Put Your Thesis on Trial

The goal of this activity is to teach argumentative thesis writing through peer-learning, play, and revision.
Students experience a live demonstration of the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to thesis construction and learn to quote from secondary sources.

Practically-speaking, the teacher models a thesis, students respond with individual writing, and then form groups that will populate the scene of a trial about the validity of the thesis statement. Students are asked to volunteer to fill roles that range from stenographers to lawyers. Afterward, students revise their paragraphs by integrating a quote from the trial.

Suggest revealing the roles slowly, one-by-one, by writing on the board, to build suspense for the next role / build interest in participation; give the judge and security instructions before beginning, so that they feel comfortable running the entire debate, while you sit in the back and take notes of the arguments made. Also recommend from your back row seat, raise your hand when a lawyer has gone on too long, so that the judge intervenes; cross-examinations work extremely well if you have a shy, brilliant student.

After the trial, and the jury’s decision, debrief with the entire class, asking how each role was for the student, and explaining that it is difficult to argue from a forced or reductive position, as they had to in this exercise (x is good / bad), to inspire them to develop critical thinking skills / ability to discern credible/flawed theory or hypotheses.

This exercise works well to conclude a class that began with a lecture.

Check out the workflow below to review the activity sequence. 

Citation to others: This activity draws on an exercise by colleague Jessica Cadieux on the Salem witch trials, and Paulo Freire’s ‘student-teacher’ pedagogy, as students and teacher will learn key essay ideas from the student debate.

Students will be able to:

• Construct an argumentative thesis;
• Integrate evidence to support a claim in their writing;
• Recognize that their contribution helps the class function;
• Explain the value of drafting and revision