Read the prompt and claim below. Then write a body paragraph in response to the prompt and claim that contains a topic sentence, offers at least one piece of supporting evidence from the list provided, introduces and addresses the counterclaim provided, and ends with a concluding sentence. Passage
Prompt:
Your school district is considering removing handwriting and cursive classes from its school curriculum. Would you be in favor of such a policy?
Claim:
Our district should not eliminate cursive classes from its curriculum.
Paragraph topic:
Cursive can connect students to the past.
Evidence:
• According to Johnson Kipling, professor of linguistics at Upton State University, "writing in cursive teaches reading cursive, and many of the foundational documents of our country are written in cursive, as are other historical documents. Looking at a typed transcript of these documents disconnects students from truly understanding them as part of history. One of history's central lessons is that times change and things evolve."
• A poll of our state's high school history and government teachers revealed that almost 90 percent of them use primary-source historical documents written in cursive on a regular basis.
Counterclaim:
Students can just look at typed versions of historical documents to get the same information.