what they want you to believe. Support is what they offer.
Note what is NOT offered. An argument with no evidence under a support is the most important thing on the page.