Give your class a lesson in logical reasoning. This worksheet, which focuses on ad hominem arguments, goes step by step through an example. After examining the argument, learners assess a second conversation for ad hominem arguments and rewrite the exchange using logical reasoning.

Concepts

logical fallacies, logic, logical reasoning

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Since the example is quite long and somewhat dense, go through it together as a class in a step-by-step manner; you could even have learners act out the roles in the dialogue
• Use this as part of your unit on logical reasoning and/or persuasive writing

Pros

• The detailed example is a dialogue between a student and teacher about homework; pupils will likely be engaged in this example and interested in how to logically argue for less homework
• The skill of identifying and avoiding ad hominem arguments will serve pupils well as they write and speak persuasively 

Cons

• The lines provided for student response are rather narrow; you may wish to create a class set and have pupils write in journals or on separate sheets of paper

Common Core

W.7.1.a W.7.1.b W.8.1.a W.8.1.b W.9-10.1.a W.9-10.1.b W.11-12.1.a W.11-12.1.b