In my last blog post, I shared the most important step to take before your students ever start writing an argumentative essay: discussion.
Starting with discussion helps make the transition to writing much more manageable. Our students are already skilled at trying to convince parents, teachers, and friends of something. They do it naturally. By beginning an argument writing unit with structured discussion, students develop a clearer understanding of what makes a solid argument before they ever have to put pencil to paper.
In short, we should start with what students already know and can do - especially since writing does not always come naturally.
In today’s post, I’m sharing how I bridge the gap between this classroom discussions and Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) paragraphs, before students plan and write full 5-paragraph argumentative essays.
Starting Small Now = Bigger Wins Later
Before we dive in, here’s an important reminder:
Starting small now leads to bigger wins later.
When students are asked to jump straight into a full argumentative essay, they often feel overwhelmed. Instead of focusing on quality reasoning, they’re juggling introductions, conclusions, transitions, and structure all at once.
By focusing first on individual CER paragraphs, students can:
- Concentrate on one idea at a time
- Understand how an argument is built
- Gain confidence before tackling longer writing pieces
Once students can successfully write a strong CER paragraph, expanding it into a full essay becomes much more manageable.
Utilize the Gradual Release Model
To teach CER effectively, I rely heavily on the Gradual Release Model, also known as “I Do, We Do, You Do.” I was introduced to this approach in college through Explicit Direct Instruction by John Hollingsworth and Silvia Ybarra, and it has become a staple in my writing instruction - especially for argumentative and informational writing.
“I Do” - Modeling the CER Paragraph
This first step is all about direct instruction and modeling.
At this stage, I show students clear examples of CER paragraphs and model my thinking aloud. I explain:
- How I decide on a claim
- How I support it
- How I explain why my reasoning makes sense
Students are not writing independently yet - they’re watching, listening, and absorbing. I often provide sentence frames so students can see exactly how claims, evidence, and reasoning are structured.
This step removes the mystery from argumentative writing.
“We Do” - Guided Practice Together
Next comes guided instruction.
I still teach from the document camera or slides, but now students are writing with me. We create a CER paragraph together as a class. I pause often for:
- Think-pair-share discussions
- Student input on writing
- Class decision-making
If students need more support with a specific part of CER, we repeat this step multiple times. There’s no rush - mastery matters more than speed.
“You Do” - Independent Practice
Finally, students move into independent practice.
At this stage, students write their own CER paragraphs using what they’ve learned from the modeling and guided practice. Because they’ve already seen multiple examples and written collaboratively, they feel far more confident tackling this step on their own.
Breaking Down CER: One Piece at a Time
To make CER approachable, I explicitly teach each part separately, especially at the beginning.
Claim
A claim is simply what the student believes, or the position that they take in their argument.
Because we’ve already started with discussion, this part feels familiar. Students are used to choosing a side and explaining their thinking out loud. Now, they’re just putting that thinking into writing.
I have a handful of students who have a hard time deciding and like to fall somewhere in the middle, but I always tell them for argument writing it’s important to pick a side and to choose the one they most agree with (we talk about how there’s no “in the middle wishy-washiness” option).
I emphasize that a strong claim:
- Clearly states a position
- Answers the question or prompt
- Does not include evidence yet
- Evidence: Supporting the Claim (Without Text…Yet)
At this stage, students are not using textual evidence.
Instead, their evidence comes from:
- Their own ideas
- Examples discussed in class
- Shared experiences or common knowledge
This keeps the focus on argument structure, not research skills. Adding text evidence will come later - and much more smoothly - once students understand the foundation.
Reasoning: Explaining the “Why”
Reasoning is often the trickiest part for students.
This is where they explain:
- How the evidence supports their claim
- Why their thinking makes sense
I often tell students that reasoning should be the longest part of their paragraph and where they prove they didn’t just list ideas - they actually thought about them.
Sentence frames are especially helpful here to guide student thinking and writing.
Why This is Important + What’s Next
By teaching CER before full argumentative essays, students will:
- Develop stronger arguments
- Feel less overwhelmed
- Write with more clarity and confidence
They learn that good argumentative writing isn’t about length - it’s about clear thinking.
In the next post of this series, I’ll share how I take everything from discussion and CER writing and introduce textual evidence using short, student-friendly articles.
This step bridges the gap between personal reasoning and research-based argument and sets students up for success when they begin writing full argument essays.
If you missed the first post in this series, make sure to check it out before moving on. The discussion foundation makes all the difference!
Check out the first post here!