Lesson plan Grade 11 English Language Arts
Calder Heights' Stormwater Fee: An Argument Writing Lesson
A grade 11 ELA lesson where students build a claim and counterclaim on a fictional city's proposed stormwater fee tied to each property's paved area.
Objectives
- Students will state a defensible claim on whether the city should adopt the stormwater fee.
- Students will develop a counterclaim a resident might raise and respond to it with reasoning.
- Students will support a claim using specific evidence drawn from a provided council briefing.
Vocabulary
- Stormwater
- Stormwater is rain or melted snow that flows off roofs, streets, and parking lots. In most towns it goes into storm drains and flows to a stream without being treated, carrying whatever it picked up.
- Impervious surface
- An impervious surface is any hard surface, like a road, roof, or parking lot, that rain cannot soak through. The more impervious surface a town has, the more stormwater rushes off it.
- Green infrastructure
- Green infrastructure uses soil and plants, like rain gardens, green roofs, and street trees, to soak up rainwater where it falls instead of piping it away. It copies the way nature handles rain.
Also: counterclaim
Teacher overview
College-ready argument writing asks students to take a genuinely contested public question, commit to a position, and treat the strongest opposing view fairly rather than ignoring it. This lesson uses a proposed stormwater fee in the fictional city of Calder Heights, where each property would pay based on how much of its land is paved, since paved surfaces send rain rushing into storm drains instead of soaking into the ground. Students read a short council briefing, then draft the opening of an argument essay with a claim and a counterclaim. Because the fee is genuinely defensible on both sides, the lesson rewards reasoning over a predetermined answer.
Procedure
Hook (5 min): Ask students where the rain goes when it falls on the school parking lot versus the school field. Draw out that pavement blocks water from soaking in, so it runs off fast, carrying oil and trash into storm drains and, in heavy storms, overwhelming the pipes.
Reading the briefing (12 min): Distribute the briefing below and read it as a class.
Council briefing (a fictional scenario written for this lesson): "The city of Calder Heights proposes a monthly stormwater fee charged to every property according to its impervious area, the part covered by roofs, driveways, and parking that rain cannot pass through. A typical single-family home would pay about $6 per month, while a large shopping center with acres of parking would pay far more. The revenue would fund green infrastructure such as rain gardens and permeable pavement that let rain soak into the ground, easing the load on aging storm pipes. Supporters note the city's drainage system is strained and that a water main breaks somewhere in the country about every two minutes, a sign of how much buried infrastructure is overdue for repair. Opponents argue the fee is a new charge on households already paying a water bill, and that a flat monthly amount is easier to understand than one tied to each parcel's paved area."
Modeling claim and counterclaim (12 min): On the board, model one claim ("Calder Heights should adopt the stormwater fee because it ties the charge to the runoff each property actually creates") and one counterclaim a resident would raise ("the fee is another bill for families already stretched"), then model a response that concedes the concern while defending the claim.
Guided practice (11 min): In pairs, students complete a planning page: their claim, two pieces of evidence from the briefing, one counterclaim, and a one-sentence response to it.
Independent practice (10 min): Each student drafts an introduction and one body paragraph of an argument essay taking a position on the fee, using at least two details from the briefing.
Closure / exit ticket (5 min): On an index card, students write their claim in one sentence and name the counterclaim they will answer. Collect and scan that each card states a position and a genuine opposing view before dismissal.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
- Exit ticket answer: Answers will vary. A complete response states one clear position on the fee (for or against) and names a real opposing view rather than a strawman. A strong "for" position pairs with a counterclaim about household cost or fairness; a strong "against" position pairs with a counterclaim about the strained drainage system or the logic of charging by paved area. Any card that states a defensible claim and a genuine counterclaim meets the target.
Differentiation
Support
Provide the claim and counterclaim as sentence frames ("Calder Heights should / should not adopt the fee because ___" and "Some residents will argue ___, but ___"), and let students choose evidence from a shortened list of three briefing details rather than the full text.
Extension
Ask students to add a second counterclaim addressing whether a flat fee would be fairer than one tied to paved area, and to argue why their position still holds, using only the briefing rather than outside research.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "impervious surface," "runoff," and "counterclaim" with a labeled diagram showing rain soaking into a lawn versus running off a parking lot. Allow the planning page to be completed in phrases before students write full sentences.