Wilson EDUC 353 Name: Giana Dente Date: October 16, 2013

Target Grade Level: 3rd grade Zoe, Charlene Curriculum Topic: Opinion-based writing

Stage 1: Desired Results

Established Goals: Social Studies Standard 3: Identify individuals who have helped to strengthen democracy in the U.S. and throughout the world. 3.WS.1.Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons. a. Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons. b. Provide reasons that support the opinion. c. Use linking words and phrases (e.g., because, therefore, since, for example) to connect opinion and reasons. d. Provide a concluding statement or section. 3. WS.4.With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 13 above).

Understandings: Essential Question(s): Students will understand... Why is it That every idea needs to have an explanation important to support reasons There must be evidence to support reasons of ideas with evidence? How to apply their prior knowledge of Abraham From ones own Lincoln and Barrack Obamas choices as presidents, point of view which will enhance their own choices of what what are some democracy should be like from their point of view ideas to add to the

That in order to link an idea to a reason there are certain phrases and words to use (because, therefore, since, for example) The purpose for writing opinion based pieces is for students to apply text structures and phrases to create their own ideas and reasons How to create an organized list of reasons to infer evidence from when persuading others to value their opinions When to use simple or compound sentences Using prior knowledge to infer through influential individuals experiences as presidents and create their own democratic decisions How to use predictions to form their own opinions on what a democracy should be like from their point of view How to evaluate Abraham Lincoln and Barrack Obamas ideas and reasons in order to construct their own ideas and supporting details The importance of using compound sentences to support reasons and opinions

democracy? How can words and phrases help combine ones thoughts? How can individuals be empowered? What makes a good democracy? What if there were never presidents what would the democracy be like?

Students will know. How to apply phrases such as therefore, because, since, and for example when combining two independent clauses Independent clause- a sentence that can stand alone and contains a subject with a verb Simple Compound- a sentence having only one clause Compound sentences- composed of two or more independent clauses joined by one or more conjunctions but no dependent clause. The difference between compound and simple sentences as defined How to define democracy in their own words (not a new academic vocabulary word for students)

Students will be able to.. Formulate their own opinions about democracy Use creativity as a tool to enhance their ideas and supporting reasons Use phrases and words to connect two ideas or cause and effect of what the possible outcomes from certain ideas are

Use a T-chart to list and organize ideas and reasons to support each other in order to have a strong opinion Design their own ideas of how to strengthen democracy in the United States based on prior knowledge of democracy Distinguish compound and simple sentence structures

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks: Other Evidence: Based on a previous lesson in Language Arts, the The teacher will teacher will hand out a worksheet (given below) model a Venn distinguishing the use of compound and simple diagram for the sentences. This will allow the students to grasp the students to meaning of compound versus simple sentence actively engage in structures, to enhance their writing that will be a class discussion opinion based. to refresh their prior knowledge After the general worksheet of simple and about Abraham compound sentence structure, the teacher will Lincoln and refocus the attention on Social Studies. Based on Barrack Obamas prior knowledge the students will refine their ideas of a thoughts on what a democracy is, as well as what democracy. Abraham Lincoln and Barrack Obamas ideas were Use evidence for the United States. The teacher will create a Venn diagram of what the students know about Barrack from the previous Obamas ideas versus Abraham Lincolns and how lesson to gain a

both are similar. The students have previously learned about both presidents and their reasons supporting their ideas on democracy. The Venn diagram will assist the students in having a class discussion on what they know. Afterwards, by incorporating the ideas from the Venn diagram, the teacher will have each student create his or her own T-chart. The T-chart will represent a list of the students ideas on the left side, and then their reasons to support those ideas on the right side. This will allow students to actively engage in thinking critically about the topic to create their point of view of a stronger democracy. Students will use the Venn Diagram as a guide to reference for evidence. Then referring back to the worksheets and the Venn diagram the students will be able to write their own opinion-based excerpt. The students will be asked to write their opinion based ideas and reasons on how they would make democracy stronger in the United States. The question will be What would you do to strengthen democracy in the United States? Based on prior knowledge from the presidents then and now, students will be able to create their own opinion on how to strengthen democracy by using ideas and supporting details. The last step will be head shot photo of each student. The students will have the choice of putting cotton balls around their head, to place a large black hat (representing Abraham Lincoln), or to just have their headshot. These photos will be pasted on construction paper with their opinion-based response using phrases to connect ideas and reasons on how they will strengthen democracy in the United States.

new insight of what supporting details are beneficial to have a strong opinion based response. The simple and compound sentence structure worksheet will allow students to actively think about when it is important to use a compound sentence to support an idea with reasons versus a simple sentence. Referring to the Venn diagram the students will be able to create their own T-chart with ideas and reasons supporting each other. This will allow the students to gain organizational skills when writing. Referring to the Venn diagram, Tchart, and worksheet, the students will be

given the chance to design their own opinionbased paragraph on how they would strengthen democracy. The final product will be published on the bulletin board in the back of the class.

Stage 3: Learning Plan

Learning Activities: WHERETO W= Previous to this lesson students learned about what a democracy was. The students also learned about influential individuals such as Abraham Lincoln and Barrack Obama and the strong democracies that they created for the United States. With this knowledge, during this lesson the students will touch up and refresh on their skills of the previous topics to further their understanding. By applying these skills and inferences based on evidence from Abraham Lincoln and Barrack Obamas ideas and reasons supporting their opinions students will be able to create their own ideas for a strong democracy. The teacher will have the students focus on the Smart Board, where there will be a Venn diagram. On the left side it will say Abraham Lincoln, and the right side it will have Barrack Obama. The students will be listing as a class discussion what they remember learning about both presidents and how each strengthened their democracies. In the middle the students can see what was similar about the two presidents ideas. By comparing the thoughts and ideas of each the students will be able to restore their previous knowledge to build upon it. According to Teaching thinking skills: A handbook for elementary school teachers, Students learn and remember

new information best when it is linked to relevant prior knowledge. Teachers who link classroom activities and instruction to prior knowledge build on their students' familiarity with a topic and enable students to connect the curriculum content to their own culture and experience (Beyer, 1991). H= The teacher will give the students an ample amount of time to discuss as a class, using their own thoughts on how a democracy can be strengthened. Based on their opinions the students will be designing an opinion-based excerpt of how they think a democracy should be strengthened in the United States. The teacher will tell the students, Today you will be pretending that you are the president of the United States, you are going to be influencing people all around the world, in what ways would you strengthen the United States democracy? The students will then have a choice and option to write any ideas on how they would create a new democracy. This enhances their creative abilities and keeps the students interested in the topic since they are creating their own reasons and ideas. E= The teacher will model sentence structures for the students to use in their writing on the Smart Board and then hand out a worksheet to the class. The worksheet will be a guide to help the students distinguish from a simple or compound sentence, which was previously taught in Language Arts the day before. This will allow the students to infer when listing ideas there needs to be phrases or words in between to state their reasons behind the idea. These words will be defined as therefore, because, for example, since, and so on. The phrases will be beneficial for the students to create a stronger opinion that is supported by a convincing reason. The transition from one idea to a reason should be smooth by using these words or phrases. R= There will be multiple opportunities for the students to rethink and revise their work through their peers and teachers feedback. The teacher will handout a student rubric so the students can self assess and see where they might need to make changes. Then grouped pairs of students will be grading each other based on the rubric. The

students will then have the time to look at the revisions from their peers and correct themselves before it is published. The corrections will boost the students opinion pieces through their writing, using the proper phrases for compound sentences, supporting ideas with reasons, and to tell if the students grasp the understanding of what a democracy is through their own perspective. E= Students will work in pairs where their will be positive feedback as well as some corrections based on a student rubric that the teacher will provide to all of the students prior. The student rubric will focus on the organization of the writing, the proper use of phrases to conjoin two independent clauses, supporting details to support their ideas, and evidence of democracy from prior knowledge of Lincoln and Obama. The student rubric will be graded from 1-4 (4 being the highest) where peers can revise their partners work. Every student will participate in revising his or her partners rough draft because it will be handed into the teacher for participation. After the peer revision the students will be given a grade after the teacher revises their final draft through the same rubric during a student teacher conference. T= The topic of opinion-based writing on an influential individual based on democracy will be beneficial to all types of learners. For ELL learners and the below grade level students, there will be two choices for the students to choose from when deciding how to create ideas and reasons using sentence structures that simple or compound in their T-charts. The choices will be given in parenthesis where they will be choosing which word fits best in the sentence. Under the idea and reason part there will also be sentence starters to guide the students in the right direction. For the enrichment students whom are above grade level, they will use the T-chart to incorporate the phrases and words in their reasons listed. Lastly, for the students who are on grade level students, there will be a word bank for the students with the words therefore, because, since, etc. to combine the two independent clauses. Students who have ADHD or who are bodily kinesthetic learners will be given the chance to work in pairs when using peer assessment to

correct students opinion-based paragraphs. This will give them the chance to walk around and discuss with another peer their thoughts and ideas with supporting details from previous knowledge on the topic. O= First, the students will be given a general worksheet on distinguishing simple and compound sentence structures. The worksheet will take a short amount of time since in Language Arts simple and compound phrases were previously taught. Then, the students will be actively engaging in a Smart Board Venn diagram. The students will be inferring back to the previous lesson of what was learned about Abraham Lincoln and Barrack Obama. The students as a class will discuss what was similar about their ideas on democracy, and what ideas did each president have to strengthen democracy. After the students will be given a T-chart worksheet that is differentiated. The Tcharts will have one side with the students ideas and the other side will have the reasons as to why those ideas will be beneficial in strengthening a democracy. The students will be listing their ideas with supporting details in the reasoning. As they are completing their T-charts, the students will be applying their knowledge of phrases to use when combining their ideas and reasons into one sentence. When all of their ideas and reasons flow into one another, then the students will begin writing their rough draft of how they would strengthen democracy. Finally, when the paragraph is done the students will be grouped into pairs. The teacher will give each student a student rubric where the students will grade one another based on their organization of reasons, the proper use of phrases to connect the reasons and ideas, supporting details to support their ideas, and evidence of democracy from prior knowledge of Lincoln and Obama. When the students are done grading one another the teacher will collect the rubrics as evidence of the students participation in the lesson. Then the teacher will assess the students by giving proper feedback based on the students peer revisions as well as the rubric. The teacher will have a conference with the students if the ratings differ from what the student received and the teacher gave. During the conference the

topic of discussion will be focusing on reasonable goals for the final draft. Children enjoy debating criteria and expectations for performance. Many teachers report that when they incorporate rubrics in their classroom, they find that the children are harsher critics than they are (Bickart 200). When the final draft is complete by guidance from the teacher as well as peer revision, the students will then be able to publish their writing on the bulletin board. Finally, the teacher will take a head shot of each student and place it onto construction paper. The students will then paste their writing pieces onto the construction paper and be able to create their own style of picture. For example, students can use cotton balls to create hair as the presidents had in the past, or have a giant hat like Abraham Lincoln. This will allow the students creativity and art abilities to shine through when publishing and finalizing their writing piece on the bulletin board. Resources

Itemized Attachments: http://www.k12reader.com/subject/sentencestructure/ (worksheets for compound and simple sentence structure). Smart Board for Venn diagram Construction paper Paste Scissors Head shots of each student Arts and Crafts (cotton balls, colored pencils, crayons, construction paper for the hat) Beyer, Barry K. Teaching Thinking Skills: A Handbook for Elementary School Teachers. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1991. Print. Bickart, Toni S., Judy R. Jablon, Diane Trister. Dodge, Emily Kohn, and Diane Trister. Dodge. Building the Primary Classroom: A Complete Guide to Teaching and Learning. Washington, DC: Teaching Strategies, 1999. Print.

**General Worksheet** Name: ____________________________

Sentences: Simple or Compound?

Which of the following sentences are simple and which are compound? Check the box with the correct answer.
1. On Saturday we ate French toast.

Simple Compound
2. Anne liked her doll and book best.

Simple Compound
3. The rabbit went under the fence, and the wolf could not follow it.

Simple Compound
4. Once every year Grant writes his teacher a thank you note for her help.

Simple Compound
5. The sunset, and the moon rose.

Simple Compound
6. I cant come over, for its after bedtime.

Simple Compound
7. Every Wednesday the car drives down the road, and everyone runs.

Simple Compound
8. We try to do our best in everything we do.

Simple Compound
9. The chair rocked back and forth, and the windows slammed shut.

Simple Compound
10. Who ate the last donut on the counter?

Simple Compound

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**Answer Sheet** Teacher Copy

** Above Grade Level** Name: ______________________________ Directions: Apply key phrases and words to combine ideas with supporting reasons.

Ideas

Reasons

** On grade Level** Name: ______________________________ Directions: Apply key phrases and words to combine ideas with supporting reasons.

Ideas

Reasons

Therefore Since

Word Bank Because After

For example Then

**Below Grade Level** Name: ______________________________ Directions: Apply key phrases and words to combine ideas with supporting reasons.

Ideas
I would strengthen democracy therefore) ___________

Reasons
(For example, since,

4 Main idea topic sentence Strong main idea/topic sentence is clear, and is restated in the closing sentence.

3 Adequate main idea/topic sentence is restated in the closing sentence. The paragraph has two supporting detail sentences that relate to the main idea. Contains several errors in punctuations, spelling or grammar that do not interfere with meaning. Clearly written, easy to read with 1-2 distracting errors.

The paragraph has three or more supporting detail sentences that relate to the main idea. Observes basic writing Contains few, if any conventions punctuation, capitalization, and spelling errors. Supporting Details Neatness/Organization Clearly written or typed with of ideas and reasons no distracting errors.

2 Main idea/topic sentence is unclear is weakly restated in the closing sentence. The paragraph has one supporting detail sentence that relates to the main idea.

1 Main idea/ topic sentence is unclear and is not restated in the closing sentence.

The paragraph has no supporting detail sentences that relate to the main idea. Contains many errors in punctuation, spelling and or grammar that make the piece illegible. Many distracting errors making it confusing.

Transitions/Phrases

A variety of thoughtful transitions are used. They

Contains many errors in punctuation, spelling and or grammar that interferes with meaning. Several distracting errors that make portions difficult to read. Transitions Some show how ideas transitions are connected, work well, but but there is some

The transitions between ideas are unclear OR nonexistent.

clearly show how ideas are connected.

little variety.

connections between ideas are fuzzy.