WHAT QUALITIES DO WE WANT IN OUR NEXT PRESIDENT? (primary and intermediate)
This mini-unit helps students develop reasoning skills. It focuses on making an argument of value, so criteria for making a judgment must be developed first and then applied. It reinforces researching before making a claim. It engages students in making inferences about character traits, based on the facts they learn through reading about selected presidents. Students are engaged in talking about the evidence that supports their point of view. This mini-unit also scaffolds the process of learning to write a conclusion. Other strategies in unit include using a cloze statement with “because.”
Information slides about 4 different presidents are provided, but other texts can easily be substituted or used in addition. Similarly, different presidents could be featured.
| opinion_writing__qualities_for_new_president_primary_revised__1_.pptx |
| qualities_in_president_student_work_marna_chenault.pptx |
Beyond the Five-Paragraph Theme
One of the opportunities that opinion and argument writing afford is to learn to develop a line of reasoning instead of rely on a formula to organize one's writing.
| 5paragraphthemealternatives_nikki_hunt.pptx |
