The Most Reasonable Answer: Helping Students Build Better Arguments Together

The Most Reasonable Answer is an innovative and comprehensive guide to using inquiry dialogue—a type of text-based classroom discussion featuring big, contested questions that has been shown to improve higher-order thinking and augment literacy. Based on years of research and work in nearly fifty classrooms, the book supports teachers in facilitating this type of classroom talk in upper-elementary grades, when children are developmentally ready to practice making rigorous, reasoned arguments based on evidence—a critical life skill. Reznitskaya and Wilkinson introduce a robust Argumentation Rating Tool, a rubric highlighting eleven strategies and corresponding talk moves that can be used by teachers and students to improve the quality of their arguments by clarifying meaning, considering alternative perspectives, and connecting ideas. The authors also include annotated transcripts that illustrate how teachers can effectively facilitate whole-group and small-group discussions using fiction, nonfiction, and multimodal texts. Packed with a rich array of field-tested resources, The Most Reasonable Answer is an essential resource for educators looking for new ways to teach critical thinking skills and engage students in high-quality discourse.