CED

=CED: Claim, Evidence from text, Discuss=

This acronym was designed by Mr. Mason to help students consistently understand that they need to back up their claims with evidence; moreover, they need to discuss //why// what they provide as evidence //is// evidence. An an example from the real world sounds something like this:

A plaintiff claims that the defendant is guilty of a murder. He/she then walks out of the courtroom. Not enough, right? The claim lacks evidence.

A plaintiff claims that the defendant is guilty of a murder, then he/she provides a blood stained tissue. He/she then walks out of the courtroom. Still not enough. So what there's a blood stained tissue? There is no discussion.

Finally, the plaintiff claims that the defendant is guilty of murder, produces a blood stained tissue, and proceeds to explain that the DNA in the blood matches the victim's blood, and that this tissue was found in the defendant's pocket. The defendant had stated in an earlier interrogation that he/she had never met the victim, so how, then, could this bloody napkin magically appear in the defendant's pocket?

It's not enough to simply say, "You're Honor, I have evidence to prove my case. I'm not going to show it to you right now; you'll just have to trust me on this. I got it, trust me. It proves my claim, but I'm not going to show it to you."

I literally act this scene out over and over again in class until they get the point. I keep a "bloody" tissue on my desk--a tissue marked with red ink. When a student fails to provide evidence directly from the text, I ask them, "Where is this napkin? Is it in your pocket or in you writing?" I rarely have to repeat this procedure.

Here's an example of CED in action with a piece of literature. Of course, CED isn't limited to literature. Perhaps you want students to defend a claim based on their lab results. They should still make a claim, provide the evidence from the text, and discuss why the evidence supports their claim.



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