Mini-Lesson Planning Sheet Unit of Study: Personal Essay/Opinion/Argument/Persuasive

Week / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
1 / Week or Two Prior
Bend 1
Immersion – Read Alouds
Daily Focus Statements
Mentor Texts
Writer’s Journal Entries
Beginning of Unit Assessment / Week or Two Prior
Teach the difference between a thesis statement, reasons and evidence and explore the language of argument.
Anchor Chart – The language of persuasion and argument / Week or Two Prior
Text Based Debates
Teach students that when they begin research they investigate and collect information about both sides of argument.
Make a Class Noticings Chart and Definition / Week or Two Prior
Text Based Debates
Teach students how to support their argument with evidence. Teach that the strongest evidence is quotes and research.
Anchor Chart – Strong vs Weak Argument / Week or Two Prior
Text Based Debates
Teach students how to build an argument, weighing evidence to determine how best to support their argument.
Teach students how to flash draft after a debate.
2 / Day 1
Argument Writing
Teach students how to make a Thesis/Focus Statements
Children learn how to mine their notebook entries to find thesis/focus statements. / Day 2
Teach how to state subtopics for their thesis statement which will eventually become topic sentences. Teach the difference between reasons and evidence. / Day 3
Teach how to organize and plan using boxes and bullets. The box is the reason and the bullets are the evidence for the reasons.
Be sure students have reasons that are supported by distinct and different evidence. / Day 4
Teach how to support a point a view with valid reasons, experiences, explanations and observations. Remind students to use what they know about building strong arguments and weighing evidence. / Day 5
Teach how to draft long, strong and fast. Children should be completing a single draft in 45 minutes to an hour. They should produce at least 3-4 drafts that are revised and edited throughout the unit.
3 / Day 6
Bend 2
Teach students how to carefully consider and make decisions about the variety of formats and text structures available to them when writing their argument. / Day 7
Teach students how to use strong verbs and descriptive adverbs to make their writing strong. / Day 8
Teach students how to use sentence variety for effect, alternating between long and short sentences to make a stronger argument. / Day 9
Teach students how to use Tier 2 and Tier 3 words to inform their reader about their topic and make their argument more compelling. / Day 10
Teach students that writers plan for and rehearse the entirety of a draft and then choose a tricky or troublesome place to focus on as they work.
4 / Day 11
Teach students to strengthen their claims by introducing evidence supporting the opposing viewpoint and then offering a rebuttal. / Day 12
Teach students how to evaluate their evidence to ensure that their argument is solid, bringing in more compelling evidence if necessary. / Day 13
Teach students how to think carefully about their audience and tailor their arguments to particularly appeal to that audience. Teach students how to vary their style to match their audience. / Day 14
Teach students how to share their argument in real-life situations in order to sway audience opinion and enact positive change (letters, panel presentations, debates ) / Day 15
Teach students how to write effective leads that grab the reader’s attention and strengthen their argument.
5 / Day 16
Teach students how to write effective conclusions that are memorable and strengthen the argument. / Day 17
Teach students how to give more weight to the strongest and most compelling part of their argument supporting that part with powerful quotes and research. / Day 18
Bend 3
Teach students how to build and write arguments across the curriculum. Teach students that writers conduct short research projects drawing on multiple sources, / Day 19
Teach students how to create arguments that address a variety of cultural issue and value different perspectives. / Day 20
Teach students how to write for real-life purposes and audiences. Teach children that argument writers stand up for what they believe in drawing on all they have learned to build a strong case.
6 / Day 21
Teach students how writers find some of the most persuasive evidence in everyday life and how writers strengthen their arguments when they use all they have learned about other types of writing. / Day 22
Teach students to stop, take stock of their progress and use a variety of tools to help them set goals and move forward (using past checklists to inform writing directions) / Day 23
Teach students that argument writers strengthen their claims be making sure their evidence doesn’t depend on flawed reasoning. / Day 24
Teach students how to use technology to produce and publish writing and collaborate and communicate with others. / Day 25
Editing and Publishing
Revise Class Definition
End of Unit Assessment

Note: Teach students to research topics during Reader’s Workshop so that they will be ready to write a content –specific argument piece of writing by Bend 2 of the unit.

Reader’s Workshop Lessons:

  • Teach students that when tackling a new piece of argument writing, writers come up with a plan for collecting research and looking at the various sides of the issue.
  • Teach students that when they take notes, they should do so in a graphic organizer that makes sense for the text structure they have chosen to use. Also teach students how to take notes in their own words (except when they are using a direct quote) so that they can build a strong argument.

Note: Plan for editing sessions whenever students finish drafts whether they are publishing them or not.

The Language of Persuasion and Argument

Words and Phrases to Teach Students to Use

however, on the other hand, as you can see, in conclusion, finally, thus, furthermore, rather, yet, consequently, specifically, opinion, viewpoint, for instance, in order to, in addition, One example is…, One reason is …, An even more important reason is …, Some people think.. but I think, While some people argue that …, _____, an expert in the field says “, research says …