Lesson plan Grade 9 English Language Arts
Should Thornfield Fund a Booster Pump Station? Grade 9 Lesson
A grade 9 argument writing lesson where students use a cost-per-household calculation and two-sided evidence to argue over a fictional town's pump-station rate increase.
Objectives
- Students will write an argument paragraph that supports a claim about the Thornfield pump-station rate-increase resolution using at least two pieces of cited evidence.
- Students will calculate the estimated annual cost per household of funding the pump station through a rate increase.
- Students will address a counterclaim about affordability using evidence from the lesson.
Vocabulary
Key words: claim, counterclaim, booster pump, rate increase
Teacher overview
The fictional town of Thornfield has a hilltop neighborhood where water pressure sometimes falls close to the state minimum, and the town council is deciding whether to raise water rates to pay for a new booster pump station. This lesson has students draft an argument paragraph taking a position on that resolution, using a cost-per-household calculation as one of their pieces of evidence. A common misconception this lesson addresses is that students treat the total project cost and the cost per household as interchangeable numbers; the guided practice is built to correct that directly, since a large total cost can still translate into a modest yearly amount once it is divided across every household and spread over the life of the bond.
Procedure
Hook (5 min): Tell students that most states require a minimum of 20 psi of water pressure at every connection, and that in this lesson's fictional town of Thornfield, the Hilltop neighborhood has measured pressure as low as 17 psi on hot summer evenings. Ask students to predict, in one sentence, what a household in Hilltop might experience at that pressure.
Direct instruction (10 min): Present the resolution for the fictional town of Thornfield: "Thornfield should raise water rates to fund a new booster pump station for the Hilltop neighborhood." Review the claim-evidence-counterclaim structure this argument requires, and introduce the evidence file: for the increase, Hilltop's pressure readings fall below the state minimum and a booster pump station would raise them reliably; against the increase, combined water and sewer bills nationally already rose about 24 percent from 2019 to 2024 and about 5.1 percent in 2025, and a widely used rule of thumb, built from two EPA benchmarks, treats combined water and sewer costs above roughly 4.5 percent of household income as a high burden.
Guided practice (15 min): As a class, work through the cost model on the board for this fictional scenario: the pump station costs $3,000,000, Thornfield has 5,000 households, and the town would repay the cost over a 10-year bond. Divide $3,000,000 by 5,000 households to get $600 per household total, then divide $600 by 10 years to get $60 per household per year, about $5 per month. This simple model leaves out interest on the bond, which would raise the real yearly cost somewhat; students can mention that in their affordability counterclaim. Make clear that the $600 and $60 figures are the worked model, not the questions students answer. Then pose the first question for pairs to solve. Question 1: "At $60 per year, about how many years would it take for one household's total payments to reach $180?" Have pairs solve it before moving on.
Independent practice (15 min): Each student drafts a one-paragraph argument taking a position on the resolution, including a clear claim, at least two pieces of cited evidence (which may include the $60-per-year figure), and a sentence that addresses the affordability counterclaim directly.
Closure / exit ticket (5 min): Students solve one new calculation and answer in writing. Question 2: "If the same $3,000,000 pump station instead served 6,000 households over the same 10-year bond, what would the estimated annual cost per household be, and does that number make the case for funding stronger or weaker?"
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: 3 years. This is the guided-practice Question 1. $60 per year × 3 = $180, so it would take three full years of payments to reach $180 per household.
- Answer: $50 per year. This is the exit-ticket Question 2. $3,000,000 ÷ 6,000 households = $500 per household total; $500 ÷ 10 years = $50 per year. A complete response also notes that the lower per-household cost strengthens the case for funding, since spreading the same project over more households reduces what each one pays.
Differentiation
Support (below grade level)
Provide Thornfield's fictional cost model with the first division step already completed ($3,000,000 ÷ 5,000 = $600) so students only need to complete the second step, and offer a sentence frame for the argument paragraph: "Thornfield should ___ the rate increase because ___. Some residents worry that ___, but ___."
Extension (above grade level)
Ask students to calculate, using the same cost model, what a 15-year bond instead of a 10-year bond would do to the annual cost per household, and to incorporate that comparison into a stronger, more nuanced argument paragraph.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "booster pump," "bond," "rate increase," and "affordability" with simple definitions and a labeled diagram showing a pump raising water up a hill. Provide the cost-model numbers on a printed strip so students can focus on the language of the argument rather than recalculating from scratch.