Counterargument Examples & Definition

Counterargument Lesson Example for Elementary School Learners

“This” or “That” is a great way to empower learners to understand the basic concept of a counterargument. To design the lesson, create a list of statements that will allow students to choose one side or the other. Some great questions to engage your learners might be:

• Do you love Saturdays or Sundays more?
• Do you like to wake up late or get up early?
• Do you like snack time or lunch time? 

Ask students to signal which they prefer using unison response cards or by raising one hand or the other. Once you can see whether students favor “this” or “that,” ask select students to respond to one another using the following phrases. This could sound like: 

“I see that _____ likes Saturdays. However, I like Sundays more because…”

Or

“I like to get up early, and I don’t like getting up late because…., but I can see why ______ might prefer it.”

Or

“I think snack time is better than lunchtime because…Though some people might like lunchtime more because…”

Remind your students that disagreeing is perfectly normal and does not always mean that people are in conflict with each other. It is important to respect each other’s opinions. Debate can be fun, lively, and productive!

Counterargument Lesson Example for Middle School and High School Learners

For middle school and high school learners, it is important to anchor student understanding of counterarguments through the use of examples and practice both verbally and in writing. 

Here are a few lesson strategies: 

Evaluate a Debate. Choose a presidential debate on YouTube, a clip from a favorite film, or other resource. Have students review how it is that the opponents respond to each other. How do they present points and respond to those points? What happens when candidates do not respond to one another? How does each candidate appear? What is the effect? Which candidates are skilled at addressing their opponents? Why?

Socratic Seminar: Choose a topic of interest and provide students with several resources to review. These can include videos, readings, charts, and more. Ask students to prepare by reading and annotating each of the sources or taking notes on their findings.

Then set up the room in a circle so that students can face one another; if the class is large, create an inner and outer ring. From here, ask students to present their findings and maintain order by letting one person speak at a time. Encourage students to engage in healthy patterns of debate. They can:

• Contribute by adding on to what someone presents. 
• Rebut or counter someone’s ideas with facts and reasoning. 
• Extend or aid someone’s point by adding thoughts and details. 

Counterarguments in Writing

As students write persuasive essays, they will need to address the counterargument. This is an important aspect of a developed paper. Students can use these sentence starters to integrate the opposing side’s view before confirming their position on the topic or issue: 

• Some argue that…
• It might be thought that…
• Critics of this idea, topic, or issue claim that…
• Opponents of this view suggest that…
• It is understandable that some people might think…
• A person might say that…

Writers can integrate evidence or summarize specific claims. Then, they can refute those points and confirm their own thoughts by using phrases like: 

• However, this argument does not consider…
• Though this may be the opinion of some, it is important to remember that…
• Despite this claim, evidence suggests that…
• On the other hand, it could be argued that…