argumentative essay paired texts

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Mentor Texts for Teaching Argument Writing

admin 01.29.18 Booklists Reading Writing

As a follow-up to our November 2017 #NCTEchat, Using Mentor Texts , we asked our social media community to share some of their favorite mentor texts with us. In the first part of this series, we’ve compiled educators’ favorite mentor texts for teaching argument writing. To see the original messages this list is based on, click here .

Did we miss one? Please let us know on Twitter!

Should There Be Zoos?: A Persuasive Text by Tony Stead with Judy Ballester and her fourth-grade class Examines the opposing viewpoints of a fourth-grade class on whether zoos are helpful or harmful to animals; written in persuasive language.

Hey, Little Ant by Phillip M. and  Hannah Hoose , illustrated by Debbie Tilley What would you do if the ant you were about to step on looked up and started talking? Would you stop and listen?

A Pig Parade Is a Terrible Idea by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes Could anything possibly be more fun than a pig parade!? You wouldn’t think so. But you’d be wrong. A pig parade is a terrible idea.

I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff, illustrated by David Catrow Alex just has to convince his mom to let him have an iguana, so he puts his arguments in writing.

Have I Got a Book for You! by Mélanie Watt Mr. Al Foxword is one persistent salesman! He will do just about anything to sell you this book. Al tries every trick of the trade.

Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing by Judi Barrett, illustrated by Ron Barrett This well-loved book by Judi and Ron Barrett shows the very youngest why animals’ clothing is perfect . . . just as it is.

Stella Writes an Opinion by Janiel Wagstaff, illustrated by Dana Regan Meet Stella. She has lots of opinions. When Ms. M. tells the class they get to write an opinion, Stella gets excited. But how will she choose what to write about?

I Wanna New Room by Karen Kaufman Orloff, illustrated by David Catrow Writing letters to his mom convinced her to let him get his pet iguana, so Alex puts pencil to paper again, this time determined to get his own room.

They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel In this celebration of observation, curiosity, and imagination, Brendan Wenzel shows us the many views of one cat and the ways perspective shapes what we see. When you see a cat, what do you see?

Dear Mr. Blueberry by Simon James It’s vacation time, so Emily has to write to her teacher for help when she discovers a blue whale living in her pond. Mr. Blueberry answers that she must be mistaken, because whales live in the ocean, not in ponds.

Red Is Best by Kathy Stinson Young Kelly’s mom doesn’t understand about red. Sure, the brown mittens are warmer, but the red mitts make better snowballs. No doubt about it, red is best.

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers Poor Duncan just wants to color. But when he opens his box of crayons, he finds only letters, all saying the same thing: We quit! The supporting details are great to get students to think and write about the why instead of just writing a list of demands.

One Word from Sophia by Jim Averbeck, illustrated by Yasmeen Ismail Sophia tries varied techniques to get the giraffe she wants more than anything in this playfully illustrated story about the nuances of negotiation.

She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton, illustrated by Alexandra Boiger In this book, Chelsea Clinton celebrates thirteen American women who helped shape our country through their tenacity, sometimes through speaking out, sometimes by staying seated, sometimes by captivating an audience.

Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving  by Laurie Halse Anderson, illustrated by Matt Faulkner Way back when “skirts were long and hats were tall,” Americans were forgetting Thanksgiving, and nobody seemed to care! Thankfully, Sarah Hale appeared.

Earrings by Judith Viorst, illustrated by Nola Langner Malone She wants them. She needs them. She loves them.  Earrings!  What won’t a girl do to finally get her ears pierced?

Upper Grades

This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women , edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman Based on the NPR series of the same name,  This I Believe  features eighty Americans―from the famous to the unknown―completing the thought that the book’s title begins.

Everything’s an Argument by Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz This bestselling text shows students how to analyze all kinds of arguments—not just essays and editorials, but clothes, cars, ads, and website designs—and then how to use what they learn to write their own effective arguments. Making a Visual Argument: Claire Ironside’s “Apples to Oranges” was specifically mentioned.

Dear Mr. President: Letters to the Oval Office from the Files of the National Archives by Dwight Young and Brian Williams Drawn from the extensive holdings of the National Archives, these carefully chosen letters remind us that ours is a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” which entitles us to make our views known to our leaders.

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela The autobiography of Nelson Mandela, one of the great moral and political leaders of our time.

Good speeches are exemplars of argument, evidence, genre blending, word choice, and more.

“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!” by Patrick Henry, delivered March 23, 1775, St. John’s Church, Richmond, Virginia

“ Ain’t I a Woman? ” by Sojourner Truth, delivered 1851, Women’s Convention, Akron, Ohio

“ The Destructive Male ” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, delivered 1868, Women’s Suffrage Convention, Washington, D.C.

“ Toward a More Perfect Union ” by Barack Obama, delivered March 18, 2008, The Constitution Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Any speech by Barack Obama, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr., or Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Newsela Current events stories tailor-made for classroom use. Indexed by broad theme, stories are student-friendly and can be accessed in different formats by reading level.

The New York Times Upfront Magazine by Scholastic Upfront  gets teens talking about today’s most important issues with current events for grades 9–12.

“ The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me ” by Sherman Alexie, Los Angeles Times, April 19, 1998

Atticus Finch’s closing argument in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Declaration of Independence

Abigail Adams’s letters to John Adams

Barack Obama’s Town Hall response where he compares gun control to auto safety

Book descriptions are taken from the Goodreads website.

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Some texts just belong together.  A few make it obvious.  Others are secret soulmates.  But one thing is sure -- when they're together, their worlds come into better focus.

We've formally combined our beloved text pairings to create Paired Texts: A Virtual Anthology of Popular Texts for Discussion, Analysis, and Synthesis.  These pairings capture that moment in the car when you hear a song on the radio that reminds you of a poem you read years ago, or that presidential address that perfectly complements a novel you just taught.  Enjoy the pairings yourself, or bring them into your classroom for close reading, comparative analysis, and synthesis.

To get access for you and your students, check out our online learning platform at LearnArgument.com .  You'll reap the benefits of our super-engaging online course modules, as well as complete access to  Paired Texts ...!

And remember, you can return to this page at any time by visiting PairedTexts.com .

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Teaching with Jennifer Findley

Upper Elementary Teaching Blog

Introducing Paired Texts and Paired Passages

Paired texts and paired passages can be really tricky for students, especially those who are not fluent readers. I  have found the best way to help my students master paired passages is through repeated practice and exposure (and as authentic as possible – especially in the beginning).

In my opinion, it is really important that your students see paired readings and paired texts throughout the entire year, and not just a few months before the state assessment. I am definitely speaking from experience because this happened to me the first year we went to paired passages on our state assessment. We didn’t find out about this change until January. Needless to say, we were not as prepared as we could have been.

Since that year, I have been embedding paired texts and paired passages throughout the entire school year. In this post, I want to share several ideas for i n troducing paired passages and paired texts to your students that help them master this tricky skill from the beginning.

Using Paired Pictures

I like to introduce the idea of paired passages and texts (and explicitly introduce the term paired in context) with pictures. When I introduce paired pictures, we have a discussion about how the pictures are connected in some way, but they are not identical. Then, we spend some time discussing and answering questions that are similar to ones the students may be required to answer about paired passages .

By starting with paired pictures, I am able to hook my students and I continually refer back to this lesson when we explore paired read alouds and paired texts. This gives them a scaffold and something “easier” to refer back to in order to help them with the harder, grade level paired texts and questions.

Unfortunately, I am unable to share the resource with the pictures I used because that would violate copyright of the photographers. However, a quick google search can probably pull up similar pictures as the ones I used.

Paired Read Alouds

By far, the best way to introduce and get your students comfortable and familiar with paired texts is through read alouds. To see an example paired read aloud lesson, click here.

Here are some ideas for read alouds that pair well together (and in the sequence I prefer to use):

• Read alouds on the same person, topic, or event
• One fiction and one nonfiction read aloud on a similar topic
• Pair social studies text reading with a historical fiction read aloud
• Two nonfiction read alouds about similar animals
• Read alouds with similar characters, setting, or plot (could be prose, poetry or plays)
• Read alouds with similar themes (could be prose, poetry or plays)
• Read alouds with differing points of view (Fractured Fairy Tales)

When you are reading these paired read alouds in your classroom, try to use the same or similar language that you know your students will see when they are answering paired passage questions. This will authentically prepare them to answer questions on state assessments or class assessments. To help me do this, I keep a list of questions handy that work for each of the pairings I shared above.

These questions are organized by pairing and are easy to tweak based on the texts or the needs of my students. I use these questions to guide my discussion. Sometimes I have the students answer them independently for constructed response practice. For more information on how to support your students with constructed response reading questions, click here to read a blog post with several tips, ideas, and freebies.

You can grab this FREE 7-page questioning guide by clicking HERE or on the image below!

For paired passage resources with similar (but text-specific) questions, click here to see all of my paired passages and paired texts resources. These resources were a game-changer at preparing my students for assessments.

Pair Articles and Passages with Guided Reading or Book Club/Literature Circle Books

One of the best ways that I have found to introduce paired texts into my reading instruction is by pairing articles and passages with what the students are already reading. This strategy works well if you use guided reading or even book clubs/literature circles.

When the students finish a section or even the entire book, find an article online or a story that pairs well with the book. Look for similar pairings as shared above in the Paired Read Alouds section. You can even use the free questioning guide linked above to guide the students’ discussion of the book and the article/passage.

Once your students have been introduced and thoroughly exposed to paired texts through pictures, paired read alouds, and pairing articles with books they are reading, they will be more than ready to tackle complex paired passages . For more information about what to do next, click here to read a detailed post about how I implement rigorous paired passage instruction in my classroom.

To sum it up, I follow this sequence to introduce and teach paired texts and passages:

Paired Picture Introduction

Paired Read Alouds>> Make sure you grab the questioning/discussion guide freebie!

Paired Articles and Passages with Guided Reading Books

Rigorous Paired Passage Instruction>> Read more about that here!

Are your students assessed on paired passages? Do you have any tips you use to help them master this tricky reading skill? Let me know in the comments! I am always looking for new ways to reach all of my readers and learners.

Share the Knowledge!

Reader interactions, 10 comments.

February 26, 2017 at 4:58 pm

Awesome information!!! I was wondering if you had a copy of the example questions for the paired pictures activity? I know you can’t share the actual pictures, and I can make out the first 3 questions on the sheet, but I can’t tell what the 4th question is. Thanks!! Wendy

February 27, 2017 at 7:57 pm

Hi Wendy, the 3rd question says: Which location would you prefer to be? Write an opinion statement and three reasons to support your choice.

March 17, 2021 at 12:24 am

hi mam this is Subhashini from Chennai, Tamil Nadu from India. nice to talk to you mam. actually I’m impressed with this new activity paired passage. pls may i know whether you are first who introduced this term paired passage. Boz for my Ph.D. research i have taken this activity. so please send me the details about this for my [email protected]

February 28, 2017 at 4:39 pm

Wow! I love the idea of introducing it with pictures!

March 16, 2017 at 9:15 pm

I love these ideas! I am planning to begin work on paired texts next week, so this is a perfect resource. I know you can’t share the paired pictures, but would you be able to share the worksheet that goes along with the pictures. That way I don’t have to recreate it. Thanks!

April 23, 2017 at 12:20 pm

I know you are protecting photographer rights, but are you able to share where you found the pictures?

April 23, 2017 at 8:23 pm

Hi Robin, I got it on this site: http://depositphotos.com . I had to pay to get the rights to download the images. I think I bought a package that was 100 photos for $50, but then to share it on the internet in this capacity, I would have to pay $50 per picture. Crazy, huh!?

April 16, 2021 at 4:02 pm

Hello, Jennifer, did you create a Google and Game Boy paired passage? I created it from an original freebie I think, and now I cannot find the original. Can you help? Sincerely, Chris

April 18, 2021 at 12:36 pm

Thank you so much for the great information and shared resource. Your information always helps me to refine my lessons and add more depth. This past year, your blogs have been a life line. Thank you.

December 26, 2021 at 4:32 pm

Would someone be able to help me locate the paired texts on Snowflakes?

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