The Persuasive Essay That Argues Both Sides
A 5th-grade teacher assigns a persuasive essay on whether the school should ban single-use plastic in the cafeteria. The rubric rewards a clear claim, reasons with evidence, and a counterargument. One student, Marcus, writes a strong essay that argues both that plastic should be banned and that it should not, with equal passion, and concludes "so it's really up to you." His evidence and organization are excellent. Another student, Priya, writes a shorter essay with one clear claim, two reasons, and one acknowledged counterargument she rebuts. Her evidence is thinner. The teacher must assign grades and decide what to reteach.
1. How should the teacher score Marcus and Priya against the rubric's purpose, and what is the instructional priority?
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Marcus has strong craft but has not met the core persuasive purpose. A persuasive essay requires a defensible position; Marcus's conclusion ("it's up to you") abandons the claim, so he should not receive full credit on the claim/conclusion criteria even though his evidence and organization are strong. His essay reads as an exploratory or compare-contrast piece, not persuasion.
Priya meets the structural purpose-clear claim, reasons, counterargument with rebuttal-but her evidence is thin, so she loses points on the evidence criterion.
Instructional priority: teach the difference between acknowledging a counterargument and adopting it. Marcus needs to learn that a counterargument is raised to be rebutted, and that a conclusion restates and reinforces the claim. Priya needs support selecting and citing stronger evidence. Grading should be criterion-by-criterion, not holistic, so each student's profile is visible.
2. The teacher worries that penalizing Marcus will discourage the balanced thinking his essay shows. How should the teacher respond?
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Honor the thinking while holding the genre demand. The teacher can separate praise from score: publicly value Marcus's ability to see both sides (that is a genuine strength, useful in debate and later argument writing) while explaining that the assignment's purpose was to take and defend a position.
Practical moves:
- Give Marcus feedback naming the strength and the specific gap: "Your evidence is strong; your conclusion must commit to a claim."
- Offer a revision opportunity: keep his evidence, choose a side, convert the opposing paragraph into a counterargument he rebuts.
- In a follow-up lesson, contrast exploratory writing vs. persuasive writing so the distinction is a lesson, not a punishment.
This preserves motivation and teaches genre awareness-the actual standard-rather than rewarding an off-purpose response.