Veronica Smith

CIED 3253

11/13/14

Targeted Literacy Strategy or Skill: Reading Opposing Perspectives to Form an Opinion

Grade level: 3
Objective: The student will be able to read carefully and weigh the evidence in order to form his or her
own personal opinion.
Common Core State Standard/ PASS Standard: Reading/Literature: The student will apply a wide
range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, appreciate, and respond to a wide variety of texts.
1. Literal Understanding
a. Read and comprehend poetry, fiction, and nonfiction that is appropriately designed for third
grade.
b. Use prereading strategies independently to preview, activate prior knowledge, predict content
of text, and establish a purpose for reading.
c. Recall major points in a text and revise predictions about what is read.
d. Show understanding by asking questions and supporting answers with literal information
from the text.
Prior knowledge: Students already know that there are typically two sides of every issue. Students are
also aware that people form opinions somehow.
Observations/Rationale: I have noticed in my students work that they are formulating opinions but do
not have exact evidence to support their ideas. They are not elaborating on their ideas and discussing why
they are forming this opinion.
Materials Needed
Lesson from: Scholastic Newsletter; Article is called Too Young to Help Out?
Mentor Text: Strategies that Work, Page 169
Materials: Scholastic Newsletter Article, sheet of paper, and writing utensil
Student Groups (whole/small group/partners): whole
Mini Lesson Format:
Connect (Engagement/Pre-reading): First, I will get the classes attention. I will say class class
and once I have the students attention I will say Today I am going to talk to you all about
Reading Opposing Perspectives to Form an Opinion. I have given you an article titled Too Young
to Help Out? which talks about two different perspectives about a certain issue. After we finish
reading the article we will be weighing the evidence and each forming our own opinion.

Teach (Model/Explain): I will now be modeling this lesson for the students. I will read the first
paragraph of the article and write the three-column chart on the board. In the first column I will
write Evidence For, in the second column I will write Evidence Against, and in the third
Personal Opinion. Since I have read the first paragraph and Ive read some evidence for and
some evidence against the new rules I will now add the evidence I found to the chart. I will write
using machinery on the farm can be dangerous for really young children in the Evidence For
column and These new rules can potentially hurt business if the kids cant help their families in
the Evidence Against Column. Then I will say I am going to leave the Personal Opinion column
blank and we will come back to it after we have found all of the evidence.

Active Engagement (students try it out): Now that I have modeled the chart and how it is
supposed to be done the students should be able to do it themselves. Say Now, you can start your
own chart in your readers notebook. I am going to give you a few minutes to finish reading the
article and as you read continue to add the evidence you find to your chart. Next, I will walk
around for a few minutes and make sure things are going smoothly. Once I notice that people are
done then I will go back to the board and get the classes attention by saying Class Class. I will
then ask Would anyone like to share some evidence they found for the new rules? After a couple
students have shared then I will ask if anyone would like to share evidence they found for against
the new rules? Say now that you all have seen all of the evidence for and the evidence against
the new rules you should be able to add your personal opinion to the chart. So take a moment to do
this. I will then write my Personal Opinion on the chart that I came up with after weighing both
sides of the evidence.

Link (Articulating the expectation that students will now use this skill/strategy when reading or
writing): Say now that weve learned how to read opposing perspectives to form our own
opinion, try to keep all of this in mind when you are reading if it is necessary for you to form an
opinion about something. And I know that a lot of us are in Language Arts and we will be starting
our argumentative pieces so this strategy will be very helpful. Thank you.