Session 1 · AUTHOR: Audience
Who decides?
- 10 minHook: show a real consultation page and a real submission. Who wrote it? Who will read it? What happens next?
- 15 minExplore the three contexts. In small groups, choose an issue with a real decision coming up.
- 15 minDecision-maker profile: what do they already know, what do they have to weigh up, what kind of evidence will they trust?
- 10 minWrite a one-sentence position. Test it with a partner: is it arguable (could a sensible person disagree)?
Session 2 · AUTHOR: Understand
Argument autopsy
- 10 minRead two opinion pieces that take opposite sides of the same NZ issue.
- 25 minMap each one with coloured highlighters: position, reasons, evidence, counter-argument, conclusion.
- 10 minWhich argument is stronger, and which paragraph would collapse first under questioning?
- 5 minExit card: the difference between an opinion and an argument, in one sentence.
Getting started
Choose from three prepared issues, each with two starter sources and a position sentence frame.
Stretch
Find where a mentor text's evidence is weaker than it sounds, and explain what would make it stronger.
Checkpoint
Each student has an arguable position, a named decision-maker and a first map of the issue.
Activities for this week
- Argument autopsy: What makes an opinion piece hold up?
Useful this week
- How to make a submission ↗ How select committees call for submissions, and how to write and present one.
- Engaging with government ↗ Ways to have your say on local and national decisions.
- RNZ Politics ↗ Current NZ issues and arguments to map and compare.