Jason Resnick March 7, 2013 Lesson Plan: Writing Mini-Lesson

Grade: 5

Time: 25 Minutes

Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Objectives: The students will write opinion pieces about the characters Jackie and Pee Wee from the story Teammates. Students will form an opinion and be able to support the opinion with reasons. Students will remember specific examples from the text to assist them in writing their opinion pieces.

Materials: Teammates by Peter Golenbock Original book for teacher Pencils Paper Copies of Teammates by Peter Golenbock for every student Chart Paper Marker for chart paper

Lesson Sequence: 1. Lesson Introduction (Engagement) Remember the story Teammates by Peter Golenbock? Do you remember how kind and thoughtful Pee Wee was when the fans were yelling at Jackie because of his skin color? Pee Wee walked over to first base and put his arm around Jackies shoulders. 2. State Objectives and Purpose Today boys and girls we are each going to write opinion pieces about the story Teammates, and play the role of Pee Wee Reese. You will get to decide if you would have done the same thing as Pee Wee did.

3. Teach and Model Today we are going to write opinion pieces independently and include reasons for our opinion. The topic of your paper will be, What would you have done if you had been Pee Wee"?"" Before I let you begin on your individual opinion pieces, together we are going to model as a group an example, using a different topic. The opinion question that we are going to model is, What would you do if you were Jackie Robinson, would you have tried out for the Brooklyn Dodgers, knowing that you would be made fun of and booed at because you were an African American? Would you have done what Jackie Robinson did?" Who can tell me what an opinion is and what a reason is? I will ask the class the answers to these two questions and will call on someone who volunteers, if the first student doesn't answer the two questions correctly, I will keep calling on students until both questions are answered correctly. "Yes, an opinion is a personal view, and a reason is a statement presented to explain an action. Good job. Class who would like to volunteer and tell me their opinion and reasons for their opinion to the question, What would you have done if you were Jackie Robinson? I will call on a few students for their opinions and reasons to the question. After you tell me your opinion and your reasons, I will write them both down on the chart paper. Some possible answers the children might give me could be that their opinion was that they would do what Jackie did. The reasons that the students might give to support this opinion could be 1) equality, 2) to follow his dream to play in Major League baseball, 3) try to change how people think about people who have different skin color, and 4) possibly change what places African Americans can go to. Boys and girls those are great opinions and reasons, now we will take the majority opinion and reasons for that opinion and place them into sentences so that we can begin to write our opinion piece. Who can tell me a sentence to include in our opinion piece? I will call on four students and write the sentences that they give me on the chart paper to start forming an opinion piece. The sentences that the students might give me are: 1) I would do what Jackie did because everyone should be treated equal. 2) If I did what Jackie did, then maybe it would change how people think and might treat people better who have different color skin. 3) If I made the decision like Jackie did, then maybe it would change where African Americans can go, like to which school, church or hotel. 4) I would do like Jackie did because he should be able to try to follow his dream of playing Major League baseball. Wow, what great opinions and reasons." "Next, class we will take these sentences, merge them into a paragraph, and revise it using our fifth grade writing skills. Who can give it a try? Some of the sentences the students could give are: I would do what Jackie did because everyone should be treated equally regardless of their skin color. By making the same choice as Jackie, maybe it will change how people think and treat people who have different skin color, maybe they will be able to go to any school, church or hotel that they wanted to go to. This choice also might allow others to try to follow their dreams like playing Major League baseball. Fantastic job boys and girls on our opinion piece about What you would have done if you were Jackie Robinson? Now we are going to each write our own opinion piece about "Would you have done the same thing as Pee Wee Reese did?"

4. Guided Practice Boys and girls before you start your writing; I want you to think about if you were Pee Wee Reese, would you have walked over to Jackie Robinson with a big smile and put your arm around Jackies shoulders when all the fans were shouting and making fun of Jackie because of his skin color? I will now hand out pencils and paper. Like we just did in the Jackie model, please first write your opinion and your reasons for your opinion on a piece of paper, brainstorm. After you finish brainstorming and writing down your opinion and reasons, please raise your hand, and I will come to you to have a mini conference. In the mini conference, I will review with you to see if you have enough information to begin your opinion paper on What would you have done if you were "Pee Wee? If you do not have enough information, we will talk about some additional information that could possibly be added to your paper. After the conference, you will take your opinion and reasons and write them into sentences to form your opinion piece. For this paper, I want each of you to have a minimum of ten sentences in your opinion story.

5. Independent Practice/Assessment The students will get a pencil and paper and will be instructed to begin their brainstorming ideas on What they would do if they were Pee Wee Reese? The students will then begin writing their drafts of their opinion piece until it is time to stop. The students will have additional time to work on their opinion pieces the next day during their writing time. The students will be assessed on how well they participated in the group session during the modeling of the Jackie opinion piece, and they will be assessed also based on their individual opinion pieces on What they would do if they were Pee Wee Reese?

6. Closure Writers that is all the time we have for today, I saw that many of you have gotten a good start on your opinion stories. When I say go, I want you to turn and talk to a neighbor and tell them briefly about if you would have done the same thing as Pee Wee did and reasons why. Okay, switch, now the other person in the group will say if they would have done the same thing as Pee Wee did and if so why. Stop. Great job today writers, I cant wait until your opinion stories are complete so that I can read all about What you would do if you were Pee Wee"? Please put your drafts in your writing folder and put the pencils I have given you back into the pencil jar."

7. How will you know the lesson has been successful? I will know if the lesson was successful if the students are able to write an opinion story about What they would do if they were Pee Wee"? that contains reasons as to why they have that opinion and if the piece is written on a fifth grade writing level.

8. Differentiation I will differentiate the lesson by working with all the students individually during their mini conference. If a student has any problems understanding what an opinion or reason is or trouble knowing what they have to do, I will help them during the mini conference and if needed, have an additional one on one conference with them. I will also reduce the number of sentences that are required in the opinion piece for them and mark their paper on whatever writing level they are currently on.