Few middle grade novels hand teachers a persuasive prompt as naturally as Shiloh does. Marty finds an abused beagle that legally belongs to Judd Travers, and he decides to hide the dog rather than return him. Students have strong opinions about whether that choice was right, which means they arrive at the writing task already invested. The teacher's job is to turn that energy into an argument with a claim, reasons, and evidence.

The first decision is how to frame the prompt, because the framing shapes every essay you will read. Asking whether Marty should keep Shiloh invites yes or no answers, while asking what Marty should have done differently pushes students toward more thoughtful positions. Both work, but the second tends to produce fewer essays that simply repeat the plot. Whichever version you choose, tell students that a strong argument can come from either side as long as the evidence supports it.

Students often confuse opinion with argument, especially when the topic involves a dog they love. An essay that says Marty was right because Shiloh deserved a good home is sincere, but it has not yet shown why a reader should agree. Grading should reward students who explain their reasoning using events from the book, such as Judd's rough treatment of his hunting dogs or Marty's promise to earn Shiloh through honest work. That difference between feeling and proof is the core skill of the assignment.

Score the claim, reasons, and counterargument separately

A useful rubric for this task separates the claim, the reasons, the evidence, and the handling of opposing views. Splitting these rows lets you tell a student that the claim was clear but the reasons were thin, which is far more helpful than a single holistic score. For a fifth or sixth grade class, three levels per row are usually enough. Keep the language plain so students can read the descriptions and understand exactly what would move them up.

• The claim answers the prompt directly in one clear sentence
• Each reason is different from the others and supports the claim
• Evidence comes from specific events, not general impressions of the book
• The essay acknowledges what Judd or Marty's parents might say in reply
• The conclusion explains why the argument matters instead of repeating it

Teach counterargument with the characters themselves

Counterargument is usually the weakest row in student persuasive writing, and Shiloh offers a natural way to teach it. Marty's parents, especially his father, believe that a dog belongs to its owner regardless of how the owner behaves. Asking students to state that view fairly before answering it gives them a model for acknowledging opposition without abandoning their own position. Many students discover that their argument gets stronger once they admit what the other side has right.

When grading this row, look for students who name a real objection instead of inventing a weak one that is easy to dismiss. A sentence like "Some people say Marty should have told the truth immediately" is a start, but it needs a response that engages the concern. Comments can prompt this directly by asking what Marty's father would say and whether the student's answer would convince him. That question is easier for a young writer to act on than a general instruction to address opposing views.

Watch for evidence that feels borrowed

Students sometimes lean on a single dramatic scene, such as the German shepherd attacking Shiloh, and use it to justify every reason. This produces essays that sound convincing at first but repeat themselves by the third paragraph. A helpful comment asks the student to find a different part of the novel for each reason, so the argument draws on Marty's fear, his work for Judd, and his family's response. Variety in evidence usually signals variety in thinking.

Another pattern to watch is evidence that is accurate but unexplained, where the student drops in a detail and moves on. The fix is a simple habit of following every piece of evidence with a sentence beginning with "This shows" or "This matters because." Teaching that habit through a quick whole-class exercise saves many individual comments later. It also gives students a phrase they can carry into persuasive writing in other subjects.

Use AI feedback to speed up the first read

Persuasive essays are long enough that a full unit of them can overwhelm a single teacher. An AI grading tool set up with your rubric can draft a first pass of feedback that flags missing counterarguments or unexplained evidence in each paper. The teacher then reads the essay alongside the draft and adjusts anything that misses the student's intent. This keeps human judgment in charge while removing the most repetitive part of the work.

The quality of the feedback depends on how clearly the rubric describes each level, so time spent refining those descriptions pays off. A rubric that says "good reasoning" gives neither a teacher nor a tool much to work with, while one that says "gives two distinct reasons, each tied to a scene" is easy to apply consistently. Over several units, those descriptions become a shared language between you and your students. Students start to ask for feedback using the rubric's own words.