Lesson plan Grade 10 English Language Arts
Thornbury's Tiered Water Rate: A Grade 10 Argument Lesson
A grade 10 ELA lesson where students analyze two position statements on a fictional town's tiered water rate, then draft a claim, counterclaim, and rebuttal.
Objectives
- Students will distinguish a claim, its supporting evidence, and a counterclaim within two short position statements.
- Students will draft an original claim, counterclaim, and rebuttal on a contested water-rate proposal.
Vocabulary
Key words: tiered rate, claim, counterclaim, rebuttal, conservation
Teacher overview
Many utilities charge a flat price for every gallon a household uses, while others use a tiered rate that charges more per gallon once a household passes a set amount. This lesson uses a fictional proposal from the town of Thornbury, which wants to switch to a tiered rate so that heavy summer lawn watering costs more. Students analyze two short position statements written for opposite sides, then write their own argument. The lesson keeps the focus on argument structure rather than arithmetic, so students practice building a claim, a counterclaim, and a rebuttal from evidence someone else has already gathered.
Procedure
Hook (5 min): Ask students to respond to one question on a slip of paper: "Should a household that uses twice as much water pay twice as much, or more than twice as much?" Collect a quick show of hands for each option and record the split on the board without commenting on which answer is right.
Framing the terms (8 min): Define tiered rate, claim, counterclaim, and rebuttal using the board. Explain that a tiered rate sets a base amount of water at a lower price and charges a higher price for water used above that base. Clarify that today students are not deciding whether the math is correct; they are studying how each side argues.
Reading the two statements (12 min): Distribute the Student Handout. Students read the two position statements silently, then reread with two highlighter colors: one color for each writer's central claim, a second color for any evidence that claim rests on. Circulate and check that students are marking whole sentences, not single words.
Guided analysis (10 min): Work through handout questions 1 through 4 as a class, calling on students to point to the exact sentence that answers each question. This is the formative check: if fewer than three-quarters of the class can correctly locate the counterclaim in question 3, pause and model how a counterclaim names the other side's concern before answering it.
Independent drafting (15 min): Students complete handout questions 5 through 7, writing their own claim on the Thornbury proposal, a counterclaim a neighbor might raise, and a one- to two-sentence rebuttal. Remind them that a strong rebuttal answers the counterclaim rather than ignoring it.
Closure (5 min): Two or three volunteers read their claim and rebuttal aloud. Collect all handouts to review the drafted arguments before the next class.
Student Handout
Read both position statements about the fictional town of Thornbury, then answer the questions.
Statement A, written for this lesson by a fictional town council member:
Thornbury should adopt a tiered water rate. Right now every household pays the same price for each gallon, whether that gallon fills a drinking glass or soaks a lawn during a July heat wave. A tiered rate would keep the first block of water each month at the current low price, so no family pays more for ordinary cooking, cleaning, and bathing. Only the water used above that block, which is mostly outdoor watering, would cost more. Charging more for the highest use gives every household a clear reason to conserve, and the households that use the most would carry more of the cost of the pipes and pumps that serve peak summer demand.
Statement B, written for this lesson by a fictional resident:
A tiered rate sounds fair, but it can punish households that are large through no fault of their own. A home with six people will pass the base block quickly even if every person is careful, while a single resident in a small apartment almost never will. Families with medical needs, home gardens that grow food, or several children could face higher bills while wealthier one- or two-person households pay less. Before Thornbury changes its rate, the council should study how the tiers would land on large families and set the base block high enough that a careful household of any size stays within it.
- What is the central claim of Statement A?
- What is one piece of reasoning Statement A gives to support its claim?
- Which sentence in Statement B states a counterclaim to Statement A?
- How does Statement B propose to answer its own concern, rather than only objecting?
- Write your own one-sentence claim stating whether Thornbury should adopt the tiered rate.
- Write a counterclaim that a neighbor who disagrees with you might raise.
- Write a one- to two-sentence rebuttal that answers the counterclaim you wrote in question 6.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
- Answer: Thornbury should adopt a tiered water rate. Statement A opens with this claim and spends the rest of the paragraph defending it.
- Answer: Any one of: ordinary indoor use stays at the low price; charging more for high use encourages conservation; the highest users would help pay for the pipes and pumps that meet peak summer demand.
- Answer: The first sentence, "A tiered rate sounds fair, but it can punish households that are large through no fault of their own." It names a group the tiered rate could treat unfairly. The next sentence, about a home with six people, is evidence for that counterclaim rather than the counterclaim itself.
- Answer: Statement B proposes studying how the tiers affect large families and setting the base block high enough that a careful household of any size can stay within it, rather than simply rejecting the idea.
- Answer: Accept any clear position for or against the proposal, stated as one complete sentence (for example, "Thornbury should adopt the tiered rate because it rewards conservation").
- Answer: Accept any reasonable opposing concern, such as fairness to large families, confusion about the new bill, or doubt that a higher price actually changes behavior.
- Answer: Accept any rebuttal that directly answers the student's own counterclaim with a reason or a proposed fix, rather than restating the original claim or ignoring the concern.
Differentiation
Support
Provide the two statements with the claim sentences already highlighted, so students can focus their marking on locating evidence and the counterclaim. Offer sentence frames for questions 5 through 7: "Thornbury should / should not adopt the tiered rate because ___," and "Someone might argue ___, but ___."
Extension
Ask students to write a second counterclaim that neither statement raises, then rank all three counterclaims from strongest to weakest and justify the ranking in two or three sentences.
ELL supports
Pre-teach tiered rate, claim, counterclaim, and rebuttal with a labeled example for each drawn from the statements. Allow students to answer questions 1 through 4 by pointing to and copying the exact sentence before restating it in their own words.
Extensions
Invite a staff member from your local water utility, or a city council member, to describe how rates are actually set and where public comment fits in the process. Students can prepare one question each based on the claims and counterclaims they analyzed, turning the lesson into preparation for authentic civic participation.