Term IV -- Inspirational Women

Literacy Lesson Plan (Persuasive Writing)

“Which inspirational woman should be recognized in the form of a public holiday?”
Ms. Henry

Goals and Objectives

● Students will be able to…
○ Gather strong evidence to support their choice of the historical woman to be
recognized for a public holiday
○ Gather strong evidence to support their claim that a historical woman of their
choosing is considered inspirational
● In order to…
○ Write a persuasive letter to the governor of Pennsylvania to convince them as to
why an inspirational woman should be recognized in the form of a public holiday
○ Write a persuasive letter that will include a clear claim with strong supporting
evidence

Standards and Anchor Goals

● W.4.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (i.e. research, revision, reflection)
● W.4.9 - Draw evidence from literary or informational text to support analysis, reflection,
and research
● RI.4.8 - Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a
text
● E04.C.1.1–Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with
reasons and information.
● E04.E.1.1–Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis,
reflection, and research

Materials
● Oreo ​handout
● Ella Baker​ article
● Smartboard
● Ipads

Classroom Setup and Management

● Students will be seated in their original desks while teacher provides instruction for the
first activity
○ Expectations:
■ Walking during the activity
■ One voice at a time when sharing ideas
■ Raise your hand to signal you would like to share your idea with the group
 ■ Classroom vs. schoolyard voices
● Introduction activity requires movement, and students will begin by lining up at the front
of the classroom
● Desks will remain the same, and students will simply walk around desks if/when they
decide to move to the other side of the room during the activity
● Transition requires students to sit with their partners/groups facing the smartboard
● When iPads are needed, students will be dismissed by group to retrieve their devices
○ Each student has already been assigned a specific iPad, so they know which ones
to retrieve
●Students will remain in partnerships for the remainder of the lesson
Plan
Note: this lesson may extend to more than one day. If this happens, then students will be given
time to complete the writing activity at various designated times.
I. Introduction (20 minutes)
A. Explain to students that today we will be doing an activity that requires them to
form an opinion on a subject
B. Teacher will explain that before we begin, there are some expectations she has for
the class as they participate
C. Once expectations have been established, instruct students to all line up in the
front of the classroom as they listen to the following instructions:
1. Teacher will read a statement
2. If students agree with statement, they will remain in front of class
3. If students disagree with statement, they will walk calmly to back of class
4. When clear groups have been established, teacher will repeat process
D. When teacher has read 2 statements, she will move onto the next round of
instructions:
1. Repeat instructions 1-3 from previous round
2. When clear groups have been established, teacher will ask one person
from front of class to provide a reason they agree, and same with group in
back of class
3. When one person from each group has shared, teacher will repeat process
E. When teacher has read 2 statements, she will move onto next round of
instructions:
1. Repeat instructions 1-4 from previous round
2. When clear groups have been established, teacher will ask one person
from front of class to provide a reason they agree
3. Once student has shared, teacher will ask another student from the same
group to provide an example that supports the person’s reason
4. Teacher will repeat steps 2 and 3 will the group in the back of the class
 5. When one person has provided an example to support the provided reason,
teacher will repeat process
F. Teacher will reinforce classroom expectations throughout the activity
Example Statements:
● Ice cream is better than frozen yogurt
● Students should be allowed to use cellphones in class
● Students should not be required to do homework
● Being smart is better than being nice
● The wilderness is better than the city
● Cake is better than pie
● Philadelphia is the best city to visit
● The Eagles are better than the Patriots
● Spicy is better than sweet
● Fruits taste better than vegetables
● Zoos should allow animals to perform
II. Transition (3 minutes)
A. Explain to students the importance of having evidence to support their claims, in
order to provide a convincing argument
B. Have students get into their research groups/partnerships
C. Students will face towards the smartboard
III. Shared Reading (5 minutes)
A. Teacher will distribute Ella Baker’s bio
1. Teacher will explain to students that as she reads, students must look/listen
for reasons and examples that support the opinion ​“I believe that Ella
Baker is inspirational”
B. Teacher will conduct shared reading of the article
1. Teacher will ask students if they agree that Ella Baker is inspirational
2. Once answers are collected, explain to the students for the sake of this
activity, we are going to provide evidence to support the claim that she is
C. Before they share evidence, have students refer to their OREO handouts
IV. OREO (10 minutes)
A. Teacher will introduce OREO (opinion, reason, example, opinion restated) to
students by referring to the handout that is attached to their bios
B. Teacher will fill in the handout on the smartboard with the help of the students
1. Purpose: to convince the reader that Ella Baker is inspirational
2. Opinion: I strongly believe that Ella Baker is inspirational
3. Reasons 1-3, Examples 1-3, and Opinion restated: filled out by the student
suggestions
 C. When handout is complete ask students if they feel convinced that Ella Baker is
inspirational
V. Partner Work (20 minutes—will continue on to next day)
A. Explain to students that will be doing a similar task with their partners
1. Ask the group what their purpose would be on their own worksheets (in
relation to the project as a whole)
a) What are we trying to accomplish?
b) Who are you writing to?
c) What are you writing about?
2. Dismiss groups to get their iPads
a) Students will log onto the site that has their candidate
b) Both partners will go though and read the bios thoroughly and fill
out the handout with reasons/examples that support their opinion
3. During this time, teacher will walk around the classroom and ask students
to explain their reasons and examples to her
VI. Wrap-Up
A. Explain to students that they will have more opportunities to complete this
portion of the lesson:
1. When students have completed other classwork assignments, they can
refer to this activity
2. On the following day when time is allotted in the late afternoon
3. During center time if they are in the writing/iPads center
B. Ask each group to share out one reason ​and ​example as to why their candidate
should be chosen
1. If time allows, ask all groups to share, however if not then call on 3
volunteers
C. When time to clean up, have students place iPads on top of cart
1. One student will put the iPads in their assigned slots

Assessment of Goals
● Introduction
○ Students will need to form an opinion on a topic
○ Students will provide reasons and examples to support their group’s opinion on a
topic
● OREO
○ Group worksheet in order to understand the components of persuasive writing
○ Partner worksheets in order to put that understanding into praxis
● Partner Work
○ Make effective use of research tools (i.e. iPads/websites)
 ○ Utilize specific evidence from virtual text to support their opinions
■ Both reasons and examples
● Teacher Observations
● Share out
○ One reason and example
Anticipated Student/Teacher Responses
I. Introduction
A. Students not agreeing with either choices (informing them that they must choose
one or the other; choose the best option that resonates with you)
B. Students providing lengthy responses to questions (giving a time limit to each
response)
II. Read Aloud
A. Disagreeing with the opinion that Ella Baker is an inspirational woman (ask
students who disagree to share their reasons why; explain that for the sake of this
activity we are going to support the claim that she is inspirational; really
persuasive writers can actually argue both sides, because their evidence is so
strong)
III. Partner Work
A. Students having the same exact responses (teacher is okay with that, and will still
ask partners to share their reasoning aloud with her as she makes her rounds)
B. Students not completing their work (ensuring them that there will be more
opportunities to continue one)
Accommodations
● Movement activity to energize students/peak their interests
● Working in a large group to fill out OREO worksheet
○ OREO worksheet is very clear and contains words that all readers can read
○ Providing sample that allows students to clearly see the expectations that teacher
has for group
● Partner and group work
● Allowing students to work at their own pace with this project, and providing everyone
with the opportunity to complete their planning at times that work with their group pacing
● Teacher roaming class/conferencing with students