Virginia SOL 12.W.2.A.ii
The Standard
Organizing claims, counterclaims, and evidence in a sustained and logical sequence to exhibit unity.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students plan, draft, revise, and edit an argument for a clear audience and purpose. They arrange claims, counterclaims, rebuttals, and evidence so the reasoning stays focused and builds logically.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student produces an argument in which each claim builds on the previous one and each piece of evidence has a clear purpose. Counterclaims and rebuttals appear where they strengthen the reasoning, and revisions improve unity across the whole piece.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may list evidence in the order they found it instead of grouping it by claim. They may place counterclaims at the end without connecting them to rebuttals, or revise sentences without fixing the argument’s structure.
How to Assess It
- Give students a claim, three evidence cards, and one counterclaim. Ask them to order the cards, add a rebuttal, and explain the sequence in two sentences.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups color-coded claim, evidence, counterclaim, and rebuttal cards to arrange into a logical argument, then defend their sequence.
Ask students to explain where a counterclaim belongs in a school policy argument and why that placement strengthens the writer’s purpose.
Run an outline relay where teams place argument sections in order, identify one weak transition, and rewrite it for clearer unity.
Have students organize a proposal to change a real school rule for an audience of administrators, including evidence and a counterclaim.
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Related Standards
- 10.W.2.A.ii
Introducing and developing central idea(s), and organizing ideas in a logical sequence to exhibit unity.
- 9.W.2.A.ii
Establishing, supporting, and maintaining a central idea with evidence throughout a piece of writing, organizing ideas in a logical sequence to exhibit unity.
- 11.W.1.B.iv
Organize claims, counterclaims, and evidence in a sustained and logical sequence that explains how the credible evidence supports well-defined points of view.
- 11.W.2.A.ii
Organizing claims, counterclaims, and evidence in a sustained and logical sequence to exhibit unity.
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