Opinion Writing

Beginning the Lesson
1. Ask for volunteers to raise their hands and tell you what it means to “Justify” an answer or “Explain” with evidence. Students should say things like "It helps people understand why you think they way you do, it helps others understand your statement more clearly," etc. Tell them to keep these things in mind as you move further into the lesson.
2. Move into telling them that they need to remind themselves what character traits are. Have them turn to the person beside them and one partner say 3 positive character traits, and the other partner say 3 negative character traits. (If they seem to be struggling, give them some examples (positive traits would be kind, helpful, charismatic, and negative traits would be hateful, dishonest, irresponsible.)

Ask them to think of stories they have read before and what the characters were like.
3. Ask the class to say aloud some of the traits they thought about and using the poster board, make a t-chart separating the two (positive traits vs negative traits).

Instructional Strategies:
1. Begin by explaining to students that an opinion piece must have reasons to support the opinion. 
Teacher: We just reviewed that justifying an answer means to give reasons to support your answer. In opinion pieces you state an opinion, and then give a reason for your opinion. And sometimes, you even give examples for your reason. For example, if I say that McDonald's is the best fast food restaurant, I can support that opinion by stating that their fries are cooked and salted to perfection, their large drinks are $1, and the apple fritters are delicious.
2. Then, show the PowerPoint that has example opinion pieces. With the students, go through the three examples, underlining on the Smart Board the opinion, reasons that support the opinion, and the example.
3 After completing the Powerpoint, model for them what it looks like to write an opinion piece. On the board, write OREO vertically. For "O" you will state the opinion that morning is the best time of day. Your reason "R" will be that you have the most energy and are more productive. Your example "E" will be that you coming to school early in the mornings allows you to have better focus to plan lessons before the exhaustion of the day sets in. Lastly, you will repeat your opinion for the final "O". 

You will explain to students you want their opinions written in the same format (OREO) on the paper they will receive . Tell students they will write about a person in their class, using a character trait to describe that person.  Next, the students will draw names of their classmates out of the bag.
4. Give them the OREO worksheet, which breaks down writing an opinion piece into parts. 
Teacher: You now have one of your friends’ names in your hand. Look at the name you have and pick something good/positive about that person. Using the good character traits (circle the positive traits) only, write an opinion piece on your friend. Write your opinion piece on your OREO sheet to help guide you.
5. This would be considered their “Writing” time for the day. Walk around as they begin writing, repeating aloud what they must have.
6. As you see students are finishing up, pass out construction paper and tell them to transfer their work onto a card. Model for students how to transfer their writing into a written card to a friend. Show your card about the person you wrote about (in same format as OREO sheet) on the projector. The students will then hand in the card and you can decide to pass them out, or just use as a grade. 

Closing the Lesson:
1. As students seem to be finishing up, instruct them to put away the materials they used to make their cards and ask them to begin turning in the cards.
2. Ask them to direct their attention to the board and ask for volunteers to share what they learned or any questions they may have.
3. Ask a few to share what character trait they gave their peers. Ask some to give the examples or reasons they have chosen that character trait/opinion.
4. Ask if a few of the students if they would like to read what they wrote. 

Writing this lesson plan, I had Valentine's day in mind. This lesson can clearly be used year-round but in the case of Valentine's day, I would have the name cards they draw be cut out in shapes of hearts, and the students can use construction paper to write Valentine's cards to each other. 

Students will be assessed on participation, and content in the OREO worksheet. Students should have an opinion, reason for opinion, example of opinion, and opinion restated. The opinion must include a positive character trait.