Smith, M., & Wilhelm, J. (2012). Oh, yeah?!: Putting argument to work both in school and out. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 

Reading and Writing Argument

Say:
     Something that this book spends the first chapter opening up with is how prevalent arguments are in our everyday life. This is extremely important to understand as an educator so that you can then make this known to your students. I'm currently working on my philosophy of teaching-writing paper for Dr. Oglan, and one of my tenants is the belief that work should be grounded in students' reality, and applicable to their lives. If starting your argument unit with the exclamation of how abundant arguments are in daily life is not part of your plan--it needs to be. Furthermore, the arguments (in whatever mediums or texts you choose) need to, not necessarily be high-interest, but relevant in someway other than, "Because it teaches you argument." If students understood and complied with all assignments simply because they understood that through this practice they would learn a skill, teaching would be a lot easier. 
"[Argument] also refers to the most highly prized type of academic discourse: something that is deemed essential to a thesis"(Smith 3).
     This quote is taken out of context, but if you'll allow me to add my own: if you present a lesson on arguments by inflating their worth and applying a lens of utmost importance to the structure and usage of an argument, I believe students' ears may perk up a little more than usual. I use the term "inflated", though I do personally believe that good argumentative skills are of the most paramount importance--from beer commercials to doctoral theses. Letting students know that they are now working within a tier of true academia when they start to dabble with arguments plays on high-schooler's egos without being untrue. For students to take something as difficult--and believe me, teaching and understanding arguments is difficult--and give it measurable importance is integral to having a success with your lessons.
     Elaborating more on this, and connecting back to what is quickly becoming a favorite talking point of mine (thanks to inspiration from scholarly crush Nicole Walker), some of the best ways to think about and teach arguments with students can be through the help of critical lenses. My CT currently uses a weekly assignment called, "Article of the Week" to teach annotations, close reading, and argument--though, the students don't really know that they're working with all of those things, though we eventually discuss the language of arguments and the like. I like this, not because it is mildly deceiving, but because it gets students engaged with an informational text (hopefully a relevant one--my CT always finds up to date, weekly hot topics) that is relevant and somewhat interesting, and the more importantly, not bogging down students with worry about did I use my warrants and counterclaims 100% correctly. Before people jump on me about teaching argument incompletely, like all reading and writing, they can't engage on a higher level if they don't simply engage with the process in the first place. This would tie into chapter 7's discussion of using text extremely well. Thinking more on this, it may be too difficult to assign just an image or piece of art for the entire week's analysis (84), but I agree that it's too beneficial not to put in somewhere. The famously used picture with the husband laying on the stairs and the wife who may or may not have killed him is something that comes to mind.
     Chapter Two focuses on the structure of an effective argument. While it helpfully defines Claims, Evidence, Warrants, Backing, Counterarguments, Responses, Reasons, Rebuttals, and Qualifiers, it fails to tell you how if you throw all of these at students--they will watch them sail right past them. That was a metaphor guys. Thinking about the chart (17), it may be helpful to have something like this posted somewhere around the room at all time during the unit. As cliched and overused as motivational teacher posters are, I propose having your class create their own illustrations to help remember the parts and definitions of an argument, then display theirs. This not only gets students engaging with the terms, but also writing, creating, and then gives you a chance to build community by presenting student work around the room.  
     Smith and Wilhelm raise the point of increasing activity around classroom talks that they label "open discussion[s]" (38). As text-centered as our worlds usually are in the English classrooms, when thinking about arguments, it's especially important to host discussions between students. Yes, it's important to get a product at some point, but students cannot create a meaningful product without first thinking about it. Here is where we get to teach and encourage thinking first. English classrooms are one of the only places where it's not only allowed, but fits standards when you have two students who argue passionately in the classroom (in a mediated type of way). This ties in with chapter 5's "Toulmin's Model" of starting with procedural and declarative knowledge of form through easy discussion and talk (48). The example conversation given shows a teacher responding, "So what?" and "Why is that important?" when students present a piece of verbal evidence. This draws upon Vygotsky's "to argue that declarative knowledge can only be developed through procedural engagement" (50). 
     The idea of debates in regards to teaching argument is great. I have seen it used as a type of summative assessment, where students grade each other on a rubric afterwards, but i prefer it as a midpoint activity. Once students have an understanding of some of the terminology and structure about what makes a good argument, (even if they haven't mastered it yet), it works as a great formative way for students to demonstrate what they're learning. What's even better with having a debate is having a reflection afterwards. Make sure this happens in some way or fashion. This allows for one of the most important parts of learning to not only take place, but to shape the following lessons. Having a (heavily frontloaded) debate, then being able to determine how it went, and have students not only give you feedback for next time but also reflect on their processes is pretty incredible.
     A more meta note regarding this books layout and design, the marginal notes that point out "Lesson Idea" and things like "Reading anchor standards 1, 3, and 8"are appreciated. Not all the lesson ideas are invigorating, but the effort is nice.
Do:
     Throughout my internship A, i've been working a lot with arguments. Here are some of the LPs that i've used to (general) success. If any of my peers viewing them, want the additional attachments or assessments, just ask. I'll be happy to share how much practice students need with the parts of an argument before kind-of getting it. This isn't easy stuff to do well, especially if a student has never attempted to write any formal argumentative work, or been introduced to the specific language of the genre.

Very Solid Direct Instruction Handout
Lesson Plan 1
Lesson Plan 2
Lesson Plan 3
Lesson Plan 4
Lesson Plan 5