The C.E.R. Strategy—Claims. Evidence. Reasoning.

This thinking and discussion strategy guides students to make claims and be able to identify evidence and reasoning to support the claim and make their case. In this video, the teacher calls CER the “trifecta of argument.” Using the CER strategy, students can construct well-substantiated arguments for speaking and writing. CER starts with a claim, opinion, or observation (in response to a given question), followed by a description of what details they see (observations as evidence), and finally a logical explanation of how the evidence supports the claim. Modeling, discussion, listening to peers, and lots of practice gives students a chance to develop important academic and life skills!