Learning Plan: ELEMENTARY & SECONDARY1

Title of lesson What’s your opinion? Grade Cycle 2/Grade 4

level
Subject English Language Arts Topic
Writing
Relevance Children, as well as adults, use persuasion in various aspects of their lives. Whether it is trying
to convince a parent to buy you something you desperately want, applying for a job, or even
just trying to justify one’s opinion, persuasion is a powerful tool that we need to develop. In
this lesson, we will begin by looking at our own opinions across a spectrum of different topics
and then learn to justify those opinions by supporting them with reasons.
Resources Required  Smartboard
 Bests and Worsts sheet
 Writing copybooks (Students)
QEP Subject Area ELA C2: To write self-expressive, narrative, and information-based texts.
Competencies  To follow a process when writing.
 To use writing as a system for communicating and constructing meaning.
Learning Objectives To become familiar with the “What? Why? Why? Why? What was that again?” structure of
persuasive writing. The students will learn that persuasive writing (and opinion writing)
Essential Question(s) 
Lesson Introduction (hook): Student will know:
Timing
Phase 1: As a result of this lesson, students will know
the basic structure of formulating a
At the beginning of the lesson, I will write on the left side of persuasive piece of writing and how to
the board “What is the best TV show?” On the right side of begin the process of writing an opinion text.
the board, I will write “The worst TV show?” (These could be
shows from streaming sites as well). They will know that writing a persuasive
piece requires clear reasons that support
their opinions and points of view.
I will pose these questions to the students and tell them to
think about how they are going to answer this question.

 “Do you think everyone here will have the same

5 -7 opinion?” – (No.) Why?
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o People like different things. – The same
reason why we read different books.

Allow them 2 minutes to share, with their desk partner,

what they think the best and worst tv shows are.
 I will have the timekeeper set the time for 2 minutes
on the timer.
After a quick discussion, I will call their attention back to the
front.
 Invite some students to share their opinions but
remind them that they must be respectful of other
people’s opinions.
o There are no right or wrong opinions.
o Collect some of these on the board.

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Based on a simplified version of Understanding by Design (UBD) and the IB Middle Year Program Planner
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 Development (Learning activities – step by step sequential Students will understand:
procedure):
Students will be able to interpret and apply
the persuasive writing structure:
 What? (State your opinion or belief)
 Why? (Reason)
 Why? (Reason)
 Why? (Reason)
 What was that again? (Restate your
opinion or belief.

Students will do:

Comment on the collection of students’ responses: “As we
can see, there are many different shows that we either like or Students will be able to communicate their
don’t like. Why do you think (Student A) prefers this show, opinions, beliefs, and points of view in a
while (Student B) likes that show better?” logical and cohesive piece of writing. They
 Different opinions! will be able to support their opinions and
points of view with clear reasons as support.
Phase 2:
Cross Curricular Competencies:
Explain what we will be doing next. Under the Doc-Cam,
show them the sheet they will be working on. The sheet will CCC 3: To exercise critical judgement
have different topics listed with a table that lists “Bests” and  To form an opinion
“Worsts.” Their job is to fill in the table with their opinions  To express one’s judgement
for each given topic.  To qualify one’s judgement
 I will give them 5 minutes to work quietly on this
sheet. I will ask the student in charge of the time to CCC 5: To adopt effective work methods
set the timer for me.  To analyze the task being performed
 If they don’t fill out every section, that is okay. The  To begin the process
purpose is to form a surface-level opinion on  To perform the task
different topics.
10 mins CCC 8: To cooperate with others
When the timer goes off, I will let them know that they can  To interact with an open mind
share what they wrote with their partner.
 Here, I will circulate as they are discussing. Broad Areas of Learning:

After a couple of minutes, I will call their attention back to
me and comment on the discussions.
 “What you all have just done is you shared your
opinion on a variety of different topics. But one of
the most important things about having an opinion
is having reasons to justify that opinion.”
o “It’s easy to share an opinion. It’s harder to
justify that opinion.”
Phase 3:
This is a perfect opportunity to do a callback to last week’s
lesson on “I Wanna Iguana.”
 “Remember last week when we were working on
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Citizenship and Community Life
 The students in the class need to
respect each other while they are
sharing their opinions and ideas.
 Students can demonstrate the
democratic process in the classroom
by raising their hands (while not
calling out) to ask a question or
share a different opinion or point of
view.
Universal Design for Learning/
Differentiation:
 Connection, we talked about having reasons to
convince your parents to buy you something you
really wanted?”
o “This is what I would like you to do now. You
will choose one of these topics from the list
and give me 3 reasons for you believe it is
5-7 mins the best.”
Introduce the structure for Persuasive Writing.
On the board I will write down the following:
This lesson keeps in mind the needs of
struggling writers who often do not know
how to begin the writing process.
 There are multiple opportunities to
have a discussion with their peers so
that they can share opinions and
ideas.
 These interactions, as well as my
support, can help them develop their
own ideas when writing their
opinion piece.

 What? – State your belief, opinion, belief, or point of

view.
 Why? – Reason 1
 Why? - Reason 2
 Why? – Reason 3
 What was that again? – Restate your opinion, belief,
or point of view.

I will repeat this a few times with the students: “What?

Why? Why? Why? What was that again?”

Phase 4:

I will then ask them to take out their Writing copybooks.

10-15  Put the date at the top of the paper.
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 Title: My Opinion

Reiterate: “I want you to choose one of “Bests” from your

page and write about why you like it the best.”

 Remind them to back up their opinions with three

reasons! They can add more if they wish.
Closure (transition): FORMATIVE - Assessment FOR learning:

I will conclude the lesson by asking everyone to bring their Opinion text on their “Best __________.”
copybooks up to the front and then take their seats again.
5 mins FORMATIVE - Assessment AS learning:
We will do a quick recap of what we learned about writing
our opinions. I will gesture to the board as we read through
each heading of the structure. Inter-peer, as well as whole group
discussion.
 “When writing about our opinion, what is the first
thing we do?” SUMMATIVE - Assessment OF learning:
o State our opinion.
No summative assessment.
 “What’s next? Do we just say we like it just
because?”
o No. We need to justify our opinion with

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 reasons.
 “What’s the last thing we need?”
o Restate our opinion.

Further considerations (follow up activities)

In future lessons we will return to the “What? Why? Why? Why? What was that again?” structure of writing and begin
practicing writing different prompts for persuasive writing. These lessons will be supported by anchor books, which I
will read to the students at the beginning of each lesson.

Professional Competencies:
PC 1: To act as a professional inheritor, critic and interpreter of knowledge or culture when teaching students.
 This lesson lends itself well to the culture of the students, as it is largely based upon their opinions on their own
interests. I want to be able to home in on their interests and help the students bring out specific reasons for their
opinions so that they can develop their persuasive writing abilities.

PC 5: To evaluate student progress in learning the subject content and mastering the related competencies.
 As I progress in my practicum, I am becoming more comfortable assessing and evaluating student work. At the
end of this lesson, I want to look carefully at the students’ products and gather the information that will inform
my teaching for the following lessons.
o Since this will be their first time writing a persuasive piece, I want to look for any strengths or
weaknesses in the students’ productions, and then be able to relay that information back to the students
in a way that can develop their understanding.