Template for Pre-Observation Conference

Probationary Teachers
Lomie Heard 2015-2016
Lesson Plan:

Duration:

Opinion Writing about character 30-45 Minutes

traits
Objectives:
Standard: W.2.1-Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the
topic of book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply
reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g.,
because, and, also) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a
concluding statement or section.
Students will be able to use a graphic organizer to plan an opinion
piece.

Kagan:

Think, pair share

Jot Thought

Materials Needed:

CHAMPs:
On the carpet
Informational text Conversation-0 while
about the person teacher or another
student is talking, 2
of your choicewhen sharing with a
Martin Luther
partner
King, Jr.
Help-Raise hand
List of character
Activity-Learning
traits from
about character traits
previous lesson
Movement-Stay
Blank graphic
seated
organizers
Chart paper and
Participation-Everyone
pens
At desk

Template for Pre-Observation Conference

Probationary Teachers
Lomie Heard 2015-2016
Sticky notes

Conversation-0 while
teacher or another
student is talking, 2
when sharing with a
partner, 0 when
completing own
graphic organizer
Help-Raise hand
Activity-Learning
about character traits
with Martin Luther
King, Jr. and graphic
organizer
Movement-Stay
seated
Participation-Everyone
Essential Question:

Vocabulary:
There is not any new vocabulary but we will review character
traits.
NEPF Standards/Indicators:

Procedures:

Standard 1:
New Learning is

Students gather on the carpet

Connection: Explain to
students that when we wrote
our opinions about the desert,

Template for Pre-Observation Conference

Probationary Teachers
Lomie Heard 2015-2016
Connected to
Prior Learning
and Experience

Standard 1:
New Learning is
Connected to
Prior Learning
and Experience

we used a graphic organizer to

plan our thinking. We can use
the same graphic organizer to
plan our opinion piece about an
important person using
character traits or words that
describe a person. Tell them
that being able to include
character traits in writing is
important to be able to do in
order to become better writers
and make their writing more
interesting.
Teach (modeling): Remind
students we read a book about
Martin Luther King, Jr. yesterday.
Tell students that today we are
going to choose one character
trait that in our opinion
describes Martin Luther King, Jr.
Then we are going to support
our opinion with reasons or
facts we learn from the new
text we read today. We can use
our graphic organizer to help us
plan our writing. First we need
to think about how we would
describe Martin Luther King, Jr.
Have students think about some
character traits they think
describe Martin Luther King Jr.

Template for Pre-Observation Conference

Probationary Teachers
Lomie Heard 2015-2016

Standard 3:
Students Engage
in Meaning Making
through
Discourse and
Other Strategies

Then have students pair share

their opinions with someone
sitting near them. (Think, pair
share)
Ask students to share with the
class an idea they came up
with. (Choose 3-4 students to
share)
Choose an answer from the
students and tell students we
will write our chosen opinion on
our graphic organizer.
Model writing the opinion
statement on the graphic
organizer. Martin Luther King,
Jr. was a _______ man.
Model writing the title of the
text, Marching for Justice, on the
graphic organizer.
Writers collect many details to
support their opinion just like
we did on the agree and
disagree charts last week about
the desert. We will write each of
the details we find in this text
on a sticky note.
Students go back to their desks
and each student has a hand
out of the text Marching for
Justice

Template for Pre-Observation Conference

Probationary Teachers
Lomie Heard 2015-2016
Active Engagement (guided
practice): Read the first
paragraph together and decide
which detail(s) to record.
Have students jot thought any
details they find
important on sticky notes
Have each table share one
sticky note with the class

Standard 3:
Students Engage
in MeaningMaking
through
Discourse and
Other Strategies

Write this phrase helps other

people on a sticky note and
model putting on the back of a
graphic organizer. (We will be
using the graphic organizer as a
folder.)
Continue reading one paragraph
at a time and deciding if there is
or is not a supporting detail in
that paragraph using jot
thought
Possible options include:
paragraph 2 - talking, marching,
singing paragraph 5 - solve
problems in peaceful ways, use
words instead of fists, Nobel
Peace Prize
Bridge to Independent
Practice: Tell students that

Template for Pre-Observation Conference

Probationary Teachers
Lomie Heard 2015-2016
next time we will decide which
details we want to use in our
piece. Today they will decide
who they want to write about
and choose a character trait
that describes that person. They
are encouraged to choose the
person from the library book
they checked out on Friday, but
may choose someone else from
a book in the class library.

Homework:
Students were
instructed to
pick out a library
book on a
person
(Biography) and
read it before
class today.

When students are ready to

write their opinion statement,
they may pick up a graphic
organizer and write down their
opinion statement and begin
the process of sticky noting
details.
Assessments:
Notes to self
Graphic organizer will
be attached to rough
draft and final draft and
evaluated together

Template for Pre-Observation Conference

Probationary Teachers
Lomie Heard 2015-2016