This document discusses strategies for promoting argumentative literacy and critical thinking skills in social studies classes through reading, writing, and discussion. It defines argumentative literacy as the ability to persuade, debate, clarify positions, and evaluate arguments. Several discussion formats are described that can be used to engage students in academic discussions, including turn-and-talk, think-pair-share, retelling, 3x3 discussions, inquiry circles, and Socratic seminars. The document emphasizes that discussion helps increase comprehension, assess understanding, debate issues from multiple perspectives, and develop oral skills. It also notes that discussion, along with purposeful reading and writing, has been shown to most powerfully improve learning outcomes.